Commercial extruded leader (right) is knotless, but some circumstances favor a knotted leader (left)—or even a straight leader.
August 14, 2024
By Mike Conner
Fly fishers today have the best lines ever designed. Benefitting from years of refinements by line manufacturers, you can head to the water confident that your fly line will turn that fly over and you’re in business, right?
Not if your leader kills the deal because it’s poorly tapered, or not appropriate for the rod or the fly you’re casting.
The leader is very important. Today’s commercial extruded (knot-less) leaders are a decent option, much improved over earlier offerings. If you prefer to build your own leaders, you have to know the basics. A poorly built leader will interrupt the transfer of rod energy from the tip of your flyline to your fly.
There are many scenarios where multi-section, tapered leaders excel. One is sight fishing on shallow flats where you want good turnover at a distance, yet a delicate fly delivery.
Advertisement
LEADER PARTS, FROM THE TOP Let’s start with the butt section, the heaviest part of the leader. The butt may be attached to the tip of your flyline with a nail knot or looped on. Most fly lines now come with a welded loop—simply tie a perfection loop in your butt section and interlock the loops. Whether you build your leader with monofilament or fluorocarbon, the butt should be of sufficient diameter to transfer rod energy smoothly to the lighter mid-section and tippet (fly end) of the leader.
No need to pull out a micrometer for this work. Simply use the material’s line-test as a guide. For casting most saltwater flies, a butt section of 30- to 50-pound test line is ideal—the heavier the fly line the heavier the butt. How long should this butt section be? A good rule of thumb is, make the butt about 60 percent of overall leader length for good turnover.
STEP IT DOWN Now comes the mid-section, or what I’ve always called the step-down section.
Advertisement
Let’s use a 10-foot leader for a 9-weight fly line for example. This would be a good leader for general flats and inshore fishing. The butt should be 6 feet long, testing 40 pounds. To that, tie on a 1-foot strand of 30-pound line and then a 1-foot strand of 20-pound. That puts you at 8 feet. For your 2-foot tippet, choose 10- to 15-pound-test. Tie the sections together with a blood knot, back-to-back uni knots or surgeon’s knot. The blood knot is my favorite.
Keep in mind that it’s tougher to draw down and seat a knot if, 1, the disparity in line-test is too great (such as tying 30- and 12-pound together), or 2, if mixing different brands of material. Also, knotting monofilament to fluorocarbon may result in a weak knot. To help draw down your knots, a little saliva or a drop of mineral oil can help decrease friction (which can create heat and deform the line at the knot).
A longer leader (11 feet and more) requires increasing the length of your butt section. And if you feel you need a longer tippet (in the case of super-spooky fish in shallow water), follow this logic on overall length. Bonefish and permit fly fishers commonly cast leaders as long as 14 feet. The butt sections should be 8 feet long. One last point, if you aspire to submit a catch to the International Game Fish Association for world-record consideration, you’ll need to research the IGFA standards for leader construction. One important metric is the length of the “class” tippet—IGFA states it must be at least 15 inches measured inside the knots.
THE HOMEBOY Sometime a one-piece leader is called for. Long ago, when I moved to Stuart, Fla., I met a guide friend for a night of snook fishing. My outfits had traditional, rod-long leaders with 12-pound-test class tippets and 40-pound bite (shock) tippets.
“Fancy rigging,” my friend said, as he stashed my rods under the gunnel, with a smirk.
“Too light?” I asked. “We’ll see,” he responded.
After landing a couple of small snook under a dock, we motored to a bridge with a distinct shadow line. Shortly, I got a solid bite. The big fish jumped once and headed into the shadows under the bridge. My line went limp. I reeled up to discover my 12-pound class tippet was trashed, obviously by the barnacle-encrusted, concrete bridge abutment.
“Let me show you something, Mike,” he said, and handed me his 10-weight rod. Same clear line, but his leader was a single strand of 50-pound-test mono, tied to his streamer.
“That’s a homeboy leader, brother!” he laughed. “Now let’s loop one on your line and catch you a real snook!”
This article was featured in the June 2024 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .
