By Louis Cahill This fly-fishing leader will out perform anything you can buy. For medium stiff mono materials, I like Maxima and Ande, but I’ve tried some saltwater RIO and some Umpqua that also work well. Then I waited for him to ask me what I found. The RIO Redfish/Seatrout Leader was developed and designed for fly fishing redfish, seatrout and similar saltwater species. ... Redfish (3) Striper (1) Atlantic Salmon (1) Bass (4) Bonefish (6) … I generally don’t use gloves, except when I’m tying big game leaders. Choosing the Perfect Boat. To cut materials and trim the knots, pliers or forceps with scissors will work fine, but clippers are my first choice here because they usually can trim knots much closer. I had fished the Trail since early 1959, with Flip Pallot, John Emery, and Norman Duncan. But to my surprise, every time I shot a loop into the other side of the canal, the fly line would unfold fine, but the leader would not, leaving the fly 10 feet behind the fly line. It offers the angler more control over their presentation than any commercially made leader. We've been doing it since 2003! The difficult part of fly presentation is when the angler tries to lead the redfish by two feet, intercepting the redfish's path, retrieving the fly right to it's nose. A leader is the monofilament line that is attached to the fly line. Make sure to lubricate it, then pull it steady and firm so the knot sets. However, as you saw in the anecdote above, the fishing conditions can dictate something altogether different. Rio Redfish/Seatrout Leader has been designed for the fly fisher that pursues Redfish, Sea trout and other similar saltwater species. This info is generally on the package. Also get a yard stick or a measuring tape to measure the sections. Stephen quickly offered to rig, make sandwiches, and even drive the next morning. And if pulling hard on the sections hurts your hands, use your sun gloves or a light pair of garden gloves. Leaders in the 12 to 15-foot range, though more challenging to cast, give you the advantage by placing your fly further away from the thick fly line. Though I like the jam knot a lot, I think that the loop to loop connection does not get stuck in the guides as much as the two other connections. First of all, long leaders spook fewer fish. It can be great fly fishing, with snook, tarpon, and occasionally redfish and bass all feeding against the shoreline as the minnows come out. Latest. In the early 90s, my son, Stephen, was still in high school, life was much simpler, and we both had lots of time to fish together. Needless to say, if you’re fishing for Redfish in the summer during warm water conditions you’re probably going to want a tropical fly line like RIO’s Summer Redfish Line (a Tropical Series). However, over many years I've learned a number of things about the most effective leaders. But leader materials are stiffer than fly lines, so what has worked out throughout the years, to match stiffness, more or less, is to use a butt diameter that is 60 to 65 percent of the diameter of the tip end of the fly line. All rights reserved. I don’t even remembered what I answered, and I guess it doesn’t matter. Longer Leaders for Spooky Fish and Extremely Clear Water. 7.5 or 9 foot tapered knotless leader, mono or fluorocarbon, 20 lb test. It's heavy enough to throw large flies, has plenty of backbone to fight a powerful redfish, and is light enough that you can cast it all day long. Like all the Perfect Fly leaders, they transfer energy from the fly line to the fly in a predictable manner. First, let’s gather the tools. It's fast, it's easy, and the leader never breaks at a knot as on a tapered, knotted leader. It took me months of experimentation. However, over many years I've learned a number of things about the most effective leaders. Copyright © 2003 – 2021 MidCurrent LLC, All Rights Reserved. The diameter of that mono was like normal thin and light 20-pound-test. With a nine foot leader, if you want to lead the redfish with your fly by three feet, the end of your fly line should land close to 12 feet short of the target zone you are casting to. I know it took a lot to explain, but in reality it only takes a few minutes to tie. We quickly took out a pair of 7-weight rods with small Muddlers that imitated the size of the mud minnows and started to cast. Here 20 and 30 pounds will work well. And typically angler… For us, water temps were around 50 degrees so we opted for a cold water line like RIO’s Winter Redfish Fly Line. Buy Fly-Fishing for Redfish in the MidCurrent Store. For Louisiana redfish bigger than 15 lbs, we recommend using an 8 or 9 foot fly rod paired with any brand of saltwater fly reel. No matter how hard we tried, the leaders couldn’t penetrate the wind. TIP, SALTWATER LEADER. I knew it well in those days. Absolute Trout 3-Pack Leader $ 16.95. And since the formula said the mid section should be 3 feet, you can either cut each section 11⁄2 feet, or cut 2 feet of 30 pounds and one of 20 pounds. I prefer a 12-16 lb. Spool your reel with a weight-forward floating line and a 9 to 12 foot leader. Still, the pound test is just a guide. If you’re confused about when to fish a tropical line and when to fish a cold water line, we’ve covered that topic here. Absolute Trout 1-Pack Leader $ 6.95. Now let’s tie the 16-pound tippet to the end of the mid section, which, by the 50/30/20 formula, is going to be 2 feet long or so. Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen. Since the tip end on an 8-weight line measures around 0.040 of an inch, then 60 or 66 percent of that is around 0.024 or 0.026 of an inch. And frankly, there are many line companies making good medium stiff leader materials. Knotless leaders work much better in weedy areas because weeds tend to catch on knots. So I turned around and explained to Stephen, probably in a loud and frustrated voice, that 7-weight rods needed 30-pound-test and that he should know better by now. I was playing around with leader formulas for my 8wt and came across this article: Making a Redfish Leader | MidCurrent. But instead, Lee scratched his head slowly, while looking far into the horizon, seemingly lost in thoughts for a few seconds (Lee was an engineer), and then told me that since the 1940s, he had always thought that 0.025 inch was an ideal butt section for 7-, 8-, and 9-weight lines. {"pos":"top","cat":"techniques","type":"article_children_page","format":"default"}. Redfish leaders are simple with one goal: to turn over a heavy fly in a the wind and play a tough game of tug-of-war. Copyright © 2021 Salt Water Sportsman. TOTAL LENGTH 10 FT. - LOOPED MAXIMA FLUOROCARBON 30 LB. You also want to cast past the fish so you have some leader to play with as you close the gap between the fish and the fly. They have a taper design that easily turns over typical saltwater patterns, and are made of a medium stiff nylon that cope with tough winds. Either will work. New Products and Electronics for January 2021. The Redfish/Seatrout leader features an aggressive taper … I tie my own tapered leaders using Stren High Impact leader material, but many other brands do the job well too. So we chose a cold water line… summer anglers should choose a tropical line. Salt Water Sportsman may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. A Bonnier Corporation Company. RIO's Redfish/Seatrout Leaders have been designed for the fly fisher that pursues Redfish, Sea trout and other similar saltwater species. However, the longer the leader, the harder it is to cast, so newcomers may want to keep it a bit shorter than the standard 9-foot length. Cliff Notes: Butt = 5 feet of 40-pound; Mid = 3 feet (about 2 feet of 30-pound and 1 … Top angler Sandy Moret tying a big redfish fly with a loop, for more action. If you ask 10 fly fishers about their recommendation for a redfish leader, you'll get 10 different answers. With the years, all of this will change—there will be other line manufacturers or distributers, perhaps better, perhaps not—but the basic principles stay the same. Now, if you bear with me a little longer, I’ll tell you another story about butt section diameters. By Pat Ford. You can stop there or add another section of 12-pound line, as you prefer. Fly Fishing Leaders and Tippet Material - Murray's Hand Tied Fly Fishing Leaders, Bass Leaders, Trout Leaders, Big Game Leaders, Orvis Super Strong Tippet, Umpqua Tippet for your fly fishing needs from freshwater species to saltwater species the world over. I can’t see using any lighter or any heavier outfits when fishing for reds. Conclusion. But when we only had half a day, we would often go fishing for snook and baby tarpon in the famous Tamiami Trail canal, on the west side of Florida, an hour and a half from Miami, where we lived. To the other end tie a 2-foot piece of 20-pound line, using either a blood knot or a double surgeon's knot. A few weeks later while fishing for bonefish in the Keys, I ran into my friend Lee Wulff at the docks. Just remember that while the explanation below takes some time, when you learn to make your leader, it only takes a few minutes. The only problem is that to fly-fish in this situation, you need to cast against the northern wind and reach the other side of the canal. This represents the butt section. That is why most good saltwater anglers, either by knowledge or experimentation, now use 40-pound-test butt section on an 8-weight. The RIO Redfish/Seatrout Leader is made of tough, abrasion-resistant, medium stiff nylon for durability. RIO's Redfish/Seatrout Leaders have been designed for the fly fisher that pursues Redfish, Sea trout and other similar saltwater species. But the point of the story is that basics stay the same, no matter what new leader material you get, even if it’s pink. I’m going to choose a good all-around leader for redfish— a 10-foot leader for an 8-weight line with a 16-pound-test tippet—and use the popular formula of 50/30/20. The chart on the next page shows the materials I often use for butt sections. If you don't know how to tie knots, you can purchase knotless tapered leaders, such as the Scientific Angler Mastery series tapered leaders and the Airflo Braided Tapered Leader series. Heavy flies that sink quickly ensure that the fish actually see the fly when you make a presentation. For those of you more advanced, a micrometer may help you, especially when using material where the manufacturer doesn’t show the diameter. We needed the weight that comes from a thicker diameter, not the strength of 30 pounds. At this point you are about to tie what is usually the weakest connection, often more so than the tippet connection to the fly. Fly Fishing for Redfish. Whatever material you choose, use the same make throughout the leader, so that stiffness and other properties remain constant, from the butt section to the tippet. I immediately told him that I had done an exhaustive research on butt sections for bones and backcountry fishing, using 7-, 8-, and 9-weight lines. And if you’re a beginner, don’t even think about it. REDFISH AND OTHER SPECIES PERFECTION LOOPED BUTT SECTION, TIED USING BLOOD KNOTS,PROFESSIONAL HAND TIED. But if and when I find better, I’ll change. So now I knew that for the 8-weight line I used for bonefish, snook, and redfish, a good butt section was something close to 0.025 of an inch or about 40-pound-test. Redfish, trout, and flounder on the flats: 20 lb to 25 lb mono leader and 10 lb braid main line is my favorite; Snook on the flats: 25lb to 30 lb mono leader and 10 lb braid main line; Snook and redfish in inlets and/or near structure: 40 lb to 60 lb mono leader and 20 lb to 30 lb braid main line depending on size of expected fish Just make sure you can comfortably pull hard enough to set the knots. About 95 percent of the leaders I make are composed of the same material, usually mono, from butt to tippet or shock tippet. Anyway, finally I came up with roughly the facts that I’m giving you here. You’re not matching a mayfly hatch. As long as the fly moves in a way similar to a crab, they will crush it without hesitation. And that reminds me of a story I want to share with you: About thirty years ago, in the early 80s, I did thorough research on fly line to butt section diameter. Customer Support: ... Leader. It's a solid read by Chico Fernandez and it's worked well for me. Needless to say, the principles are the same for knotless leaders, where 0.025 to 0.028 inches works well for reds. Author Bruce Chard (shown here) believes the butt sections of most commercial tapered leaders are too thin, and recommends beefing them up with 18" sections of .032" monofilament. He asked what I’d found. Fine, I agreed and went back to my writing. Back at the house a few hours later, I found out what happened. And that, in most average medium stiff leaders is 40-pound-test. According to Charles Ritz in his book "A Fly Fisher's Life", the diameter of leader butts should be 60% of the diameter of the end of the fly line. They stay stronger when the inevitable wind knot shows up and allow you to fight the fish harder. Buy Fly-Fishing for Redfish in the MidCurrent Store. Updated: April 10, 2019. RIO Redfish/Seatrout Leaders utilize a tough, medium-stiff material to cast saltwater patterns and deal with wind. 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