Aug 3 2018, updated May 2023
"L" is for Leader
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"L" is for Leader
------------ <~~> ------------"If you would really take this leader business seriously, you should have four crucial items of tackle, three of which are carried with you on the stream.
1. The first is most important – and the one you will leave at home while fishing. This is a micrometer. Whether it costs you $10 or $100 matters not. What is needed is a way to measure line diameters, as diameter is the most important element of matching leaders to line.
Even a basic slide micrometer will at least give a proportionate value you can work with.
2. The second item is for those who tie their own leaders. It is a leader material holder of some sort. With the holder at hand, you will have the materials needed to customize leaders as needed, ready for use.
3. The next item you want is a leader pouch or wallet in which to carry spares, all marked as to taper and use.
4. The final must-have is a piece of soft rubber.
That's right... rubber.
This last item will put more fish in the bag than a dozen extra fly patterns.
Why rubber, you ask? Before stepping near the water, your leader should be gripped tightly between two pieces of rubber and pulled through until it lies out perfectly straight. A handy piece cut from and old inner tube will do the job.
Pulling the modern polymer leader through the rubber causes friction and heat, which softens, stretches, and straightens the leader as you pull it through.
This will prevent kinking, and the resultant flexibility will cause the fly to go straight to the target. It is most important in fly fishing to have a straight leader. It only takes a few seconds to do this, and it guarantees optimum casting efficiency."
- A. J. McClane
Rubber, you say? Straighten leaders, you say?
Who does THAT?Well... Here's the DIY leader straightener I use.
2 - Discs of 1/16" sheet rubber.
2 - Tear-drop shaped leather ears, the leather salvaged from an old shoe.
1 - Split ring, to connect the two ears.
1- Keychain latch clip
The rubber discs are affixed to the leather ears with contact cement or Shoe Goo. Once the adhesive has cured, the new leader straightener is hung by the latch clip on a zipper of my vest - it serves as the zipper pull.
A lot of people, at this point, will say, "You don't need no stinkin' leader straightener. Just grip the leader tightly and run it between your fingers a couple times!"
Contrary to what my wife says, I do listen to others, so I tried the finger-straightening method.
Result: NO CONTEST.
Either the skin of my fingers was nearly cut through by the nylon, or they caught fire from the friction before I ever got the leader straight.
Joking aside, it's not even close. The rubber works exponentially better than human flesh. I strongly suggest you buy or make one of these, and use it as McClane suggests.
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If so, email me at...dahutist@gmail.com
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