Yellowstone Angler Hand-tied Tarpon Leaders
Our tarpon leaders are tied better than you’ll find anywhere. These leaders have evolved slightly over the years with Florida tarpon becoming more and more difficult to catch. Now we stock three different tarpon leaders.
Std. Quick Change Tarpon Leader
Our standard quick-change leader is tied with 18 inches of 20 lb. Mason’s Hard Nylon for the class tippet with a Bimini Twist and Double Surgeon’s loop so that you can loop to loop this to your butt section that should have a perfection loop. Then we attach a 3-foot section of 80 lb. Seaguar Fluorocarbon for the shock tippet using a Slim Beauty knot. The whole system tests right at 20 lb. or 10KG.
Most anglers will find that a longer shock tippet allows you to re-tie on a half dozen flies before burning up the leader. It also makes landing big tarpon a lot easier for your guide.
If you want an IGFA legal tarpon leader, then you will need to cut the 3-foot tippet (80lb) back to 12 inches that include all the knots.
Stealth Tarpon Leader
With Florida tarpon becoming more difficult to catch in recent years we are often faced with casting to strings of tarpon or daisy chains that simply are far more leader shy and won’t eat if they see the hint of a leader.
The use of much smaller flies has helped, and most anglers are now using 2/0 and even smaller flies. The real key is to use a much smaller diameter shock tippet and even smaller class tippet. These Stealth Tarpon Leaders are ones I’ve developed over the past few years, and usually work when others strike out.
These still use a bimini twist and a double surgeon’s loop, but they use a 6-foot class of 16 lb. Mason’s Hard Nylon, and a 3-foot shock of 40 lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon. You have to get lucky to land a tarpon over 50 lbs. on these leaders but at least you’ll get more takes, more hook-ups and more jumped fish.
Laid Up Tarpon Leaders
Fishing for laid-up fish is the ultimate in tarpon fishing, but it requires a very careful approach, accurate casting, and a delicate presentation. Often you do not have a clear shot at the fish as there may be more tarpon laid up with him. So it is important to have a much longer class tippet than we use on our standard Tarpon Leaders.
Often the water is not totally clear, so you can normally get by with a larger class tippet and a larger shock tippet. The formula for our Laid Up Tarpon Leaders is to start with a Bimini twist, then a double Surgeon’s Loop, so that they can be changed quickly. Then we use 5 feet of 20 lb. (10kg) Mason’s Hard Nylon and end up with 3 feet of 60 lb. Seaguar Fluorocarbon shock. I’ve found that if I’m pulling hard on a tarpon, I can land 75% of the fish I hook on 60 lb. without getting cut off. With 80 lb., this goes up to 95%. Again this leader can be made IGFA legal by just cutting the shock tippet back to 12 inches. We can build these with any size shock for you on special order.
We also offer a variety 3 pack which comes with 1 each of our tarpon leaders
Tied to perfection by the Yellowstone Angler staff in Livingston Montana!
If you need custom leaders tied or if you can’t find just what you’re after above give us a call at the shop and we’ll tie up anything that you need.
