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Sinking (Mini Tip) Spey Leaders
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Standard Leader:
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My standard leader consists of a stout butt material and a short section of tippet. The formula is roughly 66% butt and 33% tippet. The question you're probably asking right now is "why not just use a piece of level mono instead of going through all that trouble?" Well, occasionally I do use a level leader, and we'll look at that later, but under most fishing conditions a tapered leader offers a few advantages. The first benefit is turn-over, or your leaders ability to straighten out fully at the end of the cast. It's really not difficult to turn over a 3 1/2 foot leader 99% of the time, but when you've been working long heavy lines in a howling wind for hours on end you'll appreciate the "fudge room" it affords. If your leader and fly lands in a heap at your line tip, you'll be stuck stripping in a short section of line to straighten it out, which will create line tension and prevent you from achieving the proper depth. Congratulations, you've just wasted your swing. The more important reason is the simple fact that fish like cover. In Michigan, Wisconsin, and many of the North Shore Tribs this means tree stumps, log jambs, and any other piece of debris a fish can find to seek shelter and wrap you up in. In the Southern Tribs, cover often consists of jagged shale ledges and chutes just waiting to cut your line and set your fish free. Let me give you an example to truly illustrate the point.
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One early February day I was nymphing a well known hole on the PM below green cottage. I was using a single handed rod with a 6ft super fast sink-tip and nymphing the pool with my standard MT leader. As I set the hook on a rather aggressive winter take, the fish tears downstream and almost puts me into my backing. As I'm finally getting the brakes on her, she turns abruptly and charges back up stream through her original lie as I frantically strip in line to try and keep up with her. As she hits the head of the pool she changes direction again, heading down stream but making a bee-line for a partially submerged stump on the near shore. I could see what was unfolding, but didn't have control of the fish to stop it. Just before she managed to snake her way through the root ball, I finally caught up to her as I made a desperate charge to the opposite bank. I made a last ditch effort to stop her by completely holding the line and using the rod to cushion the blow. As the line came tight in a right angle around a tree root, the tippet held and the 6 pound hen swung around to face into the current. As the fish and I were stuck in a stalemate, I decided to decrease the line angle slightly by walking up stream and coaxed the fish forward until the leader butt was against the tree root. I then increased the angle by actually walking downstream below the fish, and then slowly made my way towards her while crossing the stream, all the while with my leader sawing against the root. After she was tailed and released, I inspected my rig to survey the damage. The sawing had completely shredded the leader butt and I'm surprised it held. There was no way the 10# fluoro tippet would have made it, and it surly would have severely damaged a $55 fly line. (stay tuned for an article on making your own mini-tip line from an old floater and a couple of bucks worth of materials) So 60 seconds spent preparing a leader (and a little bit of luck) landed me a nice winter fish and saved my line.
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My standard leader begins by selecting the desired tippet strength. I generally use 8-15# fluorocarbon for swinging, or 6-10# fluoro when nymphing. I then use a stiff monofilament like Maxima Ultragreen for the butt that is approx. twice the breaking strength of the tippet. Using the 66/33% formula mentioned above, a 3.5 foot 10# leader would consist of about 14" of 10# fluorocarbon and a 28" butt of 20# mono. By using the 66/33% formula and butt strength = 2x tippet, you can construct a swinging leader of any length to cover most conditions.
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Introduction
Leader Decisions
NEXT - Exceptions
Leader Formulas
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Spey Pattern Index
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