Time to taper some leaders, guys

[BrianBM]

August is almost here and the water's getting warm enough for little tunny. Nobody gets many shots at them from shore. If you're a wading angler with a flyrod, a suggestion: tie up some tapered leaders, and end them in fluorocarbon, 6-8 lb is fine. Line and tippet visibility matters for these guys. Lefty Kreh mentioned, in a post on another BB, that tapered leaders are so widely available that for trout he's just buying factory extruded knotless leaders and then adding a bit of fluoro at the end. Not a bad idea for this application, too.

[surfrat59]

Always had a little trouble turning over tapered 1pc leaders in the wind, a little soft for me. Any body else like them, and if so which ones do you use. Brian do you have a preference in light pound test fluoro?

[BrianBM]

No, if there are useful differences, I can't tell from my own experience. Alberto likes the Orvis stuff. As far as turnover goes, I dunno. My leaders turn over if my cast snaps tight all the line in the basket, and don't if it doesn't. This follows on an observation by Phil Whatsisface, of Manhattan Custom Tackle, that the secret of good turnover was to never have more line stripped then your cast was going to pull tight. I know I read it on a website, damned if i recall where.

[SteveC]

The little that I know about tapered leaders is that I cannot turn a fly over with them. I have tried the Sci And striper leader but the fly just never swims properly.

This season and half of the last one, I switched to straight Fluro; usually in 20# or 30#. This has been working for me.

 

Didn't know albies were so line shy!

[formula1]

I'd recommend you try furled and/or twisted leaders. Both turn over flies very well.

[C. Regalis]

I tie my own tapered leaders the traditional way, and don't (yet) have any experience with straight mono-

but Albies line shy? Oh yes- you wouldn't believe the eyesight they have. Spinning tackle too, calls for minimum hardware and fluouro leaders... so they tell me.

[BrianBM]

A few years ago when the little tunny were stacked up at Mt Sinai harbor, I had a good supply of fish on which to experiment. (This was pre-Mully-fly, spin only). From shore, you couldn't buy a bump with anything over eight pound test - just amazin'.

At the same time I saw guys get fish with umbrella rigs by trolling them in the white water of the outboard prop, barely fifteen feet off the transom. I guess the white water made the fish stupid. Go figure.

[PeterR]

I know I am a bit in left field on this one, but...

 

Yes, albies have great eyes.

 

But, I won't fish for them with anything less than 16 pound test.

 

Why?

 

When I used to go lower in test, I either broke the fish off or I had to play them too long.

 

I am a major league albie nut. I hate the idea of hurting one when I hook one.

 

I have caught many an albie on 16 pound test (and a fair number on higher test).

 

As I know I am in left field on this one, anyone effected by my words may want to average (hmm, tuna says 16 pound test, maybe I'll try 12).

[Wayne Tj]

I've never been lucky enough to catch an Albie from shore with a fly, but in a boat I've landed hundreds using straight 15# Triplefish fluoro for the leader.

[SeaOtter]

Doesn't fluorocarbon disappear underwater? Then what difference does it make if you are using 10lb vs 20lb? I wouldn't go less than a 15lb tippet and a 10wt for albies, for the reason PeterR just said. You end up killing them by overplaying. I think using 20lb is better. The tippet can't break unless it's nicked or the knot is bad, so you can put max pressure on the fish. And, I'm not a big fan of tapered leaders in the salt. They won't hurt anything, but they don't turn over salty flies very well; so they are just a waste of $$. But for dry fly fishing, they are great . You can do just as well with a straight shot of whatever for your leader/tippet in the salt, and also while nymphing/streamering for trout.

[Fergal]

Leader turnover is HIGHLY over rated in salt water. The best tapered leader in the world won't turn over if the cast is crap. 4 to 8ft of 30lb or 40lb leader followed by 2 ft of your favorite tippet material is all the 'taper' you need in the NE.

[formula1]

I would have to disagree with you regarding turnover being highly overrated in saltwater as that is way too general a statement. Perhaps for stripers in the NE it is but not in the Keys where I do most of my saltwater fishing. The last thing I want is for the leader to dump when I need to lead a fish by 4 feet or land the fly within a couple of feet of a permit. Especially with the constant wind there I need good turnover. It helps *alot*.

[Fergal]

I would have to disagree with you regarding turnover being highly overrated in saltwater as that is way too general a statement. Perhaps for stripers in the NE it is but not in the Keys where I do most of my saltwater fishing. The last thing I want is for the leader to dump when I need to lead a fish by 4 feet or land the fly within a couple of feet of a permit. Especially with the constant wind there I need good turnover. It helps *alot*.

 

That's why I said NE in my post...Also, a good cast will turn over any leader. A cast that snaps tight when finished will turn over the leader, a cast that doesn't come tight results in a big pile of line/leader on the water. Plus, when tapering a leader down you are talking about differences of a few hundredths of an inch between sections. I haven't done much tropical flats fishing, so I can't comment on what is needed there. But I have done quite a bit up here in the NE. When I get a pile it is because my cast sucked, not because my leader wasn't a few feet of 40lb followed by a few feet of 30lb and so on.

[flysully]

My wife and I have caught many Bones and Albies from shore. They are our favorite fish with the flyrod but we are constantly seeing fisherman killing them with too light tackle or an ignorance with the release. These fish will fight to their death so it is necessary to use a tippet of atleast 15LB and probably 20LB is better. There are many things to consider. Are you fishing from a jetty? Are there waves breaking from shore? Are you fishing with a strong current? These conditions require atleast 20LB tippet for control and a quick release. By the way, you don't revive these fish by holding the tail and moving the fish back and forth. They don't have air bladders like most fish so you drop them head first into the water. If you insist on holding the fish to show off your catch and then take a picture, the fish will more than likely die. All Albie flyrodders should read "False Albacore" by Gilmore.

[Jim DE]

I agree with the previous posters who stated don't go light on the tippet poundage. With fluorocarbon there is no need to.

 

I always use a tapered leader and over the past few years I over kill the leaders I tie by using all fluorocarbon material throughout the length of the leader. My leaders consist of three poundages using 50lb always as my butt section then I use either 40 or 30 as my trasitional section then usually 20 but sometimes less as my tippet.

 

Turnover is never a problem with these leaders as long as the length is kept under 10'. Over 10 feet I use a couple more sections between the butt material and the tippet to assist the power transfer to the tippet.

 

I find the loop knot attached to the fly more important than the size of the tippet when attracting fish. This makes the fly act more natural than those that are tied rigid to the fly.