Fly Leaders

[Paulywood]

I am going to retie all of my fly leaders. What length do you guys use for 8" SD's and Pro-Trolls and 11" paddles?

[KJ pluggin]

I don't run the SD's much but for my other 8" flashers I like to run right around 23". For the 11" paddles I run 33 to 36". I will probably try some much longer leads on the big paddles this year though, like out to 50".

[Nailer]

26" for the 8' pro troll, and 36" for the big flashers.

[Pioneer]

In recent years longer has been better. Started at 23-24" and now I am at 25-26". My catch has been better with longer leads. Leaders are 50lb mono but I am going to try 40lb floro this year to slow down the fly some more.

[adrenalin]

Leader length makes a huge difference in how many fish you catch. It depends on your speed, weight of the fly, and #lb test of leader material. I would suggest once you find the best length don't change it. We tie all of our leaders 24 inches from the tip of the loop to the HEAD of the fly. #40 ande mono and our speed is 1.8-2.0 on a depth Raider. We have been running this program for probably 10 years and it is right for our boat. A buddy of mine with almost the same boat runs the exact same setup and it kills fish for him too. Once you start varying your leads 3-4 inches and your speed all over the place your catch rate will drop alot, but you won't know that unless you have already found the perfect speed and leader length. Make sure you know where people measure from also because that will change the length by up to 3 or more inches. Also run the same amount of beads and hook setup everytime, that will change things also. Some of the best charter captains in the bussiness would probably even say my 1.8-2.0 is to broad. You can have things close and consistantly catch 5-7 fish each trip or get it dialed in and consistantly be in the double digits each trip. It's that important. Hope this helps you out.

[Pioneer]

Russ, I can't agree enough. I have the same boat and I run the same speed as you do with the same leader lengths. I wonder if our fly colors are the same? Chris

[Priority1]

Like most every kind of trolling a lot of little things can add up. If the speed gets off a couple of tenths, or lead lengths change, etc, etc, etc. Get it all dialed in and EUREKA!!!!. It's as simple as finding out what they want, then giving em lots off it.

[WoLFMaN]

I am going to retie all of my fly leaders. What length do you guys use for 8" SD's and Pro-Trolls and 11" paddles?

I like a lot of "whip" to my flies. Behind an 8" spin doctor I run an 18" leader to the head of the fly.

[Paulywood]

I retied all of them with a 26" lead to the eye of the hook. I figure that now they are all at least the same and I can make adjustments from there. On the big paddles I went with 36".

[adrenalin]

I retied all of them with a 26" lead to the eye of the hook. I figure that now they are all at least the same and I can make adjustments from there. On the big paddles I went with 36".

Keeping them all the same is the main thing, now just dial in your speed with that length and you should do well. Good luck!