# surfstryker



## surfstryker (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm new to fly fishing, and have a couple of questions. My leader feels like 15lb floro, it is about 3ft long. I have a hard time casting small flies. should I change to a lighter floro, like maybe 10lb? Can I use Berkley Vasnish? I did manage to catch a small bass with small popping bug, here is pic. Any leader advise is appreiciated.


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## jonasmagn (Mar 3, 2009)

Generally you use a leader about 9 feet or the length of the rod. For small fish in a pond - 6 - 8 pound is quite sufficient. 

You tie your leader to your fly line and as it shortens you use tippet to add to the leader to get the length right.


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## mc3 (Oct 18, 2009)

for bass fishing 6-7 ft leaders should be ok, sometimes shortening them to that gets large flies to turn over a little easer.

also 10-15 lb mono is usually thicker than 10-15 lb fly tippet or leader, check out the diameter of a fly monofilament and you can match that to a diameter or fishing mono.


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## asago (Nov 11, 2008)

Excerpt from my book about Freshwater trout fishing.... (but mostly applicable to freshwater in general) - for salt upsize your leader or go with straight mono...





Leaders and Tippet



Leaders generally come in 6-12 foot lengths and are tapered as such so that the butt section has a larger diameter and gradually tapers off as it reaches the tippet. They are classified across manufacturers by an ?X? value. This value refers to the tippet?s strength. The diameter of the leader may vary within a given ?X? value but should be very similar to the chart below.



Tippet Size	Approx. Diameter	Balances with fly sizes:

8X	.003"	22, 24, 26, 28

7X	.004"	18, 20, 22, 24

6X	.005"	16, 18, 20, 22

5X	.006"	14, 16, 18

4X	.007"	12, 14, 16

3X	.008"	6, 8, 10

2X	.009"	4, 6, 8

1X	.010"	2, 4, 6

0X	.011"	1/0, 2, 4

.012X	.012"	5/0, 4/0,3/0, 2/0

.013X	.013"	5/0, 4/0,3/0, 2/0

.015X	.015"	5/0, 4/0,3/0, 2/0



For the Chattahoochee Delayed Harvest section your leader and tippet selection will vary based on what size flies you are fishing with and water conditions overall but there are two simple pieces of advice I will offer that take some of the complexity out of your choice.



1.	Don?t fish with a leader shorter than 7.5 feet in length

2.	Stick with 4x, 5x, or 6x (only if you are fishing small dries)



The most common mistake I see on the river is fishing with a short leader. Whether you?re fishing dries, nymphs, streamers, or wet flies you need at least a 7.5 foot leader on the Chattahoochee to be consistently successful unless the water clarity is extremely poor (in which case you probably shouldn?t be in the river anyway). For this reason it is critical that you carry extra tippet material. Every time you lose a fly to a tree, the bottom, or just re-tie a new fly you lose inches of tippet material. It?s absolutely critical that you check your overall leader length every 3-4 flies and tie new tippet on as needed.


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## surfstryker (Sep 28, 2007)

Thanx for the info. I'm gonna get it right.


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