Greasing Leaders

[davechina]

I'm interested in all this talk about greasing leaders. I now know about de-greasing when using dries, to keep the tippet less visible.

But why would one want, or need to do the opposite?

Eager to know.

[northcountryman]

I think its mainly used to fish the surface film, say you have an emerger on and w/o the greased leader, it sinks a little too much. Tends to keep it up there better but still, is not riding the surface like a dry would.

[davechina]

I think its mainly used to fish the surface film, say you have an emerger on and w/o the greased leader, it sinks a little too much. Tends to keep it up there better but still, is not riding the surface like a dry would.

Then why DE-grease a dry-fly tippet?

[northcountryman]

Dave;

Not sure as I never do that myself nor do I know anyone that does. When I use dries, I just grease the dry itself and let 'er go! Seems to work pretty well, but other guys will, at times, degrease the leader. It might actually be when they switch over from a dry to euro-nymphing so that the tippet, once greased up for surface and/or surface film fishing, now needs to get down deeper for the nymphing and the grease present keeps it from sinking fully. IDK, let's see what others say!!

[frankm205]

I de-grease my leaders right up to the sighter. I do this both for dry and nymphing. What it does is takes the shine off the leader /tippet material. I really does not sink a dry fly at all just places the tippet more in the top of the film which once the sine is off makes it much less visible.

[wwelz]

I agree with Frankm - My numbers go up when I degrease my leaders - nymph or dry

[northcountryman]

How often do you guys actually grease the leader though? Do you grease it for emergers or wets sometimes?

[Pisces]

I agree w/northcountryman's comments and add, that I will occasionally fish two emergers w/o an indicator - greasing the leader is in effect my indicator.
To extend this discussion a bit, I also grease my coiled and straight-line sighters.

[Silver Creek]

Whether to grease or degrease depends on how you are fishing (dry vs sunken fly) and the water surface type. Degreasing removes the sheen and helps the leader sink. So if you are fishing over spooky fish in calm water, degreasing the leader makes the leader less visible.

When the leader floats, it displaces water and depresses the water surface. This tilts the water surface slightly and this tilt allows the impression of the leader to be seen even though it may be outside the window. It is seen as a difference in refraction of light through the tilted surface that is different than the rest of the flat calm water. If the leader is sunk, the leader can be seen directly but that is why fluorocarbon is used and the sheen removed.

If the water surface is choppy, it doesn't matter. Degreasing is not needed when fishing on the surface. Choppy water has constantly changing water surface angles and the leader impression is there but cannot be detected.

Then why grease a leader? I grease a leader when fishing the greased leader technique explained below:

Poudre Canyon Chronicals: Greased Leader Tactics

This was a favored technique initially to fish small nymphs and pupa in and under the film. Now that emergers have been developed it is used to fish early stage emergers as well. If you saw a head and shoulders rise of a fish feeding just under the film, this was the technique that was used.

This was in the era before strike indicators and the dry dropper technique was developed. It is still one of the the best techniques, I believe, to detect strikes just under or in the film. The end of a floating leader is extremely sensitive to even the most subtle of takes.

It is also a great technique to fish to fish in shallow water near the bank using a sunken ant or a sunken spinner. There is no splash of a heavy fly or of an indicator. The cast is not affected by a bulky dry fly or an indicator. Accuracy with slack line casts and the drift is optimized, because there is just the fly and the leader. Even subtle strikes are detected because the leader is the indicator.

Sometime it helps to be an old fart that has seen and fished the old ways before indicators and the dry dropper.

Here are a few more ideas on when and how to use this technique:


Midge Fishing in Paradise | MidCurrent

"In the greased leader technique, the angler dresses the leader with a paste fly floatant (thick silicone pastes work best), down to within a few inches of the fly. This controls the depth of the fly’s drift, and the angler watches the point where the tippet passes through the surface film for indications of a strike. While this removes the bulk of an indicator from the leader—allowing better accuracy and a more subtle presentation of the fly—it also offers much less buoyancy and is much harder to see. This approach works best on very slow currents, and on lakes and ponds when there is minimal wind, as the greased leader will sink in faster or choppy water. It also works well when the light is low, as the greased leader shows up in flat light as a dark line on the surface film of the water. The greased leader technique is perhaps the best method for suspending a pupa pattern just under the surface. In stillwater situations, where the numbers of suspended pupae may be astronomical, a very slow draw of the fly may make it more visible to the fish, and make it easier for the angler to detect a subtle strike….

The greased leader approach and sight fishing are the best methods to imitate a midge pupa as it rises to the surface. The cast is made several feet above the fish, allowed to sink to the fish’s level, and then as the fly nears the fish, the angler stops the drift and uses a lift of the rod to move the fly toward the surface. If the fish are taking these ascending pupae, the upward movement will usually trigger a strike."

[davechina]

Thanks for the in-depth responses - everyone. I gotta re-read all this.

I know I'll probably get to the point someday when techniques like this make sense to me, but right now it isn't really striking home. However, I'm a novice and learning new things all the time, (or at least I like to THINK so ) .

For example, it's not evident to me yet how this would accomplish anything different in terms of keeping an emerger in or near the film than using an ungreased, or an un-DEgreased leader would - unless we're talking about such a slow current that normal "lift" doesn't occur at the end of a sweep. Even with a run-of-the-mill leader/tippet structure and an emerger, I would think the fly would still be just in, or under the film at the end of a sweep (with rod tip pointed downstream). Even the weighted PTs I fish often cause a V on the surface at the very end of the drift, so I'm sure they're up in that same area. An emerger would have to do the same, unless - again - the current we're talking about is excruciatingly slow. (And in that case you wouldn't catch ME fishing there in a million years!)

And I guess the other thing that confuses me about greasing is that it's increasing, not decreasing the visibility of the leader. If it's becoming more visible to the fisherman (serving as an indicator) then is it not going to be more visible to a wary fish?

Curious.