Newbie leader question

I've been fishing RIO Knotless Tapered Leaders in 7.5' 5x size, all
season with good results. Recently I purchased the same RIO Knotless
Tapered Leaders but in 9' 7x size. These leaders were a nightmare to
fish. They had a real bad "memory" problem and coiled up no matter
what I did to get them straight. Why would these have the problem
when the 7.6 5x were fine?

Is there anything I can do to get these leaders to straighten out and
"lose" the memory?

Is there a better brand/model of tapered leaders that I should be
buying instead of Rio?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I was really
surprised by this.

mdk77 wrote:
I've been fishing RIO Knotless Tapered Leaders in 7.5' 5x size, all
season with good results. Recently I purchased the same RIO Knotless
Tapered Leaders but in 9' 7x size. These leaders were a nightmare to
fish. They had a real bad "memory" problem and coiled up no matter
what I did to get them straight. Why would these have the problem
when the 7.6 5x were fine?

Is there anything I can do to get these leaders to straighten out and
"lose" the memory?

Is there a better brand/model of tapered leaders that I should be
buying instead of Rio?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I was really
surprised by this.

I don't know why the 9' 7x leaders would have that memory problem, but I
suggest that you not use them because the uses for 7x tippet are few and
far between. You can always tie on 7x tippet when you feel you need it.

I primarily use Rio 7.5' leaders, but I usually buy them in 3x size and
then tie on smaller tippet (typically 5x). I also carry a couple of Rio
9' leaders (and extra tippet) for those occasions when I need a longer
leader, and I've never noticed a memory problem with them.

BTW, some people in ROFF think that 7x is NEVER useful. I disagree. I
use it when fishing the Trico hatch at Silver Creek (and pretty much
only then). I've landed sizable fish on 7x, and lost few, too.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

rw wrote:

I don't know why the 9' 7x leaders would have that memory problem, but I
suggest that you not use them because the uses for 7x tippet are few and
far between. You can always tie on 7x tippet when you feel you need it.

I primarily use Rio 7.5' leaders, but I usually buy them in 3x size and
then tie on smaller tippet (typically 5x). I also carry a couple of Rio
9' leaders (and extra tippet) for those occasions when I need a longer
leader, and I've never noticed a memory problem with them.

BTW, some people in ROFF think that 7x is NEVER useful. I disagree. I
use it when fishing the Trico hatch at Silver Creek (and pretty much
only then). I've landed sizable fish on 7x, and lost few, too.


This is good advice. I also use 7.5' 3X leaders, and tie tippet on as I
need. I rarely go below 5X in the waters I fish. Only time I deviate
from this is when I fish streamers for bull trout, then I use a larger
diameter leader.

Tim Lysyk

mdk77 wrote:

I've been fishing RIO Knotless Tapered Leaders in 7.5' 5x size, all
season with good results. Recently I purchased the same RIO Knotless
Tapered Leaders but in 9' 7x size. These leaders were a nightmare to
fish. They had a real bad "memory" problem and coiled up no matter
what I did to get them straight. Why would these have the problem
when the 7.6 5x were fine?

Is there anything I can do to get these leaders to straighten out and
"lose" the memory?

Is there a better brand/model of tapered leaders that I should be
buying instead of Rio?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I was really
surprised by this.


it's the 7x. i use the rio 9' 4x...then cut and tie tippet as necessary
for conditions. no memory problems...except 6x tippet will kink and coil
easily. though i've fiddled with 7x, 6x is usually as low as i go. most
often use 5x...except on places like the madison, where 4x is necessary
to bully the big fish out of the fast waters.

jeff

Interesting! I rarely use anything under 9', of course this is
dependent upon the length of rod you use, what you fish for, how you
are fishing and where you fish. For low and big water I switch to 12'
and have even used 15' leaders.

I believe Rio leaders are of the softer variety if leaders. I do not
know if this fact has anything to do with the memory problem. I do know
that in the finer tippet sizes, the softer leader materials kink badly
when using certain knots to tie the fly to the tippet. It's annoying.
( I've switched to the Davy's Knot, which helps some.) I also know that
as leader material gets older, it does have this problem. Is it possible
these leaders were purchased " On Sale" because they'd been sitting
around for too long? It could be because, as rw said, they don't get
used very much by anglers, and they'd been on the shelf too long.

I build my own leaders using Maxima leader material. This is stiffer
than Rio and comes in different tints of color. I then vary the tippet
material for different circumstances. I don't have a lot of problems
straightening these leaders out by simply stretching them a bit.

Hope this helps,
Mark


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Tim Lysyk wrote:
rw wrote:
...
I primarily use Rio 7.5' leaders, but I usually buy them in 3x size
and then tie on smaller tippet (typically 5x). ...

This is good advice. I also use 7.5' 3X leaders, and tie tippet on as I
need. I rarely go below 5X in the waters I fish. ...

Ditto for me. I buy 7.5' 3X exclusively for everything except
muskie & pike, the only difference is I like Orvis SuperStrong.

--
Ken Fortenberry

What are you fishing for using 7x leader?

Like those who posted before me, I would go to a 4x or 5x leader and
then go to a smaller tippet. There is little water I have fished that
requires a 7x tippet.

Another neat little trick is to go to fluoro carbon tippet. A 5x fc
is about the same as a 6x nylon as far as strength and visibility in
the water. I carry nothing but 5x in fc tippet. I use Orvis super
strong leaders and tippet. I have used RIO a couple of times when I
left home on a trip and found myself short of leaders. No problems
with 5x RIOs.

Dave

On Nov 10, 10:46 am, mdk77 wrote:
I've been fishing RIO Knotless Tapered Leaders in 7.5' 5x size, all
season with good results. Recently I purchased the same RIO Knotless
Tapered Leaders but in 9' 7x size. These leaders were a nightmare to
fish. They had a real bad "memory" problem and coiled up no matter
what I did to get them straight. Why would these have the problem
when the 7.6 5x were fine?

Is there anything I can do to get these leaders to straighten out and
"lose" the memory?

Is there a better brand/model of tapered leaders that I should be
buying instead of Rio?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I was really
surprised by this.

I pretty much agree with most of the above posts. I use Climax
knotless leaders, and purchase them in 7-1/2 ' 3X and 9' 4X. My home
river features tiny midges down to a #30 and BWO's down to #26 in the
late summer and fall, so by this time of year, I'm down to 7X and
sometimes even 8X tippets, but I agree that for most fishing, 5X or 6X
is about as light as you need to go. Lots of opinions regarding
flourocarbon. I know some people swear by it, but I've been fishing
side by side with some pretty good midge fishermen who are using
flouro, and more than holding my own with mono. I think it's a
confidence thing....if you think the flouro gives you an advantage,
then you fish it with more confidence, and your success rate increases.

On 10-Nov-2007, George Adams wrote:

Lots of opinions regarding

On 10-Nov-2007, George Adams wrote:


late summer and fall, so by this time of year, I'm down to 7X and
sometimes even 8X tippets, but I agree that for most fishing, 5X or 6X
is about as light as you need to go. Lots of opinions regarding
flourocarbon. I know some people swear by it, but I've been fishing
side by side with some pretty good midge fishermen who are using
flouro, and more than holding my own with mono. I think it's a
confidence thing....if you think the flouro gives you an advantage,
then you fish it with more confidence, and your success rate increases.


You may be right about confidence
I prefer fleurocarbon as I thinks it curls far less
At least it is what I think
and I do fish it well.

I can no longer see to tie # 7 tippet anymore - barely tie on wiith #6
Unlees I take along one of my younger minions to tie things on for me
5 or 6 is as low as I go and I do a lot or C&R
I dont really want to play a fish too long unless it is big and I am going
to kill it

With large rainbows that we will eat I would use a #4
With salmon a #2

If a fish breaks off thats OK also.

Fishing is fun Catching is also but it is not life n death for me
I just like being in places where fish hang around - better than cities

Fred

On Nov 10, 11:52 am, Dave LaCourse wrote:
What are you fishing for using 7x leader?

Like those who posted before me, I would go to a 4x or 5x leader and
then go to a smaller tippet. There is little water I have fished that
requires a 7x tippet.

Another neat little trick is to go to fluoro carbon tippet. A 5x fc
is about the same as a 6x nylon as far as strength and visibility in
the water. I carry nothing but 5x in fc tippet. I use Orvis super
strong leaders and tippet. I have used RIO a couple of times when I
left home on a trip and found myself short of leaders. No problems
with 5x RIOs.

Dave

I'm going to try fishing at Taneycomo, Mo. next year and that was
recommended. I'd never fished anything smaller than 5x and I also
fish 7.5' leaders, so the 9' was alien to me also. I thought I'd
"practice" a bit around home here with the new leaders. I caught
white bass on it locally. But the leaders had coil-memory that I
couldn't straighten out. I hated fishing with them. The 9' 7x
leaders with additional tippet seemed like fishing with spiderweb, and
on windy days. I'm fishing a 4wt DT line with this setup.

Maybe the leaders had been "on the shelf" a long time before I bought
them. I noticed that the rated "pound test" on the leader package was
less than what Rio now sells. So maybe these leaders were sitting for
years before they were purchased, and that was why they had the
permanent coil problems. It was like fishing with a "slinky" toy that
I had as a kid.

Anyway, I'm going back to my old leaders. I'll take the advice on
ROFF and go with fine tippet, but not the long 7x leaders.