Leader manufacturer

[Traditionalist]

I have only had one instance when I was pretty sure (in retrospect because it baffled me at the time) I had a bite-off. I was wet fly fishing  on a hill loch, got a savage take, fish off. Reeled in to find a dropper fly was  cut clean off - no kink, no curl.  The only explanation I have is a bite-off. I was using 4lb fluorocarbon. Never used it again after that.

May have been a pike, they often bite nylon clean off on the take. Tried fluorocarbon once, found it awful, quite apart from the fact that it has a half life of hundreds of years. Nylon slowly rots away in a reasonable time frame.

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

surely it would have bitten through nylon or copoly of the same diameter :?

But it's only ever happened to me  with fluorocarbon which  I admit I had a bit of a downer on prior  to that due to knot failure issues.   

[Wildfisher]

May have been a pike, they often bite nylon clean off on the take.

Don't think there are pike in that wee loch Mike, but with these pike egg festooned ducks flying around you never know for sure  :lol:

[Allan Crawford]

Is some makes of flurocarbon not renowned for breaking especially in small diameter, hence use 6 or 7lb where you would use 4lb maxima ?

[Traditionalist]

Don't think there are pike in that wee loch Mike, but with these pike egg festooned ducks flying around you never know for sure  :lol:

Pike are really the only fish in the UK that can bite various stuff clean off.  There were quite a few people who advocated using "hard" mason monofilament as tippet, but I use Kevlar now. I used to use braided steel wire, but the Kevlar is better.  You still have to check after every fish. I have never had it bitten off, but they can fray it badly.  It is more or less impossible to cut with scissors etc, but a sharp knife will cut it, just takes a bit longer.

You can occasionally get nylon and other stuff with flaws in it. Years ago I started running tippet material carefully through the thumb and second finger of my left hand ( use your right hand if you are left handed. This is because the fingertips of your least used  hand are more sensitive). You will feel even tiny flaws or "flat spots", and if you do feel one, discard the length, it may well break like rotten cotton.It was quite common at one time, but is pretty rare now, long time since I had to discard anything.  Also, if you have bent nylon over a spool rim or similar, it is best to discard that piece. Any kink, flaw, or flat spot,weakens monofilament very considerably.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

according to that article variation in diameter appears to still be the case.

That can be serious, depends on the reason for the variation. Even relatively slight variations in the same piece can cause serious weak spots.  This of course is much worse in fine nylon.

Whatever you use I think the main thing is to take great care when tying knots etc. If you do that you will definitely have fewer problems.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

This is it;

http://www.rodgersfishingtackle.co.uk/product_catalogue.php?sec=5&cat=15&product=3968

I also still have quite a selection of "ready-made" Kevlar and "Kevlar/steel" tippets. I got a big packet of stuff from a Japanese manufacturer for free.

TL
MC

[otter]

Which leader threads always bring a large grin to my ugly mug and this one is no exception. 

I know many many anglers for which this is a complete obsession, spending the price of a new rod and waders each season  trying out the latest and greatest and never happy with anything.

When I fished for salmon and sea trout I never felt the need to look beyond maxima, reliable, not prone to abrasion issues. My fishing partner at the time switched to Drennan Subsurface and twenty years later still has nightmares over 4 fine springers that broke it like thread. Tested perfectly from the spool but once it was wet for a while it failed completely.

I have long since come to a conclusion that the cheaper the stuff the more likely it is to be good, not always, but a far better rule of thumb than the dearer it is the better it is.

Since taking up river trouting some ten or so years ago the most reliable I have ever used was good old cheap as chips original Shakepeare Omni, can't seem to get it anymore, tried the omniX but it is a load of xxxx.  Many anglers  are downright snobbish and the idea of hanging a spool of €3 Omni-X off their waistcoat is simply not a done thing.

For all last season I used Stroft ABR 0.12mm and found it superb, tried same stuff 2 years ago when a friend gave me a spool, tested before using, it was rubbish.  If you find a leader material that seems to meet your requirements always test it with your usual knot to a hook before leaving the shop, even manufacturers of generally good reliable stuff produce bad batches and what was good last year may not be the same product this year. Maxima seems one of the exceptions here, proven reliability over a long period of time which is obviously down to excelent quality control,  hence its popularity amongst many anglers.

Lastly if like me you catch a lot of trees, you don't want ot buy expensive stuff