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Sinking (Mini Tip) Spey Leaders
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Exceptions:
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As I said before, my "go to" leader is about 3.5 feet long, and this works well in 75% of the conditions I encounter. What do I do the other 25 percent of the time? Lets look at some of the situations where you'd want to change things up a bit...
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Many of the southern Great Lakes tribs like to blow out at the drop of a hat. When you arrive stream side to find a raging river of YooHoo, don't pack it in and go home, go fish! Besides using large dark flies with acoustic footprints, changing up your leader will help you find fish. When rivers blow out, fish will always seek the best current breaks possible. This usually means they'll be found hugging the bottom below drop-offs, hanging tight to cut banks, or glued behind ledges or boulders. Not only will the fish not move into the current to take your fly, they probably won't even be able to see it coming if it's more than a few inches from their face. In these conditions you really need to bring your fly to the fish, which means going extra deep through nasty cover. To help get your fly into the zone and survive the abuse you'll subject your leader to, try using an 18-24" leader and moving to 15-20# hard monofilament. Don't bother tying a leader this short, just level monofilament will be fine. This is dredging at it's finest, and if you're not bumping your fly, line, or leader into structure every once in a while you're not getting to the fish. In less extreme circumstances where water levels have dropped but visibility is still poor, try using a 2.5-3' MT leader. When water is off colored due to run-off, or in rivers with a natural tannin stain, I'll often substitute a brown monofilament like Maxima Chameleon for the fluorocarbon tippet material.
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When you're fishing in gin clear water to spooky fish, conditions that are the norm in places like the Soo Rapids, lengthening your leader is called for. While this will make you're fly ride higher, it will also keep your dark sinking line far enough away from the fishes lie to prevent spooking it. Besides using smaller subdued flies, try a MT leader of 4-6 feet and 8-10 pound fluorocarbon tippet. A longer leader can also be useful when fishing over pods of fish layed up in the lower river. If you've put your fly past the fish on the inside edge of the pod a few times without any interest, try putting on a longer leader before trying to present to the fish farther away. This will ensure that you're line or line silhouette stays well away from the inside fish. If you do spook the inside fish, you may just find it makes the rest of the pod nervous and your chance at a take is greatly diminished.
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Introduction
Leader Decisions
Standard Leader
NEXT - Leader Formulas
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Related Content
Spey Pattern Index
Pere Marquette River
Tested: Ross BG-4
Review: Echo Fly Rod
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