Furled Leaders Revisited

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

Furled leaders still suck. If you let your Sneaky Pete
sit on the water for any time at all the leader sinks
so that the only things floating are the fly and the end
of the flyline. Lifting the fly off the water creates a
huge ruckus, enough to scare off any fish for miles
around.

I see your problem. You're using the ones made from mono. I made
up a couple of them when I was first trying out furled leaders, and they
weren't much of an improvement over regular mono tapered leaders. (They
tended to coil up almost as much as mono, and as you noted, they don't
float well.)

I make mine up from Unithread (6/0 for most trout fishihg, and 8/0
if I want a really fine one). I then treat them with Mucilin before
using them. The result is a truly supple leader that floats just fine
and doesn't spray.

And I definitely like the tippet rings. I've been using them on
most of my leaders, furled or not.

Having said all that, I don't think furled leaders are the be-all
and end-all, but I do like the way they work for delicate presentations.
(For bass fishing I usually just use a 3X tapered leader.)

Back to good old Orvis SuperStrong tapered leaders
for me.

Personally, I like the Maxima tapered leaders. SS have too much memory.


Chuck Vance