Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

James Laraway

Preferred leader material
« on: 25/05/2021 at 12:03 »
So I was just wondering what peoples preferred leader material is ?

In the past i used airflo sight-free flurocarbon which i  found really good.
Then i was reccomended Osso Super Flurocarbon so i bought some. Expensive and unreliable....it all ended up in the bin
So then I went to Berkley Trilene mono - cheap, effective, great knot strength, no knot slippage  and bombproof. About £6 for 300m. Can't say fairer that that  :z16



Hamish Young

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #1 on: 25/05/2021 at 20:05 »
Depends where I am and what I'm fishing for - but I have some Rio stuff, some Barrio stuff and quite a lot of Riverge. These three are my preferred types  :z16

Eddie Sinclair

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #2 on: 25/05/2021 at 20:14 »
I have two choices, like Hamish depending on where and what I am chasing. Seaguar or green maxima.

Eddie

Duncan Inglis

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #3 on: 25/05/2021 at 22:22 »
Maxima for salmon all day long.
For trout  Fluor either Fulling Mill, Berkley which is cheap, tough but thick and Frog Hair if I’m looking for fine leader material. I tried Airflo G3 and found it ok in heavier breaking strain but it appeared brittle in 5 or 6 lb. Seagar I found totally useless 18lb snapping like cotton thread.

Steven Kidd

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #4 on: 27/05/2021 at 11:24 »
I chop and change depending on what style i'm fishing,

I like Riverge for Loch style as it is quite stiff and helps with droppers on a 3 fly cast, (less tangles).

For the river, I dont use fluorocarbon......its not that forgiving stuff for playing a fish in about potential snags, I like mono / copolymer here, currently using Rio Suppflex, which is butter soft and lets wee spiders fish naturally.

The only thing I notice is that you need a tucked blood knot with the Rio stuff as its quite slippy, (can be a pain when your hands are cold!)........the fluoro doesn't need a tuck.

Steven

James Laraway

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #5 on: 27/05/2021 at 13:22 »
Riverge/ Rio/ Seaguar ????

Recession ? What recession ? :z4

Richard Bates

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #6 on: 28/05/2021 at 02:50 »
After lots of chopping, changing and experimenting with various leader materials, I'm back with Maxima ultragreen for most things and Stroft GTM for fine work.  The Ultragreen seems to suit the way I fish, mighty knot strength, stiff enough to turn over and nice elasticity. The Stroft is softer and better for fine presentation,  but is a bit slippery - be careful with knots! When knotting  a tippet of GTM to Ultragreen I use a four turn  water knot to get best strength. Three turns gives weak knot for some reason, possibly my tying!

BTW, the Stroft GTM is by far the best mono for spinning I have used, really well behaved on the reel.

I think regardless of which leader material you choose, having confidence in it is the most important factor. I have never noticed a difference in takes between flouro and nylon, so I fish with nylon. In my experience, trout are not  as "line shy" as many think.

Richard


Terry Coging

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #7 on: 07/06/2021 at 13:35 »
My roots are in coarse fishing  and the normal 'bottoms' (tippet) would range from 1.5lb to 3lb.  Match fishing has taught me how important line diameter is and I have carried that experience through to selecting leader material for trout.  Stroft GTM was my favourite for years with the softer Reflow Power tippets for the dries. When I started to use the 'wafting' technique I tried a few others - looking for fine lines with reasonable stiffness. Seaguer Ace Hard was the best and been my main leader material for fishing a team for the past 3 seasons. The importance of tying knots with care cannot be over stressed - the lick and tuck are essential. I have had far less tangles and breakages since using Seaguar and the droppers work fine.
We spend a lot on our tackle so why try to economise on the most important part?

Eddie Sinclair

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #8 on: 07/06/2021 at 16:51 »
Terry,

I am with you on the ace hard version. That’s what I will be using later this week in Durness. Been using it for years and had no issues thus far.

Eddie

James Laraway

Re: Preferred leader material
« Reply #9 on: 08/06/2021 at 11:35 »
It'll be interesting to see how i get on with the 'hard ace' I have been very kindly given  to try out  - you know who you are  *smiley-wink*

will be even more interesting to see if i think is value for money. 50m for about £12.....as an x-Aberdonian that hurts just thinking about it... *smiley-lol*

 




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