Leaders

I played around with tying my own for a while.
I used this site:

https://globalflyfisher.com/leadercalc

I still make my own for my euro nymph rig, but went back to the setup you described for my 5wt. It was just easier.

Chilly

Here is a leader system from Jason Randall but there are many.

It uses Chameleon leader material and a tippet ring. Tie the leader material together with blood knots. This is for “Stream” fishing.

32″ of 20lb Chameleon

26″ of 15lb Chameleon

22″ of 10lb Chameleon

16″ of 8lb Chameleon

12″ of 5lb Chameleon

For longer leader add 12″ of 4lb Chameleon (but I do not add this part)

tie on tippet ring then add your 4-5 feet of 5x or 6x tippet to the ring

Here is leader system for River fishing:

32″ of 25lb Chameleon

26″ of 20lb Chameleon

22″ of 15lb Chameleon

16″ of 10lb Chameleon

12″ of 8lb Chameleon

For longer leader you can add 12″ of 5lb Chameleon (I do not) then add tippet ring. To tippet ring add2-3 feet of 4x – 5x

Give it a try. If the leader seems to long to turn over then take some leader material off.

For ESN leaders go to Devin Olsen’s website. There are “sort of” three types of ESN leaders. heavy – medium – light weight. If you have never done ESN before I recommend start with a “heavier” leader then work towards a light weight leader.

Here is JUST AN EXAMPLE of a heavier ESN leader: 12 feet of 15# or 20# Maxima Chameleon, 3 feet of 12# Amnesia or Chameleon, 18″ of 0.012 colored sighter material, tippet ring, then 6′-10′ of 4x or 5x tippet. I use 6x tippet the majority of the time. With this leader we use ESN fly line which is very thin fly line connected with a nail knot to the butt end of the leader.

K