Leaders, tippet, monofilament, knotted, furled, braided, twined - The connection from the fly line to the fly - Keywords - The words we use - Words, tags, taxonomy - Fly fishing tag cloud - Global FlyFisher

Leaders
The connection from the fly line to the fly

How to fish with more than one fly

Teaming up: Having more than one fly on your leader actually makes pretty good sense in the very simple way that presenting more than one temptation to the fish increases the chance of a bite. But there are many other reasons.
Read about it here.

The only knot

Tying: This is definitely going to get me in trouble! But I guarantee you that if you learn this knot you will be able to get very far in almost all kinds of flyfishing. Use this for your daily knotting and use loops for the rest (backing to fly line, fly line to leader), and you will be able to make it through many, many fishing days.
See which one it is here.

Find "Capt. Mel's Tube Knot" on this page

Capt. Mel's Tube Knot

Tie the knot: About 5 years ago after seeing so many really bad knots connecting the fly line to the butt leader section, Captain Mel Simpson came up with a knot that does not break, is a permanent part of the fly line and will easily go through the guides if necessary.
Learn to tie it here

Skip to "Fly fishing knots"

Fly fishing knots

Theme page: The most useful, easiest and strongest knots for fly fishing. How to tie them and when to use them.
See the theme here

LeaderCalc2007

Upgrade!: One of GFF's all-time most popular articles and downloads just got better! Download two new upgrades for FREE! 1) Leadercalc2007, enhanced with new formulas and label making features and 2) the all new GFF's Leader Guide, a 28-page PDF book you can use for your classroom or personal use.
Take me to the downloads now!

Click to see "First setup of reel, backing, line and leader"

First setup

Reel, backing, line, leader: Most of us know how, but this article is for the ones who never set up a fly reel from scratch. See which knots will work where and what type and amount of backing you most probably want. Start with this simple trout setup, and you can expand to other types.
Learn the trick of the trade here.

Read more on "Leaders&Tippets Q&A"

Leaders&Tippets

Tying the knot: This small article is a selection of questions and answers about leaders and tippets accumulated over the years. Martin Joergensen has harvested the most popular questions with the assistance of his fellow GFF partner Steve Schweitzer.
Check their answers here.

Find "The Diawl Bach - Little Devil" on this page

Little Devil

Stillwater: An article on the Welsh classic The Diawl Bach and on the intriguing and intimidating concept of fishing a team of three flies on a very long leader. GFF partner Martin Joergensen has been to Wales and this is the first article from that trip.
See the pattern and the pictures here

More about "Secrets of making & fishing strike indicators"

Strike Indicator Scientology

A GFF Exclusive!: This article is the premier in a new series: "Nymphing From Top-to-Bottom: The Untold Secrets". Starting on top, strike indicators aren't just flyfishing bobbers; they do much more, if you know the secrets! Learn an exclusive trick from GFF partner Steve Schweitzer along with
how to make & fish strike indicators.

This link takes you to "Advanced Fly-Fishing Techniques by Lefty Kreh"

Advanced Kreh

Book review: I wouldn't expect to see the definition of double taper or weight forward lines in an "advanced techniques" book. That is pretty basic stuff. Would I expect to see a discussion of the merits of a large arbor reel vs standard arbor? Yeah. In this book, however, we got the former but not the latter.
Bob Petti reviews

Proceed to "Drag-Free Drift by Joseph A. Kissane" here

Drag-Free Drift

Leaders: "I must say - I was surprised to encounter a pretty wide ranging set of topics in a book about drifting flies, and more gory detail than I thought possible" GFF partner Bob Petti reviews a book entirely about leaders.

Go to "Producing hand tied leaders"

Production leaders

Factory: What is production leader tying? Tying more than 2 leaders at a time! But, if you are like me, you find out that tomorrow you may go fishing, so you scramble to tie just enough leaders (usually 2) to handle the day and go on with life.

See "QwikCalc" by clicking here

QwikCalc

Leader of the pack: Want to use LeaderCalc but don't have access to MS-Excel? No problem! We at GFF recognize that many of you have been missing out on the extensive capabilities of LeaderCalc in helping you design your own tapered mono leaders.

Jump to "On bite tippets for pike flies - Global FlyFisher"

On bite tippets for pike flies - Global FlyFisher

Tothy: Stiff piano wire has definite advantages over other sorts of pike shock and bite tippets.

Videos with "Leaders - The connection from the fly line to the fly" - More videos

Capt. Mel's Tube Knot

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After years of seeing knots that either were so bulky they had a hard time going through the guides or worse they failed causing the loss of a good fish, I found a way to jam the fly line core up against an ordinary nail knot. This knot is as strong as the fly line, and as you will see it's also very small. See our article about this knot.

Go to Pike streamer

Pike streamer
This colorful fly is an almost neutral density pike pattern that fishes in, or just below the surface. It is excellent for summer pike fishing in shallow waters.

Go to Fly fishing leaders and tippets

Fly fishing leaders and tippets
Leaders fall in several categories. These all serve the same purpose: transmitting the energy fra the fly line to the fly in a gentle, yet firm way. The different types each have their advantages and disadvantages, and selecting one is often a question of compromises.

Furled leaders DIY
The following description on how to make your own twined leaders was given to me by Henk Verhaar from Holland. Henks description fascinated me so much, that I made the first set of three leaders already the first night after having recieved the description.

Go to Knots for the fly fisherman

Knots for the fly fisherman
The discussion of knots seems endless. We probably never will know exactly which knot is the best, and the ultimate knot has not yet been tied. We list the following knots in a knot table and show how to tie them one by one -- with a little comment attached.

Go to Illustrated knot table

Illustrated knot table
A test in the print magazine Fly Fisherman showed the Trilene and the Orvis knot to be equally strong and on top of that said that they were able to maintain 100% of the line strength. I really have my doubt if that will hold for all types and thicknesses of line, but still it does prove that these could be the knots of choice for the concerned fly fisher.

Go to Joining loops

Joining loops
The loop system has the advantage of being very flexible. You can easily join two sections of the fly rig, when you have loops on each section

Go to Using the loop system

Using the loop system
When I first started fishing with a fly rod, I spent a lot of time tying compex knots to join the different part of the rig. I wish someone had told me about loops when I started, because they would have saved me a lot af work.

Twined or furled leaders
Great leaders made by the ancient method of ropemaking.

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