Ken is pretty much spot on here with his recommendations.--

Leader length has more to do with conditions than rod length.

Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA, USA

Web site: www.kiene.com


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
.. .
Bob La Londe wrote:
One refference I read seemed to indicate that they think leaders should
be apx 1.5 X Rod Length. Seems awfully long to me. When I started
shopping on-lien for fly stuff I noticed that tapered leaders seem to be
available in 7.5 to 8.5 in large quantities in many different weights,
but other lengths are fewer. I have a couple of my 8' rods rigged now
with 8' leaders and they seem to manage well. Am I shorting myself, but
not hunting down longer leaders?

Match leaders and tippet to whatever you're tossing.
If you're tossing big wind-eating bass bugs 6-7 ft.
of leader works well, if you're tossing size 24 dry
flies to picky fish you may want up to 12-15 ft.

Those are the freshwater extremes, most leaders are
betwixt and between the extremes.

For normal trout fishing I buy 7.5' 3X factory tapered
leaders and build from there. I'll add 18" of 4X to make
a 9' 4X or a combination of 4X and 5X to make longer
leaders. I rarely go smaller than 5X.

On the bass side I take the same 7.5' 3X tapered leader
and cut it back if necessary to toss really heavy stuff
and then add 3X back to it when I need the full 7.5' to
toss lighter poppers.

The main thing is, match the leader and the tippet to
the fly more than the fly rod.

--
Ken Fortenberry