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[BCLAX]

Hey guys and gals

I just went out and bought a fly rod a few weeks ago and i have quite a few questions for anyone willing to awnser them.

How should you tie your leader onto the fly line and how long should that leader be.
How to tie the tippet onto the leader and how long it should be.

I think i know the knots to use but just want to see what you guys had to say.

Thanks  

[BCLAX]

Yah i had an idea on the knots but it's the length. i was thinking a 3 to 4 foot leader and then a foot tippet. im fishing st. marys for bass

[Fishing in Vancouver]

hmmm i'm not too familiar with fly fishing for bass in the St. Mary's but your leader length is also going to depend on what type of water conditions you are faced with and if you're fishing floating, sinking, or sink tip lines?

[BCLAX]

i will be using both float and sinking fly line

[HOOK]

normally it will be shorter leaders for sinking lines and longer with floating lines. If your fishing a lake then a 9-12 foot main leader is a good place to start and either use as is, shorten and add lighter tippet or add tippet to it to make it longer. I doubt you will need longer than 12feet of leader in total for bass fishing on a floating line, probably no more than 9feet on a sinking maybe even no longer than 6feet seeing as they love to get into the weeds 

happy experimenting and fishing

[Rodney]

For St Mary Lake during this time of the year, most of the smallmouth bass are closer to the bottom in the deep part of the lake than in the shallows along the shoreline. That being said, it has been a rather cool spring/summer so far this year so the migration to the deep may have been delayed. Personally, I've fished with a sink line in 30, 40ft of water with a bit of success. The leader length is usually around 3 to 4ft long as mentioned by other posters. For the floating line, you can try adding ~10ft of leader and rig up an indicator on it. Fish the shallow water with that setup. If they are still holding in the shallow water, they'd be willing to take something as simple as a wooly bugger.

[BCLAX]

Thanks guys
so shorter leader (3 to 5 feet approx) for sinking and a longer leader (9feet approx) for floating. Being a beginner fly fisher i was suprised at the lenghts but i guess you vets are so used to it. hopefully my trip will be some what of a succes.