How To Choose Your Furled Leader

When it comes to choosing the perfect furled leader there are many things one must consider. 

First thing is what size of rod am I going to be fishing.  What kind of fly am I fishing, and what application technique will I be using.  Sometimes this becomes a very frustrating song and dance that can take time to switch out leaders, and or flies.  Because of these things Moonlit has worked diligently to design leaders that will provide the ultimate performance and versatility.  In an attempt to make life easier and help reduce stress of picking the right leader, we will outline what leaders to choose best based of what you will be doing.

Lets start with fishing dry flies, and all its amazing top water eats.

With Dries we need to figure out what flies we will be fishing.  If I'm fishing small tiny delicate dry flies where stealth and presentation is of the utmost importance I have three choices being Featherweight, Drifter, and Platinum Featherweight.  With this application we are looking at the Featherweight, Drifter, and Platinum Featherweight because they are designed with a taper that will present your fly as light and delicate as possible without losing any turnover power.  This is done by combining a core of Monofilament with the strongest tensile polyester thread to give you a supple leader but still have enough stiffness to generate power without adding bulk to your leader, and having the optimum taper for presenting flies as soft and gentle as possible.  The Featherweight is the base in this category with amazing turnover, and presentation.  For simplicity the Drifter will float without treatment, but we really do recommend treatment to seal the leader.  When it comes to the Platinum this is the cream of the crop.  I allows for a smoother transition of energy into your fly giving you the absolute best dry fly leader on the market.  Although they are designed to cast dry flies with ease and precision they are fully capable of casting, presenting, and fishing small nymphs as well.

Lets now look at fishing nymphs, large bulky dries, and hopper dropper set ups.

Again choosing the proper leader to fit these applications is key to your enjoyment and success.  For this we are going to recommend fishing with our Big Hog, ALL-Purpose, or Platinum Big Hog leader.  Like their dry fly leaders these are designed using a mixture of materials.  This time they are adding a more powerful taper along with mixing fluorocarbon and the same polyester thread to give you optimal turnover and power.  These leaders are going to cast double nymph set ups, single nymphs, dry dropper, or big bulky dry flies where turnover is key compared to a softer presentation.  The Big Hog is also the base on this list, but  will execute this with ease.  The ALL-Purpose will float like the Drifter so fishing sub surface it requires the weight of the fly to pull it under.  This makes this leader exceptionally ideal for fishing dry droppers, or big bulky dries. Again the Platinum is going to give you the absolute best performance.

Lets talk about fishing streamers now, or poppers for Bass.

When it comes to this we turn to the HOGzilla, or Platinum HOGzilla.  This leader is short for added power, control, and a more uniform sink with your streamer.  This leader is constructed with the most aggressive taper and constructed of fluorocarbon.  This leader is given a core of thread with a higher tensile breaking strength than steel to give it added strength without adding un needed bulk to the leader.  This leader also performs exceptionally well fishing poppers for Bass.  It has tremendous power to turn over your popper, and added weight to help pull your popper down just a bit into the water column to give it more of a pop as you are stripping it in.

Lets talk about fishing those super tight streams hunting wild native Brook Trout, or your favorite small stream fishery. 

When faced with tight quarters or fishing a shorter rod, generally 7 1/2' or shorter the Brookie or Platinum Brookie Leader is the leader of choice.  This leader is designed with a taper that will give you the utmost stealth in presentation, while allowing you to be able to fish nymphs all on the same leader with simply changing fly or tippet.  This leader uses a combination of monofilament like its dry fly counterparts to give you the stiffness needed to turn over both small delicate dries, dry dropper, nymphs, double nymphs, and micro streamers.  It is short at 3' in length to allow it to excel at all these applications as well as in tight quarters or with shorter rods.

If you want a more in depth look at what makes Moonlit leaders perform better, and unique check this out here.