leader material

ironbluedun

hi folks. i have been fishing in ireland for along time. mostly for trout in loughs such as sheelin, carra, corrib etc. anyway was just wondering on what leader material others use. i have been using froghair but find it flimsy, stroft is not much better either. anyone any other thoughts on other brands of flouro and co-polymer, rio, orvis, hardy, riverge, seaguar etc etc. recently i have gone back to maxima and find it the best, any thoughts? cheers:)

THE 1

i use the airflo sightfree flurocarbon 5lb, 6lb, 8lb. and i find it great, i use wydwood mono also good. cant think off the copolymer is use, but i dont like it(i'll get the name of it to-nite)

coolwings

To me fluoro only has one feature I prefer: low visibility. I consider it inferior to mono in almost every other feature, but fluorocarbon has it's uses and I would not be without it.

Here is how I select them for my own use in fly fishing:
For standard use where robustness pays: Maxima
For clear water, calm condition surface fishing, and educated fish: fluorocarbon
For all sunk line fishing: Maxima

I have never found any fluorocarbon able to match a good mono for toughness or knotted strength.
Also unfortunately for the wildlife around, discarded fluoro does not biodegrade, so littering angler slobs can do damage wth it.

For these and other reasons I still consider mono as my standard line, with fluoro as a leader material when required, and braid as a special use line thin enough to resist water drag but otherwise expensive alternative to mono.

ironbluedun

thanks lads, coolwings i agree with you. airflo sightfree havnt tried that one but suspect they are all similar. will stick with maxima ultra green and maxima clear for now. agree that maxima is the best for robustness. thanks again

premiercad

I use the same as The 1. AirFlo Fluro just changed to it from Maxima mono this summer and I've never looked back. I caught a 3Lb trout during the summer that ran me through every tree in the river and the tippet still didn't break! In saying that it does develop a memory or kink if strained but I use it for tippet only and have to replace it often. Shop bought tapered leader for the rest up to the fly line.

ironbluedun

interesting replies. must try the airflo sightfree. has anybody used riverge it is supposed to be good for lough style fishing?? that is what i mostly do. looking for a good line that will stand up to a bit of abuse, and will be more wind knot resistant than the softer supple lines out there.
thanks again.:)

coolwings

The main thing to know about fluorocarbon is it can be very weak in the knots if you tie untidy knots, or if you allow the surface of the fluoro to get heated as the knot draws tight.

So if you tie a knot and it comes out just about ok, cut it and re-tie. Then you won't be let down by failure at the knot.
Also, just as in all lines, moisten before drawing the knot tight. But with fluoro, take added care doing this, I moisten, and draw it to a smaller size, check the coils of the knot are not overlapping and symmetrical, then re-moisten and tighten the knot.
My earlier disappointments with fluoro pretty much ended sfter I allowed for it's characteristics with this dicipline.
But I would not use fluoro for example, for continual fly casting for hours with a salmon fly, and expect it to last anywhere as well as Maxima mono after a take came and a punishing load was applied to it.

Another mono line I have found to be very tough ... Berkeley Big Game. They understate the strength with conservative but slightly inaccurate breaking strain labelling though, like Sylcast used to do, 11lb is nearer 13lb.
I use Big Game for surfcasting where wear on shingle and rocks is a big problem, and it resists the constant fraying action that damages other brands including Maxima very well.

yank_in_eire

I like Drennan subsurface for nymph fishing.
Umpqua tippet for dries.
For saltwater use I make leaders with a butt of Mason hard mono and the tippet of Big Game.

Octopus

Maxima Ultra green is the best all round tippet. Well worth buying a couple of spools in 3lb, 4lb & 6lb. Not expensive either.
I used to use Drennan sub surface which I find equally as good.
Airflow is good but I've gone away from flurocarbons due to the poor knot strenght.

Rule of thumb that some people apply on a fishing forum I read is with the flurocarbons and co-polymers the breaking strain is halved when knotted. Approximately of course.

Snaffler

ironbluedun wrote: »

interesting replies. must try the airflo sightfree. has anybody used riverge it is supposed to be good for lough style fishing?? that is what i mostly do. looking for a good line that will stand up to a bit of abuse, and will be more wind knot resistant than the softer supple lines out there.
thanks again.:)

Ive used Riverge and found it quite good but having said that I also find Froghair good. As mono goes I dont think you will find many to complain about Maxima apart from that clear **** they brought out about 3 years ago. Dont think they continued with that anyway.

Feyy

Only use Stroft nowadays.

Used to use Frog hair and Rio Powerflex but just wasen't as happy.

Have to try some of the other mentioned ones here too

ironbluedun

Snaffler wrote: »

Ive used Riverge and found it quite good but having said that I also find Froghair good. As mono goes I dont think you will find many to complain about Maxima apart from that clear **** they brought out about 3 years ago. Dont think they continued with that anyway.

the maxima clear stuff is still on the market. not a huge fan of stroft, find it flimsy.