How to Build Your Own Tapered Trout Leader

Because sometimes factory-made leaders just won’t get it done.

Small streams call for short leaders. | Photo by Jasper Taback

Every trout angler has experienced it – you go out to fish, and the leader you have on your fly line just doesn’t fit the water you’re fishing. Maybe you had planned to fish the main stem of a river and decided on the drive over to check out a tributary stream. Now you’ve got a 9-foot leader that you’re trying to fish on a 6-foot wide brookie stream. Yikes. Here’s the solution. 

Tie Your Own!

When you build your own trout leader, you have a whole lot more control over the design. Hand-built leaders have distinct segments with knots on each end, making for easy adjustments. If you want to trim your leader down, just cut at a midsection knot and rebuild from there. When you try to trim down a knotless tapered leader, you’ve got no idea where the taper is at the point you cut, and it gets real messy real fast. 

How to Build a Tapered Trout Leader

It’s easier than you’d think! Let’s say you want to build a 9’ 4x leader. Here's a tried-and-true formula: the Harvey Gold leader. You’ll need to cut 18” segments of each of the following: 12 lb mono, 10 lb mono, 8 lb mono, and 6 lb mono. Connect each of these segments with a blood knot, and you’ve got a 6-foot base leader. From the last 6 lb mono segment, you can tie on a length of 3x tippet and taper it down to 4x or 5x for a more delicate fly presentation. Now you’ve got a leader that can be used for all of your casting needs, just by adjusting the tippet section. 

The Tippet Section

You’ve got your base leader. Now, how do you know what size tippet you should be fishing? It has to do with the size of your fly. If you’re fishing anything from size 8 - 12, 3x tippet is your best bet. Size 14-18: Use a 4x tippet. Anything smaller than a size 18 fly, and you’ll likely need to use 5x tippet just to be able to feed it through the eye of the hook. Some anglers will use 6x, 7x, or even 8x tippet – unfortunately, playing a trout on tippet so small takes far too long. To keep fish safe and healthy, try not to go any thinner than 5x. 

Enjoy Newfound Flexibility

No more having to make do with a leader that’s just not quite right. It takes a bit more work, but putting together your own trout leader sets you up to handle any changes you may need to make on the fly. Get to building!