Czech Leaders, "High Sticking Leaders" Cutthroat Furled Leaders

With the river being high, I decided to do a little Czech Nymphing. (high sticking).  Look what I found hanging at the bottom of one or my favorite runs on some local water.  The big boys cannot resist a fly that is fished right in front of their nose.  Give High sticking a try.

You need a leader system that sinks fast.  Our Czech leader has a thread furled sighter/indicator and then transitions to a braided material.  This braid is ultra strong, but better yet, very thin so it cuts through the water column quickly. 

Fat Rainbow caught on a Cutthroat Furled Czech Leader. 

Fly Fisher is to simply add tippet, fly, more tippet and another fly.  Heavy flies work best.  This is NOT a tapered leader, meaning it does not "false cast" well, but for lobbing up river as you do with high sticking, this leader is great and we have a growing following among high stick fly fishers. 

Streamer Leaders.... for throwing BIG articulated flies...

Some fly fishers love to throw Big Nasty Flies.  These flies are often a nightmare to cast because of the weight and wind resistance.  Our Big Bug and Streamer Furled Leaders fix all of that.  No More Chuck and duck fishing.    The idea is that the leader adds weight / mass to end of fly line.  Kind of like a shooting head, without needing a whole new line just for streamers.  Check them out, you will not be disappointed.  The streamer leaders come with a small micro swivel to eliminate line twist.

How to use a furled leader

We at Cutthroat Leaders created the video below to better explain some of the benefits of using Thread Furled leaders.

We have much info on our site, as well as always being only an email or a phone call away.  If you have questions, we are more than happy to answer them. 

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Furled Leaders

How to use a furled leader.

Attaching a fly to a furled leader

Dry Fly Fishing with a Furled leaders

We handcraft furled leaders for every type of fly fishing.  From dropping size 28's using a light 1 weight rods to throwing huge articulated streamers with an 8 weight.  Furled leaders not only last a very long time, they work better than standard tapered leaders.  

No they do not Spook Fish...!

Only fly fishers that have never used a furled leader believe they spook fish...

Salmon Flies on Furled Leaders

Salmon Flies on Cutthroat Furled Leaders....  Great day on the water.
We were fishing just outside the Frank Church Wilderness area in Idaho.  Great fishing with great scenery.

When you get river side and see large salmon flies flopping around in the water, you know the day will be a good one...  

First of three fish brought to hand were all Brook Trout.

I do not often get to fish for Brookies, so it was a great change of pace.  These fish hammered the Stonefly imitations with such aggressiveness.  To say it was a fun time, is a true understatement.

We end the day with many Brookies, Cutthroat, Rainbow and even a  few whitefish brought to the net.

The hatch was crazy impressive.

  

Nice looking Brookie, not huge, but they sure were pretty.

We went to this river to catch Big Old Cutthroats.  I did have one monster on the line, but you know the story, he spit the hook...  But we did get a good look at him...  beautiful fish.  The pic below is of his little brother.

This being the first big hiking / fishing trip of the season, I sit typing on the keyboard and my lower back and legs know that I put in a full day on the water.  Left the house at 5:00 am and returned at 1:00 the following morning.  That's dedication. 

Tips:  When throwing large dry flies such as Salmon flies, up-sizing your leader will make a huge difference in your casting.  Meaning, if you fish a 5 or 6 weight rod, use a 7-8 wt furled leader. This will allow you do drop your fly within inches of your target. 

Furled Leaders used were:  76" Ultimate Dry Fly Leader with Loop end.  We also used our Streamer Leader for tossing big streamers to fish down deep.  These new Streamer Leaders make turning over big heavy flies a breeze.  Eliminate the old " Chuck & Duck"....

Cutthroat Leader Coupon.  Save money on your favorite fly fishing furled leaders. 

Share with your fly fishing buddies. 

We often asked about the process of attaching Loop 2 Loop knots.  What might seem simple for seasoned fly fishers, can sometimes be the cause of questions for new anglers.  Remember, we were all beginners at one time or another.

Our Furled Leaders, come with a Loop on the "Butt Section" Fly Line end.  Because most new fly lines have welded loops, the diagram below should help most of you.

























If you do not have a welded loop on your fly line, you can use the extender or the nail-knot system below.  Only thread furled leaders can be nail-knoted,  A furled Nylon or furled Fluorocarbon leader will be too thick to nail-knot.

Casting dry flies to Big Brown Trout.

Hunting / Sight Casting to BIG Browns….   Fun!

I was lucky enough to be on our local water yesterday.  For a couple of hours, the light was just perfect for sight casting from land.  Slowly walking along the bank looking for Big Hungry trout, getting into position, making that “one” perfect cast and landing a large fish, does it get any better.

This type of fishing has it all.  The bad news, typically, one cast is all you get under these conditions, the good news, the cast’s are “short”, typically less than 30’-0’.  This helps because the river banks are full of brush and tangle causing obstructions.    When a fish is spotted, your first goal is to get into casting position.  Depending on the fish’s, location, this can be more difficult than it sounds.  As noted, you typically have one cast only.  Meaning, you need to go from fly in hand, to a couple of false cast’s, (fly & line in the air only) to dropping the fly in the path you think the fish will travel.  We have all had one of those days that you could do no wrong.  (trust me, I have had plenty of days that I could do no right)….  This day was one of the good ones.  Spot, a fish, sneak into position, make the cast, land the fish, walk 30’-0” down river, do it again…  this was Fun.   I was throwing size 18-20 no hackle BWO.  These no hackle fly’s have become a true favorite of mine.  The fly literally gets better looking with each fish caught.  I did not keep count of how many fish were netted, but it was well above a 20 fish day…  not the norm.   I used only three fly’s all day long.  Two no hackle BWO’s and one streamer for the times fishing slowed down. The reason I so like the no hackle flys is that they are small, lite and have a realistic profile.  There were many times the fly landed right in front of the fishes head…  I mean inches away.  Rather than spook the fish, the fly was simply sucked into the feeding fish’s mouth.   This type of fishing typically requires a longer leader / tippet section.  I was using our 76” Ultimate dry flyleader.  On the shorb  loop end, I had approx. 5’-6’ of 5x tippet.  Then I attached Trout hunter 5.5X Fluoro to the 5x.  This length was approx.-2’-3’ long.  This means my overall leader / tippet length was 13’-15’ long.  The reason this was needed is that these fish were suspended in the top of the water column.  Any surface disturbance would cause the fish to bolt.  (keep in mind I was throwing smaller fly’s).   After hours of spot & stalk fishing, the light changed and the spotting of fish was not as easy.  I got back into the water and simply went back to casting to rising trout…  If you fish enough, you will eventually have one of those days that will be remembered for years to come, this was one of those days.

One of the fish landed was a very old brown.  He was 24” long, but this fish was skinny and it gums were receding to expose big gnarly teeth.  He swam away OK, but I think his end of days is fast approaching.  

All fish were landed using the Ultimate Dry Fly Leader