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Leaders - part two

Our March 2001 contribution from Terry Lawton

There are two important aspects to making your own leaders: the knots used to join the individual lengths of nylon and the design of the taper. While different parts of a leader need different knots, none of the knots that you will need are difficult to tie, particularly after a little practice. Look out for the knot feature that we'll be publishing shortly.

Anglers will argue long and hard about the best knot to use to join two lengths of monofilament. While personal preference may win the day, the two best knots are the surgeon's knot and the blood knot, with the former to be preferred.

The surgeon's knot has been tested and shown to be significantly stronger than a blood knot. A blood knot does have the advantage that it forms a straight connection between two lengths of nylon whereas the surgeon's knot produces a slightly angled and bulkier join. The blood knot is good for thicker materials - .010" and heavier - as it is less bulky than the surgeon's knot. The Surgeon's knot is the one to use for the thin materials as it is very easy to tie and is very reliable.(The double grinner knot is also popular and strong, particularly when joining two lengths of nylon that are significantly different in thickness.) Another knot that you will need is one to make a loop at one or both ends of the leader. Here there is a choice: the surgeon's loop or the perfection loop.

When tying a knot it is essential to lubricate it - with water, spit or a proprietary knot-tying solution. The lubrication will help the knot to tighten evenly and prevent the material being weakened by the heat that can be generated as the knot is tightened. Try tying a few knots in lengths of scrap material to determine the best way to tighten them. Try a quick draw and a slower but firm draw. It is very easy, particularly with thin mono, to end up with curls if you tighten a knot incorrectly, for example if you give it a jerk. If you do end up with a curled section of leader, cut it off and re-tie the knot. Then test each knot after you have tied it.

If you finish the business end of your leader with a surgeon's loop, you can tie a similar loop in your tippet and use a loop-to-loop connection, which is extremely strong and making changing the tippet quick and easy. Alternatively, you can tie the tippet to the leader using a surgeon's knot. This does have the disadvantage that when you change your tippet, you will lose a short length of leader each time.

So start your leader with either a surgeon's or perfection loop. Use blood knots for the thickest sections of the leader and the surgeon's knot for the thinnest or last section. If you have either a braided loop or a length of mono, with a loop in the end, fixed to the end of your fly line, you can use the loop-to-loop connection to attach leaders quickly and easily, if you finish the butt end of your leaders with a loop.

Leader formulae

When you start to design your own leaders, you must think in terms of material diameter rather than breaking strains. Using the right thicknesses, in the right lengths is critical to making a leader that will perform well. It isn't until you get to the tippet that you need to worry about strength, or breaking strain. The butt section of the leader will be about two-thirds the diameter of the end of your fly line. (See chart with previous article.) It may be helpful to have a micrometer to measure diameters but be careful not to squash the line or nylon or you will get a false reading.

The steps in thickness between sections should be no more than .05mm (.002"). As a general guide, a well-designed and balanced leader will be 60 per cent butt, 20 per cent mid section and 20 per cent tippet section. These percentages can be varied to produce leaders with different characteristics. For example, a leader with a longer tippet will be good for fine presentation to spooky fish and may have a formula that is 40 per cent butt, 20 per cent middle and 40 per cent tippet ie a shorter butt section to compensate for the longer tippet.

For big flies that are difficult to cast, a longer and more powerful butt section - say 70 per cent butt - will help turn over. To keep the tippet acceptably fine, reduce the middle section to 10 per cent, leaving 20 per cent for the tippet.

It is important to remember that the tippet size should match your fly size. So thin tippets for small flies. thicker tippets for big flies and particularly big bushy flies eg Mayfly (E Danica) imitations. Matching tippet size to fly size helps keep your tackle balanced (see table above). And balanced tackle performs so much better than unbalanced tackle.

Another general principle is that as well as reducing the diameter of each section of the leader, reduce the length as well. The following recipes should serve as a starting point for tying your own leaders.