Furrled Leaders

[ÜberFly]

Got one from CDone and want to get a couple more.. What do I look for when purchasing some for 3 wt & 4 wt dry fly fishing (length, thickness of nylon, colour, quality, cost, etc.) - not looking at making my own at this stage.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Taco]

My rough rule of thumb ; Look for a furled leader about 1 1/2'-2' shorter than the length of the rod then add tippet to get the total length of leader you want to fling but I don't find furled leader length to be hyper critical for the the way I fish.

 

I buy mine from a guy in Texas for about 8 bucks apiece, double for fluorocarbon.

[SkwalaStonefly]

I prefer to use a short furled leader (4-5 feet), which still gives a beautiful gentle turnover. I add 5-7 feet of tippet. This allows me to shallow nymph with a small indicator or as a dry-dropper rig, when the fish are not too interested in dries. It also provides some room between the fly and the furled leader. Some will say that the fish don't mind furled leaders (and a lot of small medium sized fish don't), but I think that a furled leader near an experienced big spooky fish is not much different than a fly line near the fish and will spook some.

 

I buy mine from Quigley's [http://www.twistedleaders.com/Furled.html]. Cost is $9.25 and you can get them in lengths of 4, 51/2 or 7 feet in a variety of colors and weights. One of those leaders can last me close to an entire season, but I do spend more on tippet than I would if I were using a 9 ft leader.

 

Don't forget to put some muselin or paste floatant on the furled leader before your first cast as they will otherwise soak up water and not float well.

[Weedy1]

... but I don't find furled leader length to be hyper critical for the the way I fish.

Do you find it easier to throw bobbers onto the lake with or without a furled leader?

[Taco]

Do you find it easier to throw bobbers onto the lake with or without a furled leader?

The only thing that makes bobbers and a 20' leader easier to throw is a 25 foot rod............

[kstick]

I picked up a Blue Sky light for - line wts. 3-5, tippet sizes 3x-6x at Cabelas in Spokane last year. It was 5' 9" finally needs to be replaced. I will be back that way in just over a week and will pick up at least a couple more. I used the green coloured leader and it didn't seem to spook any big fish. I added 3' of 3x and another 3' of 4-6x after that and it turned over light dries as well as heavier nymphing rigs. I will buy the white leaders this time around.