Casting long leaders

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

If the material is "tournament grade" it is guaranteed not to test over the labeled strength.

But I agree with Paul, it is probably just old stock. Purchase some new material, hopefully from a respectable dealer, and try it again.

BTW... a tippet that breaks around 16# is about perfect for tarpon fishing!

[Willy Franzen]

The material is probably a couple of years old, but has been well cared for and kept dry and out of the sun. Wouldn't material that has gone bad still break at the knot though? Just at a lower strength. I just find it very strange that I'm getting the advertised knot strength, but the knots aren't actually breaking. The thing that really weirds me out, is that it always seems to break generally the same distance from the loop knot--it's not randomly breaking somewhere in the tippet. Yes, there's variation by an inch or two, but it never breaks closer to the J knot.

[Paul Arden]

Yes that is surprising Willy. That’s why I was wondering if it had been damaged. Many years ago I knew of a huge manufactured coil of material (I won’t say which manufacturer because it’s irrelevant) that had been struck accidentally by a machine. The result was weak points of line multiple times across a huge number of spools.

Two years. Is that how long you’ve had it? Sometimes material is in shops for years. But even so, it is surprising that a perfection loop is not the weak point in the leader. Someone (like James) might know why this could be!

Cheers, Paul

[Graeme H]

If it’s breaking in a part of the line that has been in contact with the pole, it’s because the pole has damaged the line. That’s easily done if you’ve stretched the line around the pole.

Cheers, Graeme

[Willy Franzen]

If it’s breaking in a part of the line that has been in contact with the pole, it’s because the pole has damaged the line. That’s easily done if you’ve stretched the line around the pole.

Cheers, Graeme

That’s not where it’s breaking for the most part. I think I had one break there, but generally it’s in the tippet section 4-6 inches from the loop knot. It’s been quite consistent across at least a dozen breaks. I initially thought that I was grazing something on the fence, but I moved to the other side with no obstructions and had the same result.

[Graeme H]

Hmm, okay, my bad. Sorry.

Is there something going on in the hand that you're using to hold the tippet while you tighten the knot? Are you using a glove or some sort of cloth?

Can you use different monofilament to make the leader, and if so, does it break in the same place?

Does it break there, regardless of how long the tippet is? If you cut most of the tippet off and tie another loop knot, does it still break there? (Trying to establish if it's the act of tying the knot rather than making the leader that is causing the weakness there ... )

Cheers,
Graeme

[Willy Franzen]

Hmm, okay, my bad. Sorry.

Is there something going on in the hand that you're using to hold the tippet while you tighten the knot? Are you using a glove or some sort of cloth?

Can you use different monofilament to make the leader, and if so, does it break in the same place?

Does it break there, regardless of how long the tippet is? If you cut most of the tippet off and tie another loop knot, does it still break there? (Trying to establish if it's the act of tying the knot rather than making the leader that is causing the weakness there ... )

Cheers,
Graeme

Sorry! I went fishing and didn't check back in here for a while. Nothing about how I tied the knots should have caused this. I'll have to do some more testing at some point soon, but until then, I'll give my review on Paul's twisted leader recipe...

I loved them! They cast really well. The only issue I had with turning over flies was if I made the tippet section too long for the fly weight. Shortening a bit quickly fixed the problem. The leaders were easy enough to make, though a bit time consuming (I did it while my two youngest kids were napping) and finger tiring. The stretch didn't seem to be an issue with hooking and holding bonefish. I did have a few fish drop the hook, but they were all hooked from the paddle board which seems to give me lower quality hook sets. The other fish I lost were from cut tippet material on coral or barracuda teeth (yes, I had another cuda eat a tippet ring ). So far I think they were a huge win and made casting a 15 foot leader in the wind way easier.

My big question is how do you go about maintaining a twisted leader? I kind of figured it out, but I'm wondering if there are any tips to make it easier. I found that my section of 4 strands would untwist and get a bit disorganized at times--especially while fighting/landing a fish. It was very difficult to get it back in good shape. Sometimes I resorted to reversing the loop through and going back to two strands and then looping back through to get 4 strands again. I never had any problems with the two strand section, so maybe I'm just not getting the construction quite right to get to 4 strands? Since they are a bit of a time investment to make, I'd like to know how to make sure that I'm getting the most out of the leaders before I have to swap them out. Any thoughts Paul? Anyone else?

[Paul Arden]

Try setting the four stands tighter, Willy. If they are coming loose then they are not set tightly enough. I push the strands up, then put my hand inside the loop, open the fingers and shuffle it around. And repeat until it’s tight.

Either that or different mono. I’m a big fan of Suffix monofilament at the moment. I can imagine different mono being more inclined to slip. I’m thinking stiffer/pre-stretched/harder/shinier. The only time I had problems was when the mono was stiff. Then it was quite difficult to make the leaders. In fact I gave up!

Great go hear that it worked!! Yes they are a pain to tie

Cheers, Paul