Larry L wrote:

laid up for a week now by a couple surgeries, I've been browsing and ran
across ads for "furled" leaders

OF COURSE, the ads promise these will change my life, and guarantee I make
100% accurate casts, truly brilliant presentations, EVERY time g

I tried "braided" leaders many years ago and didn't find them worth the $
and hassle,

... are "furled" leaders just another name for the same thing?

.... care to relate any "furling" experiences you may have?

Take this with the requisite amount of salt, as I'm a relative
newbie compared to most here.

OK, I like making things that are a part of my hobbies (tying lies,
making my own handtools, etc.), so I decided to give furled leaders a
try. I followed Mike McGuire's excellent instructions
(http://www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/T...ed_leader.html)
and made up a few of various sizes and colors to test.

Mine were made of Unithread (8/0 for the ones for my 3-wt. and 6/0
for the 5-wt.), and treated with various sorts of concoctions to keep
them from absorbing too much water and throwing too much spray. (That's
what ROFFians had mentioned as their biggest problem.)

I've done very limited testing with them due to floods, other
responsibilities, etc., but I was impressed with how nicely and
delicately they laid out. I was impressed enough that I bought some of
those little "tippet rings" to use to attach tippet to them.

I plan to give them a thorough test in the next month or so, once I
have some spare time to get on the water.

I also made a few out of mono and I was singularly unimpressed by
those. They seemed to display the worst characteristics of mono leaders
with no advantages that I could tell.

So the thread furled leaders may still prove to be part of my normal
fishing accessories. Time will tell. Still the exercise was fun, no
matter what.


Chuck Vance