I primarily fish dries now and use a standard tapered 3x, 9 foot leader...then immediately add a tippet ring on the end....then varying lengths of 4x thru 7x extensions. all mono except for 6x and 7x tippets (fluoro). I use pretty long leaders....I consider 13 feet to be short. I started noticing that my leaders were approaching 17-18 feet and thought maybe I'm crazy. ..but I felt better as I just started reading Harrops's book Learning from the Water and in his chapter "The Long Leader".....18 feet seems to be his standard length and he talks about sometimes going to 22 feet. The main thing is that you are able to properly cast it and deliver the fly. If you feel the length is causing an issue shorten up.
Walter - I've been reading some about leaders too, hence this poll and thread. Leader length is dependent on a lot of factors, so to just say that 18 feet is a standard for Harrop you have to consider how and where he fishes. This is probably his leader for the Henry's where long casts, perfect presentation and long drifts are the norm. If you are making shorter casts then a much shorter leader is a lot easier to cast.
This is all about casting ability too. I personally wouldn't be able to straighten an 18' leader...or 15' for that matter. To do so you have to be casting 70' and I rarely do that. If you don't have a sufficient amount of line to load the rod with sufficient energy you cannot lay out a long leader.
I'm not trying to tell you that you are wrong, you just have to take the actual fishing situation into consideration. Which is another reason I am going to start tying my own leaders.
So what kind of fishing do you do and why do feel the need for 17-18' leaders?
---------- Post added at 10:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 PM ----------
CutThroat, Can furled leaders be built with a taper like braided leaders? The energy transfer from line to leader is crucal regardless of leader material or design. This is easily checked by grasping the line and leader butt equal didtances - 5 or 6" - from the leader connection and bending to form an arched curve. If you get a uniform parabala you have a good match for energy transfer, a hindg of any kind indicates your presentations will sufffer.
I'm know you asked CutThroat, and he certainly knows a lot more about it, but furled leaders are indeed tapered. By all accounts I've heard furled are like braided, but much preferred because they don't pick up micro-float-sum, get dirty and sink.
Your other point brings up the issue of loop to loop connections. If you use a short butt section - as close to your line stiffness - nail-knotted to the line, do you use a loop to loop then for changing leaders mid-stream and or do you feel that is to much of a hinge and cut and re-nail knot a new leader?