How to Cast Fifteen-Foot Leaders (and Why)

How to Cast Fifteen-Foot Leaders (and Why)

In places like New Zealand, a longer leader and tippet are considered vital. Kiwis want to keep the actual fly line as far away from the target fish as possible, and nine feet doesn’t do that as well as fifteen feet.

I don’t know if I’m that sensitive myself, but I have been using longer leaders, especially when I’m fishing dries on clear water, and one thing is becoming clear: The longer leader cannot hurt your odds if you know how to cast one.

The key to casting a longer leader is to build a longer leader that’s easier to cast. So, I do favor a very heavy butt section, and I’ll build down to my desired diameter from there. Knotted leaders are fine if you are going long–if I want to end up with 5x, for example, I’ll start the leader with 2x, and build out three-foot intervals (stepping down 2x, 3x, 4x etc.) with blood knots.

With longer leaders, you really need to mind your form and not over-wrist the cast. Easy, gentle, technical strokes are called for, because punching the line creates tailing loops, and the potential mess is increased incrementally the longer the leader.

Lastly, you want to adjust the plane of your cast so everything is fully extended about two feet above the surface–you can’t have that long leader extend six feet and drop to the surface, or it’s going to recoil, and you lose the whole reason for fishing a longer leader.

The exception is if you want some coils of loose tippet to absorb some current as the fly drifts. That’s another useful move with the long leader, and in that case, all you want to do is have the whole line and leader fully extend just a bit higher above the water’s surface.

And always remember: practice lawn casting before you ever show up on the river.