# leader construction for a 6 weight



## jamie (Jan 22, 2016)

for light weight - don't over think it.

rio (or the like) tapered 9' 12 lbs fluorocarbon


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## IRLyRiser (Feb 14, 2007)

5' of 30lb
1.5' of 20
1.5' of 12 or 15
1' of whatever shock, 25lb-30lb prob for 6 weight sized snook.
I usually do all mono, maybe flouro shock. The flouro sinks better. It you're using a topwater fly I think mono is better. An all flouro leader will sink pretty well and give you more abrasion resistance on structure. I mainly just tie leaders off of 1/4lb spools of Ande.


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## Daz (Jul 14, 2015)

My 6wt snook leader is really basic: About 4-1/2' of 25# flouro tied to 4-1/2' of 15# flouro with a uni to uni knot. Works like a charm fishing dock lights at night. The 25# helps me with turnover and the 15# is next to invisible but is still strong enough for 6wt size fish. I tried 10# for a while but lost too many flies (and fish) to "lip grind". I now check after every fish and usually retie every 2-3 fish depending on how abraded it gets at the fly.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

IRLyRiser said:


> 5' of 30lb
> 1.5' of 20
> 1.5' of 12 or 15
> 1' of whatever shock, 25lb-30lb prob for 6 weight sized snook.
> I usually do all mono, maybe flouro shock. The flouro sinks better. It you're using a topwater fly I think mono is better. An all flouro leader will sink pretty well and give you more abrasion resistance on structure. I mainly just tie leaders off of 1/4lb spools of Ande.


This, if you want a more aggressive leader for slightly bigger flies. 

If you are going for stealthy on smaller, lighter flies for smaller snook, I'd go...

4ft - 30lb
2ft - 20lb
1.5ft - 15-16lb
2ftft - 10-12lb
12-18" of 20-30lb

Snook tend to hunker down deep this time of year. This is where I go all FC, especially when the water get's ultra clear. As IRLyRiser indicated, go mono for the butt section of your leader with floating flies and depending on the buoyancy of the flies used, you can still get away with FC for the tippet and bit leader.

With a 6wt, there's no need for mason or hard mono, just regular clear mono or FC.

Remember, make sure your flies are not too heavy. Nothing heavier than an extra small lead dumbbell eyes for decent casting. If you need to go down deeper, go int tip or a full int line.

Ted Haas


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## tailwalk (Nov 20, 2016)

This place is awesome! Great input!

Jamie, but that's part of the fun!  Point taken, just the same. 

IRLyRiser, that's basically what I have tried out so far except I left the 30lb butt section shorter, which I think hurt the overall turnover. I'll try extending it. 

DWJensen, checking the leader often is great advice. Had a friend hook and lose a monster snook after catching several smaller ones on the same leader. I think he'll listen next time I tell him it's time to change 

Backwater, interesting you brought up hard mono vs regular/fc. I was just looking at rio's website thinking I'd need to go pretty light with the hard mono. Mind expanding on why to skip it?


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

DWJensen said:


> My 6wt snook leader is really basic: About 4-1/2' of 25# flouro tied to 4-1/2' of 15# flouro with a uni to uni knot. Works like a charm fishing dock lights at night. The 25# helps me with turnover and the 15# is next to invisible but is still strong enough for 6wt size fish. I tried 10# for a while but lost too many flies (and fish) to "lip grind". I now check after every fish and usually retie every 2-3 fish depending on how abraded it gets at the fly.


DWJensen, with those really light and nothing small night snook flies, you might get away with that combo. But observe your leader when you throw it in. You might see it hinging which will not place the fly exactly where you want it to go and in some cases, the energy flowing through the flyline and thru the leader will run out of gas about 2ft into your 4.5ft tippet., leaving the fly landing behind it or sling shotting it somewhere else. With daytime weighted or bigger flies other than those small nothing night light flies, it will just collapses on itself.

But the stealthy leader I described above, in all FC will turn those flies over better, will not hinge and be more accurate. You can actually runroll those flies out under the dock as well.

With all due respect, I'm not preaching to you with no experience on the subject. I've fly fished those dock lights for snook with 6 & 8wt rods for over 25yrs in your area. Could prolly write a book on the subject. No telling how many snook I've taken that way with my 6wt.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

tailwalk said:


> Backwater, interesting you brought up hard mono vs regular/fc. I was just looking at rio's website thinking I'd need to go pretty light with the hard mono. Mind expanding on why to skip it?


If you went to mason, the diameter is thicker. 30lb mason will feel like 40lbs+ mono or FC. Some hard mono is not as thick but stiffer at 30lbs than your fly line. So you have to start out with 20lb mason or hard mono on a 5 or 6wt, then 16lb to replace the 20lb FC or mono, then 12lb to replace the 15/15lb FC or mono. In other words.... 20lb mason is the same dia as 30lb FC or mono. So if I were using a mason leader system for floating or near surface/ sub surface flies, then it would look something like this....

4ft - 20lb mason or hard mono
2ft - 16lb mason
1.5ft - 12 mason
2ft of 10-12lb mono or FC (remember, it's a smaller dia than mason)
then your bite leader.... (i.e. 18" of 30lb FC, etc..)


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Great info in this thread -- thanks guys!


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## blackmagic1 (Jul 3, 2014)

Backwater said:


> This, if you want a more aggressive leader for slightly bigger flies.
> 
> If you are going for stealthy on smaller, lighter flies for smaller snook, I'd go...
> 
> ...


This is what I'm using for my 8wt. Hard Mono for my 30, FC rest of the way. 
Maybe I'm doing something wrong


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## tailwalk (Nov 20, 2016)

blackmagic1 said:


> This is what I'm using for my 8wt. Hard Mono for my 30, FC rest of the way.
> Maybe I'm doing something wrong


Might be a little heavy for the butt section on an 8, but if it works for you.. do you notice any issues with turnover? tailing loops? 

Cast the 6 today with a leader made to irlyriser's specs and it worked out a lot better. good turnover even into a bit of wind. Thanks!


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