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good stuff fish head....I'd like to see a 60lb halibut pulled up with a flyswatter. Sounds like good entertainment for a couple of hrs....

The Krazy Glue connection works fine, but I did once have one that quit on me. So now I USUALLY use the needle-nail knot, or sometimes just a nail knot.

The loops certainly make it easier, and IIRC they use a form of cyanooaclate to hold the braid in place (don't they?). I remember when they used to have little metal loop thingies you stuck in the end of the flyline to attach a leader to...I never used them, but remember them anyway. I haven't seen one of those in years.

I like a loop to loop using a perfection loop, but don't feel strongly about it either way. A loop in a heavy leader is a bit harder to get through your guides, but that's life, I suppose.

You can use super glue/cyanocylate but one problem is that it's hard and not flexible. The braid portion grips the flyline by "chinese fingers" and it's held in place by wrapping it with thread. The loop portion of the braid is also held in place by "chinese fingers". A tiny tiny dab of superglue on one end of the loop is an extra measure. I've found it's really not needed if you use a thin coat of flexible sealant over the loop and wrapped portions. I use some shoe goo that has been thinned out with toluene or something similar such as Dave's fly head cement thinner. I haven't yet tried any other flexible sealants though I'm sure there are some that would work.

That link I posted shows a long section of mono braid on the flyline but I only use a couple of inches, at most.

Blast from the past. Long ago I used those little barbed metal eyelet connectors and the small plastic ones that required only a overhand knot on the leader and flyline. They both worked OK until you got the hinge effect going.


fish head

No reasonable fish can take a couple hours to land without a LOT of grandstanding... I have seen guys that have a clue about fighting fish put big halibut in the boat in just a few minutes... That would be fish over 200# on 30-50# Maxima. I have also seen those that insist on taking frequent breaks and whining take far longer.

Got distracted and entered that before finishing... No 60# fish there, but we have gotten them quite a bit bigger on the 12wt Penn Int'l 2-hander in the picture.

I do not particularly like the chinese handcuff linkage because I had bad experiences with failures.

For everything but salmon we use furled leaders and there is never a hinge with them as they turn over so incredibly well. If you are having that problem I suspect keeping your tip steady and up a bit will make that problem go away. Take the foundation out from under your line and it will start to collapse.

Have to run, more later.
art

Interesting on the furled leader thing. Never heard of it before. Gotta say though, to make one looks way more complicated than I want to get into.

I never had a problem with the mono braid connectors failing. With my 8 weight Lamiglas that I used for Salmon/Steelhead I could go the whole summer without breaking one or having to change it. It was Kings early on, Reds later, Silvers after that and Steelhead in the fall.

And yes, it doesn't take long on most Halibut. The longest battle I ever had with one is a 40#er that I caught on a standard 8'6"' Salmon rod. Somehow it threw the hook and then got snagged right smack in the middle of it's back. We had the harpoon out after tugging on this thing for about fourty-five minutes. I swear it felt like a 200# fish.

That picture looks like it was taken at Kodiak Island.

fish head

The advantage of furled leaders, if there is any, is that they lay out stright in case your stroke is off. The disadvantage is it takes nearly 300 feet of mono or thread to make one. If they're made of thread, they're also very limp.

On the side of simplicity, I posted a way to make a mono furled leader and it works great, takes a few minutes and doesn't need a jig. It's posted below. It's just the butt section and as said earlier, you don't really need a super taper for a big fly. The leader turns over very well.

Have you guys ever used the Chinese handcuff loop things as a connection for backing to fly line? It works well.

Nice halibut Sitka. It just seems those big ones would be like pulling a trash can lid off the bottom and a big one would take some time.

Alaska: Where you can't be too drunk or too fat.

No truer words. Thanks Homer and Gene. Sorry Art.

I never see my backing around here, so the connection doesn't matter much. But no, I never tried it.

Buzzed the lake for about an hour and caught/released 6 bass to 1 1/2 lb and one nice bluegill, missed another 4-5. Tied a loop knot in the butt, then another loop knot in tippet, about 3-3 1/2' and found this to be very nice for my fishing. Thank you all! I'll let you know when I try the black wooly buggers that attracts larger fish with this set-up.

Surprised I only caught one bream, I was using a very small fly.

If I cannot be too drunk nor too fat, what is left?

fish head

Furled leaders take a little bit of practice, but the jig is cheap to build and the required tools are cheap to buy... The thread is dirt cheap and a single spool of "invisible thread" lasts a very long time...

ETA Furled leaders last a very long time under reasonable use and care...

I don't think you mentioned it, but I'll bet you're using a 6wt or 7wt for bass. I would use at least an 8ft leader.

The advice from several regarding the use of stiff butt section is the way to go. The problem is that some of the line mentioned isn't really that stiff. I would use Rio Hard Mono for a butt, if not the Rio, I often use Ande Mono for butt sections, and you'll probably never have to change the butt again. Connecting the butt to the fly line can be done many ways but I either whip a loop into my fly line and connect the fly line to the butt loop to loop. Or, I would use an Albright knot. Very simple knot that is smooth and very strong.

I would then tie either a loop in the butt to connect the rest of the leader or use a blood knot or a uni-knot for the connection to the rest of the leader.

For the rest of the leader you could go 8' (4' butt 30#, 2' 15#, and 2' of 6 or 8#). I think that would work pretty well.

I use an Albright knot to fly line.....I just checked my set up and I have 2' of the original 9' tapered leader, with surgeon's know to 1' of 10# mono, to 4' flor tippet. When I get back from Dallas I think I'll change the butt to heavier mono, 4' with loop to 4' 8# tippet.

I really appreciate all the advice.

It's better if you have a tapered leader of some kind. Straight leaders don't turn over very well. Six foot is fine for a lake or stream with cloudy water. I fished a six foot leader for smallmouth bass in Minnesota a couple summers back. The streams were fairly clear.

I'd cut a 6 foot leader back and tie a surgeon's loop in the end. Loop the end of your tippet and do a loop-to-loop connection. That way you can refresh your tippet after a few flies. If you're going to fish a 2X tippet, buy a OX leader, cut it back and tie the loop. The Surgeon's Loop is a very easy to tie. It's also very strong. Close to 100% of line strength.

Longer leader 9, 12 feet or more are for real picky, spooky fish in clear water.

I do use non-tapered short leaders on sinking lines. The dark sinking lines don't spook fish. Plus, you much further down in the water where the fish feel more comfortable. You don't need those leaders to turn over generally as they need to sink for several seconds or more before fish strike the flies.

Good luck.

I cut back a 9' 3X tapered leader, put a loop at the end, then added 2' of tippet, overall length 7'......hitting the lake hard starting this afternoon. Unless I'm lucky and get a grand kid or 4.