knotted leaders

I make my own for bass and warm water fishing. I have not found a leader
that will turn my larger flys over as well yet. Granted I have not tried
some of the more recent store bought ones. For Tout, it's store bought
knotless tapered all the way.


wrote in message
ups.com...

egildone wrote:
I have been looking at making hand made leaders and wonder how many roff
members make handmade knotted leaders and are they worth the effort
that it takes to make them?

Ed

I think that learning to make custom leaders is an important knowledge
to have. Understanding how to repair a tapered leader is also
important. If the leader breaks off to high up on the leader it is nice
to be able to quickly repair it. I used to tie my custom leaders using
a blood knot. Now I use a double nail knot thanks to The Winder ( it
is a knot tying tool), other guys just use the surgeons knot to repair
or build leaders. I wrote a free ebook that is on my site for anyone
to download it has a basic custom leader chart in it, and illistrations
on how to tie the basic knots used in flyfishing www.willowreed.com

Miles.

wrote:
egildone wrote:
I have been looking at making hand made leaders and wonder how many roff
members make handmade knotted leaders and are they worth the effort
that it takes to make them?

Ed

I think that learning to make custom leaders is an important knowledge
to have. Understanding how to repair a tapered leader is also
important. If the leader breaks off to high up on the leader it is nice
to be able to quickly repair it. I used to tie my custom leaders using
a blood knot. Now I use a double nail knot thanks to The Winder ( it
is a knot tying tool), other guys just use the surgeons knot to repair
or build leaders. I wrote a free ebook that is on my site for anyone
to download it has a basic custom leader chart in it, and illistrations
on how to tie the basic knots used in flyfishing www.willowreed.com

Miles.

What the hell is a "snail hook"? I click on the link and nothing
happens. What the hell is a "cinch knot"? I click on the link and
nothing happens.

Wolfgang
tolkien was right.....trolls are stupid.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
oups.com...

I think that learning to make custom leaders is an important knowledge
to have. Understanding how to repair a tapered leader is also
important. If the leader breaks off to high up on the leader it is nice
to be able to quickly repair it. I used to tie my custom leaders using
a blood knot. Now I use a double nail knot thanks to The Winder ( it
is a knot tying tool), other guys just use the surgeons knot to repair
or build leaders. I wrote a free ebook that is on my site for anyone
to download it has a basic custom leader chart in it, and illistrations
on how to tie the basic knots used in flyfishing www.willowreed.com

Miles.

What the hell is a "snail hook"? I click on the link and nothing
happens. What the hell is a "cinch knot"? I click on the link and
nothing happens.

Wolfgang
tolkien was right.....trolls are stupid.

Yep, just like you to try and ruin it for the rest of us! We all know,
exactly, what a snail hook is. It's a hook upon which to affix snails, you
twit! Everyone knows that you can't catch flyz without snails. or are you
just trying to be humorous? And a "cinch" knot, well obviously, it's a knot
tied in a manner other than difficultly!

Why do you persist in trying to teardown would-be entrapmenteurs! Can you,
for just once in your life, come down from your yellow perch and act like a
reel man?

Op --and for havens sack, learn how to spell *token* and stop paraphrasing
them!

Opus wrote:

Yep, just like you to try and ruin it for the rest of us! We all know,
exactly, what a snail hook is. It's a hook upon which to affix snails, you
twit! Everyone knows that you can't catch flyz without snails. or are you
just trying to be humorous? And a "cinch" knot, well obviously, it's a knot
tied in a manner other than difficultly!

Why do you persist in trying to teardown would-be entrapmenteurs! Can you,
for just once in your life, come down from your yellow perch and act like a
reel man?

Op --and for havens sack, learn how to spell *token* and stop paraphrasing
them!

Hm.......

Good point.

Wolfgang
who supposes this would be about as good a time as any for one of those
whatyacallit......new year's revolution thingies.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
ups.com...

Opus wrote:

Yep, just like you to try and ruin it for the rest of us! We all know,
exactly, what a snail hook is. It's a hook upon which to affix snails,
you
twit! Everyone knows that you can't catch flyz without snails. or are
you
just trying to be humorous? And a "cinch" knot, well obviously, it's a
knot
tied in a manner other than difficultly!

Why do you persist in trying to teardown would-be entrapmenteurs! Can
you,
for just once in your life, come down from your yellow perch and act like
a
reel man?

Op --and for havens sack, learn how to spell *token* and stop
paraphrasing
them!

Hm.......

Good point.

Wolfgang
who supposes this would be about as good a time as any for one of those
whatyacallit......new year's revolution thingies.

You're so right! I'll quit smoking tomorrow.

Op

RalphH wrote:
after all these years, that's still priceless!

--
Some of my angling snaps:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/gallery/vi...bumName=RalphH
wrote in message
ups.com...

egildone wrote:
I have been looking at making hand made leaders and wonder how many roff
members make handmade knotted leaders and are they worth the effort
that it takes to make them?

Ed

I hand whittle mine from 9 ft long sections of solid nylon bar stock.

Your pal,

Halfordian Golfer


Happy New Year Ralph.

Sincerely,

Halfordian Golfer

OBROFF: About the only thing I can add to this thread is that, after
some fishing, the wind (not my casting) and my frantic leader repairs
'look' like I hand tie my leaders. Heading out is the same regardless,
at least 1 or 2 spare tapered leaders and good fresh tippet material in
sizes from 6 or 7 down to 2 or 3X. Sometimes the knots will snag moss
that would otherwise gook the fly, which I guess is a benefit. Happy
New Year folks. TBone

"Opus" wrote in
:

So, for my purposes the blood-knot is a straighter knot and the
strength is sufficient to catch the itty-bitty trout I fish for.

I'll second you on this. The surgeon's knot is an OK tippet to leader
connection, but if you use it to tie a knotted leader it lacks appeal for
me because of it's crookedness.


--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Opus" wrote in
:

So, for my purposes the blood-knot is a straighter knot and the
strength is sufficient to catch the itty-bitty trout I fish for.

I'll second you on this. The surgeon's knot is an OK tippet to leader
connection, but if you use it to tie a knotted leader it lacks appeal for
me because of it's crookedness.

This matter of the crookedness of the surgeon's knot is a recurrent theme
here. I've always had a hard time understanding this because mine don't
come out this way. I thought about it and did a bit of research the last
time it came around, and I think I've figured out what the problem is.
People tie this knot in the wrong way.....or, to be more precise about it,
in the wrong place.

The crookedness referred to looks, when the leader is held horizontally,
very much like a child's drawing of the wavy surface of a lake; a series of
shallow arcs (belly down, ends up) connected at the ends.....imagine a
series of left parentheses " ( " turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise and
butted together. It happens like this:

Lay the leader down on a flat surface with the butt end to the left. Now,
take the tippet and set it down next to the leader so that the right end is
even with that of the leader and the rest runs out to the left, parallel to
the leader. In essence, you now have two lines running parallel and next to
one another, sort of like a model of railroad tracks. If you now tie an
overhand knot in the ends of both strands held together you will get exactly
the result described above (assuming you do this with multiple sections).
Remember that the surgeon's knot is simply an overhand knot with multiple
turns rather than just one.

Sitting on the bank of some small stream in Pennsylvania a few years ago,
waiting for the evening hatch with Tom Littleton, I happened to glance at
his leader. Choppy waves. Tom's leader was built as described above.

Here's how it should have been done:

Start as before. After setting the tippet down, pull it toward the right
until there is only about a six inch overlap between the two strands (leader
and tippet). Thus, assuming a 30 inch tippet, tippet and leader overlap for
6 inches and the tippet continues to extend 24 inches to the right of the
end of the leader. Now, holding both strands together, make a loop near the
left end of the overlap, and proceed with a multi-turn overhand knot, being
sure to draw both the end of the leader and all 24 inches of the tippet
through the loop on each turn. Moisten the knot and pull tight, making sure
to hold both strands on each end of the knot. You will note that the tag
ends of each of the strands come out at the opposite ends of the knot and
run parallel to the running lines.....NOT perpendicular, as is often
described when the knot is done wrong. In fact, since the tag ends come out
of the ends of the knot, it is superior to the blood knot (which it very
much resembles on cursory inspection) because the tag ends of the latter DO
come out perpendicular from the center of the knot. If the ends are snipped
close and carefully, the is virtually nothing left to snag on guides or
debris. Moreover, each end is held tightly under several wraps, whereas in
the blood knot there is only a single strand holding each end in place and
close clipping can make the whole thing come apart fairly easily.

You'll know you've done it right if the leader is straight.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...


...You'll know you've done it right if the leader is straight.

Actually, you'll know you've done it right before you even tighten the knot.
Done correctly, the end of the tippet that you intend to attach the fly to
will be pointed to the right.....away from the butt end of the leader. Done
wrong, it will point back to where it came from......back to the leader and
fly line.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
This matter of the crookedness of the surgeon's knot is a recurrent theme
here. I've always had a hard time understanding this because mine don't
come out this way. treatise sniped

I've also never had a problem with crookedness. In a shorter explanation, I
believe it's simple because I'm very careful to pull the knot tight evenly.
With all that loose mono in your hands, it's tempting to just pull it all
together & fish, but I watch each loop as it goes together & tug as
necessary to adjust each one so that both pieces tighen together exactly the
same (as can practically be achieved). I always get a nice symmetrical knot
& straight leader.

Joe F.