Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

James Abel

Leaders breaking
« on: 11/07/2012 at 23:06 »
 when I go fishing I never tie leaders I do them before I go sometimes they could be several weeks old could this be a problem? I tie the leaders to save time when I'm fishing as I'm carp at casting and am for ever seemed to be tying lines. Unfortunately this year I have broke lines a lot more than I can ever remember. I hate the idea of my line running all over water with three hooks :mad I'm going to try airflo  g3 and platinum tomorrow I'm praying it works or I will have to go back to grand max. I hear baz say I told you so  :z6 I just struggle to justify the£20 for 100 meters when I'm losing 5 x leaders nearly every outing I eat the stuff up big time all the best James  :X2

Rob Brownfield

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #1 on: 12/07/2012 at 08:43 »
Whether a pre tied leader sits for a few hours or for a few weeks, it will make no difference that it is pre tied. The leader material would just be sitting on the spool for the same amount of time.

What I have experienced recently is the fact that some of the more hi tec modern lines are much more sensitive to age degredation than lines of old, especially low diameter co-polymer lines. So, I have just chucked out around £80 of tippet material and replaced with line that is marked with a "use by" date so I know its "fresh".

Flurocarbon is a different matter. It is not meant to degrade anywhere near as much and so should stay full strength for much longer.

James Abel

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #2 on: 12/07/2012 at 09:38 »
Thanks for the reply rob at least I now know  i can rule that out just one more thing it cant be.  Carp line but I will know better today I'm going out same knots and new line hopefully I won't break  :z10

Ben Dixon

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #3 on: 12/07/2012 at 09:50 »
Hi James,

What knots are you using?

What DIAMETER (either in mm or thousandths of an inch) are you using and with what size / type of flies?

Where are the breaks occuring?  Is it in the main leader or is it knots that are popping?

From what I remember, knock the power out of your cast, wait until your back cast has fully extended and don't batter the forward cast.  Also, the rod you were on when I saw you last was a bit of a stick, not ideal for fishing small flies and light tippets really.


Cheers

Ben

James Abel

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #4 on: 12/07/2012 at 22:30 »
Hi Ben

I was using gigafish 0.20 10lb and 0.22 12lb I'm still mostly lure fishing 2 blobs and a beaded lure humongous. I'm still using my stick, unfortunately I've not mastered the dries I'm still hitting them with my stick 7/8 weight. Always 3 flies I do thump them I had a better day today I changed my line to airflo 0.23 10lb 0.25 12 lb only broke once and it was a big fish so I'm a lot happier. The knots iv been using are 3 and 4 turn water knot also a figure of eight with a half hitch, when they break they break at the dropper knott usually I loose 2/3 flies :mad Im praying  it was the line I think if I'd been using gigafish line today I'd have broke more. It could be me hopefully when I get a couple more days fishing I will know one way or another fingers crossed its the line :z8 the line gets really good rite ups but I found when I was making leaders I would find rough bits in it. I know that the airflo is thicker than grand max and may be losing fish if they see the line I'm happy  with that as long as I'm not breaking thanks for the reply be interesting to see what you think all the best James  :z18

Barry Robertson

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #5 on: 16/07/2012 at 18:39 »
Your knotts must be rubbish mate and are you really wetting your water knot prior to pulling the knot tigght?

James Abel

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #6 on: 16/07/2012 at 20:45 »
GOOD NEWS!!!!

I was out today a good days fishing 2 double hook ups and i never broke once  :grin :grin so it was carp line im on the airflo now I cant justify the price for grand Max any I must be getting grippy or getting older :X2

Alan Madden

Re: Leaders breaking
« Reply #7 on: 18/07/2012 at 13:55 »
I've had the same problem in Australia.   So I went toa good local fly tackle shop and the first thing they asked me was what brand leader/tippet?   I said 'Rio' and they just nodded.

This relates to what Rob posted above: "What I have experienced recently is the fact that some of the more hi tec modern lines are much more sensitive to age degredation than lines of old, especially low diameter co-polymer lines. So, I have just chucked out around £80 of tippet material and replaced with line that is marked with a "use by" date so I know its "fresh"."

Apparently Rio leader/tippet is made in China which isn't the problem but it is shipped via the US before being shipped to Australia - whic means it's about 18 months old by the time it gets here, then it sits on the shop shelf for howvere long and so on - who knows how old it is when I tie it on.

Maybe there's something like that happening here.

Alan

 




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