Furled leaders go back to the begining of fishing. It is the art of winding a thread or a fiber of some sort back on it's self. This enables one to create a tapered leader that acts exactly like a miniture fly line that has great advantages over today mono and florocarbon leaders. It also lets one choose what type of taper one want. I make leaders out of 3/0, 6/0 and 8/0 tying thread I also create steelhead & salmon leaders out of spectra (8-10lbs test @ 0.0025inch dia.) which gives me a 48-56lbs tip that can lay out a dry fly with a touch of elegance. I use the above spectra leader waxed with Muslin and a tippet of 3' of 12lb ans 2' of 8lb Maxima for my steelhead dry fly fishing. It might sound a little heavy but the leader is the sma The best part of a furled leader is thier albility to turn over extreme lengths of tippet, 3-6' is common. I have heard of guys turning over 10-12' tippets in a nice wind with secret tappers, ha ha, 3-5' is fine for me.

To create a furled leader requires some things, the can be makeshift, like mine, or store bought. I use the following jig below to create a basic 1X leader that is 9.5'.

The circle are dowels from a broom stick cut at 8" lentghs screwed to a piece of ply wood, the hook are teacup hooks. The process in some what simple. I used what is called a 5/3/1 wrap which is shown below. The steps are

1. Tie a loop in the end of you thread or line and place it around the hook (the one with the closes dowel).
2. Make five wraps around the hook and the first dowel (32").
3. On the fifth wrap continue past the first dowel and to the second on the same side (62")
4. Go around this dowel and back up to the first 3.5 times, each time going over then under the first 5 wraps creating locked loops.
5. On the 3.5 warp continue past the second dowel to the third which is the farthest one down the board (88")
6. Go around third and up to forth (74"), around fourth back down and back around third (88") on the out side like the first pass.
7. Then running the line up to the second (62") and creating lock loop (over and under) then back down (woaah darn this is draining) to the third dowel and up past the forth (74") up to the fifth (48").
8. Now make 3.5 wraps between the fifth and forth dowel locking loops each pass
9. on the 3.5 pass take it up to the hook and wrap five loop (making sure to lock each one) between the fifth dowel (48" and the hook).
10. On the final wrap create a surgeon knot in the end of the threas and slip it over the hook. ahhhh done.

Now here is a picture trying to explian the madness.

That part becomes so easy that I can weave a leader in under a minute, the next part is the challenge. They make machines and wieghts that spin and all this other misc tools to do this part, I prefer my revesible drill ( 1500rpms). Now slip the end of the loop you just completed off of the hook and keep tension on it, I use a 1oz. lead wieght and a paper clip bent to a hook shape to do this. Once the end is off and tension applied one dowel at a time slip the thread off start with the fifth dowel then the forth and so on. Keep the other end attatch to the other hook.

Chuck a hook in the drill and set it on forward. Always keep tension on you thread from this point on. One slip and everything will twist and unravel. For a 9.5 leader 2400 turns (2100 / 7.5, 2700 / 11.5), I run my drill for 2 minutes or if the line shortens 10"-14" while checking the tension by plucking the line.

Once 2000+ turns are in the line it then can be Furled back on it's self. This is where the twsit in the line hold each other together (just like rope). Place a hook in the middle of the line and fold it half, do not give it any slack. Any slack here will twist it up into a ball of crap. Once fold in half and the loop is place on the same hook as the starting loop then chuck the drill onto the hook in the middle. Set the drill on reverse and run it for about 1000 turns or until the line stretches out and starts to shorten again. It's now furled and can be taken off. Start by pinching up about 6" from the tip and take the end loop off of the hook. The line will spin a couple of times and find it's place, slowly do this to the entire line. Place a drop of glue on the both end and top loop. Its now finished.

This is the most simple of the tapers to make, I suggest using 6/0 Uni-Thread until the process is mastered. I would love to help any in doing this, contact me and we can make arangements. I have a couple tapers that I love to use thank to Henk Verhaar. This page should explain more once some is ready and practice in the art of make a furled leader

Continue to Henk Verhaar's taper.
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