Fishing with Furled leaders

I have been reading quite a bit about the advantages of furled leaders that include better turn over of large flies, particullarly in windy conditions, and some shock absorption when fishing for hard hitting big game species. However, when price tags that are ad high $10 per leader , they seemed to be cost prohibitive in most of my particular fishing situations.

In this month's issue of Fly Fishing in Saltwaters is an article that describes to make your own furled leaders from standard monofilament. After a couple of tries, I have found that these are actually pretty easy to make on your own and will cost only pennies. Here's a link that describes the process well; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbcVaEe3RIs

Now the question is; has anyone had any experience fishing these style of leader? and what do think of them?

Most of my serious trout fishing friends use them and have for years - all for the reasons you stated. Ralph Muller, one of our fly fish clinic volunteers makes his own. I think Paul Gruver does as well. I've been to workshops where they show how to make them but unless you need a whole bunch, setting up a jig and all that is time consuming and a little costly, it is better to have someone make them for you.

Cost of one or two is not that bad when you consider they last for years - The butt section is what is furled - it has a loop on each end. Thick end goes on line and thin end is where you loop in some tippet material. I personally use the Orvis braided leaders (basically the same thing). Orvis even sells braided tippet material but IMO it is just a gimmick - I use regular tippet material, often in two sizes (4x & 5x) to help with taper.

On other hand if you're fishing with big flies or for big fish I do not see any advantage with a furled or braided leader. I use straight 10-15 pound mono for salmon, bass and striper. Sometimes use two sizes to taper it but seldom do that because it creates a knot which is another weak link in the chain.

thanks for the info and the vid tom! i am going to trying to make some and try them out when i get a chance to hit the water!

I've making a few here for the past couple days and it's really very easy without having the expense or trouble of making a jig. I'm looking to get out and cast them a bit.

BTW here's a link to the orginal article; http://www.flyfishinsalt.com/techniques/knots-rigging/getting-twisted



This is one that I made earlier:

Nice work tom! Let us know how they work out on the water!

Nice work Tom. Looks intriguing.