Leader Formulas
I’m not sure why this topic frustrates me more than anything else, but it does. Perhaps it’s because people are searching for some top secret leader formula that will help them catch more fish. Or maybe it’s the angler that thinks he needs every measurement down to the sixteenth of an inch for it to work. Let me start by stating that I’m only talking about leader formulas for tight lining/euro nymphing, whatever you want to call it.
Everything in life has trade offs. Lets talk about line size first. With nymphing leaders, the thinner you go, the less sag and drag you get, leading to better presentations. I can get much better drifts at a greater distance with a thin leader than a heavy tapered leader. The more line you have out of the rod tip with a heavy leader or euro line, the more sag you will get. Imagine tracing the shape of your leader from your rod tip to the point where it enters the water, this is a good way of visualizing sag. A heavy line will almost hang vertically off the rod tip, this weight will actually pull the flies toward you across the current. Lighter lines will not have nearly as much of an impact.
The trade off is thinner leaders can be a pain to cast. That being said, the rod you are using will have a big impact with the casting. Today’s nymphing rods are specifically designed to load with very little weight and make it so much easier to cast a lighter rig. If you are fishing a fast action rod, a tapered leader might be a better choice for you. But you have to consider the rod you are using when thinking about leader formulas for nymphing. If you have a euro nymphing rod, try running a thin leader set up and see if you like it. If it doesn’t work for you, go back to a more traditional leader, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Thin leaders can work well on fast action rods as well, but there is more of an art to casting than with a euro rod. I fished for years with a fast action Sage and a micro leader before purchasing my first nymphing rod.
My go to nymphing rod is a T&T contact II 10’9” 3 weight. I run about 50’ of 4x sighter to my tippet, that’s it. I’ve tried a bunch of different set ups, but found this is extremely simple and effective. If I decide to jig streamers, I may go down to 2X sighter on waters that hold larger fish.
As we already discussed, everything is a trade off. The downside with my set up is I have a very soft action euro rod along with nylon sighter that has a lot of stretch to it. I need to make sure I get a very solid hook set, especially when jigging streamers to still have enough force to penetrate the hook since the bending of the rod and the stretching of the sighter will absorb a lot of the energy from the hookset. The thin leaders also stick to the rod when the rod gets wet, this makes it very difficult to shoot line during casts. Thin sighter material can also be difficult to see relative to much larger diameter sighters. For me, I have found the pros out weigh the cons but it’s good to understand the cons so you can adjust as necessary for your style of fishing.
Next time you find yourself copying down someone’s 8 page leader formula with measurements down to the thousandths of an inch for a nymphing set up, think about your overall set up and if you think that’s really necessary. By all means try it, but I think keeping it simple helps you spend more time with your flies in the water instead of trying to retie your 9 step nymphing leader.