| Archive for ANGLINGIRELAND A forum for anglers by anglers |
| Blackbacks |
Tapered LeadersHi AllWhat's the general opinion on Tapered leaders! Do you use them for Dry's only? Just that after using something for a while you begin to question the merit of it! BB |
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| apache |
tapered leaders are a must when fishing dry fly in my opinion. I watched a guy dry flyfishing one day he had a leader on about 12ft & it was 3 lb breaking strain the whole way through !!! he was wondering why it was landing like spaghetti  . I,ll not mention no names cause we,re the best of friends now & i know he visits this site  So if you want to present your dry fly better tapering your leader is the only way 
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| fossil-fish |
I liked the idea of tapered leaders and found that they helped a great deal with turnover. However I really like to attach a mono loop to my flyline using a Gray's Loop needle knotted to the flyline. For a 7wt line the loop is made from 12lb mono. This prevents the use of a tapered leader which has a butt section of about 22lb bs. I therefore am tapering my own leaders with sections of line from 12lb to 10lb to 8lb to 6lb. So far so good and I get on with it well.
As almost all my fishing is on stillwaters with nymphs and lures, often weighted, I do not think that the tapering issue is just so critical as it may be using tiny dry flies on a river. |
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| adriany |
I wouldnt fish without 1 to be honest I use them for every type of fishing that I do from buzzers on a 9ft to salmon flies on a 14ft rod. Tried quite a few I use leaders done by Tom Gillen who fished Straid and is an expert fisherman. I have his formula written down somewhere lol but I know he likes Roman Mossers tapered leaders. | ||
| FIREY BROWN |
tapered leadershave to say im a big fan of tapered leaders also,,i wouldn`t be without them and they give you excellent turn over especially for dries,, i would think seriously about using them IF you haven`t got round to it and once you get the hang of making them yourself they become second nature,,oh and by the way,,watch you catch rate go up with tapered leaders 
Regards FIREY BROWN |
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| harry_lfc |
what kind of knot do u use to tie the line together | ||
| fossil-fish |
Harry, Three turn water knot or double grinner knot are both suitable knots for joining line of different diameters. |
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| apache |
Harry go onto google & type in THE PERFECTION LOOP. Sorry i dont know how to post it on the forum im still learning this computer stuff  But you,ll find what your looking for there
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| Blackbacks |
Tapered leaders[quote="fossil-fish"] a mono loop to my flyline using a Gray's Loop needle knotted to the flyline. quote]Hi FF I like the idea of the needle knot rather than a braided loop- Just wondering if instead of the mono loop I try attaching a stainless steel ring- and then the tapered leader! In a perfect world I would like to "splice" the tapered leader but end to the fly line... Any ideas? Paul |
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| fossil-fish |
Paul, there is no reason why you cannot needle knot a tapered leader direct to the fly line, that is probably the best and neatest form of attachment. I can't think of a suitable method to neatly attach a ring direct to the end of your flyline. A stainless ring on the end of the tapered leader will prevent it shrinking each time you add tippet.
I still prefer the Gray's loop system, but it means the starting point of your tapered section must be equal to or less than the diameter of the loop. That is why I make my own tapering sections starting with 12lb bs. http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/fishing-knots.htm |
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| Blackbacks |
I can't think of a suitable method to neatly attach a ring direct to the end of your flyline.
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| fossil-fish |
Paul,
After putting the needle through the end of the fly line and out the side, remove it and put it back from the side through to the line's end. Thread the thin part of the tapered leader into the eye of the needle, and pull the leader back through as far as you can go. With a seven weight line you should get nearly it all, but you want to leave a length to perform your knot. I was doing this for a while and it worked fine. Just prefer the Grey's loop with a loop to loop join at the top of the leader. I use 12lb mono for the loop and use 12lb mono for the butt section of my leader. I suppose the very first part after the flyline is actually 12lb mono doubled, then 12lb, 10lb, etc, etc. This is working very well for me at the minute even with buzzers and fairly small dry flies. |
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| FIREY BROWN |
loopsBlackbacksi am assuming you are talking about trying to fix one of those little 0 rings neatly to the end of your Flyline so that you can tie your length of leader to the ring itself ???? Regards FIREY BROWN |
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| Blackbacks |
Thats right Firey-
As an alternative to the braided loop-! |
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| tack4 |
so tapered leader good but can it only be used with one fly or is it ok to tie on a dropper or is it best to add to end of leader??????? 
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| fossil-fish |
You can actually do either or both, but as you would be better to add a level length of tippet material to the end of the tapered leader, this is as good a point as any to use a dropper from the tag end of that join. I found that with a standard 9' tapered leader, that by the time you had completed a needle knot at one end, and added a loop or ring at the other end, you had about 8 feet of a leader section left. A reasonable distance from the flyline I thought for a dropper. |
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| adriany |
Tack wee tip here mate and this is how i Use them get yourself a 9ft tapered leader ie Mosser or 1 of the other ones attach a 1.5mm O ring to the end of it then your only using maybe 5ft of flurocarbon to your point fly. If you want to use a dropper then tie a bit of fluro carbon to the O ring...Dolly Dimple mate | ||
| fossil-fish |
Just one question Adrian. Seeing as with this set up the tapered section is semi permanent, how long would you expect it to last before you would change it for a new one? 
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| Beatnik69 |
That's always been my concern/confusion about shop bought tapered leaders. Where do I attach my dropper(s)? what do I do when the droppers get too short to be of any use? | ||
| adriany |
Fossil all really depends on wear and tear to be honest. I check the tapered leader every time I go out and if its frayed or looks damaged then I change it. The advantage with the O ring is that your only using what tippet you need to and tying the dropper to the O ring means that if it gets too short just cut it off and tie on another dropper theres no need to tie it to the main tapered leader. | ||
| fossil-fish |
Adrian,
For me personally, there is at least one point in every day where my leader becomes so tangled it is binned. That puts me off the continous tapered leader and needle knot joint. However, I think with my own tapering sections of leader I can still incorporate the O ring at about 8'. You are right about cutting and droppers, but also this may allow me to join dissimiliar materials to my nylon leader, ie flourocarbon, copolymer. I have real difficulties in knotting these materials, and of course flourocarbon should never be knotted to nylon, but I would have no problem knotting them to a ring. Food for thought. ff |
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