My Understanding of Leader dynamics

[ArcherFish]

Grant
A nice, useful and quality post, I praise it.

[shector]

Great info Grant, question if i may.......why do they not make tapered leaders this way? secondly all those Knots!! does it not increase your chance of break offs and will it not cause Drag.....now i am assuming the answer to the last two questions is No because yourself and MC advocate these leaders and that in itself is validation enough for the set up,but i cannot help but ask.

Nick
Firstly, tapered leaders were developed to make fly presentation as subtle and as delicate as possible. To answer the second part of your question, no is does not increase the chance of breakoffs provided the knots are secure. The rod action, particularly slower rods (absorb shock better) will protect knots fairly well. With regards to drag, maybe some micro drag, but this can be countered by certain on stream mending techniques and slack line casts. Drag will become less of an issue as leader length increases. Hope this helps.

Just to ad, super post Grant! Thanks for taking the time out to write this comprehensive post. I'm certain it'll help tons of forumers.

[gkieser]

One thing the knots do cause is extra spray as they hold more water. I used to use a surgeons or water knot but this caused a lot of spray. I changed to a ehat I think is called a blood knot (two clinch knots back to back) and this reduced the spray.

[dizzy]

Nice post here Grant.
Do you factor in the knot absorbing some of the energy being transfered when you build your leaders?
I'm assuming that you are using these leaders mainly with a dry attached to the end?

[GGY]

I started to understand leaders more after MC wrote his article on French leaders in a Piscator a few years ago (some of it posted on flytalk in this thread. The article was about the Pascal Cognard range of leaders which were made of different diameters of line tied together in different lengths. Some lengths got shorter and shorter as the diameter got thinner and some got longer as the diameter decreased, with the former being used for windy conditions and the latter for more windless conditions.

I still fish religiously with the leaders in MC's article, mostly the two that he recommends, which are the Degressive Short (for windy days so my most used) and the Medium River for delicate presentations on calm days. With the understanding of the energy transfer i have been able to modify the degressive short formula by just cutting out the middle sections to allow a powerful leader to turn flies over in our very strong western cape winds.

I put some SERIOUS effort into understanding the science a few years ago and did some Excel plots of the maths.

I cannot just accept a leader formula - I need to know WHY it works - thus I studied the art/science a number of years ago.
Without going into too much math - line (leader) stiffness is directly proportional to the line diameter to the fourth power.
I have an Excel file file I use to plot such things for correct comparison & to make sure that there are no "steps" in the stiffness chart = a leader that will not present properly. This is usually a result of too great a change in diameter from one section to the other and/or a section that is too short relative to the diameter and/or length of the sections on either side of it.

Anyone who want to discuss feel free to contact me.
Check the Excel file.

[KevinE]

Great info Grant, question if i may.......why do they not make tapered leaders this way? secondly all those Knots!! does it not increase your chance of break offs and will it not cause Drag.....now i am assuming the answer to the last two questions is No because yourself and MC advocate these leaders and that in itself is validation enough for the set up,but i cannot help but ask.

Nick, most factory tapered leaders are built to gently dissipate energy to the fly. So they are not ideal in winds where you need a more powerful turnover. But a number of brands have power tapered leaders, which are designed for big flies or headwinds. I know Umpqua have them, I think Rio also have one. I have used them to good effect.

There is no doubt that tying your own leaders gives you more options, but like you I do worry about all the knots. Every knot you have in your leader is another potential weak point if you don't tie it right. Knots can also be a hassle when there is weed around, like in lakes or spring creeks.

One problem I found when I was tying my own leaders was the different strengths when using different brands. I used mostly Maxima ultragreen to build the leader because the price is right when you have to buy multiple spools and also because I trust its ability to hold a knot. But I'd often find my tippet had a higher breaking strain than the last section of leader. Eg. Maxima 2X has 6lb breaking strain, while Stroft 4X has 8lb breaking strain. For those of you that tie your own leaders, what leader material do you use?

[damage]

Nick the one drawback for junior casters ( like me ) is that if the knotted leader rubs against itself during A cast it slides till it hits a knot and then proceeds to Tangle badly
Where the tapered leader you can get away with a sloppy cast !

I really belive the easiest is to fish a factory leader with some 4x5x6x
Additions until you cast well enough and know that you need more from a leader than you can get out of the prefab one

Then you can't go wrong with grants / MC / pascals advice

Grant has explained the theory well

There are so Many factors and conciderations it's practicaly impossible to calculate out the best is as grant suggests is try an established formula and tweak it ( If it's not broken don't fix it )

/d

[KevinC]

Good thread

Grant- The tepered leaders that you have been using on stillwaters- what are your thoughts in this regard?

I have never really bothered with any tapering thoughts on stillwaters hence the question.

[gkieser]

Kev bru,

I also just used to use straight mono till NUR taught me his 4ft 7kg, 1ft 5.5kg, 3ft 4.5kg maxima, then tippet to suit.

I guess from the theory it's quite an aggressive taper, and as you saw helps casting into the wind.

If i am fishing 3 fly rigs 2m apart while drift fishing i think i would still go for straight untapered cos otherwise there's too much to get tangled. When you're on the boat with the wind at your back i think it's not that necessary to have the taper to help, but from bank or float tube i reckon the taper will help control the cast fishing into or side on to the wind.

[poppernel]

Kev bru,

I also just used to use straight mono till NUR taught me his 4ft 7kg, 1ft 5.5kg, 3ft 4.5kg maxima, then tippet to suit.

I guess from the theory it's quite an aggressive taper, and as you saw helps casting into the wind.

If i am fishing 3 fly rigs 2m apart while drift fishing i think i would still go for straight untapered cos otherwise there's too much to get tangled. When you're on the boat with the wind at your back i think it's not that necessary to have the taper to help, but from bank or float tube i reckon the taper will help control the cast fishing into or side on to the wind.

My question is, if one has read the conditions, matched the hatches so to say, why fish 3 flies????
I consistently use about 6 flies on stillwaters to consistently catch good trout. One fly only, top or subsurface.