Furled Leader

[Qwek]

Hi folks,

This is the other project that I was working on: Furled Leader

Furled leaders have been around far longer than many anglers realize. Their origins reach back to the early days of fly fishing when fly lines were woven or furled from horsehair. The process used to create those early fly lines is very similar to the one used but we now have a wide variety of materials and equipment that makes the modern furled leader easier to construct.

Here are some of the sites explaining their method of constructing the furled leader:

www. furledleaders.co.uk this site is the most comprehensive of all. here is Jim Williams' method: www.furledleaders.co.uk/pdf/how-to-make-a-furled-leader.pdf

This one by Bob Brown of Midcurrent: www.midcurrent.com/articles/gear/brown_furled_leader.aspx

Another detail construction by Henk Verhaar; globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/henk/henk1.htm

This one by Mike McGuire with www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/Tackle/furled_leader/furled_leader.html

Here's one by Breck Miller; hatchesmagazine.com/page/may2006/185

The boo brothers may have know this gent, Claude W. Freaner: bamboorodmaking.com/html/making_furled_leaders.html

This is one that I used to construct by furled leader by Jim Cramer, www.flyfisherman.com/skills/jcfurledleaders/

The process is quite simple and the construction material for the rig is cheap. cost me less than S$40. The board is available from Ikea and posts are free too. I bought a cordless powered screw driver, just plugged a dowel or pencil with a hook screw attached.

Will post pictures of my rig and the furled leaders that i had tied. Its fun too.

Cheers

Qwek

[Qwek]

Hi folks,

Here the pictures of the furled leader project that I was working on.



This is the board I got from Ikea and the pencils used as the posts.



Initially, i was handturning each of the legs and it took ages to furl. Later I got a cordless powered screwdriver and attached a hook screw to turn each leg.



Some of the tools needed to complete each leader. The S-hook to hold up as well as the counter weigh to unfurled the leader as it spin to complete stop that when you "shorb loop" both ends of the leader.



Here are the completed leaders, pm me if you want a furled leader to try out. I bring a dozen for this weekend trip for testing. I will bring the who;e rig for the picnic to share with you the furling method.

I will also be trying a shorter version for saltwater, any tester?

Cheers

Qwek

[cookiemunster]

Qwek I tried them over the weekend and they are really great! They make ALOT of difference for gentle smooth layout of the fly line to the leader and fly. The turnover is really gentle.

Initially I was using the twisting method to make tapered leader but found it not much different to just a 1 line leader straight from the spool so I gave up on tapered leaders. But after trying the furled leader you passed me, I am convinced I need to make them too.

Thanks for the photos and guide. You saved us alot of work. I do want to see up close how you actually make the furled leader though.

PS. Please put me up for the saltwater test.

[alberto]

Hi Q,
Thanks for the furled leaders. I can tell that they are as good as the ones that I bought from Blue Sky.

If I'm not wrong, one of the best application of a furled leader is for dry fly fishing where the soft presentation and turning over of the fly is very important.

Having said that, I have notice that if we use the furled leader with the normal loop to loop connections, then it can fray very fast instead of lasting for many seasons as they claim it can.

Some company sells their furled leaders with a very small ring as seen here for connection to the tippet...



What I have done is purchase some very small split rings to be connected to the furled leaders where the tippets can be easily tied on. While I'm sure that this would not be a problem with our style of fishing and the mostly heavy flies that we use, I not sure if such a ring would have any significant impact on a dry fly.

Will try and let everyone know what is the results.

regards
Alberto

[Qwek]

Hi guys,

Thanks for testing out the furled leader, happy that they turn out and over well. I doing a batch of saltwater leaders for GT testing.

Btw, any ones know where to get 1 or 2 lbs leader or have some to spare?

Hi Alberto,

The ring they used for the furled leader are not split ring, 'cos the exposed ends of the split ring will cut into the leader. You have to be careful there, one way is to apply a small tab of epoxy to closed the ends it may work. The closed end ring is inserted before the legs of the furled leader are placed together to be furled one last time.

Cheers
Qwek

[alberto]

Hi Q,
Point taken and will be epoxing the open ends asap.

regards
Alberto

[soren]

Hi fellows,

I buy my rings from www.specialist-tackle.co.uk/. The last time I orded some I paid £1.30 for 10 pcs (1.5 mm). These are high quality rings which don´t cut the tippets. I use them even for my dry fly leaders.

Greetings from Sweden,
Soren

[alberto]

soren said:

Hi fellows,

I buy my rings from www.specialist-tackle.co.uk/. The last time I orded some I paid £1.30 for 10 pcs (1.5 mm). These are high quality rings which don´t cut the tippets. I use them even for my dry fly leaders.

Greetings from Sweden,
Soren

Hi Soren,
Thanks for the info. Appreciate it ;D

regards
Alberto

[Qwek]

Hello Soren,

Many thanks for the link. Great hand-held boilie maker too! Are you into carp fishing too.

Cheers
Qwek

[soren]

Hi Qwek,
no I´m not into carp fishing. Most of the time I spend with the flyrod in my hand but sometimes I try some angling for northern pike.
I have bought boile needles from them though which are top of the class when it comes to making shorb loops on my furled leaders.

Best regards,
Soren

[Qwek]

Hi folks,

Some of you have missed the demo on furling a few weeks back. I wil be able to bring my rig down to Beach Road this saturday afternoon to share with you the furling method. Please do drop a note here if you are interested. For those who can only make it on sunday, I wil ne able to demo at the white house or at the pavillion near the carpark.

Hi Soren, yes the boile needle make a great tool for shorb loop. Tks.

Cheers

Qwek