Hi Steve. Nobody every likes this answer, but I’ll give it to you anyway . . . You surely can substitute materials in these rigs . . . but I would not — not until you’ve fished long and hard with the original formulas. Only then would I make changes. All of these leader formulas came from a ridiculous amount of hours testing and swapping out materials. And all of the tactics that I talk about on Troutbitten are based around the performance you can get with these leaders. If you sub out 15 lb Amnesia for the 12 lb, then YES, it will make a difference. And even swapping out the Chameleon for the Hi-Vis green — YES, it will make a difference. In that case, when you want to do some of the streamer presentation I suggest, you will have a hard time seeing two feet less of a sighter.

Leader formulas matter. They are precise. For years, I said the opposite. I would answer people that if it was close, go ahead and sub it out. But WAY too often, I then got follow ups from anglers who struggled to do some of the things that this Mono Rig is BUILT to do.

So don’t sub it out.

The Maxima website has the materials, if you can’t find them elsewhere. And their shipping is fast and fair. Likewise, ebay and amazon have Amnesia and Gold Stren if you can’t find it elsewhere.

Cheers.
Dom

I have some older bright red Amnesia 15 lb. Would it hurt anything to substitute that for 12 lb in the sighter? Also, I’m having trouble finding Maxima HV 12 lb for the transition section. Would Chameleon 12 lb be the best substitute?

Have you ever tried Berkly Prospec chrome fire orange for leaders. It has become very popular as a shooting line for spey fishers, due to its lack of memory, stiffness and abrasion resistance. The 20lb is also 0.45mm dia. Unfortunately the smallest quantity is 1000m, but it is not expensive.

Cheers
Mrc

Hi Dom,

Have you ever tried Berkly Prospec chrome fire orange for leaders. It has become very popular as a shooting line for spey fishers, due to its lack of memory, stiffness and abrasion resistance. The 20lb is also 0.45mm dia. Unfortunately the smallest quantity is 1000m, but it is not expensive.

Probably not much. But this is another reason why I don’t care for the opaque material for building a whole leader. I like the semi translucent stuff much better for other reasons mentioned in the article as well.

I started video recording my trout fishing adventures last year and I like the idea of being able to easily see the euro leader in video.

With 5 feet of tippet and another 3-4 feet of sighter, I can’t imagine that the high vis leader will be in the situation to spook fish very often unless making quite long casts?

I gave the Sufix Neon Fire a try after you published this article, and I’ve stuck with it ever since. It’s good stuff. Thank for the recommendation!

No. I wouldn’t use it for a full butt section of 15lb or 20lb. Too stiff, in my experience.

Dom

Dom-do you know the diameters of the different pound test of these lines? Thanks.