Dads Leader System By Bill Gunn 2008- 2012 President, Florida Council International Federation of Fly Fishers After fishing Great Lakes tributaries for Steelhead and Salmon for many years, I found it frustrating to have the split shot on my leaders snagging in the rocks. I spent a lot of time breaking them off and repairing my leader and tippet. Although my Dad was not an avid fisherman, he was an old Navy man, a Nuclear Engineer, who used to rig sailboats for a local dealer in his retirement. Through his knowledge of knots and rigging, he suggested some solutions. Together, we came up with a simple system that greatly reduced the time I spend repairing and rebuilding my leader system while fishing. I build my big fish leaders down to 0X or 1X. Then connect the leader loop to loop with a stripped coating whipped loop at the end of the fly line, and a perfection loop in the leader butt. At the point where you attach the tippet, I tie a perfection loop attaching 6 to 12 pound tippets to the leader loop to loop. Because of the difference in diameter between the leader and smaller tippets, the loop to loop connection wont always close correctly. But if you tie a long Bimini Twist, you can take the loop it forms, double it, and then tie matching twin loops using a Double Surgeons loop knot. This creates a double loop which closes well in the loop to loop connection with the thick leader transition taper section. The best trick I learned was when Dad suggested I cut the tag loop, the third loop left from tying the double loop from the Bimini Twist loop, close on one side, and leave it dangle as single strand tag. He said, Just put your split shot on the tag. That way if the shot gets snagged, it will simply slide off the end of the tag and save your tippet. When tying on the fly, I use a well tied clinch knot leaving a short tag of about 1/8 inch to allow slippage as the knot tightens. A small tag on a clinch knot greatly reduces knot failure and makes designer knots or improved clinch knots totally unnecessary. This leader system has proven to be being very durable and saves time re-rigging on stream. The loop on the leader in 0X or 1X is much stronger than the tippet. The Bimini and Double Surgeons Loop are much stronger than the clinch knot. When fishing this rig, if the shot gets snagged, a steady pull slides the shot off the end of the tag. If the fly gets snagged, a steady pull will break the clinch knot releasing the fly before the tippet breaks as its the weakest part of the system. Now when I drift egg patterns or nymphs for Great Lakes salmon and steelhead, I spend very little time repairing and rebuilding my leader due to snags and hang ups in the rocks. I pre-make extra tippets before a trip winding them onto an old tippet spool. Changing tippets is a snap on stream as I dont even have to tie a knot to replace them or change from 6 to 12 pounds. also works great for saltwater species too. I just trim the shot tag as you dont use split shot casting on the flats. And, I always think of my Dad every time I fish this leader system.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:40:40 +0000