As with almost everything to do with fly fishing, leader choice can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Do you love knots and tinkering with things? Then go ahead and construct your own, say, 15-foot George Harvey slack-line leaders. But if you just want to go fishing, you’ll probably end up buying knotless, tapered leaders from a fly shop. But what size? What length?
In these videos from the Orvis Fly Fishing Learning Center, Tom Rosenbauer offers pretty much everything you need to know when choosing a leader off the rack. The kind of fishing you plan to do, the water and wind conditions, and the species you’re chasing will help determine your choice.
