I agree that butt diameter is important. If you buy a certain weight
tapered leaders, they will all have the same butt diameter regardless what
fly line you are going to tie them to. The butt of the leader should have
about the same flexibility, sometimes the same diameter, as the line you are
going to attach them to. You can only do this by tying your own.

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"Jarmo Hurri" wrote in message
...

Randy I usually just buy the prepackaged leaders but was wondering
Randy what if any, are the advantages / disadvantages of "rolling
Randy your own" leaders?

Initially I used leaders made of two sections of mono, connected to
each other with loop-to-loop connections.

When I started using "gracefully thinning" leaders, I tied them myself
from the very beginning. I've never bought a ready-made tapered
leader. The original reason was the idea of using different formulas
for different tasks. I guess it's still true to some degree, but the
number of different formulas that I use has decreased somewhat since
the beginning. One of the main reasons for tying the leaders myself
now is the ability to use different diameters in the butt section of
the leader for 2wt-6wt lines.

I now tie
- basic 9' leaders with .21 butt section for my 6wt
- basic 9' leaders with .19 butt section for my 4wt
- delicate 12' dry fly leaders with .19 butt section for the 4wt
- 5'-7.5' small-stream leaders with .19 butt section for my 3wt (with
which I use a 4wt line for close-up fishing)
- 8' basic leaders with .17 butt section for my 2wt
- 12' delicate dry fly leaders with .17 butt section for the 2wt

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Jarmo Hurri

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