Leader linguistics, tippet talk and tips...

...or Casts? What’s the point?

The English language is a clever thing. It absorbs words and expressions from any source if they are useful. English in the world of dry fly fishing is no exception. The old names we English used to use for naming the connection between the fly line and the fly were “Cast” and “Point”. Today, almost without exception, the American names are used. We now refer to the “Cast” as the “Leader” (the bit attached to the fly line) and the “Point” as the “Tippet” (the bit on the end that attaches to the fly). This is a most satisfactory arrangement with no ambiguity and a greatly reduced potential for confusion.

It will certainly help when explaining some of the ways you can fiddle about with the connection between your fly line and the fly...

Perennial questions about leaders on the fora and at winter club night talks include:

How long should my leader be? How long should my tippet be?
What’s the best way to tie it onto my fly line?
Shop bought tapered leader or build it myself? What knot? What material?
Best way to attach with a braided loop?
Furled leaders are best, right?

Before any of these questions are answered, let’s get the ground rules clear. All these answers below relate entirely to dry fly fishing in moving water courses. Not still waters and not anything but dry fly fishing!

Q. How long should my leader be? How long should my tippet be?
It depends!

There is no correct length to suit all conditions. However, a well constructed leader is remarkably easy to manage in lengths that many folk would say were “long”. A short leader is anything less than the length of the rod you are using. On some windy days you may be forced to use such a leader to have any chance of banging it out into the teeth of the gale. In normal conditions a leader that keeps the fly well away from the fly line is best. This usually means a leader between 12 and 20 feet long, including the tippet. This is only a guide. You may be fishing in conditions that force you to use a much shorter leader. On some windy days, when logic usually dictates a shorter leader, you may be better off with a much, much longer leader that simply fails to turn over in the headwinds! Certain fish that, on normal days, are impregnable can be tricked into making that mistake you are hoping for.

Click on the drawing to enlarge it

Can you work out what is happening here? What would happen with a cast to the fish using a “normal” leader that turned over perfectly?

Q. What’s the best way to tie it onto my fly line?

This causes all sorts of friendly argument on the fora. Remember these answers are specifically for DRY FLY fishing. We are not concerned with quickly taking off the leader to change from dry to wet with a team of droppers. We also need to be able to go from short to very long and still be able to manage the whole contraption with aplomb!

The ideal method has to be strong, slip through the guides easily without jamming (a 20 foot leader will force this upon you) and it must not cause a “hinge” effect through being less stiff than the fly line and the leader. A hinge renders delicate presentation almost unachievable!

This is why I use the needle knot to attach the (sacrificial) butt, which I make out of a yard or so of 22lbs nylon monofilament. This is thick enough to make a very shallow step down in taper from the end of the fly line and stiff enough to ensure no hinge effect when the leader turns over.

Q. Shop bought tapered leader or build it myself? What knot? What material?
You will be dry fly fishing in a variety of conditions. You will be changing the tippet from thick to thin to very thin to suit the size of fly you need for the circumstances at the time. The widest range of choices is what will meet your requirements best. So my recommendation is to build leaders yourself, using the best knots and the best materials.



For example:
Tie on the 22lbs BS nylon monofilament butt using the needle knot as above.  It should look like this when tightened.

Use the four turn water knot to tie on one or two yards of 15lbs BS nylon monofilament.
Tie on a tippet of a yard or two of 3x co-polymer monofilament.
That’s made a leader of from three to five yards suitable for attaching big flies.
For smaller flies, halve the 3x and tie on a two yard tippet of co-polymer of 5x, 6x or 7x.

You now have a basis on which to experiment. You are also able to simply rebuild the leader if you have a tangling incident that is beyond reasonable hope of restoration!

Q. Best way to attach with a braided loop?
Don’t! They hinge the link between fly line and leader. They come off at very inopportune moments. They slurp the water about when you pick the line off the water to recast. They throw a lot of spray on the surface when you false cast with them.

Q. Furled leaders are best, right?
Well they are lovely looking things and they turn over beautifully but they make the same disturbances that braided loops make. It is possible to make them land gently but it is harder to do so than with leaders built of monofilament lengths.

The simple method above has proved to be best. It gives you all the flexibility you will ever need. You become self sufficient. All you need are a few spools of monofilament and knowledge of the knots.

What say you?

Regular Rod

POSTSCRIPT - KNOT AGAIN!!!

There is a stronger knot for joining two lengths of line together than the four-turn water knot.  It is the figure of eight knot and I am indebted to Steve Kale for his persistent defence of this knot made me re-examine it and test it against the four-turn water knot.  He was right.  It is stronger and I will be using it from now on.  This blogpost and video shows you how to tie the figure-of-eight knot to join two pieces of line together.  If you prefer the four-turn water knot that is fine but there is a stronger knot and that is the "figure-of-eight" knot.