straightening leaders

"rw" wrote in message
m...
My philosophy is empiricism and utilitarianism. IOW, check it out and
whatever works.

To that end, I searched out the gnarliest old Rio leader I could find,
took it from the package, and immersed it in hot (not boiling) water. It
straightened out just fine, tippet and all. It didn't seem to be weakened
in any obvious way, although I didn't actually test the breaking point.

I'm not likely to do this as a matter of habit because I can straighten
them streamside with my fingers or with a piece of leather. But it worked.
It worked just fine.

I know that Connor can be irritating with his didactic, know-it-all
attitude, but this **** is ridiculous.

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

rw:

long time lurker who avoids most of the bs around here, but I also tried
this technique so here's a few points.

1. I have straightened leaders for years with a leather/rubber gadget on my
vest. Never used it on anything finer that 2X or 3X. Straighten those
sections with my fingers. Always worked well
2. The day I put my leader in hot water, I was in a cabin streamside and
was waiting for it to warm up before going fishing, so I was killing time
3. Dropped the leader in non boiling water (approx 1 1/2 minutes in a
microwave) and hung it up between 2 nails on the porch. Used a Rio 7 1/2
foot down to 3X leader. Did not heat the tippet.

The leader (IMO) performed better that day. I caught several fish over 20"
and did not break anyone off, although again, I did not heat the tippets.
The leader is limper and has less memory when straightened in this manner.
I hazard to say it "fished straighter" than when hand straightened.

So, if you've got time and don't mind trying something different, you may
find this is a worthwhile exercise. YMMV

Patrick

PRM wrote:
"rw" wrote in message
m...

My philosophy is empiricism and utilitarianism. IOW, check it out and
whatever works.

To that end, I searched out the gnarliest old Rio leader I could find,
took it from the package, and immersed it in hot (not boiling) water. It
straightened out just fine, tippet and all. It didn't seem to be weakened
in any obvious way, although I didn't actually test the breaking point.

I'm not likely to do this as a matter of habit because I can straighten
them streamside with my fingers or with a piece of leather. But it worked.
It worked just fine.

I know that Connor can be irritating with his didactic, know-it-all
attitude, but this **** is ridiculous.

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


rw:

long time lurker who avoids most of the bs around here, but I also tried
this technique so here's a few points.

1. I have straightened leaders for years with a leather/rubber gadget on my
vest. Never used it on anything finer that 2X or 3X. Straighten those
sections with my fingers. Always worked well
2. The day I put my leader in hot water, I was in a cabin streamside and
was waiting for it to warm up before going fishing, so I was killing time
3. Dropped the leader in non boiling water (approx 1 1/2 minutes in a
microwave) and hung it up between 2 nails on the porch. Used a Rio 7 1/2
foot down to 3X leader. Did not heat the tippet.

The leader (IMO) performed better that day. I caught several fish over 20"
and did not break anyone off, although again, I did not heat the tippets.
The leader is limper and has less memory when straightened in this manner.
I hazard to say it "fished straighter" than when hand straightened.

So, if you've got time and don't mind trying something different, you may
find this is a worthwhile exercise. YMMV

Patrick



Very well said. You're smart to avoid the bs here.

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

On Nov 15, 11:17 am, "PRM" wrote:
"rw" wrote in message

m...



My philosophy is empiricism and utilitarianism. IOW, check it out and
whatever works.

To that end, I searched out the gnarliest old Rio leader I could find,
took it from the package, and immersed it in hot (not boiling) water. It
straightened out just fine, tippet and all. It didn't seem to be weakened
in any obvious way, although I didn't actually test the breaking point.

I'm not likely to do this as a matter of habit because I can straighten
them streamside with my fingers or with a piece of leather. But it worked.
It worked just fine.

I know that Connor can be irritating with his didactic, know-it-all
attitude, but this **** is ridiculous.

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

rw:

long time lurker who avoids most of the bs around here, but I also tried
this technique so here's a few points.

1. I have straightened leaders for years with a leather/rubber gadget on my
vest. Never used it on anything finer that 2X or 3X. Straighten those
sections with my fingers. Always worked well
2. The day I put my leader in hot water, I was in a cabin streamside and
was waiting for it to warm up before going fishing, so I was killing time
3. Dropped the leader in non boiling water (approx 1 1/2 minutes in a
microwave) and hung it up between 2 nails on the porch. Used a Rio 7 1/2
foot down to 3X leader. Did not heat the tippet.

The leader (IMO) performed better that day. I caught several fish over 20"
and did not break anyone off, although again, I did not heat the tippets.
The leader is limper and has less memory when straightened in this manner.
I hazard to say it "fished straighter" than when hand straightened.

So, if you've got time and don't mind trying something different, you may
find this is a worthwhile exercise. YMMV

Patrick

Hey, it worked fine for me. Went fishing yesterday and the leaders
performed fine. One thing I really like about this forum is that
there are a ton of ideas, and I can try them out myself. It isn't a
situation (with me anyway) where I like or dislike anyone. I just
figure why not try the ideas myself and see if they work. I'll
DEFINITELY use the fingers/friction thing most of the time (I've
already used that before with excellent results). But in this
particular case, something was seriously wrong with these leaders
(they were probably mummified from sitting on a shelf so long before I
bought them). But hey, they worked fine after being in hot water (I
didn't boil them. Just dropped them into hot water for a couple of
minutes and they worked great after that).

Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....but maybe the leaders would be straight - but smell funny
after the "treatment" :-)

"mdk77" wrote in message
...

Hey, it worked fine for me. Went fishing yesterday and the leaders
performed fine. One thing I really like about this forum is that
there are a ton of ideas, and I can try them out myself. It isn't a
situation (with me anyway) where I like or dislike anyone. I just
figure why not try the ideas myself and see if they work. I'll
DEFINITELY use the fingers/friction thing most of the time (I've
already used that before with excellent results). But in this
particular case, something was seriously wrong with these leaders
(they were probably mummified from sitting on a shelf so long before I
bought them). But hey, they worked fine after being in hot water (I
didn't boil them. Just dropped them into hot water for a couple of
minutes and they worked great after that).

Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....but maybe the leaders would be straight - but smell funny
after the "treatment" :-)


Just don't try to make your own beer, cause if the vial broke
you would have a yeast infection. Even "Tits" wouldn't approve of that.
-tom

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:00:31 -0800, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote:


"mdk77" wrote in message
...

Hey, it worked fine for me. Went fishing yesterday and the leaders
performed fine. One thing I really like about this forum is that
there are a ton of ideas, and I can try them out myself. It isn't a
situation (with me anyway) where I like or dislike anyone. I just
figure why not try the ideas myself and see if they work. I'll
DEFINITELY use the fingers/friction thing most of the time (I've
already used that before with excellent results). But in this
particular case, something was seriously wrong with these leaders
(they were probably mummified from sitting on a shelf so long before I
bought them). But hey, they worked fine after being in hot water (I
didn't boil them. Just dropped them into hot water for a couple of
minutes and they worked great after that).

Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....but maybe the leaders would be straight - but smell funny
after the "treatment" :-)


Just don't try to make your own beer, cause if the vial broke
you would have a yeast infection. Even "Tits" wouldn't approve of that.
-tom

HOLY ****!! Tom made a funny!

TC,
R

"mdk77" wrote in message
...


Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....but maybe the leaders would be straight - but smell funny
after the "treatment" :-)

Try the turkey sometime, too. Can't speak from experience but common sense
suggests it will not only smell better.....it will also TASTE better!


Wolfgang
and the floss is built in.

"mdk77" wrote in message
...

Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....

It was actually my friends trick/idea.
I only suggested to him to tie on a Pink Bunny Leech.
-tom

On Nov 16, 8:35 am, "Tom Nakashima" wrote:
"mdk77" wrote in message

...



Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....

It was actually my friends trick/idea.
I only suggested to him to tie on a Pink Bunny Leech.
-tom

I tried to call Rio today and explain the "trick" to them, but they
hung up on me :-(

I think too many ROFF folks have called in the past 24 hours to
explain ways to straighten their leaders (some unspeakable things
too!).

They don't want to hear about boiling, hot underwear or turkey giblet
tricks et. al. It just goes to show they don't know much about leader
straightening after all.

Which reminds me. The folks at ROFF ought to band together and author
a book about "little known helpful facts" for fly fishermen. I've
been on ROFF for little more than a year and am amazed at the things I
read here daily. We could even throw in some of the excellent
recipe's too.

I think it would sell very well.

"mdk77" wrote in message
...
On Nov 16, 8:35 am, "Tom Nakashima" wrote:
"mdk77" wrote in message

...



Now, I just need to try that hot-underwear trick that Tom talked
about....

It was actually my friends trick/idea.
I only suggested to him to tie on a Pink Bunny Leech.
-tom

I tried to call Rio today and explain the "trick" to them, but they
hung up on me :-(


Well it is a rather risky procedure, and if not done correctly, one could
choke the chicken depending on the size of the coils.
-tom

On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:57:48 -0800 (PST), mdk77
wrote:

It just goes to show they don't know much about leader
straightening after all.

Dave, listen to the sane folks on this newsgroup. *Millions* of
flyfishermen and women have been straightening leaders *with their
hands* for the past 60 years. Hot water and other tricks works
because they supply heat, just like the friction you supply with your
hands. A leader, when coiled again, will still have coiled memory
regardless your boiling/hair dryer/hand friction. If you want to be a
successful fly fisher, I suggest you not look for little tricks, but
do it the old fashioned way, with your hands. If you can't straighten
it with your hands then there is something intrinsicly wrong with the
leader. And if you do not learn how to straighten it with your hands,
you may find yourself streamside with a coiled leader and no way to
straighten it short of building a fire and boiling the thing. In 60
years of fly fishing, I have NEVER failed to straighten a leader with
my hands, and that includes *winter* fishing in the snow, and fishing
the Big Horn with 104 degree temps.

No ****ing contest here, Dave. Listen to what the experienced fly
fishers on these pages say. If you can't do it by hand, well........

Really!

Dave