In my excitement telling everyone about tippet sizes, how to get a whole batch of tapered leaders cheaply and other important stuff about fly fishing, I failed to mention two very important products brought to my attention by former member Dan Smith who moved from here with Maureen, his wife, to live near their daughter in the Seattle, WA, area.
Somewhere along the line, Dan was introduced to furled leaders. “Furled” means you have several stands of material that are wrapped around each other and secured at both ends to keep them from unwrapping. Experts claim they cast better, turn over (present the fly) better, are more resistant to corrosion as well as oyster shells, and cut your costs for leaders dramatically. Though few things in life are indestructible, these leaders come close. When combined with a tippet ring, all you will need is a furled leader, some tippet, and a fly. The tippet ring is a very small ring (it comes in various sizes to work with various size fly lines and flies). Secure the furled leader in a loop-to-loop fashion to the fly line, get the tippet ring secured to the end of the furled leader, then add a section of tippet material and tie on your fly. The furled leaders tend not to wear out so when your tippet gets worn down or out, simply replace it instead of getting all the different size of lines to build you own leaders. If using sinking or sink tip line, keep the tippet short so a floating bug won’t rise very much off the stream bottom but will tend to stay down where the fish will notice it.
To add spice to your life, furled leaders come in almost as many tapers and fly lines (trout, bonefish, tarpon, etc.). So, you can customize your outfit to match the type of fish you hope to catch.
Furled leaders aren’t cheap. Normally, they run $10-$20 each. But they last and last.
Tippet rings come in a variety of sizes, too. All of them are very small. Some even come with a small swivel so that the furled leader will not twist up. Make sure you get some big enough to handle the tippet weight you are using. I like casting them, they tend not to rip apart and they save a lot of work.
Feather-Craft has a wide selection at www.feather-craft.com or call 1-800-659-1707. Bob Story and his crew do excellent work and know their products well. I have used them a lot over the years and have never been disappointed.
Also, take advantage of being a member of Fly Fishers International by going to their webpage. www.flyfishersinternational.org They are working hard to provide a lot of good information about fly fishing online so give them a look.
