Long Leader /Soft Water Leader Formula

By Joe Libeu

        For the Long Beach area or any soft water I like to use a long leader of any where from 15 to 22 ft.  Rich Jacobsen was the first to develop and use long leaders and his original design was of straight mono of 8-15 lbs depending on the conditions.  The one thing that is certain is that it is hard to cast and you will incur some damage to your body especially when it is windy.

 The reason we like to use long leaders is that there is very little surf in the soft water and areas like Long Beach that are some what protected.  With the poly floating or intermediate leader or intermediate leader and 8-10 ft of 2-12lb of fluorocarbon the poly leader floats on the surface or intermediate leader sinks slowly and the fly sits on the bottom.  As you strip, the fly jumps off the bottom and falls back down.  If you use a sink tip or intermediate sinking fly line they will come to rest on the bottom and be stripped over the fish thus spooking them.

Here is one leader formula, there are several more out there.

Start with what ever fly line you will be using and cut off the welded loop if one is built into the fly line.

I then use an Airflo 7.5 or 10 ft Ploy leader. There will be a welded loop in this leader, cut it off.

Take the braided loop or the Guderod butt leader in 35 or 50 lb.  You should use the one that the fly line and Airflo fits into easily but tight.  I generally use 2 inches to 4 inches.  Insert the fly line and then the poly leader.  Where they meet in the center, use a drop of Zap to keep the two lines together.  If you leave a gap in between, you could have an area that causes a hinge effect. 

Once you have let the Zap dry, make a nail knot at the end of the braided material next to where the braided line ends.  Then make another at the other end on the poly leader. 

Once you have made these nail knots, cut the excess braided material off.  Now use your bobbin with a flat nylon thread, I use a 210 Deiner and cover the nail knots at each end.  I use the same method of tying it off as you use when wrapping a rod. 

Once this is done, I use the Aquaseal to seal the thread and make the area smooth. 

After drying, you are ready to go.  Have fun and watch your back cast.