Boston
Metropolitan
Region

January 16th, 2004

The Lowdown on Leaders

Featured Affiliate

Orvis Gulf Coast Fly Selection 15 flies from the top guides. $59.00 plus shipping,

Simply put, it’s better living through chemistry.  My grandfather used to use silkworm gut fly leaders, which were at best, unreliable.  Frankly, looking back at our sport, it is a true testament to the persistence of the originators that they were able to fish with some of the gear they had to suffer with.

When my grandfather wanted to go fishing, he’d need to soak his leaders for at least an hour before he started.  Silkworm gut, which is silk filament that were collected and subjectively graded by the manufacturer (gee, that looks like a 2x), was in turn a vast improvement over braided horse hair, which had been in use since the time of Isaac Walton. 

The advent of Nylon Monofilament might be considered the single most cathartic point in the evolution of saltwater flyfishing.  It is the singular event that marks the turning point where mass popularity of the sport became possible. 

In the beginning, monofilament wasn’t all it could be.  Extrusion techniques in the 30’s (it was patented in 1938), the 40’s (okay, we had bigger issues to worry about) and the 50’s were not all that they could be.  Hence the materials were prone to problems as the industry learned what went into making a quality monofilament leader.

The advent of Fluorocarbon leader material in the mid-eighties brought on a new age in leader construction.  It is now possible to buy pre-extruded leaders that are virtually invisible to fish.  No knots to hang weeds, etc.

The funny thing is that the whole leader thing seems to have missed anglers north of Cape Cod.  I perennially run into anglers who use a single section of 15 lb. Mono for stripers.  There was even a period of some rather nasty posts a few years ago on our forum which as much as said suggested I was an idiot for using any more knots in my leader than absolutely necessary.  Well, I may be an idiot, but my use of graduated leaders is no evidence of it.  I guess if my knot tying skills were unreliable, I’d be worried.  I am not…

So why would you use a graduated leader to fish the Boston area.  First off, a well-apportioned leader will turn a big, wet fly over.  You may have seen what happens when the fly does not turn over – your fly line rolls out, then the leader and fly land somewhat of a pile at the end of the cast.  This result can also be achieved easily by not stopping the line at the end of the cast, but that is a subject for a later date.

I generally use a monofilament leader that’s around 9 feet long when I fish with an intermediate line and standard fly (i.e. not a Clouser).  I start with a short butt section of 30 lb. Test that’s nail knotted and glued to the fly line, with a Homer Rhodes knot or non-slip loop.

Then I can create my leaders with a loop on the end and swap them out at will with a loop-to- loop connection.  I generally use 36” of 35 lb., 24” of 30, 18” of 25, 12” of 20, 6”of 15, and 18” of whatever the final tippet size will be, usually 12 lb.  That’d usually turn over your 1974 Pinto…

If I mix and match mono with a fluorocarbon tippet, then that connection is always made loop-to-loop as the two dissimilar materials don’t seem to tie very good standard knots.  I do not use a Homer Rhodes knot in the tippet or smaller leader sections, as they tend to break (seems to be fine in heavier leader sections).  I generally opt for something like a surgeons loop.  Sections of the leader are connected with blood knots.

Of course, you can buy some darned fine extruded fluorocarbon leaders.  If you don’t mind paying for them, these are a great option, as weeds cannot catch on knots if there are no knots…

For sinking lines, I generally opt for a much shorter and simpler leader construction, and have been known to use straight 15 lb. Test.  I like to keep the leader short, to allow the line to do it’s work and get the fly down deep.

Capt. Wayne Frieden comments:

I also like a graduated leader and generally use a 5-7' leader ( 3' of 30 Big Game and  2' section 20 lb. fluro) when using fast sink lines and a bit longer (9') for floaters. If the fish are finicky, I'll sometimes go to all flurocarbon and down to a 12lb test tippet. Obviously, I'm not after any IGFA records.

Capt. Dave Bitters of Baymen Outfitters prefers to stick with single test leaders:

For fly rod leader set-ups on all our charters, I prefer straight Ande 15lb clear mono, in 5 foot sections as my leader and tippet. Ditto for all of my light tackle gear. I change up my leaders and tippets daily before every trip out on the bay. I can't remember every losing a fish because the leader or tippets broke or the knots gave way. I use a double surgeons knot and then square knot the sections together. This is simple and easy and fast. And it's a very, very strong, positive connection. For fly or lure connections, I prefer the improved clinch knot. The trick is to always wet the line with your spit before cinching the knots down. And they MUST be cinched down firm. Knots only break for two reasons. The stress exceeds the breaking strength of the line/knot or the knot slips!
 
There is one exception for my fly tippets. When we toss crab patterns to tailing fishing on the flats, I'll go to eight feet of fluorocarbon in 12lb or 16lb test. In this case, we are using floating lines and fishing to spooky stripers and a more gentle presentation is needed in the skinny water.
 
Lastly, if we are into the toothy fish like blues, we break out the 50lb Ande and change it up every couple of fish. The double surgeons knots and all pre-tied and it only takes seconds to replace a tippet.
 
Tight lines & screaming reels!
 
Capt. David Bitters
BAYMEN Outfitters, Duxbury, MA.

Okay, that’s my take.  Your mileage may vary.  Leaders are the type of subject that often generates a lot of debate, often bordering on religion.  Let’s here your recipe – post the the NE Forum!

Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Harbor

Captain Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters checked in with:

Captain's Report June 15

The weather is making it very difficult for anyone to get out on the water.
This week's trips with Damon Reed of Norwell and Jay Hoffman produced some
outstanding fishing. Damon is an expert flycaster who was able to fight
strong winds to get his fly to feeding stripers. The hot fly was Damon's own
creation that he calls a "Fleece Fly". Captain Bill has just finished an
article on tying and fishing Damon's Fleece Fly that will be featured later
this year in The Fisherman.

Jay Hoffman, a regular aboard Draggin' Fly Too, was into some nice fish off
Deer Island. He fished jerk baits on light tackle to catch bass up to 32
inches. Smaller schoolies were found in very shallow water off of Harry's
Rocks and a school of larger bass pushed herring right up onto Peddock's
shoreline. Jay caught and released several legal sized bass before the end of
the trip.

We're hoping to get back on the water tomorrow. Draggin' Fly Too begins the
summer season at the end of this week with daily trips for striped bass and
blues.

Captain Wayne Frieden of Reel-Dream Charters forwared this:

Saturday, June 15, 2002: Due to poor weather, Bill Faubian and his friends
from South Dakato were unable to fish the harbor. However, they did manage to
get out on Friday and picked up their very first stripers early in the Fore
River area. We later found fish on structure at mid-incoming tide in Quincy
Bay and near the top of the tide at Jacknife Ledge and between Sheep and
Bumpkin I. And yes, all agreed that stripers do pull harder than walleyes!

Tuesday, June 18, 2002: Brian Farrel enjoyed a beautiful day on the water fly
fishing for stripers as a birthday gift from his, no doubt, lovely wife. We
found a school of bass out front at first light and managed a handful of
schoolies before they disappeared. A bit later in the tide, we got onto a
school at Governor's I. Flats and then picked up a couple more fish in the
Inner Harbor Channel.

Wednesday, June 19, 2002: What a difference a day makes! Kevin Cheevers fly
rodded a bunch of schoolies in the 24 - 27" range and small keepers up to 35
1/2". It was just an outstanding day on the water! From first light on, we
were into acres of bass feeding on blue-backed herring and large silversides.
These fish were aggressive and would take chartruese or gray/lavender half &
half's on fast sink lines and poppers and gurglers on floating lines. Kevin
was gracious enough to invite me to fish along with him. So, I had a ball
breaking in my new Orvis T3 and even landed a nice 14 pounder on a white
gurgler!

Until next week, we'll see you out there...

Capt. Wayne Frieden

South Shore

Capt. Dave Bitters of Baymen Outfitters reports

Jeff Gray reported outstanding big striper action at Race Point Wednesday. Thirty-pounders were the rule with a couple forty-pounders and many twenty-pounders. All on top! Jeff's lure of choice: The Crocodile! We will have these in stock if you want to give them a try.

John Baker hit Stellwagon on Wednesday and reported things have cooled off. Very few fish this side. He did, however, see an eighteen foot basking shark lounging on the surface! Another angler from the shop reported excellent cod action - Thirty-Four Miles out! Now, that's hardcore...
Drew Campbell reports excellent striper and bluefish action by his new home in Sandwich Harbor this week. They are making their way to Duxbury! I'll be fishing with Drew in the near future and will give a report to follow.

South River anglers reported stripers stacked up Tuesday night! No keepers, all schoolies. An absolute blast on the fly rods!

Adam Johnson reports more blues being landed in Duxbury bay this week. Three-four pounders are the rule. Time to keep some 50lb mono or fluorocarbon handy. Or better still, wire. We have everything to cover the toothy-fish hook-ups here at the shop if you need supplies.

Fifteen-Pound Bluefish are about two miles offshore now. They always seem to come in close just to the north of us, up around Brant Rock. Then they gradually move down and into our waters out front and inside. I am nuts about getting big blues on the fly rod. They fight so good!

Fluke? Anybody got the word? If you read my report from a couple days ago, we got just one fish in four hours. An absoute fluke blitz is one fish every five-ten minutes. They should be in thick any day with the hot weather heating up the flats... It's worth trying for them this weekend!

Pollock are still out front being taken on the sabiki and mack rigs. They are not thick, but they can be found.

Mackerel are long gone... or at least they are hiding offshore some place that nobody can fine them!

Well, there you have it. Keep us in touch with how you are making out and the best of fishing to you all!

Capt Dave
www.baymenoutfitters.com
(781) 934-2838

North Shore

Captain Derek Spingler of First Light Anglers in Manchester-by-the-sea reports:

The Merrimack River

Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters sent along this report.  He hits on an interesting technique that can be used at slack tide.  As you may remember from last week, I wrote about tides, one of the many things I did not have space to mention is that I generally don't like fishing slack tide.  Charlie marked a bunch of fish at slack on the sounder, then had the angler count down the fly to get it to the level the fish were hanging at.  Bob Desplaines uses a similar technique off Chatham.  The technique definitely isn't the saltwater equivalent of dry fly fishing chaulk streams, but it is highly effective.  Here's Charlies report: