Harvey leaders

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bswild	Leaders	#21	[url]	[-]
Posts: 351 08/15/2008 14:11	I remember reading in the great primer, "Curtis Creek Manifest:" "There's no such thing as the perfect leader." I agree with that assessment, and have finally quit searching for the monofilament Holy Grail. I know terrific anglers who only use knotless leaders; some even have those braided loops on their lines with the plastic tubing. Somehow, they manage to cast well enough to catch trout. I occasionally purchase knotless leaders. But I have more problems with drag when I use them. Adding a longer tippet can help; but then my accuracy suffers. For dry fly angling, the early style Harvey (with the stiff mono butt sections) leader gives me those S-curves that begin at the fly and continue up to the nail knot to my fly line. Lefty can tell me other leaders are better, but I prefer what gives me the results I'm after. Leaders are a matter of personal taste and style, and I see no wrong or right way to go about it. Leader choice is simply a matter of preference.
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thegubster		#22	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1332 08/15/2008 14:27	Be careful when trying furled leaders..... I didn't think they were worth a hoot until I watched a fellow fishing one on three successive outings. I tried them and doubt I'll go back to hand tieds anytime soon. But...know that I've only got a decade onstream so I'm no wizard. Caveat....I fish smallish spring creeks (4' and less deep) and no plunge pools so they work well for my nymphing needs too, with a little longer tippet added. YMMV Jeremy. ...w/apologies to Tom for getting off topic a tad. Last Edited By: thegubster 08/15/2008 15:17. Edited 1 time.
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senior	Leader Material Question	#23	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10 08/15/2008 14:57	Does anyone remember if there was really a leader material commenly called "cat gut". When I was a kid ,I used to buy mono leader material on small clear and red colored plastic spools ,the brand name was Yank leader material. We always refered to it as cat gut as kids.Possibly this was early slang for nylon ---- to distinguish it from silkworm gut ,that was still available at the time. I remember it as stiff as hell and worked fine on my improvised ,cut off willow tree branch flyrods. Back in the 50,s and 60,s my grandfather used to bring me up to Chicago,s V L &A ----Abercrombie and Fitch store in the Loop and we would also stop in at the nearby Eddie Bauer store.Both shops had expert sales staff,but as my attention always had me wander over to the long line of un-cased wall racks of Gilliums,Paynes,Orvises and what not ,and I never remembered to ask the pro,s if cat gut really was secured by skinning out cats.I remember making knotless 7 foot fly leaders that turned over fine and fooled a lot of panfish and the ocasional bullhead.
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steeldog94		#24	[url]	[-]
Posts: 68 08/19/2008 13:44	Is it possible to do a Harvey taper in a furled leader?
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Drag Free Drift	A few items	#25	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5 12/02/2008 15:30	My understanding of the term "cat gut" is that it refers to the same thing that silkworm gut refers to. The silkworm is a caterpiller, hence the "cat" shortening. A possible reason for the apparent difference in the materials is the quality or degree of processing of the material, whether it was gut or nylon. Early nylon also took on water more so than current nylon polymers, and when it takes on water molecules it becomes softer and also weaker. There were a lot of variations of nylon around after WW-II, and the name "cat gut" might have been used by some manufacturers or may have become a generic slang term in some areas to mean whatever was being used for a leader. As to the idea of twinning a Harvey taper into a furled leader, I suppose it could be done. The Harvey taper(s) were developed assuming the properties of available nylon materials, though, and the suppleness of furled leaders is much more variable than monofilament nylon or fluorocarbon, as you can make a furled leader out of almost anything that is flexible enough to spin in the jig. The idea of minimizing knots to reduce disturbance is quite valid. Knots have many disadvantages - they pick up garbage (flotsam) from the water, they spray water and spook fish, and they create an impact on the surface - I've seen small fish rise to the knots on badly tied leaders, perhaps thinking they were midges. who knows. Knotless leaders are often more desirable on dead calm water for these reasons, but you may still want to tie on 3+ feet of tippit to increase the separation distance from line to fly and to induce more "S" curves. JMO, though.
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BigTJ		#26	[url]	[-]
Posts: 587 12/02/2008 15:34	It is the only type of leader I fish with. Chameleon butts, Umpqua mid and Rio fluoroflex max tippets. These leaders are especially nice for cane rods. The knots are never a problem for me. Since I rarely use heavier than 15 lb chameleon in the leader butts the knots are small. Also, I fish shorter leaders a lot, especially with dropper-dry. Most of the time a 5 to 7.5 foot leader is plenty long enough. I don't really know why a 9' leader is considered standard, even on short rods. You simply don't need this long of a leader unless you are fishing for selective trout. A shorter leader means more line out the guides and then the problem of knots completely goes away.
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bswild	harvey leader	#27	[url]	[-]
Posts: 366 12/06/2008 15:06	One caveat to the Harvey leader formula is: It aint the greatest for windy days. For early spring, when the wind is whipping, I'll use the AK best formula.
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