Finished Testing on Weight Forward Furled Leader

Over the winter months I have been working on a challenge that I got from a friend in the USA who builds split cane & glass rods as an ongoing hobby and he was looking to me for some sort of a solution to his dilemma.

He was looking for a furled leader taper that could be used on rivers where a wind was blowing and a normal tapered furled leader just wasnt cutting it for him, after doing extensive searches on the internet & coming up short everytime I chatted to my friend and proposed that something like a weight forward line was needed, something just to give a small punch on the turnover of the leader.

I started experimenting on the taper builds I had been given by my mentor Steven Dawson
(aka Mr Trout) and after many hours of building leaders with different thread counts and experimenting on the actual build of a leader, I finally came up with a taper of my own that might just do it , but it would involve building a new leader board, which I already wrote about on the blog in early April.

I set about making a few weight forward leaders after settling on a 5.5ft taper and sent them to a few trusted fly fishing friends the breadth of the UK to get their opinions, I also asked for a couple of volunteers from a Dry Fly Fishing page I frequent on social media and sent a couple out to those guys too.

In total 12 weight forward leaders were being tested on rivers, chalk streams, and one on the sea!









Before it even got near a river in my instance I would sit on my chair at home and arm cast the leader to see what it would do and how it would react and almost 90% of the time it would turn over straight out in front like I had anticipated, so it was time to move onto the river.

I started fishing with it albeit slightly later than others and my first impression of it was good, and it definitely turned over better in a wind than a normal tapered furled leader so my hours of making leaders & experimenting and my large pile of broken threads in the bin were worth the effort.

The feedback came back in dribs and drabs from the guys who I had sent the leader out to, but it was all positive & constructive feedback which was a good thing, a few of the comments.

Had a quick play with the leader today on a wee 6' #5 rod. Turned over well and would allow me to put slack into it to allow for drag free drifts. It worked well in a breeze today so all is good .

Fished it in a pretty nasty wind, rod 9'#5 tip action rod, 5wt line. Turned a duo of size 12 klink and a 14 tungsten bead head nymph on 7' of nylon beautifully. The leader lies absolutely straight every time unless you put slack into it.

Brilliant leader was out today, turn over and everything was spot on. It was windy where I was and it done the damage, good performance good presentation, well happy with it.

Used the leader today and have to say very much different to a mono one, no spray, easily mended and does what you asked of it with a slight wind blowing downstream, Im impressed!

1st time using it and definitely my dry fly fishing on the river has Improved and that was on a 3# line.

A weight forward leader REALLY! You have me intrigued but I will give it a try with an open mind....2 days later  George what can I say, Im impressed it done what you said it would do, excellent work my friend.

Anyone knowing anything about furled leader makers in the UK will know that Rod Dibble is at the very top of the list although now retired from actively making them, He was shown my leader on a fishing trip he had with my mentor a couple of weeks ago and was satisfied that it was well constructed and would aid turnover in wind, and when put to the test on the day done just that. That was enough for me to finally say that it was out of the testing phase.

I would like to personally thank all the lads for their feedback and help in getting this off my drawing board and into reality...Thank you one and all.

Anyone wanting to know more information or purchase any leaders that I build, simply leave a comment on the furled leader page of the blog and I will get back to you at the earliest opportunity.