Leaders

Walter & Group........

SUGGESTION:    Pick up a copy of the current Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine and study the detailed article on leaders by Ally Gowans.  Lots of on-target detail and crystal clear diagrams. 

I think it is MUST reading !     Should be saved for future reference.

Gordy

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From Bruce Richards:

Thanks Gordy, some interesting comments. Rene' asks a good question about

shock tippets and heavy flies/wire leaders, etc..... Obviously most

tippets have very little energy carrying capacity due to very low mass.

Fortunately, the flies we throw have some mass and that mass, moving at

speed, will carry the fly a fair distance. So, the and leader butt and

taper are responsible for getting the loop to the tippet, at that point the

moving mass of the fly itself take over and finish the delivery. If you

think about it, you can throw a typical tarpon fly and shock tippet a few

feet by hand. Assuming the fly is going at least hand thrown speed when the

loop reaches the tippet, the momentum of the fly itself will take over.

Without the resistance of the fly and shock tippet the class tippet would

deliver nicely by itself, but class tippets don't carry enough energy to

deliver flies. The same holds for light, wind resistant dry flies. Of

course, actual speed of a cast fly is much higher than we can throw by hand

so they will go farther than we could throw by hand, but thinking about

flies and tippets that way helps to understand how this all works.....

Bruce

Scientific Anglers/3M

4100 James Savage Rd.

Midland, MI 48642 USA

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Bruce .....   Makes sense to me.  That a large fly and short heavy bite tippet have momentum is an additional consideration.  This is why I can sometimes allow my back cast loop to completely straighten and gain just a bit of, "pre-load" as I start my forward cast when using heavy permit crab flies.  A split second too long a wait, however, ruins the whole thing when energy is dissipated and the fly responds to gravity as its momentum is lost.

This was one of the secrets used by Mark Sedotti with his famous, "Sayonara Sling" back cast presentation of a heavy 27" fly.... a seemingly impossible feat !

Gordy

 

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From Eric Cook:-

Hi Gordy,

 

The way I see it; mass has more to do with the ability to transfer energy and stiffness is about the direction of the energy transfer.  From your "short answers", I am thinking that is what you are saying also (see #2 & #3).

 

"SHORT ANSWERS: 

 

1.)  Both mass & stiffness of the butt section are important to the function and turnover of the leader.

 

2.)  With insufficient mass, the leader won't turn over well or not at all.

 

3.)  A very stiff butt section can distort the leader loop.

 

4.)  Thick, pliable material can have the same bendability as thin, stiff material.

 

Gordy"

 

 

 

Eric Cook

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Eric...     I think your statement has merit in that mass does have a lot to do with the ability to transfer energy.  One might say, however, that both mass and stiffness have to do with the quality or smoothness of energy transfer (as I think about it.)

 

Gordy

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Troy Miller paints a word picture which is better than mine:-

 

All good stuff in here.  I think to sum it all up, we have to say that mass causes the leader/loop to turnover, and stiffness controls the rate and character of the turnover (by resisting it in a predictable way).

 

Regards -- TAM

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I tried to think of another discipline where transfer of energy is similar to that of a fly line/leader.  I found it in talking with Laurence Baggett's son, Gordon. He is a CCI and an excellant SW fly fisherman and guide.  While on the rodeo circuit, Gordon became quite knowledgable about the use of bull whips and cow whips and how they are made to accomplish different tasks by rodeo folks and cowboys.  He learned, for example, that to, "tweak" the hand made leather whips to turn over and CRACK at exactly the point they wanted and with the right amount of energy release, that they would add lead to increase mass at designated points in the whip.  Of course, the objective was to have rapid transfer of energy down the system leading to an explosive release of kinetic energy in the form of a loud noise.  The exact opposite of a, "gentle presentation" where all of the energy has dissipated as the fly lands.

 

I think Bruce Richards is correct as he looks at the leader as an extension of the fly line which must, from a standpoint of energy transfer,  also behave as a fly line.

 

As with fly lines, this, "behavior" will change as the distribution of mass is altered and as material stiffness changes. With those whips, distribution of mass was all important since they didn't do anything to change stiffness of the material.

 

One of the reasons that leaders often don't behave like the extension of the fly line is that there is a sudden change in material composition at the connection between the two as well as a change in the taper (if any) between the forward taper of the line and the leader.  This becomes painfully evident when we practice casting to the point of wearing the coating off the fly line exposing the core just above the leader connection or when we use very thin monofilament with little mass for the whole leader as Dennis described in his comment on some salmon fishermen.

 

As we build leaders, we try to match material properties, sometimes purposely changing them and their profiles to accomplish certain presentation goals.

 

We sometimes alter the system with visibility in and on the water as an additional objective.  One example of this is the use of materials which have an optical index of refraction similar to water (fluorocarbon).  Another example is the use of clear fly line tips which allow us to think of that segment of the forward fly line taper as part of the leader system ..... allowing us to use shorter actual leaders for presentations in strong winds.  We sometimes do that for, "quick" presentations to tarpon when the wind is howling on the flats.  The combinations appear endless.

 

The very flexibility in choices of leader systems to suit fishing conditions is what makes all this an unending and fascinating subject !

 

Gordy

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SUGGESTED READING ON LEADERS:

 

PRESENTATION by Gary Borger:  pp. 178 - 188

TROUT by Enie Schwiebert : pp 793 - 838 ( And many other passages including p. 1316.)

PRESENTING THE FLY by Lefty Kreh: pp 44 - 52 (And several other indexed references)

FLYCASTING SYSTEMS, by Bill Nash.

CASTS AND LEADERS, by Ally Gowans :  current Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazine.

BLUE WATER FLY FISHING,by Trey Combs, pp 140-141, 228 - 230.

ATLANTIC SALMON, by Lee Wulff, pp 56 - 60, 163 -165