Twisted Leader aka bugleash

[NoleFear]

I've been using a twisted leader for the past couple of years and thought I'd share. These leaders work really well and have enough power to turn over a wet sock. It’s fairly easy to make and you only end up with one knot in a tapered leader. The trick in twisting the initial strand of mono is to use surgical gloves which helps grip the mono. For an 8wt I usually use 10lb mono. The following formula seems to work best from my experimenting.

Length of total leader + Butt section length x 2 + 1
ie.... 7' Leader with 4' butt section
7 + 4 = 11'
11 * 2 = 22’ + 1 = 23’ of mono

[Chalk]

Furled leaders have been on my list of things to try....I'll give this one a try

[noleflyfisher]

Thanks for sharing NF. I'm going to try this on my nine which is reserved for gnarly hair and foam flies.

[Chalk]

NF is this thing twisted tight? First attempt is not looking too sporty....It keeps wanting to untwist and does...anymore tips?

[Chalk]

Found this - http://castflys.net/Documents/Twisted.pdf

[NoleFear]

Kink the mid point and begin 'rolling' the line with your fingers (both tag ends in the same direction) about a few inches from the mid point feeding line into the twist. The tough part is controlling the twist that develops in the tag ends, you just have to keep working it out. I sit in a chair with the tag ends on oppsite sides of my legs and the twist in the middle, The twist is much like a twist that a spinning reel puts in lines, it should stay twisted. It takes me about 15-20 minutes to construct one but it will last a number of years. I've tried the drill route which did not work. The initial twist is a pain but when you double it to make the butt section it twist up with no problem. pm me your address and I'll send you a few. I've got a few 8' ones with a 5' butt and few 7's with a 4' butt.... once you start using them it's hard to go back to anything else, there is no memory, wind knots, etc. They turn even the biggest flies over with ease. Theres a trick I do to the end loops that double them up as I had a few of my earlier ones break at that point.

[Chalk]

I think I"m over twisting it...I'll keep playing with it...I did another last night with the drill and it was better, but I had to let it unroll while under tension, a feat in it's self .

Is this the end dressing you were talking about - http://www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/Tack ... eader.html

[Chalk]

I gave into mechanical devices....I had been wanting to build a furled leader jig and after last night...I thought I would give it a whirl today...Hardest part was building the jig(not that hard really) and understanding the instructions (I had to use three websites to cypher the cryptic instructions )

I spun up 4 furled leaders today (3 with 6 lbs and 1 with 8 lb)....It's pretty dang easy once you cypher the directions...my leaders aren't perfect but close enough for me....they throw a nice tight loop with my arm too

If anyone is interested I could explain it in more depth.

[birddog]

I'm interested....but just tye me up a couple...we can talk about it later.

[NoleFear]

Chalk... the link you posted is how i finish the loops, it doubles it and keeps if from breaking.
After going back and looking at the diagram I posted it's a little misleading, the two 'tag ends' never cross each other. In other words the rolling of the tags create a twist.... if that makes sense. I'm glad you figured out the furled leader jig it always looked too involved to me, maybe I just needed to look at 20 sets of instructions to figure it out

[Chalk]

Is this the process Mike? - http://www.excellentadventures.org/Exce ... leader.htm

Someone was asking about furled leaders on FS, wanted to know if you could do it without a board, found the link. Seems simple enough

[Good Times]

Just finished my first furled leader tonight. Did it by hand using 10# Fenwick mono. Got the first one twisted up nicely but then managed to screw the whole thing up trying to double the loop in the end of the leader. That one went in the trash.


Twisted a second one. Only took about half as long. I guess I got the hang of it. I practiced the end loop on a short piece of twisted mono before ruining another leader. Worked like a charm. I used some krazy glue on the base of the end loop (tippet end) and then some more on the end of the line when I finished up the butt section. Looks good so far. I'm hoping the glue holds up. We'll find out. I sure like the feel of the leader. I was thinking about doing one in three sections instead of two. Chalk or NoleFear, have you tried that?

[Chalk]

I haven't done it by hand....I use a board and a drill to make mine...The ones I do on the board is a three step taper.