follow the leader

our sport of pike fly fishing is going through a revolution or being divided which either way you look at it I'm talking leaders here and the hard mono / fluorocarbon over wire revolt, its kinda strange as not to long ago i was a firm wire leader guy but that has now changed forever as a result of research and the catches of other people ,

quite a few years ago i was fishing an event with the pffa and the day was dire to say the least with pretty much nobody catching any fish except for one guy who was catching fish up to 20lb so the guy came over to our boat and we shared in a cup of tea and a chat i noticed that his leader was very thick and looked like mono so i questioned him about it and he told me it was 120lb seaguar fluorocarbon , having seen how many fish he had been catching i looked at his leader and there wasn't a mark on it , mmmmmm interesting and needs to be looked into

so after this i went and purchased some although i could only source 90 lb i thought ill give it a go as i was due a trip up to the highlands to one of my fav fly waters and well it would be a great time to put this to the test , which i did and was amazed at the amount of fish i caught and the leader itself wasn't even nicked or damaged i was a convert and started to look towards hard mono as well as i was hearing about guides up in Canada using 200lb masons hard mono for jerk baiting to great effect

there is many kinds of fluro out there but what id say is go for a name like the ones above or even rio , then you know your getting the best quality available to you as an angler

so fluro the myths busted by seaguar

MYTH: All 100% fluorocarbons are created equal.

FACT: No. Just because the product says 100% fluorocarbon does not mean it is just like any other on the market. Only Seaguar makes fluorocarbon lines and leaders from beginning to end without any outside companies involved. The difference of quality varies from brand to brand.

MYTH: All fluorocarbons have weak knots

FACT: Originally, knot strength was the weakest part of fluorocarbon. With our technology, Seaguar’s knot strength is not a factor

MYTH: Fluorocarbon is completely invisible and matches the refractive index of water

FACT: No. It is as close as any form of line or leader can get to the refractive index of water, thus making it virtually invisible, but not completely. Some brands do state that, but it is not true.

knotting fluro

for attaching to the leader i only ever use 8 to 10 inch's of leader material with the albright knot , if I'm using over 100 lb i loop to loop instead as i tend to crimp the leader as its far easier than tying knots in it especially hard mono

there will always be critics of using fluro or hard mono for predator fishing but what i say is really don't knock it till you've tried it unfortunately some anglers are quite set in there ways in this country and will never change or try something new (even fly fishing for pike)sure if your happy with your method then good luck to you but don't have a go just because people do something different , and how the hell can you argue about it if you've never tried it ........

down to the wire

of course there will be times when the rules on a water will say that wire traces must be used when pike fishing rules are rules and if you have to you have to so here's what i was using to start with and what i found to be better after trying new stuff

fox soft steel was great very flexible and easy to make up traces was my preferred wire , the only downside with it was i found that after a couple of fish it would start to un strand but other than that it was fine

tyger leader

at one point this stuff was all the rage and no doubt it was bloody good except for a couple of things

1- the price in the UK for this stuff was horrendous

2- the bloody silver colour , i found when first using it in clear water you could see it shimmering away in the water from quite some distance and i believed that may have put fish of striking at the fly

the solution to this is just to colour it with permanent marker so still a viable alternative if you need to use it and off course its very easy to knot which is a bonus

pro leader

again another great product but bloody pricey and a nice dark colour which is the one advantage over tyger you don't need to colour it although i think tyger is easier to knot

accu flex beading wire

this is what i know us when i have to use wire an amazing product that a Friend seb shelton put me onto basically its made for the craft market making bead necklaces but it also is the best wire i have yet found for pike fly fishing cheap (you get 10 times as much on a spool than tyger or pro) I'm talking a fiver for 31 mtrs how can you go wrong with that , doesn't kink easy to tie flys onto and freely available in craft shops or the Internet and comes in a range of breaking strains to suite anything your doing really check it out you cant go wrong , so when you need to use wire that's what i recommend

tight lines flingers