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Leaders

This very much a matter of personal choice by for me for these species but keep in mind that its a compromise between your fly or flies presenting better on thinner leaders and avoiding break offs with thicker leader. My default tippet material for toga in Cania is Sun FC Rock 14lb fluorocarbon. My leaders are long as my fly rod and connected to the fly line with a back to back loop. The loop knot I use at the business end of the on 30-40mm long and is my 2 turn loop knot.

When I fish 2 flies the dropper for that second fly is tied in with a surgeons knot, with the bottom 20cm tag end as the dropper and is tied in 1.2 meters from the point fly. When extended this leaves me initially with 1.0 meter between my two flies which I reckon is just about ideal. As you fish and change flies you will gradually close the gap between your two flies, so I keep and eye on that, and generally swap over to a new leader as my confidence in the gap or length of leader overall wains. Too much closer than one meter I believe that the flies spook fish but too much further than 1 meter apart then the team of flies become harder to cast and when you do go to land a fish the bob fly is precariously close, or hooks up to, the top runner.

This is the leader set up I use for #8, weight outfits when I am fishing the estuaries for bream, flathead and the like and also when I am fishing for Australian native species such as bass, saratoga or the various perch. It works for me for both still and flowing water and I am comfortable using it from a boat or from the bank to present both wet flies, dry flies and everything in between.

The main difference to my #6 weight trout leaders is the fact that I only have one heavier section in the butt section of the leader and then of course the overall length of leader is less than I typically use for trout. For my trout leaders I use two sections in the butt of the leader but here I get away with just one section because I am using much heavier leader material and one section is sufficient to allow a good connection to my fly line and tocomfortably turn my heavier fly or flies over. The overall leader length is much shorter than my trout leaders because generally I find that my target species with this set up are less sensitive than trout, are in less than crystal clear water and of course I am casting bigger flies which are a pain on long leaders particularly when casting at short ranges into structure ... any way this works for me when targeting fresh water and salt water species such as bream, flathead, mangrove jack or smaller trevally and queenfish or freshwater species such as bass, saratoga, yellowbelly or silver perch.

These days most fly lines come with a manufactured loop at the business end. I use those manufactured loops to connect my leader to my fly line with a loop to loop connection. Unfortunately the manufactured loops on the end of fly lines don't last well and when they start to either fail or look fragile I replace them with a 20 -30 mm long Maxima Ultragreen monofilament nail loop knot to the end of each of my fly lines.

I like that loop connected to the fly line to be about 2/3 the thickness of the tip of an intermediate fly line which works out at about 30kg for 8 weight lines lines. Except for my dry fly presentation leaders I use these monofiliment loops on all of my fly lines up to #8 weigh because they:

• Are more durable than the manufactured loops that come on fly lines.
• Are less visible than braided loops.
• Allow a neat leader to line connections without introducing any hinging effect
• Provide a loop on the line that is big enough to allow a loop to loop connection between my fly line and leader.

When preparing my leader:

1. I start by pulling a short length of tippet material off my spool of butt section material (that's generally 18lb Riverge Grand Max fluorocarbon) and adding a 5cm loop to the tag end using a two turn loop knot. Then I measure out 1 meter of that butt section and snip that from the spool.
2. The next step is to pull a short length of tippet material off my spool of tippet section material (that's generally 9.5lblb Riverge Grand Max fluorocarbon) and to tie that onto the end of the butt section using a surgeons knot. Then I measure out a rod length of that tippet material and snip that from the spool. With an 8 foot fly rod this gives you a leader that is 2.3 meters long.
3. Some of the time and particularly for Bass or Redfin in impoundments I fish two wets on this leader but it is equally at home with two dries or a wet under a dry. If I am adding a dropper so that I can fish a team of two flies I measure up from the tip of the leader 1.2 meters and tie in with a surgeons knot a 30cm length of the tippet material for my dropper fly. As you fish and change flies you will gradually close the gap between your two flies, so I keep and eye on that, and generally tie a new tippet section onto as my confidence in the gap between my two flies or length of leader overall diminishes. Too much closer than 0.9 of a meters I believe that the flies spook fish but too much more than 1.2 meters apart then the team of flies become harder to cast and when you do go to land a fish the bob fly can be precariously close, or hook up to, the top runner of your fly rod.



On the fly side I like my leader to be about the same length os my fly rod. A heavier butt section makes it easier to turn over your flies and I make that 1/3 the length of the leader. My tippet is gererally 9.5lb and the butt section 14.5lb. Occasionally I fish a little heavier and use a 12.5lb / 16.5lb leader.

I do fish leader/tippet combination both heavier and lighter than the ranges above, within reason, but my advise is to stick with leader/tippet combination that is as lightest you can get away with on the day.

Bass, all of the Perch family, Jacks, Cod and other toothy critters that you encounter all seem to have the same penchant of retreating to cover once hooked and you can need every ounce of stopping power you can muster. At the other end of the spectrum don't go overboard with tippet weight ... it should still be the weak point in your set up. If it's not you run the risk of breaking a fly line or even a rod.

I suggest you experiment and come up with a compromise that suites your casting ability and style and of course the weather conditions. With this type of leader set up you can pull your point fly up close to the rod tip and swap lines via the loop to "locked loop" connection which at that stage will be half way down the rod. I am a strong advocate of using a lefty's loop knot I connect dry flies to my tippet because that knot allows the fly to swing or swim freely and because it's dam strong when tied carefully.

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Last Updated: June 1, 2014
Author: StephenChatterton
Categories: Bass
Tags: Jindabyne, lake, loch, river