Building Your Own Twisted/furled Leaders

[Dan Sweeney]

I have been using twisted leaders of this nature for a while now and find that they perform very well. I don't know that they are better than a true furled leader, but they are fine for the fishing I do, and I can build them quickly and without a jig or other tools. I think that is probably a large part of the advantage. For me, it's the convienance and budget.

[troutfiend1985]

I have been using twisted leaders of this nature for a while now and find that they perform very well. I don't know that they are better than a true furled leader, but they are fine for the fishing I do, and I can build them quickly and without a jig or other tools. I think that is probably a large part of the advantage. For me, it's the convienance and budget.

Hey Dan, what type of fishing are you doing with these?

[trout fanatic]

I fished these quite a bit last year. I used them mostly for throwing large bugs for bass. What really impressed me was there durability. I tied them up and fished snaggy areas for bass and still have every single leader. What I haven't tested yet (and what bothers me the most) is fishing for a large species of fish (say muskie) in a river from the shoreline and snagging the bottom. It seems to me that the really heavy leader combined with the really heavy tippet (we are fishing for musky) leaves only one breaking point (the rod). I plan on musky fishing up in Ohio later this year and not quite sure how I am going to deal with this issue yet

[Hopper]

I use these on all my rods 3wt thru 8wt, primary benefits are durability and zero memory, I also believe they turn over easier, they also have some stretch to them so if you are using light tippets you have alot less chance of breaking off. I have a jig for making furled leaders but gave it up after Craig showed me how to make these. I make them in both mono and floro for all types of conditions. Another advantage is you can make them any length you like; throwing streamers on sinking line I use a 5 ft leader with 3-4 ft of floro tippet. On my 3 wt I use a 10' for dries and switch to a 7' for midges.

Gregg

[troutfiend1985]

I use these on all my rods 3wt thru 8wt, primary benefits are durability and zero memory, I also believe they turn over easier, they also have some stretch to them so if you are using light tippets you have alot less chance of breaking off. I have a jig for making furled leaders but gave it up after Craig showed me how to make these. I make them in both mono and floro for all types of conditions. Another advantage is you can make them any length you like; throwing streamers on sinking line I use a 5 ft leader with 3-4 ft of floro tippet. On my 3 wt I use a 10' for dries and switch to a 7' for midges.

Gregg

Gregg, what lb. test do you use for the dries?

[Dan Sweeney]

Troutfiend,

Mostly bass and panfish with occasional trout trips thrown in. Seldom do I fish large large flies or anything highly technical. My rods are cane or glass between 3 and 6 wt. Flies typically range between sizes 8 to 16, with the 8s and 10s being rather rare. I use a lot of lightly weighted wets and nymphs as well as smaller popping bugs. For most of what I do, I can use a hand twisted leader made of either 6 or 8 pound mono and have no trouble. Sometimes I'll add a third fold, or doubling, for the butt section, making it that much stiffer. Obviously it's good to start with a longer length of line if that's the plan. I can usually use a short 4 to 6 pound tippet and can just replace that when it gets nipped off too short. If I start trying to throw very heavy or wind resistant flies, I do encounter trouble with turnover. But heck, my rods are too light for those anyway. That's just usually that last few minutes right after dusk when I'm trying to coax up a nice bass before heading home and I can make it work for a half hour or so then.

[bigredbirdfan]

Great post. These are rather expensive off the shelf and cheap to make yourself. Again, thanks.

[FlyFishinFool]

I have been using furled leaders for several years, and use them for all my fly fishing, from 3wt/4wt rods up through 8wt rods. The biggest advantages for furled leaders are that they are much stronger than knotless leaders, they last many times longer than knotless mono/fluoro leaders, have almost no memory (especially thread furled leaders), almost eliminate wind knots (and if one does occur it will come out without kinking the leader), and they often cast better with many flies and nymph-indicator rigs.

The big differences between furled leaders and the twisted leaders demonstrated in the video are 1) ease of construction, 2) strength vs. 3) flexibility, and 4) line spray.

1) The twisted leaders are much easier to make, requiring nothing more than your hands; vs. the furled leaders which require a furling jig and are more difficult to make.

2) The twisted leaders does not add a lot of line strength - you still end up with a single loop of the line at the point where you attach your tippet, so in essence you get a stronger leader body, but the same strength tippet loop as though you were using a straight piece of mono/fluoro; vs. with a furled leader you end up with multiple loops of the original material at the point where you tie on your tippet (either a tippet ring or shorb loop), so the overall leader is stronger.

3) Thus the twisted leaders are great when throwing heavier flies and bass bugs, but often do not work as well with smaller flies or dry flies; vs. the furled leader which results in a stronger leader that can handle heavy flies and bass bugs, but still retains light line flexibility to allow presentations with smaller flies and dry flies.

4)Finally, furled leaders will not spray water like a twisted leader does when you pick up your line prior to re-casting.

For example, on a typical day using a 4wt or 5wt rod I will be using a furled leader made from 6lb Spiderwire, that has 4 strands at the tippet ring, thus the leader has the flexibility of a 6lb furled leader with the strength of a 24lb leader. I routinely throw size 14 through size 18 beadhead nyphs with this rig, and then switching from fluoro tippet to mono tippet throw size 18 through size 12 dry flies. I can also tie on a tippet of straight 6lb or 8lb mono to this same leader and fish for Bass.

Last comment - yes, furled leaders can be expensive purchased off the shelf, but there are a few places where you can get some good deals on furled leaders. Try the following link for some excellent furled leaders and great customer service. And no - I have no connection to these folks other than being a satisfied customer.

http://www.thesimontons.com/Fishinggear.html

[Hopper]

Gregg, what lb. test do you use for the dries?

I use 2 lb test line, and if you put a perfection loop at both ends you will double the strenght of the leader, use the same lb test as the weight of the rod 2-3wt 2 lb, 4-5 wt 4 lb, 6-7 wt 6 lb, 8 wt 8 lb.

[Dan Sweeney]

http://www.freewebs.com/fountainheadflyfish/

Here's a guy from over on the Fiberglass Fly Rodders who does great furled leaders (true furl). I've used a few of his. Love em.