Tis the season when bugs start filling the banks here in Arizona and throughout the rest of the country. The past few weekends that I have made it into the mountains, the fish are already starting to look up. I typically like to set up with either a 5 or 6 foot uni-thread furled leader with another 5 or 6 feet of tippet to the mini hopper. Often I’ll tie a ice-dubbed pheasant tail or another beadhead about a foot off of the mini hopper. When all else fails, this always seems to get the fish to move. If you need to restock your box with mini hoppers or you need a furled leader or two, you can pick them up online in the Arizona Wanderings Shop.
I also can fill special orders, so if you see any particular flies on AZW that you like the look of, feel free to shoot me an email at Ben@AZWanderings. In additional promotional articles, take a look at costa mesa drug rehab center.
Best of luck on the water.
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Your Mini Hopper looks hot. I keep some similar patterns in my terrestrial box but nothing exactly like it. I’m sure looking forward to hopper season!
I love hopper season. There’s nothing like fishing coming up on the surface and attacking a fly. If you tie some up, I’d love to hear how they work for you, Steve.
Ben
Ben,
I’ve been fly fishing for over a decade, but have never used a furled leader. It looks interesting. Do you always fish with a furled leader or only in certain conditions? Does it cast as well as a traditional leader and tippet setup? 10 feet of leader and tippet seems like it might be a bit much on some of the smaller streams. Thanks in advance.
Phil. Great to hear from you. All of my small stream fishing is done with a furled leader. I think that it casts better than a regular mono or fluoro leader as it truly is an extension of the fly line and turns over so smoothly. The uni-thread leaders that I tie are very supple and land delicately, but are also very durable. If cared for, they can last a long time. You can definitely shorten up the amount of tippet, but I know that our fish here in Arizona are very spooky, and a 10 foot leader (5 or 6′ furled leader plus 5 feet of tippet) is very common. It has seemed to be working well for me and I have been really pleased with the way they fish for me. I appreciate the questions. Feel free to contact me if I can help out in any way.
Ben
Ben,
It definitely seems to be working for you. Always some nice fish in your posts, especially browns. I think I’ll give it a try.
Ben,
I placed on order for the hoppers and the furled leader. I usually fish w/ a Sage 7ft 3WT TXL. I selected the olive 0-3 WT furled leader. Was that a good choice? feel free to change my selection if you think I should pick a different color or WT.
Thanks