Mono as a leader?

[TMRKD]

Hey all, after a few years of having a fly rod in my basement I've decided to have a go at fly fishing but I've come across a problem. I'm not sure what to use as a leader, I've seen all these "Fly leaders" that seem like they're the same as mono.
Does it matter what I use as a leader?
Thanks.

 

[efka]

the leader is tapered mono
the tippet you can use mono or fluoro.

 

[Joel52]

I stopped buying tapered leaders years ago. I just use about 9' (three arms lengths) of 6lb test leader material. Works fine, and less expensive.

 

[threeparrots]

I stopped buying tapered leaders years ago. I just use about 9' (three arms lengths) of 6lb test leader material. Works fine, and less expensive.

Leader material? So not regular 6lb mono?

 

[axl]

Somewhat confusing isn't it? That's what I've been using as well.

 

[efka]

leader material and main line have their differences.

 

[NADO]

This is what most people would tell you.

Attach a tapered leader to the fly line and remove about 2 feet from the fine section of the line. Then using either a swivel or a line to line knot attach a 2 or 3 ft flurocarbon "tippit" leader.

Your fishing store should be able to point you in the right direction with leader materials and knots.

 

[float^drifter]

if u plan on tossing dry flys i woud avoid swivels. tie blood knot line to line works good.

 

[threeparrots]

leader material and main line have their differences.

But how big? Can you get away with using a regular mono as a leader?

 

[Joel52]

Sorry, I may have opened a can of worms and left the lid off. 6lb leader material seems to work best for me - just my choice. It's a little tricky tying on the really teeny flies (I need my glasses for those). It's definitely easier with a tapered leader. I used to tie my own tapered leader and there's lots of stuff on the internet on patterns for that, but even that seemed like a lot of work for nothing IMO - but some guys swear by it. Maybe I'm the lazy fly guy... My problem is I've left too many tippets in trees. Another thing is trimming tags. Some guys are real fussy on this, and how it should be done. So the fish can't see the line, but sees the tag? Well, to each their own I guess...
I think if a fly is presented properly, and it looks like food, and the fish is hungry - bang! Pretty simple IMO.

 

[Garfield the cat]

There are some really god books at walmart on tying different knots an tying flies. Also a really educational book on trout. They are about $15 each

 

[Rob G]

Hey every one I've been fly fishing for about 15 year now and will go and buy a tapered leader use it till I have lost a bit of it and start to tie in a 4-6lbs mono on to it after words seems to work great for me.

 

[JimCanuck]

I've used small test rating fluorocarbon for my leaders, cheaper then tapered leaders and works relatively well. Trout and Salmon have not been able to tell the difference. :-D

Spending 5-10$ per leader I think is kinda silly but many do it.

Jim

 

[RedSkullz]

I miss the good old days of grabbing whatever flyrod i had at the time, with a 5 foot long 12lb mono leader a box full of deer hair frogs and mice patterns, and crushing big largemouth bass. Good times!!
I pretty much used leader the same way as poppabear

 

[TMRKD]

I've read around a bit and have decided to use 6lb mono as a leader. It's a lot cheaper, $3.00 for 180 yards of mono or $5.00 for a leader? I'll stick with the mono.

 

[RedSkullz]

I recall something about tying knots in regular mono spaced out to form a taper of sorts...i'm sure you could find out more with a google search

 

[NADO]

I've read around a bit and have decided to use 6lb mono as a leader. It's a lot cheaper, $3.00 for 180 yards of mono or $5.00 for a leader? I'll stick with the mono.

the leader lasts you a pretty long time, i usually break of the first few feet of the leader and tie my tippet to that. Your missing the tippet part of the setup, I made the same mistake when i started fly fishing.

 

[FrankTheRabbit]

Can someone correct me if I'm wrong here?

If my setup consisted of a tapered leader => 2ft long fluoro tippet => fly and wanted to change a fly, where do I disconnect the setup? Just about the fly? If I change my flies enough times, my tippet will become shorter and eventually, I'll need to change the entire tippet section, which would require to trim the leader. Is that the right way of doing it? And I guess, eventually, I will have trimmed my leader enough times that I would need a new leader.

Somehow, I was thinking that you would never have to touch or trim the leader so that's the part I'm unsure about.

 

[efka]

you could use a tiny swivel between tippet and leader, it weights nothing. you won't find them at wallmart or ct, but bass pro has them in steelhead section
other option is to use No Knot Fast Snap, but it might change the play of your fly under water. go with tiny swivel.

 

[staffman]

You could use a fly clip at the end of your set up so that you can change flies quickly without cutting anything off. They are small and act as a loop to give your fly more action. They should be available at Walmart or BPS.