The admonition of angling greats like Vince Marinaro is to fish “far and fine,” making long casts with tiny flies attached to spiderweb leaders, so as not to alarm our sensitive quarry. Well, okay, but...

One fine June morning I launched my float tube in pretty little Celia Pond, in Baxter State Park. Big trout were rising and rolling, and I wanted to get in on the action. But as soon as I propelled myself away from the shore I saw (and heard) this kid, maybe eighteen or nineteen, standing on a rock a couple of yards offshore, to which he had waded in his jeans and joggers. He was flogging the water vigorously and inexpertly as his girlfriend on shore watched anxiously from a safe distance. It was painfully clear he had not had much experience with a flyrod, and I could tell from the splashes his efforts produced that he was throwing a big honkin’ fly out, probably spooking every fish within range. And there were fish within range, rising just off the rock where the kid stood muttering, loudly enough for me to hear, “How the hell do you catch these #@*&%$* things?” Being the good Samaritan, I paddled close and asked for a look at his rig. Tied onto his flyline, which was probably a nine-weight, far too heavy for the situation, was a leader that could have dragged a tarpon over the gunwales of a flats boat, and attached to that stout leader was a snap and swivel, and clipped onto that was a large gaudy fly of indeterminate pattern, tied on a #8 hook. Not the most delicate of trout rigs. So I offered him a small nymph which I knew to be an effective fly in Celia, and also said I would be happy to tie on a more suitable tippet. But he waved off that offer, clipped on the little nymph, and resumed his punishment of the water. I headed offshore. A few minutes later, I heard splashes coming from the kid’s direction, and I swiveled around to see his rod bent over double as he roughly horsed in a big trout (well, no danger of the leader breaking). He hauled the flopping fish up on the rock, grabbed it with both hands and waded ashore with it still attached to his line. Then he returned for the rod. He and the girl measured the fish and found it to be a legal 16” and then set off for their camp. The kid in his excitement ignored me but the girl, bless her, did call out a “Thank you!” over her shoulder.

So much for far and fine.

That said, let’s talk about leaders and tippets. When I got into this game a long time ago, I used nine-foot tapered leaders. They are wonderful and they get more supple and strong with each technological advance in materials and manufacturing. But every time you change flies, you lose a bit of tippet, until you’re forced to tie on a new piece. Then one day I discovered five-foot braided leaders, with loops at each end, to which it was a simple matter to attach a new four-foot tippet. I liked the way they cast. I was happy with the system. Then I discovered furled leaders, made by a company in Montana called BlueSky (Go to the BlueSky site) of twisted strands of nylon, and I liked them even better than the braided variety, bought several, and used them for a few seasons.

Then I discovered Kathy Scott.

Kathy had a table at the L.L. Bean Flyfishing Expo and was demonstrating how she makes furled leaders from fine silk thread. I was so obviously interested in her demonstration that she gave me the leader she had just made, and a business card with her contact points. Kathy is also a writer (Moose In The Water/Bamboo On The Bench and Headwaters Fall As Snow) and her husband, David Van Burgel, makes bamboo flyrods. I attached Kathy’s furled leader to my five-weight floating line, and loved the way it performed. I e-mailed Kathy (dpvbkjs@tdstelme.net) and ordered several more and now have her leaders on all my lines. And I don’t foresee anything better coming along.