leaders - buy or diy

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CheeseburgerFly
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Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:40 pm

leaders - buy or diy

Post by CheeseburgerFly » Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:28 pm

Was just curious how many guys buy vs. make their leaders.

NJpatbee
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by NJpatbee » Wed Apr 24, 2019 5:10 pm

I tied my own for the first seven or eight years of fly fishing. But afterwords I did cave-in to the ease of buying already tapered readers. If I want a really short leader for a nymphimg I will tie my own still. I still have tons of formulas online somewhere.

Dave B.
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by Dave B. » Wed Apr 24, 2019 7:57 pm

Personally I'm a big fan of the fine braided tapered leaders. For me they just simply turn over much more nicely.

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cappy
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by cappy » Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:58 am

Four or seven foot tapered furled leader with tippet ring, two to four foot tippet, situation dependent.
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Rusty Spinner
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by Rusty Spinner » Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:27 am

I just buy tapered leaders. It's cheaper in the end run unless you're someone tangling them often and needing to tie on new ones often. Buying spools of various line diameters to make your own means those spools often sit around for years as you use them, and mono breaks down over time. Just what I do, but I know lots of others that tie their own. Plus every blood knot is one more place for algae to cling to on your drifts. A tapered leader only has one knot where you tie in your tippet material, not several knots up the line.
"A sinking fly is closer to Hell" - Unknown

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Twism86
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by Twism86 » Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:56 pm

For nymphing I make my own as it's just a few different diameter monos and some tippet rings for each replacement. For dry flies I use a tapered leader that I buy. So I'm 50/50.
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Bob J
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by Bob J » Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:37 am

Buy tapered knot less for trout, use straight shot of 8-14 lb test for LM bass, build simple 3 piece leaders for salt.

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Drossi
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Re: leaders - buy or diy

Post by Drossi » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:23 pm

I mostly use furled leaders and add 24"-36" of tippet depending on the situation. Otherwise I go knotless and add tippet as needed.
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