1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing Gear
›
3. Orvis Hy-flote leader?

I'm not that much into trying new stuff, I more like to spend that money on fishing trips.

I just now placed an order for a couple of lines and leaders from Orvis, and I found something they call Hy-Flote leaders(with a trendy mis-spelling and all).
Out of pure curiousity (greatest danger when shopping) I ordered a couple of them. Not having to mess around with floatant sounds nice.

Has anyone tried them?
Are they like the braided kind of leaders (oh! the horror)?

For what it's worth I have caught literally thousands and thousands of trout over the past fifty years, hundreds in the 18" - 23" sizes and never once gave it a thought that I needed to float my leader.

Maybe you would have caught thousands and thousands and one with a Hy-Flote leader. ;)

I haven't heard of them, but I do rub my dry fly floatant on my leader sometimes. It seems having the line dip below the surface makes it a little bit more susceptible to drag, and harder to pick up to cast (especially roll casting or a roll-cast pick-up), and the floatant on both the line and leader seems to make it a little bit easier. Just a little bit.

I would guess that a permanently high-floating leader might get annoying whenever you want to switch to a nymph, but I haven't really tried it.

I had to go to the Orvis site to check out this Hy-Flote, and the following was listed:

• Quieter Pick Up for Stealth
• Easiest Pick Up for Better Casts
• Best for Controlling Dry Flys
• Holds Strike Indicators on Top Longer

Is it just me or does anyone else see the irony here?

I won’t knock Orvis because I do prefer a few items they offer, but I just got a chuckle out of this.

I'm with Matt on this one that most of the time I don't care too much what my leader is doing. Most of the time...

A few exceptions:

1. Shallow/clear/slow moving water over spooky fish on a bright calm day - I'll do anything I can to sink it! The shadow of the leader can be VERY problematic.

2. Swinging flies on a dry line - the wake of the leader is an issue on calm water as well as getting depth in faster water - Sink it, unless of course you want to wake the fly.

3. Fishing nymphs in calm water - It's fun looking for the subtle twitch of the leader and is by far the most sensitive "strike indicator" of all. With experience, it's easy to detect strikes that would barely move an indicator. The higher floating the better. Lighting must be right, though.

4. Fast water dry fly fishing - Here I agree with Jason. Since the fish won't be spooked by a floating leader anyway, might as well float it. It will make pickups and presentation better and reduce somewhat the effects of a down-welling pulling the leader under resulting in earlier drag on the fly.


Allan - regarding your irony comment - I'm not sure what you getting at.

Regards,

Kurt

Thanks everyone, good points.

I do grease my leader, about half of it, when dry fly fishing. I'd say I use dries 75% of the time.
Sometimes, like someone pointed out, a sub-surfaced leader is the best choice, though ultra-clear water does not exist in this part of my country.

I'll post some reports on how they're doing, when I get them.

When they came out I jumped on them. I DO want my leaders to float a lot of the time. Basically I'm fishing the fly and the tippet. The rest of the rig from transition to my boot soles is for delivering that terminal end. And I want to be able to move the leader butt and transition without moving the tippet and fly. A sunk leader, even surface tension, affects control.

This is most important on turbulent water. When fishing turbulent pocket water I grease all the way down to the dry fly, tippet and all. For nymping, regardless of water surface, I grease and keep greased from fly-line to indicator. I want the leader on top, not sunk, and not even stuck in surface tension.

Sadly, the "Hy-Flote" leaders have a tragic flaw: they are made of nylon which eventually absorbs water. I found they didn't make too much of a difference esp after they got wet. Also, since I tie my own leaders, I bought butt material and it was only available in .019 and .021, a bit heavy for the lighter trout lines I'm using most often.

Thanks PaulRoberts, we share basically the same "leader-philosophy" as it seems.

If these leaders works the way you say they do, having something to hang wet socks on by the campfire is'nt too bad..

"Maybe you would have caught thousands and thousands and one with a Hy-Flote leader. ;)"

Now after reading all the reasons for using a floating leader I feel like I've been missing out on something and will go on-line to order half a dozen!

Oh Matt, I think you can have one of mine..