Stillwater & Furled Leaders

[kandersonSLC]

Fished Strawberry on Monday for 8 hours. Wife and I used same Type III line, but she had one of FG’s furled, sinking leaders (brown camo), and I was using a floro leader. Both of us had 5’ of 4x floro tippet. She hooked 7 and netted 4; I had two hits and hooked nada. Used the same fly for a few hours (bead-head olive bugger).

So was it the furled leader or that my wife just makes a better presentation? What would be the difference in presentation between furled and floro?
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[cpierce]

My guess is that it was a subtle depth difference. Or could be a difference in how the fly moves, what knot did you both use? or how fast the fly is moving? Were you stripping or trolling? How long did you each let the fly sink before starting to strip it or move? Lots of variables even though you both used the same fly and main line.
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[kandersonSLC]

Thanks CPierce. I should have been more clear on why I'm asking. My wife and I often fish together with similar rigs as to line, leader, tippet and knots -- other than trying different flies until we find what's working. We were wind drifting, so same speed and I tried to copy her retrieve technique.

We've both always used FG's furled leaders, but I read where an "expert" said to never use furled leaders for wet flies because it screws up the sink rate and because the fish can see the leader. Thus, only ever use floro leader and tippet.

So this was an intentional experiment of furled vs. floro leaders, and (at least in this instance) the furled leader appears to have been the better choice. I am just wondering why, as the visibility of furled vs. floro seems to be a valid point.

Maybe just one of the infinite variables that one day results in success and the next day failure.
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[flygoddess]

Kevin, as I pointed out in my class that you took last month, leader can make a difference with sinking line. Going with shorter leaders for faster sinking lines as the line will sink at a different rate than the line forming a belly or slack meaning miss hits.
Fluoro sinks but not as fast as a type III line. The Sink leader however, supports Kevlar. I suspect that the Sink leader sank at the same rate as the line getting the fly in the zone quicker.
Just a guess of course.

Maybe I better make a few up for our trip in a few weeks. Could make a difference. Worth a try right?
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[riverdog]

When someone says never or always with fishing I stop reading as they're usually clueless. She just surpassed you in fishing abilities. Next time reverse who fishes what leader. If your wife still out fishes you it confirms my suspicion and no need to look for further explanation. If she's newer to the sport the gap will probable widen each outing so you better get used to it[laugh].
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[flygoddess]

[quote kandersonSLC]Thanks CPierce. I should have been more clear on why I'm asking. My wife and I often fish together with similar rigs as to line, leader, tippet and knots -- other than trying different flies until we find what's working. We were wind drifting, so same speed and I tried to copy her retrieve technique.

We've both always used FG's furled leaders, but I read where an "expert" said to never use furled leaders for wet flies because it screws up the sink rate and because the fish can see the leader. Thus, only ever use floro leader and tippet.

So this was an intentional experiment of furled vs. floro leaders, and (at least in this instance) the furled leader appears to have been the better choice. I am just wondering why, as the visibility of furled vs. floro seems to be a valid point.

Maybe just one of the infinite variables that one day results in success and the next day failure.[/quote]

I have no idea who this expert is, but I disagree. The leaders are a natural color and there has been several tests using 6" of tippet off the leader and still caught fish.
[font "Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"][black][size 2]Furled Leaders have been around since the 18th century, when they were made from horse hair. They are very different from braided leaders. The weaving process itself is different -- and as a result a Furled Leader is solid. There is no hollow center.[/size][/black][/font]

They are nothing new, just to many fishers. Nice thing about the thread leaders is do not add floatant and they sink nicely. There are all sorts of specialty Furled leaders offered these days to cover all type of fishing.
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[cpierce]

With both of you using a 5 foot tippet, the visibility of the furled leader probably doesn't matter. I have frequently fished with a sinking line and a 4-6 ft tippet and done fine, and I know that my sinking line is way more visible than a furled leader.

I would guess pretty much what FG said, that the floro leader and tippet combo were holding your fly out of the prime zone.

Maybe just test the furled combo and the floro combo off the end of a floating line to see their individual sink rates.

One other factor is smell. Girls smell better than guys! [cool]
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[OldTroller]

Next time try switching rods. Just hand your rod to her and see what catches the next fish. The same person or the same rod.

Oh and if you were close but not glued at the hip (pontoons tied together) you could have been just a few feet out of the feeding zone and that will count for a lot of fish over the day.

Lets say you're going back and forth in front of a given shore line. Have a different one move to the inside position every time you change direction.
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[flygoddess]

They generally fish same area. He has an Assault XX and the Avenger 2 man.
I have experimented with different length leaders. Slight changes "can" make big difference.
But, I agree, try switching rods is an easy test.
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[kandersonSLC]

Thanks for all of the comments. Food for thought. We've always done great with the furled leaders but thought it would be fun to experiment.

I kept the leader and tippet the same, but was trying bead-heads, flies with lead wire, flies with no weight, etc. I even put a small split shot on and moved it up and down the tippet to see if anything made a difference. Not even the Shameless Hussy could bring them in (should have given one to Suz).

I bet you all are right that Suz spent more time in the zone than me, and that differences in tippet and leader are important.

Being cute probably doesn't hurt either -- and just try and take her rod when it's catching fish []

[inline "Suz Cut.jpg"]
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[kandersonSLC]

Was changing out the leader on my Type III line and came across this in my leader wallet. Look like a good choice?

[inline "Furled Kevlar Leader.jpg"]
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[flygoddess]

There you go!
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