Recently, someone posted this question to the Orvis Fly Fishing Facebook page: “Hey guys, do I really need 8 feet of combined leader and tippet line?” Newer anglers are often not sure how long their leader should be for a specific situation, so we made this video for the Orvis Fly Fishing Learning Center.
This is part of the new section on the Orvis Fly Fishing Learning Center about how to choose the right equipment. I hope you find it useful.
Good advice from T-Rose. I like hard Mason Nylon for my butt sections and reduce to flourecarbon for my tippets.
this goes for fresh and saltwater.
I usually go with shorter leaders on small streams by gauging my leader length to the rod length. Since casts are shorter, I find a leader the same length as my rod (plus 18″ tippet) is usually easier to control. Also my small stream rods are 1wt, 2wt, and 3wt and provide a pretty light ‘splat’ when they land.
~ ZM