Slack leaders

[trout5]

Has anyone tried those George Harvey slack leaders? What's the deal with those?

[JUICE]

I'm no dry fly expert, but you should ask Aaron about these, I think he highly approves. They are always put on the end of my line. I like them for whatever that's worth.

[AaronJasper]

They are the best leaders for dry fly fishing. They have a much thinner diameter butt section and a longer tippet than your average leader. What this equates to is lots of s curves in your leader when its on the water. These s curves can be very forgiving when dry fly fishing. Also, the longer tippet at the end allows you to use a larger diameter tippet. Hence the reason why they are only made down to 6X. This is because George believes that there is no reason to go any further down than 6X given that you have the right leader design.

[trout5]

Sounds like a good design concept. I agree that anything beyond 6x is nutty.

[Troutbum from Griswold]

Only leader I will use for dry fly fishing. I have been using them for some time now. GREAT LEADER. NOTHING BEATS IT!!!!!!!

P.S Anything less than 7x is crazy. I use 6x quite often. I feel that a lot of people, not all, who use 9-11 x tippet, might be compensating for bad casting/presentation techniques and or for bragging rights. My opinion. Dry fly fishing is 95 percent presentation. If you work on presentation techniques, the fish will come. No reason for those crazy spools of "hair".

[alanb_ct]

I just realized that Joe Humphrey's book (Trout Tactics) contains the slack leader design formulas. If you are contemplating these leaders, you might consider buying the book and tying your own. The formulas are similar to ones I have seen quoted by Rich Osthoff in his books. There are simpler designs, but none that perform as well, especially for dry flies. He has a 10.5 foot 5X leader that will give you perfect drag-free drifts even in flat water. It's what I used on the Farmington in the bright sun on Friday. The fish took the flies on the 5X, no problem.

It's quite interesting how George Harvey came up with the designs. He went to a stream with wild browns and started feeding them terrestrials (beetles). First he fed them as is, then he started anchoring each bug with different tippet diameters. The tippet sections were not connected to anything. The fish took all the "presentations" equally. This implies that the drag-free drift or motion is what's important, not the visibility of the diameter of the tippet material.

You could probably argue this forever, but Joe and George are the best, and I subscribe to their theory.

I use Maxima Chameleon for the "stiff" sections and Rio Powerflex or Orvis super strong for the "soft" sections. I'm sort of a leader fanatic, so I've accumulated about 30 little spools that I keep in a big storage case with a tape measure and nippers. Try not to leave your fine diameter tippet material out in the hot car or sun. Just some more food for thought.

[AaronJasper]

Good ideas Alain. Maybe use the stiffer mono for the first two sections of the leader. However, I wonder how much of the effectiveness will be lost if the butt section is made from a very stiff material. I think that one reason why the leader works so well is because the entire leader is made out of very soft leader material.

Just a thought about the leader design?

[trout5]

Interesting stuff, Alain. You certainly are knowledgable. If one was to put tippet at the end of one of those Harvey leaders, how would you go about it to keep those slack line properties? And I must check out those Joe Humphries leader formulas.

[alanb_ct]

Joe Humphreys answers that question too. He advocates test casting your leader with the fly attached. Your goal is to get the fly leader to land in gentle S-curves. Let's say you add 2 feet of 6X to the standard slack leader formula. Now try to cast a wind-resistant fly...it won't straighten out for you, but instead land in a vertical pile. You need to shorten your tippet or use a size larger. In this case, let's say your tippet won't straighten out, even with a size 20 fly, but instead straightens out partially, but the final foot lands in a pile...tippet is too long. Let's say you cast and the fly lands in a slap...tippets too short or too heavy. Sure you can adjust your cast somewhat (overpower the forward stroke then pull the rod tip back a little), but properly adjusting the leader is best.

If you watch outstanding fishermen, one thing you will notice is that they spend as much time adjusting their gear as they do casting. This is as true about indicator nymphing (adjusting shot and depth) as it is with dries. In my mind, I call it the "lengthening/strengthening" drill. I'll admit, however, that in low light or fast and furious action I don't always test my leaders. My usual goal is fish the evening hatch with 5 or 6X, and then be ready to drop down to 3 or 4X for a bushy dry fly (usually a Wulff or something with deer hair).

Definitely, check out Joe Humphreys books. Every reader or participant of this forum will benefit. One final thought I just remembered, sometimes people have trouble tying a barrel knot between leader sections, especially stiffer material. One solution I have found is to use a needle knot tool, like the far and away best tool, the Tie-Fast. Simply tie two nail knots back to back, lubricate and tighten. This makes a very solid knot. I sometimes lubricate the knots with the pad from my Glide line dressing.

Hope this is useful.

[AaronJasper]

Alright Alain... you got me I can't question that answer lol.I tried and you still got me... I have to go back to the drawing board
Ok I will try the stiff mono.