What is a good way to straighten out my leader on my fly line?

Question

When I take it out and start fishing it wants to stay coiled up, after a while is straiten out though, I'd just like to have it straight right when I start fishing. I know they have products that are supposed to fix it up, but is there a way to do it myself?

Answer 1

There is only one tool you need to use when you need to straighten out your leader, your hand.

There is a long standing rule of thumb when it comes to tying knots, always moisten the knot before you tighten it. If you don't then you will burn the knot and that weakens the knot.

Think about that for a moment, you tie your knot and all you have to do is pull it tight to finish it.. The leader will move just a small amount, hardly even enough to measure. Yet, that is enough to cause friction by the leader rubbing against itself or the tippet. Just the smallest amount of movement causes that and if you don't moisten the knot before had you burnt the leader.

Your question is how to straighten out a whole leader or maybe just a small section that got itself twisted. You are talking about rubbing the entire length or a large section of the leader, not just a minute amount of movement when a knot gets tied. Trust me when I say that you can end up really overheating and burning your leader when you start moving it through anything that much.

If you use anything other than your hand, you will end up burning the leader, weakening it and possibly loosing a fish, naturally it would be the biggest fish of the day since that is how life seems to work.

If you use commercially made leader strengtheners or rubber bands or any thing else except your hand, you stand a really good chance of applying too much pressure, causing excessive heat and thus burning your leader.

The nice thing about using your hand is that your skin will burn before your leader will. If you start to burn your skin, you are applying too much pressure, so ease off a bit.

Grab your leader in the palm of your hand and wrap your fingertips around to make a tight fist. Slowly move your leader through your hand. You can do this a number of times and not damage the leader because you will not want to burn your hand. The leader will straighten out after a few times.

If it is a small section, then just place that area between a thumb and your index finger and pull the twisted section through a few times.

If the leader does not straighten out, then your best bet is to cut that section out, tie the ends back together with a blood knot or if it is really small, like your tippet, then with an Improved Surgeons knot, and keep on fishing.

Some leaders get so kinked that they either have to be repaired in that manner or tossed away (please place it in your pocket and put it in the trash when you get back home) and put on a new leader.

Toss out the commercially made strengtheners , I did and never regretted it.

By the way, if you use those or anything else on fluorocarbon leaders or tippet you can very easily cause damage to that material. It will actually cause cuts running up and down the leader. Only use your hand and you will have no problem.

Hope this helps.

Larry

Answer 2

The critical thing for a leader for fly fishing is in the casting. You need to be able to turn the fly over gently without causing a big splash when it lands on the water surface. If you are using a big and heavy nymph it really does not matter since the fish you are going after are deep and not nearly as affected by the splash as would a fish targeting rising/hatching insects. In that case, the presentation is all important since a splash would spook these fish. To get a nice delicate presentation, the leader has to be an extension of the fly line so it gently lies down on the surface as the fly line turns over. There are tapered leaders that do that, but some of the best are leaders hand tied with different diameter mono. The reason these are preferred is that the thicker portions (nearest the fly line) are stiffer and behave more like the fly line. It is a thing of beauty to watch a well matched leader turn over a dry fly. I've been told the reason tapered leaders can't do this is because of the way they are manufactured. The thicker portions are not stiff enough.

Answer 3

Here's a tip that always works - the old time way:

Cut a small piece of a bicycle inner tube 2" square.
Place leader, starting at the butt end in the middle of it.
Fold in half. Hold piece of rubber w/ one hand and pull your leader through it with the other. No kinks, no coils.

Something else you may want to consider: you brand of
leader - some manufacturers make a "softer" mono that tends to coil more than others. I like Maxima (your mileage may vary) because I find it to be a bit stiffer (and less subjective to coiling) than other brands.

Answer 4

Kvd Line Conditioner

Answer 5

Hmmm well maybe try some of the Kevin Van Dam line conditioner it is supposed to remove memory, but other than that I dont know of a home fix for it.

or if your nymph fishing try florocarbon leader it has low memory I am unsure how it works on a floating fly though because i think florocarbon sinks

I used to get this monofilament leader line called Maxima it was a brownish colored. but I think its made differently now I think Berkley bought them out . It was a good line for fly leaders

Answer 6

I not sure I understand. On my fly rod in front of the reel is a little eye for the hook. I can hook a fly in the eye and tighten up my reel. I can also Break down the rod and there one eye loop for the string to go through and then hook again in the hook eye. My leader line always is straight? I never reel my leader onto the reel. This all I know.

Answer 7

walk your line out and stretch it hold to a count of ten reel in about 4 to 6 foot pull again do over until you are at end of leader to the reel! This helps take the memory out of all fishing mono line!

Answer 8

I use a piece of rubber band, Bend it round the line then pull the line through, only downside to this method is it tends to add bouncy to the leader, which if your using a wet fly is a pain.

Answer 9

Sagefisher's answer is very good. However, you want to get your line and hands wet before you stretch your line that way.
Also he is dead on about using product on your leader. If it is that badly damaged just replace it. Better to be safe than sorry you lost a quality fish.

Answer 10

Take a piece of soft leather and pinch it around the line and pull it through. Do it several times to heat up the line and cause it to relax. They sell little patches that contain conditioners but I find a piece of chamois or soft leather does the trick