Leader tie kits

[Don S.]

Does anyone make these any more? I used to get the one Orvis put out with their Super Strong mono but can't find that.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Does anyone make these any more? I used to get the one Orvis put out with their Super Strong mono but can't find that.

Hi Don,

Leader tying kits were available some years ago.


Before "knotless tapered leaders" came on the scene most tied their own "knotted tapered leaders."

Today most do not tie their own knotted tapered leaders.

Most use knotless tapered leaders and add some different size tippets to the end of them.

[Don S.]

Hey Bill,

I did some looking around and only found one company that puts out a kit. FrogHair of which I'm not familiar with, sells a kit.

Can still buy all the various sizes needed from Orvis and probably could from Maxima and Umpqua as well.

I don't know but always seems to me that my leaders turn over better than store bought ones do and I can really dial in the lengths and
vary the butt sections depending on what weight rod I'm using.

Plus it gives me something to do while watching the tube.

Cheers

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Don,

You have to be pretty old to understand what we are talking about here.

50 years ago we tied up our own knotted tapered leaders with Maxima "Chameleon", the stiffer brown stuff.

I still have the rough formula in my 78 year old brain.


These leaders were for, mostly, fishing on or near the surface.


The butt section should be 2/3 the diameter of the tip of the fly line. (Lefty said it was the rigidity.)


I thought it was 1/3 butt, 1/3 transition and 1/3 tippet?

The butt could be 36 to 48 inches.

The transition sections could be 6 to 9 inches, depending on how long you wanted the leader to be.

The tippet could be 24 to 36 inches.

________________________________

Bob Giannoni is a high technical angler and he showed me how to tune a leader so it would turn over just right.


This could be for a knotted leader or a knotless leader. Add a 36" tippet first.

Put it on your rod and cast it with the fly size you will be using.

If it does not turn over, just cut 6 inches off and repeat until it does turn over.

[Don S.]

Bill,

I guess this does make me old. A harder butt section for sure and think it's more like 60% butt, 20% mid and 20% tippet. Stepping down no more than .002" per section. Having a blood knot between last section and tippet made it easy to know when to replace tippet and after you've done that a number of times you could replace the last two sections. I swear some of those leaders would last years just by changing the last 2-3 sections.