what length of leader ?

[Johnny]

Was curious as to how long is the length of leaders do most of you gents use, and any difference in length between floating or sinking line ??

[Allen Morgan]

Are you talking fly fishing or spin-fishing?

[carl hendrix]

johnny; I stopped using a sinking line; only use a floating line any more;; if I  want it to sink; I simply use some type of sinker;; as to the length of a tippet line ;; my rule of thumb is;; from the 3rd eyelet from the tip;; start my tippet there; down  to reel seat.  that way; the fly line doesnt run into my rods eyelets;; when I do happen to catch a fish landing it.  also;; it casts much easier; and I have much more control of it.  soo;; on my 8ft 6in rod; my tippet is around 5 ft;; maybe a little longer.  hope this helps ya !

[CJ behrle]

I agree with Carl.   Do not need a long leader like in trout fishing.  Keep the leader and tippet shorter  than fly rod  so that fly line stays outside of the first eyelet.   I will use a sink tippet for streams just because I have it(sometimes).   I do just as well without sink line or sink tippet and fishing is easier.

[jim cosgrove]

for gills i use a short leader  and 6 or 4 lb for tippet.my 2 main flyrods for gill are only 6.5 3wt tho so i do have that problem of  having to reel part of the leader into the guides.for sinking i use flurocarbon a sction of 12 then 8 and a tippet of 6 mono.i have been using a 7.5 5wtfror the deeper flies as this is when i may pickup a bass crappie or carp

[carl hendrix]

one more thing on using a shorter tippet;; if you roll cast a lot; like I do;; roll casting with shorter tippet line is a LOT easier;;also;; should you use a float; ( like a porkupine quill) roll casting;; it makes a huge difference using the shorter tippet line;; but then again;; its what Im use to!!

[Johnny]

Reason Im asking is, last year I made some furled leaders, as was curious as to what length most people used, most of mine are in 4 to 5 feet total length, but can make them as long as 9 feet.

The gent who taught me is a trout fisher, might explain the 9 foot leader, I had no idea about using shorter leaders for blue gill.

Ive been thinking about making some up to give away to the fly rodders here on BBG, if anyone wants to try one, I like them a lot better than the coil spring mono leaders that the sporting good stores carry, furled leaders are limber as a dish rag but have enuff back bone to roll a fly, but the big plus is you dont get the coil spring memory thing going on.

Give me some lengths and Ill make some up.

[carl hendrix]

Johnny;; I tried a lot of mono lines to use for tippets also;; stren; trilene; all kinds of berkley lines; red cajun;;; found a line I like most of all;; called mr. crappie;; I use it in a 8 pound  line;;  very low stretch; great knot strength; abrisive resistant.. lays a fly down; just right !!  I replaced all of the tippet lines; with it;; even on all of my spinning reels to !! it has a greenish/ yellow color to it; and Im able to even use it as a type of float indicator. !!  try it out one time buddy;; you might be as surprised as I was at it !!

[Johnny]

Im using A berkley florocarbon 4 lb test, seems to work good for gills and have pulled in bass witout issue, the line is weaved around a jig, I use  dremel tool to twist it and when I pull it from the jig its hung up to stretch and relax, tie in a loop on each and of it.

If  a floating leader is needed just use Mono line.

[Allen Morgan]

I've used a mono furled leader.  You are correct, furled leaders lay out a fly wonderfully.  However, I noticed with the mono furled leader I was using is that after a few casts, it would soak up water and then sink.  With nymphs and wet flies, it was no big deal.  However, I typically fish foam bugs on top for sunnies, and the furled leader would drag the foam bug under.

The past couple of years I've been using knotted mono leaders.  Yeah, they get hung up in the weeds more, but they float.

I've heard that a furled thread leader will sit low in the film, but won't sink.  One of these days, I'll make a furled leader jig and make some furled thread leaders, and see if it's true.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

For floating lines, I use a leader the length of my rod. Tippet is usually 24"

For sinking lines, you can shorten your leader as much as half that length

These are common rules of thumb

There is a common belief that bluegill are not leader shy. But that isn't always the case.

This is dependent on the clarity of the water, and the time of year. Early in the season, when the water is crystal clear and the fish come into shallow flats to warm up, a long, light leader/tippet combination makes sense. Once things warm up and the water gets dingy with suspended algaes, dust and micro-organisms, a shorter leader is less of a worry. This is more of a worry with floating presentations.

I just keep the same length throughout the season on my floating line. I use sinking tips for getting down around 10 feet, and I keep them together with 6 foot leaders.Anything deeper than that, and I usually switch to spinning gear.

Like Allen, I tie my own knotted leaders. I started using fluorocarbon for for tippet and the last three feet of my leaders for it's clarity

[Johnny]

I can learn a lot hang'n around you guys, my fly fish'n jedi master up and moved to Idaho last fall, sure  miss that ole codger, he was good at showing me how things were done but wasnt much on explaining, make'n me work for it I guess.

Will have to keep some of the wrote down for future use, big thanks.

[carl hendrix]

Johnny;; out  of curiosity; what type of flies do you intend to use on blue gills ?