[doanehead]

Slowly gathering up the stuff I'll need to get back to flyfishing some this spring and summer....when the fellow at the sporting goods store made a comment that I could simply use monofilament instead of tapered leaders, obviously sensing from our conversation that I'm not a hardcore flyfisherman. I certainly don't want to offend the purists here but wonder if any of y'all forgo leaders and use mono ??.........

[troutbum20]

you still need a tapered leader for most types of fly fishing. there is something i do called czech nymphing which is simple but very effective and you can use straight mono or a leader that starts at 8lb test and ends with 3 to 4 feet of 4lb test. for everything else you will end up with a pile at the end of your fly line if it is not tapered especially with a little wind in your face.

[Jakeway]

As a kid we used to fly fish for bluegills using level 7 weight fly line and a 6 foot length of 4 lb mono. Usually the rubber spider ended up within 6 inches of the end of the fly line. Buy a tapered leader and you'll be happy. If you really must, then make a tapered leader out of mono you already have. There are many "recipes" for leaders around, but even if you only make it a two-step leader (5 ft of 15-20 lb mono tied to 4 ft of 6 lb mono) it's better than just 6 lb. Most knotted leaders have 4 to 6 reductions of line diameter, depending on the length of leader and size of ending tippet.

[Frank Whiton]

A knotted leader is not as good a choice for Bass, Pan fish. Most of this fishing is in water with moss or other growth on the surface. The knots will pick up this stuff and can be a pain in the neck. For me, a standard level leader or a tapered leader, with no knots, works best.

[BigCliff]

Franks advice is dead on! (and actually applied to inshore saltwater fishing as well) Some go to tying their own leaders from monofilament to save money after they toss 5 complete leaders they have paid $4 each for.

This reaction is understandable, but shouldn't come up. Grab a 3x knotless tapered leader and a spool of 3x tippet. ($4 each) After you fish some and change out flies a few times, your leader will be shorter. Once your leader is more than 2' shorter than it was originally, tie on 2.5' of tippet with a double surgeons knot. This will allow your $8 to last about 20 times longer than if you scrapped a whole leader each time you used up all of the tippet portion. (skinny part)

Tying one's own leaders is still the cheapest overall solution, but I just wanted point out an option with a cost in between the "roll-yer-own" and the "scrap the whole leader" approaches.

[tie one on]

I can tell you that I am one of those who are not
always a "purist" to using tapered leaders.

If I'm going out after smallmouth, or bluegills I do
not build tapered leaders at all. I have a perfection
loop connection ( loop to loop ) of 15 lb Maxima
off the end of the fly line & then about 2'. From there
I tie on 8-10# Vanish for Smallies & 6# for bluegill. I
usually use a Surgeon knot.

I do taper down for trout though. As in many things in
this sport, it's totally your call.

Tie One On

[Jakeway]

How long is the Maxima? Sounds like what I use on my sink tip streamer line: 2 ft of 20 lb Stren, 2 ft of 8 lb Vanish. No other tippet.