Furled leaders by hand

[bbjork]

Just came upon this article about building furled leaders by hand, looks fairly simple and I will give it a try and let you know how it works out. There's also a youtube video of the process.

http://www.flatslander.com/leaderarticle.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbcVaEe3RIs

[bbjork]

First one came out ok using 12 lb. mono, it's tough on the fingers and you need to keep the tag ends separated so they don't tangle up. Next test will be on salt water.

[bmalchoff16]

Cool video. Just wondering, what are the advantages of using furled leaders?

[Gary]

Nice, thanks for posting this. I bet those with turn over some large flys and poppers. The only leaders I use for trout are furled leaders made of fly tying thread. They turn over a tippet of 5 feet with ease. When I'm nymphing in 3 ft of water I apply gink to the furled leader and the end of the leader acts as my strike indicator. If the water is deeper I just add more tippet. I make mine on a jig using an electric drill. If all goes well I can make one in about 10 minutes and I usually get a full season out of it. I can move the pegs on the jig to make them different lengths but I prefer to make them about 5 feet. One 200 yd spool of uni thread 8/0 or 6/0 will make 4 leaders. I like to add the small leader rings that Feathercraft sells to the end so all I need to do is attach my tippet with a clinch knot. I wonder if I could make a thread leader by hand. I'll have to give it a try.

[bbjork]

bmalchoff16: Do a search on the forum for furled leaders and you'll find the answer to your question. From what I've read they don't have the memory problems of regular mono filament and turn over nicely.

[Painter]

I like furled leaders too. I bought several from a guy on ebay a few years ago and was sorry to find recently that he is no longer in business.

I tried making them myself last year. A youtube video of my efforts would be hilarious.

[bbjork]

Just hand tied up two furled leaders for my 6 weight using 6 pound Trilene, they came out perfect, I think the rule of thumb is to match the pound test to the weight of your rod. I figured out how to keep the tag ends from tangling. Hang two metal coat hangers from the ceiling about two feet apart, hang the tag ends over the coat hanger and clip one of those black heavy duty paper clips on each end, this puts weight on the tag ends and allows then to twist free without tangling. I can do a leader in about ten minutes.

[Gary]

I tried it and found it much harder than it looks on video. I was thinking of running them through some short tubing like pieces of a garden hose. Thanks for sharing your method of keeping them apart.

[bbjork]

The video makes it look easy because he's using heavy mono and short lengths at that. You don't need to get fancy, the coat hangers with a little bit of weight on the end does the trick.

[DA]

After reading this thread I decided to order some furled leaders. They were delivered today and look well made. John Quigley makes them with silk, Uni-Thread or mono. I ordered a 5-1/2' and a 7' @$6.50 each. He also makes other styles. I found him on eBay, but he also has a web site. I told him about the guy mentioned by Painter. He said he had a friendly competition with him on eBay. If he's s the same guy mentioned by Painter, he was a college student making some extra money on eBay.

http://www.twistedleaders.com/index.html

[bbjork]

Got a chance today to test my freshwater furled leaders, they work great, no memory, turn over nicely and I've saved a ton of money.