Bass Leaders

[Cliff]

Hello, I will be doing to fishing for bass this season and I'll be using a 7wt rod (I do have an 8wt, however). I will be using a lot of streamers and some bass bugs, both topwater and sinking. None of my flies are huge, I would say moderate in size. I do not have dedicated bass leaders and instead I plan to use a couple of steelhead (10 lb) leaders in floating and shorter one for my sink tip. Do I really need to look at buying a dedicated bass leader, or will the steelhead leaders work ok? Thanks.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Hello, I will be doing to fishing for bass this season and I'll be using a 7wt rod (I do have an 8wt, however). I will be using a lot of streamers and some bass bugs, both topwater and sinking. None of my flies are huge, I would say moderate in size. I do not have dedicated bass leaders and instead I plan to use a couple of steelhead (10 lb) leaders in floating and shorter one for my sink tip. Do I really need to look at buying a dedicated bass leader, or will the steelhead leaders work ok? Thanks.

I use tapered steelhead leaders cut back by about half and tie on 10lb tippet. About 6 total feet in length at most, turns over everything

 

[Stonedfish]

I just run a straight shot of whatever leader material I’m using.
SF

 

[Cliff]

I use tapered steelhead leaders cut back by about half and tie on 10lb tippet. About 6 total feet in length at most, turns over everything

Thanks PN. This is what I have - are you suggesting I cut both of these leaders back and add 10 lb tippet?

 

[Pink Nighty]

Thanks PN. This is what I have - are you suggesting I cut both of these leaders back and add 10 lb tippet?

Yes, cut it back to where it is just thicker than your tippet, then add 10# to your hearts desire to attach your fly. If you tie a loop or tippet ring to your trimmed leader they will last forever essentially

 

[Cliff]

Yes, cut it back to where it is just thicker than your tippet, then add 10# to your hearts desire to attach your fly. If you tie a loop or tippet ring to your trimmed leader they will last forever essentially

Great, thank you very much. Stonedfish, thank you, also.

 

[Josh]

I tend to use something like 3 feet of 30#, 2 feet of 20#, then 2 feet of either 10 or 15# mono/flouro (I use flouro because I have it for gear bass fishing). But I don't think the exact formula is all that important. Just some amount of thick/heavy down to 10-15#. The tapered commercial leader + 10lb system guys post above will work fine. Heck, straight 10-20lb will work fine in a pinch, too. Bass aren't very leader shy. I just prefer having the stiff section at the butt for big bass poppers because I feel like it helps my casting (which needs all the help it can get).

 

[Smalma]

The guys have it about right. Your tapered leaders modified as suggest will work just fine. Depending how much you fish around things like lily pads and slightly heavier tippet might be helpful. The trick if the fly snags a pad is to point the rod directly at the fly and pull steadily back tearing the pad.

Like Josh with heavier flies (I use deer hair poppers) I like home made leaders with longer than normal heavy butt sections on relatively shorter leaders (8 or 9 feet). those heavy butts aid in fly turn over resulting in better casting and accuracy, With largemouth being able to put the fly in a hole, right next to a log or dock or under an overhanging limb increases the strikes. Being to hit within a couple of inches of the target can be much better than within a foot.

Have fun!

Curt

 

[rattlesnake]

I use 4’ of 40lb, 2’ of 30lb, 1’ of 25lb, 8” or so of 15lb and then 18” of 10lb ‘tippet’ which is usually maxima UG.

You can modify that generally formula to each bug - real wind resistant, shorten the 30lb and a little of the 25…. Lighter bug you can go with lighter tippet. A bug for the top portion of the water column, use 10lb floro. I used to use a perfection loop at end of the 15lb and that works fine to do a loop to loop for the tippet but felt that was a bit bulky so started using 3mm tippet ring. Could also go Albright knot from 15lb to tippet but obv will have to replace the 15lb at some point, so again been using the tippet ring.

For sinking line, I tend to just use 1’ of 25lb, 1’ of 20lb to a small double barrel swivel and 16” or so of 10lb. All of this material is floro but you could use mono. Could also do an Albright knot in place of the double barrel.

 

[Northern]

Agree with the above! I just keep 3-4ft of old butt sections of my heavier tapered leaders, and add new 8-12lb straight tippet as needed. A couple feet of fluoro for subsurface, or 3-5ft of mono for poppers.

Gives a little better turnover to have the fat butt (the leader, not mine ) and taper, while saving $ not purchasing new ones, plus it's nice to "upcycle" leaders that would otherwise get discarded into a landfill. Pretty sure some of mine have been in use for years, given that I have many spools/lines in my rotation.

Also - especially for poppers, which can have a tendency to spin during casting - I often use a small barrel swivel between butt section and tippet rather then a tippet ring. Helps keep twist out.

To @Smalma's point, 8ft is about as long as I'll go for poppers, as accuracy will score you more bass than stealth.

 

[Josh]

Do you all really feel like the mini swivels work? I'd always been under the impression that they didn't really. But I've never tried them.

 

[Cliff]

Thanks again guys, I appreciate your suggestions.

 

[Shad]

I think anything posted in this thread would work just fine; bass usually aren't nearly as persnickety as trout. A short, sinking polyleader with 2-3 feet of 10 or 15# Maxima served me well in Florida last spring. Keeping your leaders short and heavy let's you use a lighter rod (like a 6-wt.) to cast up to medium-sized bass bugs, which makes for a more pleasant fishing experience and more fun fighting the fish, in my experience.

This year, I'm bringing a streamer line with me just in case, but in most of the water you find bass in, a floating line is all you need. Gives you the most versatility, for sure....

Next thing I gotta do to up my bass game is to start tying more flies with weed guards, so I can get right into the cover without getting hung up all the time.

 

[Cliff]

I think anything posted in this thread would work just fine; bass usually aren't nearly as persnickety as trout. A short, sinking polyleader with 2-3 feet of 10 or 15# Maxima served me well in Florida last spring. Keeping your leaders short and heavy let's you use a lighter rod (like a 6-wt.) to cast up to medium-sized bass bugs, which makes for a more pleasant fishing experience and more fun fighting the fish, in my experience.

This year, I'm bringing a streamer line with me just in case, but in most of the water you find bass in, a floating line is all you need. Gives you the most versatility, for sure....

Next thing I gotta do to up my bass game is to start tying more flies with weed guards, so I can get right into the cover without getting hung up all the time.

Thanks Shad.