I've been tying my own leaders for a long long time. For my 15'
dryfly leaders, I tie my butt and middle sections with the
dark-colored Maxima, beginning with 30lb. I don't know why I use
Maxima except that once upon a time, I must have heard that it was
stiff. I finish off all my leaders with Dai-Riki, because I must heard
that it was soft about the same time. I don't make any changes from
steelhead to trout to searuns to rivers or lakes. Life is complicated
enough.
I tie 3-turn blood knots for the heavy stuff, then doing 4-turns
as I get lighter. Before I switch to the Dai-Riki 0x, my last Maxima
section, 8 lb., is the light colored Maxima, so I know where my
Dai-Riki begins. I have only changed the 6x, 5x, 4x, 3x, 2x sections
in the last couple years (the heavier sections being much less than
the tippet sections, of course). The Maxima butt and middles will be
on for about as long as the flylines will last. The sinkline leaders
are much, much shorter and stouter, of course.
I tried flourocarbon once as tippet and found that because it
didn't stretch, I broke off a lot of fish on the strike. Since I use
soft rods for my dry fly work, the addition of flourocarbon seemed
counterproductive.
I rarely have leader failure, so I don't get too much into leader
strengths. My leaders ain't broke so I don't fix 'em. Besides, long
rods that flex are why we are able to use fine leaders.
Leland.
I've listened to many knowledgable anglers expound on the various merits of tapered leaders, and I've heard just as many extol the virtues of hand-built or knotted leaders. I'd be interested to see what preference there is in this group.
Also, there are so many different brands of tippet available, what is your favorite brand and model, and why? For example, for my dry fly fishing, I very much like Rio Powerflex tippet. It is not a stiff or a limp, but something in between, and I've had good luck being able to straighten the coils out of it. Also, it seems to have one of the high breakage strengths relative to diameter when compared to the other mono tippet options.
I recall reading an article several years ago about the different tippets; their knot strength, tensile strength, "true" diameters, resistance to abrasion/knicks, etc. I recall the author commenting that many anglers, particularly those fishing for anadramous species, like Maxima because of its resistance to abrasion and toughness. He pooh-poohed that perspective, and his test seemed to bear that out. Notice I said "seemed"; I swear Maxima (say, ultragreen) is much more tough than most other lines of an equivalent line weight, and that is not based on a lab test, but on river and use tests. Anway, other perspectives?
And, finally, what about mono vs. fluorocarbon? How do y'all feel about fluorocarbon? I know a couple of guys who LOVE that Rio Fluorflex Plus, but another guy who absolutely hates it with a passion (I think he had a bad batch; broke off a lot of fish with it, and didn't have the same scope of problem with other brand material of the same diameter).
Now, back to work . . .
Richard
