Furled Leaders (Part 3 of 3)

In the previous entries, Part 1 and Part 2, we discussed the pros and cons of furled leaders, the types of furled leaders available, and the setup and rigging of a furled leader. With the third and final portion, I hope to catch just the tip of the iceberg on what is possible when it comes to making your own furled leaders, customizations that ate possible, and leave with some additional resources, should you wish to delve deeper.

If you simply want to put a furled leader on your usual dry-fly rod, by all means, drop an email to Carl, and have him make something to suit your needs.

That being said, if you think you're ready to give furling a chance, let me give you some words of encouragement. First off, unlike fly tying, the ROI with furled leaders can happen pretty quickly. You likely have most, if not all, materials needed to start furling, and within just a couple hours, you can be producing basic, functional leaders.

Also, like fly tying, furling can be very rewarding, and can be another challenge in this deep, dark hole that is fly fishing.

Now, about getting started, the first thing you will need is a looping jig - this is how the taper of the material for the leader is built, my making multiple loops of your source material around the various pegs.

I followed the overall design and initial formula from a great article in Hatches Magazine. Breck Miller did a phenomenal job on the article, and quite frankly, I see no reason to try to repeat, or re-explain anything he's written. What is great about this system, and it’s the system/basic formula that I use, is that it requires little, if anything that you don't likely already have... and absolutely NOTHING about it can't be found at your local hardware store for less than a few dollars. The only specialty item is a "Nit Picker", available for about $3 at Joanne Fabrics, and other fine fly tying crafting retailers.

Some differences between Breck's jig and my own: He used 1/2" Dowel, I Used 1" dowel that I cut from an old broomstick(again, using what's available, though bigger dowels make for easier passing of spools when making the loops) . For the end peg, I found that 1/2" or 1" was just too large and made my Shorb loop come out messy - so I make my end post short, then hammered a 1/8" diameter nail into it (predrill first!), and cut off the head of the nail with a Dremel and filed smooth. This makes my end loop smaller and final Shorb loop cleaner, YMMV.

Now, before continuing you'll need a basic understanding of how the furled leader is made.

Essentially, a jig is used; equivalent to what your see to the left in my messy garage, and line is wrapped around the pegs to give you a different number of strands at each section (Taper). Breck's formula, a formula that I still often use, starts with 11 loops/22 strands of material in the butt section (5 1/2 loops, 11 strands per leg), and 3 loops/6 strands of material in the tip section (1 1/2 loops, 3 strands per leg).

Once the loops are established, leader is essentially V-shaped, with the tip in the "corner" of the "V" and the butt section at the tips.

One at a time (though not necessarily), the legs of the leader are twisted extensively using an electric drill with an open hook in its chuck. Both legs are twisted the SAME DIRECTION, and kept separate.

Once twisting is complete, the two legs are brought together, and hung by the butt section with weight (3-4oz) attached to the tip section. Then, on its own, the leader begins "Furling", all on its own. the two legs become intertwined into one, and the tension, built during twisting, is relieved from the leader.

The Leader is finished with Shorb loops or other finishing methods.

This is where the fun starts. If you do nothing other than copy exactly what is in the Hatches Article, Great, you're now making perfectly serviceable furled leaders... but this really is not the only way to do it.

Carl (there I go, bringing him up again) has an interesting method where instead of twisting the two "legs" individually, he builds the two legs, then straightens the entire leader out into a single line, with the butt section being on the outside ends, the tip section in the center. The Entire leader can then be twisted in a single step, before it is essentially "Folded" with the tip section in the middle, and allowed to furl.

Others, used various gearing to allow the twisting of both legs at one time. I've seen at least one method which using gears, springs, and weights, to do twisting and furling, all in one step.

Various materials can be used also, to yield different features. Different colors can be included to build-in indicator functionality. The whole taper can be shortened/steepened, say, for nymphing, to allow an indicator (yarn, or thingamabobber) to be placed at the end of the furl, and then tippet run straight from that - an excellent setup for nymphing - the furl turns over the indicator nicely, but the tippet cuts through the water and allows the nymphs to sink nicely.

To learn all about advanced leader making techniques, look no further than the Furled Leader Forum, a very small, dedicated group of furlers, eager to share their knowledge.

My personal quest has been that of furled leaders for Sub 0-wt rods. When I started looking for a material to create ultralight furled leaders for my 00wt, I decided I needed finer Mono than the 2lb I had been finding at the big5 (which was about .007 inch diameter). I have considered 7x ... But the issue is cost... There's about 90-100 feet of material in a furled leader... So it gets expensive if your source material is costly.

Of the two quilting Monofilament threads I purchased, Clear .004 and Smoke .004, I have two vastly different products (despite identical packaging).

The clear actually measures .0035 (between 7x and 8x) by my calipers and feels fairly inconsistent (like somewhat curly-Q’d... it straightens out when stretched) in the hands (single strand), and has a very low break strength - less than 1 lb.

The smoke, on the other hand feels much smoother, stronger (though I haven't break-tested it, yet, I've tied the smoke line to some Cabelas brand 6x... In 3 tests it broke the 6x tippet every time.... I may have found the worlds cheapest 6x tippet), and unsurprisingly also measures a good deal thicker (.005 - equivalent to 6x). So with that in mind, I have three different tapers made using the Clear, and one Taper using the Smoke.

Its actually quite fun, but this nylon thread is maddeningly difficult to work with for a variety of reasons. Still my failure rate hovers in the 60-70% range... considering its less than $0.20 in material per leader, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

 And then there is testing: That's the fun part!

Furled Leaders (Part 2)

It is my hope with Part 1, that I have at least piqued your interest when it comes to furled leaders. In this post, we'll explore a little bit about the different ways of rigging up your furled leader.

Connection Options, Flyline to Leader Butt

Permanent Connection: Tying Thread/Whip Finish

This is essentially tying the leader onto the end of the flyline, much the same as you might tie feathers on a hook for fly tying. The leader butt is simply laid alongside the tip of the flyline, and tying thread is used to cinch the two materials together. The butt-end shorb loop of the furled leader would be cut off and the tag ends covered with the tying thread. Whip finish using a piece of thread or line, like you might do to finish a guide-wrap on a fly rod. The connection should be finished with a coating of knot sense or similar product.

Permanent Connection: Uni Knot Method.

This method is a little harder to explain, but essentially the leader is attached to only the CORE of the flyline after some of the coating is stripped away. The leader and line are both tied to each other, and then the knots are slid together, right at the end of the stripped away line coating. Again, the whole thing is coated in knot sense or similar to achieve a nice smooth, football shaped knot. I believe that this is likely the smoothest connection method of anything available for any leader attachment method, with the possible exception of Dave Whitlock's Zap-a-Gap method for attaching regular mono leaders. That being said, I have not yet used it. You can get the entire details one the Furled Leader Forum, though you will have to register to be able to read.

Non-Permanent Connection: Loop to Loop

This is the most common connection, as it offers many benefits. As furled leaders can be customized for different applications, you can easily change looped sections from one taper or configuration to another. Or, much like I did just a few weeks ago, switch between a short stretch of monofilament for a streamer leader, to a furled leader during the hatch to fish dries. The loop to loop is also the easiest transition from traditional leaders, as many of us use loop/loop connections for the tapered leaders anyway - plus - more and more lines are coming out of the box with welded loops attached. On the downside, some people find the loop-loop connections to be a hassle going through the guides.

 Connection Options: Furled Leader to Tippet

Tippet ring

If your furled leader came with a tippet ring, then your process is clear: Clinch knot 2-4' of tippet to your tippet ring and attach your fly. You're done.

Shorb Loop

If your furled leader came with a shorb loop on the tippet end, you're going to want to use a perfection loop on your tippet and loop-loop with the shorb loop to attach your tippet.

Final Product

Now, for me, rather than just adding 3' of tippet to my furled leader, more often than not, I make one final step-down. Much like in a traditional knotted leader, I will attach 18"-30" of 2x - 4x tippet via loop connection to my furled leader, and then to that, surgeons knot another 20"-40" of my final tippet size (5x or 6x generally) to make my final tippet.

Given that my furled leaders are roughly 5' long, adding 2' of 3x and 3' of 6x gives me an overall leader of about 10'. I can easily adjust this by adding more tippet (generally I will add to the section of 3x) for a more delicate presentation, or delete tippet for fast water, small brushy streams, or to better drive a more wind resistant fly. That being said: even on the smallest of water, my total leader is rarely under 7 ½ or 8'.

 In Part 3, we will finish up by talking about making your own furled leaders, plus some interesting things that can be done in furled leaders to integrate various features.

 Continued in Part 3

*** If you missed the update on part 1, I added the contact information for Carl Crenshaw, the leader maker who sold me my first furled leader***