Leland; Thanks a ton....that adds some insight as well. I did a little research on
net and found some more interesting facts. If you want to book mark the page here it
is..http://www.globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/leadercalc/index.html#Why
I copied and pasted a few things from the page here.
There is also a huge spreadsheet with tons of leader formulas you can download. It
rates and discusses the stiffnes of most lines we know of.
Components Of A Leader
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There are three main components of a leader: Butt, Taper (also called mid-section or
graduation), and Tippet. The most common formula basis for the leader is 60% butt, 20%
taper, 20% tippet. Other formulas such as double taper formulas offer 40%,20%,40%, but
for the most part, formulas are derivatives of the 60/20/20 rule.
Butt
According to Charles Ritz in his book "A Fly Fisher�s Life", the diameter of leader
butts should be 60% of the diameter of the end of the fly line. Other formulas
indicate that 75% is the optimum butt diameter, but in either case, a leader butt of
.017" to .022" satisfies most any formula. A leader butt of 60%-75% is quite ample
enough to transmit and disperse casting energy downward to the tippet. Also consider
the stiffness of the butt material. It should approximate the stiffness of the fly
line. Use the Table 1 to guide you in selecting the correct leader butt thickness.
Taper
Again, Ritz reminds us that the ideal is to have the longest forward taper as possible
while still remaining under control during the presentation. He subscribes to the
60/20/20 rule, where the 60% is strength, 20% is taper and the final 20% is terminal
tippet.
Tippet
According to Ritz, suppleness in leader material is only necessary at the tippet,
where, in his opinion, 20 inches is the ideal length.
Other sub-parts of a leader are: Shock Butt, Shock Tippets and Wire Tippets. These
components are geared toward specialty fishing situations like toothy fresh and
saltwater critters. This document will not go into great detail in these areas.
***What the Manufacturers Don�t Tell You
� Stiffness Rating
Manufacturers will tell you the diameter and pound test and maybe even the color, but
they don't tell you a stiffness rating. Mason mono is hard, we all know, and Orvis
SuperStrong is soft, but you couldn't tell by the names or the packages.
A simple method to determine if the stiffness of the leader material matches the
stiffness of your fly line is to bend a section of each in half with your fingers and
"feel" the approximate stiffness of each. You�ll easily be able to feel the difference
in the resistance to the bend. If you use a butt material that is too flimsy, you�ll
experience the "hinge" effect when you cast. The leader will not turn over properly
and hinge where the fly line and leader connection is made. Get over this hurdle and
you�re well on your way to a designing proper leader.
Leader Pound/Test Formula
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While each manufacturer of leader material boasts a different pound test rating, they
all generally are within a predictable range. For example, most 8x tippets are around
1.2 lbs test. Likewise, most 0X tippets approximate 12 lbs test. I�ve developed a
formula to approximate the pound test of the average Monofilament leader material. The
formula is based upon the tippet diameter having a direct relation to the pound test a
tippet can withstand. Specifically, the formula is ((diameter x 1000)2 � 11) +
(diameter x 100). Knowing that this formula is cumbersome to remember, a quick method
formula can replicate similar estimation results. The Quick Formula is: ((diameter x
1000)2 / 10). The formula is compared to a dataset of 15 different leader
monofilaments showing the high test rating, the low test rating and the average test
rating. As you can see by the wide variety of diameter-to-pound/test ratings, there
is no industry standard...or even industry average. The formulas I'!
ve developed try to 'even out' the playing field and fairly estimate with some degree
of reasonableness, pound tests for a given diameter of leader material.
On Fri, 4 Aug 2000 16:45:12 -0700 Leland Miyawaki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I tie my own leaders and have read so many different leader formulas (it's
>all so confusing). Here's what I have been doing that works for me. For my
>butt sections, I use 30 lb. Maxima blood-knotted to 25 lb. (I wouldn't even
>know the diameter of my flyline except that it's bigger). These two
>comprise the butt section with the 30 lb. being twice as long as the 25 lb.
>These two are about half the length of my leader. I usually fish a 15 foot
>leader with the tippet being at least two feet long (I don't think I
>consider it to be part of the overall leader since it varies so much with a
>day of fly changing etc). After I tie the butt onto the flyline, I don't
>change anything more than the tippet and the next two sections. When things
>get to short, I will retie a few sections up. The leader will go like this:
>30lb, 25, 20, 15, 12, 10, 0x, 1x, 2x, 3x etc. (the x's are usually Dairiki
>whose length will determine the final leader length. Before you tie the
>butt onto the flyline you can test the leader by simply casting the leader
>only. It should turn over. For sinking lines, the leader is no more than
>five feet - It makes for a lot of knots and small sections, but then, I
>don't use small tippets.
>
>Hope this helps. There are other formulas that will be posted, that will
>also work. Another thing I found out - is don't worry about exact
>measurements. Just be in the neighorhood.
>
>Leland.
>
>
>
>
>
>>I think this has been answered before. I am starting to tie my own
>>leaders and am curious what others use for thier butt section. As a rule
>>I heard you use or try to use a butt section that is both the same
>>thickness and stiffness as your fly line. Anyone agree or disagree with
>>that?
>>
>>What line manufacturer and weight do you use for your butt sections?
>>Maybe a table or link to another page would be helpfull.
>>
>>
>>Thanks in advance!!!
>>
>>
>>Justin
>>
>>Have you gotten your free email at fishing.com or flyfishing.com? I got
>>mine, come get yours! Visit www.fishing.com or www.flyfishing.com to sign
>>up!
>
>
>
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