My gateway into fly fishing was through tunnels of mountain laurel. Native brook trout swam in cold, clear waters that trickled out of the gaps and ravines of a Pennsylvania state forest and merged into the upper tributaries of remote valleys.
Under the deep, permanent shade of hemlocks, and among the dampness of moss mixed with ferns, brookies often swam with wild brown trout. Neither were picky. And on most days, the trout were hungry enough in those infertile waters to receive a well-placed dry fly with confidence, even if my presentation was imperfect.
This was the ideal entry to fly fishing for me, because the wild environments satisfied my want for solitude and mystery. The winding rivers tempted me around the next bend, over the cresting hill and around fallen timber, consistently presenting fresh challenges and stunning scenery.
Those waters were no wider than the dirt roads I traveled to reach them. None of the steep valleys lent much room to maneuver, so I was forced into a compact and crisp casting stroke. I learned to punch tight loops of fly line under the evergreen boughs and through the maze of laurel, simply by trial and error.
Photo by Bill Dell
After a few years of frustration, I learned some things. Primarily, I found my stroke. The cast became intuitive, and I hit my targets with confidence. But that assurance only happened after I tied my own leader — purpose-built for the conditions. The short, precise leader I came to love was seven feet long, with a butt section borrowed from the Harvey design. I learned to fire it like an arrow and curl the fly to the target like a homing missile.
That was twenty-five years ago. And surprisingly, you still can’t buy anything like it in fly shops.
Favorite Small Stream Leader Formula
24” of .015 Maxima Chameleon (15 lb)
14” of .013 Maxima Chameleon (12 lb)
10” of .012 Maxima Chameleon (10 lb)
6” of .010 Maxima Chameleon (8 lb)
6” of 3X (.008) Nylon Tippet Material
24” of 4X (.007) Nylon Tippet Material
Total: 7 feet long.
Take a look at that leader build, and understand two things.
First, it’s short enough to keep the fly line in charge of the system. And with enough juice in the cast, whatever the end of the fly line is doing at turnover easily translates through the leader and ends up at the fly. Meaning, it’s remarkably easy to get power curves or lagging curves with this leader. It’s also extremely responsive to wrist-rolls and any other variety of finishing moves after the power stroke. Remember, whatever you do with the rod tip translates to the fly, given solid casting technique.
That kind of control is exactly what is needed on small streams with cover. You can do magic tricks with the fly, twisting around corners and dipping it just inches under the next tree branch. Surely the cast matters most, but a leader that’s built for the job goes hand-in-hand, completing a system built for the challenges of small trout streams.
Riverdog and a workshop
What Works, and Meck’s Influence
I did not get to this leader on my own, and I take no credit for it. It’s just a slight modification of a Charlie Meck formula.
I came to fly fishing from the spinning rod, because I wanted to fish dry flies. So I began tying my own flies and my own leaders immediately, because my primary influences were Joe Humphreys and George Harvey. I found that the Harvey leader design, which I came to love quickly, was perfect for everything but the small waters. And because I fished the mountain streams often, I looked for solutions right away. Even in those early days, I instinctively knew that Harvey’s 12+ feet of leader was simply too much for the dense cover of my small streams.
I remember buying an extruded leader marked as 7.5’ from the fly shop wall, thinking it would do the job.
Not even close.
Extruded leaders then had the same problem as they do now — the butt sections are too thick. Harvey’s build and Meck’s build use .015 for the butt section, while even the thinnest manufactured leaders I can find are .020 at least, with most coming in at .022 or thicker. That’s simply too much power, and it’s way too much for a short leader.
Why do most leader formulas start with such thick material? I’ve been told it’s to more closely match the diameter at the end of a fly line. To that I say who cares! What matters is stiffness. Match the stiffness of the butt section with the relative stiffness of the end of the fly line. That provides smooth turnover. Furthermore, the necessary power is already in the fly line. That’s its job. And as soon as the power gets to the leader, it’s time to dissipate the inertia and end the cast with finesse.
The best leader builds allow for delicacy or power by simply adjusting the cast. That’s what the Harvey did. So I went back to it in the woods, but I tried shortening all the sections until I had a more reasonable length to work with. The short Harvey worked well enough for me, until a fateful day when I saw Charlie Meck’s book sitting in a fly shop. It was titled, Fishing Small Streams With a Fly Rod.
Well that’s exactly what I was doing, right? So I shelled out the $13.95 and devoured that book in one sitting. Then I read it again and again until I understood some of it.
Among other tips and eye openers on strategy, approach and fly selection, what intrigued me most was Meck’s section on leaders. His words made perfect sense. Meck also included five leader formulas, along with a chart that ranked the performance of each. One of those leaders was very close to my short Harvey design. Although Meck had it listed, he ranked his other leader formulas ahead of it, citing some of the same issues that I’d experienced with my own abbreviated Harvey.
Before my next fishing trip, I blood knotted together three of Meck’s formulas to perfection. Then on my next few outings under the hemlocks and through the laurel, I eagerly put new monofilament to the test.
The change was immediate. The difference was exciting. And twenty some years later, I still take joy in casting this same leader on small streams. I’ve made just two small changes — a slightly shorter butt section and a bit longer piece of 3X.
What It Does — How to Fish It
A seven foot leader is never going to provide the long drag-free drifts that a twelve foot Harvey will. It’s built for precision, for staying out of the trees first and for drag free drifts second. However, with adjustments to either the cast and/or the tippet section to match the fly, great drag free drifts to a dry fly are more than possible. Most small streams like this are high gradient, with swift water and eager trout, so lengthy perfect drifts are not as necessary as accuracy and precision of both the fly and the mono.
Like all dry fly leaders, changes to the tippet section are necessary and expected. This small stream leader finishes with 4X, because it matches well with the bushy dry flies I tend to use in these currents. A size #12 or #14 Royal Wulff remains one of my all time favorites in the brush. I also like ants, caddis and parachutes, but all of them are a little larger and a little bushier than what I might fish in a wider river with selective trout.
If I do find the need to fish smaller flies, I cut the 4X back to about 12 inches and add two feet of 5X. Honestly, I never go smaller than 5X on these streams, so the necessary changes are few.
For me, fishing small streams is about fishing dry flies. I like the willingness of these trout, and I take advantage of that opportunity. Fairly and hopefully prospecting for trout on the surface is my reward for investing the time to be there, miles away from hard roads and another mile or two up some backcountry trail. This is small stream fishing at its core.
Photo by Bill Dell
I sometimes fish streamers in these small waters, often when I have an instinct that a big fish is in the area but won’t eat the dry fly. In that case, I simply cut the 4X and tie to the 3X. It may require extending that 3X section when I want to go back to dry flies, but there are also ways to do this with better efficiency . . .
READ: Troutbitten | Lightning Fast Leader Changes (with VIDEO)
I rarely nymph small streams. But I do fish dry dropper, especially earlier and later in the season when the top water bite just seems too much to ask of the trout. No matter how we rig a dry dropper, it always borrows accuracy from the system, and that changes the way I cast — taking away some of the fun finishing moves, wrist rolls and quick aerial mends. That said, when I do commit to fishing dry dropper in small streams, I use this small stream leader as listed, and I simply add 10-20 inches of tippet for the nymph.
This small stream leader provides the control to cast through the brush yet still achieve good dead drifts on the dry fly. It’s tailor made for precision dry fly fishing in the brush, but it’s versatile enough to fish other styles. For me, this is the perfect small stream leader, and it’s been with me for a very long time.
Fish hard, friends.
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READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fly Casting
Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Mr. Swentosky,
This is Archer Peterson. We fished together last June and my Dad Slooped a big brown. 🙂 We mostly fish tiny streams here and we would love to try out this leader but my Dad won’t buy the Chameleon. That’s my grievance. 🙂 You should sell these! Fish hard!
Hi Archer. That will be in the Troutbitten Leader Shop for this next sale, August or September.
Cheers.
Dom
Dom, question I’ve wanted to ask for awhile… I love the way maxima chameleon casts, but find that it is pretty dense and sinks like a rock even when treated. How do you handle that for these dry fly presentations? Thanks, Jeff
Hi Jeff. I simply don’t find that to be true. Chameleon doesn’t sink much at all. Of course, any leader can and will sink. But Chameleon sinks no more than store bought leaders. Even fluorocarbon mostly floats if some weight doesn’t pull it down. I know this because I use it for dry fly tippet often enough, and I can see it floating — and fluoro is more dense than Chameleon.
I’m not the only one who builds dry fly leaders out of Chameleon either. It’s a time tested choice from many accomplished anglers. It makes a great choice for leaders, dry, nymph, wet or streamer.
Last thing — if you want any leader or line to float a little more, simply grease it up with a plaster floatant or even a gel like Aquel. Doesn’t take much.
Hope that helps.
Dom
Thanks Dom, I plan on trying this leader formula.
Good stuff.
Dom,
Love the article on your small stream leader, I was wondering what rod you are using when fishing these small streams?
Hi David,
So, the leader will work with almost anything.
For fishing small streams with mostly dry flies, I like an 8 foot 4 weight. Anything from 7-9 feet, and from 3-5 weight is reasonable. After that, it’s just personal preference on what kind of rod you like. Right now, my favorite small stream rod is an Orvis H3 804.
Cheers.
Dom we were cut from the same cloth, Itie the same leader formulas. Tightlines!!
NICE
This article is very helpful. I was wondering what knot you use to attach this leader to the fly line.
Hi Bill.
Use whatever you like, but I have a strong preference for a Clinch Knot to the fly line loop.
Here’s more:
https://troutbitten.com/2019/03/06/loop-to-loop-is-bad-try-attaching-your-leader-to-the-fly-line-this-way/
Hi mate (yes I’m Australian, and we use that term of endearment when we can’t remember someone’s name or ridiculous too lazy to learn how to spell it),
Would this formula work for a 2 weight?
Cheers
Matt
Yes. It’ll match with any rod and any line.
Yet another GREAT read and insight Dom!! I’m getting ready to tie up a couple for the leader wallet vs. the 8′ ones with Maxima I have for my 2-4 wts. Want to give this new formula a try. Much appreciated and fish hard my friend!
Brian
Nice. Have fun with it.
Dom
I like a tippet ring before the 4 or 5x terminal section really just to give me a clear end point between “leader” and “tippet”. Do you feel this impacts performance substantially?
I was going to ask about a tip ring also
Please see other reply.
Hi Jon. My short answer is yes, I think a tippet ring at that position in a dry fly leader hurts the performance. I assume you’re using 2mm or larger. Even the 1,5 mm that I use just doesn’t seem right. Honestly, it seems like it shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Dom,
Two questions:
(1) Which fly line?
(2)Why not incorporporate your “slidable dry dropper” set up.
I recently had a good day catching low water smaller hungry stockers with 9 ft. 3 wt Sage X, 4X SA infinity with 5 ft leader featuring Superstrong nylon butt 0.027″ tapering to 2X, then tippet ring, then approx 2.5 ft. 3X fluorocarbon on which a slidable Chubby Chernobyl was attached then blood knot to 10″ 5X fluorocarbon to #14 tungsten bead nymph (the name & color I will NOT divulge) Control was out of this world: ? rod or ?fly line or ? heavy butt section leader? Note: I use your slidable dry dropper system a lot: almost to a fault. After reading your article, I am thinking of breaking out my 7 1/2 ft 4 wt. Winston WT or 8 ft. 4 wt. Winston BIIX and SA 5 wt. double taper line.
Hi Mike.
Thanks.
1.) It doesn’t matter what fly line. That leader will work with almost anything.
2.) You could do that, for sure. I didn’t address it in this article, but I do it sometimes with this leader, sure. But the point of this leader is to fish tight quarters. And in such situations I do NOT often fish two flies. I need accuracy, not more options and things to put in a tree. Make sense?
What you describe sounds fun. It’s all about meeting the moment and enjoying yourself.
Cheers.
Dom
Dom : a couple of years ago I picked up a 5’ furled leader in a small shop. It has a loop on one end and a tippet ring on the other. I use it on the small mountain streams here in New England. I typically add a couple of feet of 4x to it and fish a 2, 3, or 4-weight line. I quite like it, and use it primarily with dries.
That being said, I’ve got Chameleon in the sizes you’ve listed, and will give it a try.
Good stuff. Give it a try. You might like it better. For me, furled leaders are too heavy and they straighten out too much. The concept is or should be similar — they should provide slack. Depends on the leader build too. Anyway, try a hand tied mono leader built to be a little underpowered like this. You might love it.
Cheers.
Dom
How do you feel about tippet rings on dry fly leaders? If i put one between the chameleon and the 3x for convenience, would it affect the performance?
I spent decades believing that tippet rings would negatively impact dry fly presentations. As Rod Stewart famously sang, “Look how wrong you can be”.
Recently switched to Airflow floating leaders and added tipped rings to extend the life. Amazed at the result.
In the process of perfecting my new rig I discovered an unconventional solution to the assortment of knots that tended to hang up in my tip top if a trout surged at the net: I coated all knots and even tipped ring transitions with Aqua-Seal. The viscosity allows for forming very smooth coatings that allow the leader/ tippet to flow smoothly through the guides and tip top.
Another benefit with Aqua-Seal is less dense than water! Mabe not for everyone but hopefully some will find this useful.
Dom, can you expand on why you think a small 1.5mm tippet ring would impact the performance of this leader. With the 3x section being only 6″ that doesn’t seem to give you much length when it becomes necessary to add the 4x after changing flies multiple times. Or do you just add additional 4x to the shortened 4x when it becomes too short from the multiple fly changes.
I will definitely give this formula a try. Thanks for posting this!
Hello Ed.
Second question first. Yes, I most often just add more 4x to the 4x instead of cutting back on the 3X. It’s not going to break. You could certainly add a tippet ring at the junction of the 8b Chameleon to the 3x. The original question was about adding it before the final tippet section, and I don’t like that. Why? I guess because I’ve tried it, and things just don’t seem right. Even the tiny 1.4 mm ring changes something. Sorry, but I can’t put my finger on it. And it could certainly be in my head . . . but it’s not. Ha. I also just like keeping the leader pure. But if you put the ring BEFORE the 3X, you might not notice a difference. Admittedly, these are very slight differences.
Hope that helps.
Cheers.
Dom
Morning Dom , I too was raised as a itty bitty fly fisherman on small brush lined brooks I just did it in Maine ,I have taken many tips from you over the last several years particularly Euro tips ..Great Stuff
one thing that has evolved for me over time is any leader I tie ,depending on the length I am tying I now incorporate a 6-10″ (small leaders )to 12-15″ (longer leaders) sighter section in the appropriate diameter ( I like Cortland tri color ) into the leader ,6ft ,7ft 9ft 12ft doesn’t matter they all get a sighter section built in.
I do this so that at any given moment I want to whip up a nymph or two on a rig I can tight line anywhere anytime it might not be as precise or as sensitive as a full mono rig on my 10ft 3wt but it works ,and I have found it has zero effect on the fish (spooking them !) maybe that’s because most of the time its dumb wild Maine brook trout ??,but it works slick as can be, one leader set up for all my fishing needs.
thanks for all your effort and good tips
Good stuff, Ron.
Hi Dom,
Just read your article and couldn’t agree more! Excellant read, and the fact that this all started from George Harvey, Joe Humphreys and Charlie Meck is enough said!
I Love fishing small streams too, and my formula is so similar to yours too, Love Maxima for my Butt sections and have been using it for years…
I will grease up the Maxima too, along with a small optional 1.5 or 2.o mm tippet ring or a small perfection loop at the end of that which I also grease, and add my tippet options from there..
My 2 cents to this is that I would advise to do a micrometer check on your Maxima diameters to make sure they are correct. I LOVE Maxima Chamelion but I have seen where they can be off by a bit, as much as .003..
Thanks for a great article!
Hi Dom. I tied up the leader formula you suggest this afternoon using leader material from an old Orvis leader tying kit I have had for many years. I used the prescribed diameter monofilament for each section but noticed that relative to the maxima chameleon you list the breaking strength on the Orvis kit monofilament had a much higher pound test rating. Furthermore, I still struggled to get tight loops and good turnover without at least 10 feet of line plus the leader outside of the rod. I was using a relatively bushy size 12 elk hair caddis. So, my question is do you think I was struggling with the turnover because the monofilament I was using is NOT as supple as the maxima chameleon? Before trying this new formula, I often use a 3′ furled leader ending in a tippet ring with approximately 3 feet of 4x or 5x tippet and seem to get much better turnover with that rig. Interested in your thoughts about using my kit mono versus the maxima chameleon and whether I would see a big difference with the maxima.
Hello, and thanks for your question. It’s REALLY hard to make a guess. It could be your casting style. It could be that your tippet section was not well matched to your fly. Or . . . It might be that you aren’t using Chameleon.
I would use the prescribed formula, and then see what happens.
Then change the tippet section, as described in the article.
Email me if you need more help.
Cheers.
Dom,
Excellent content, as usual. Would you suggest this leader for fishing hoppers or the “All-purpose”?
Thanks in advance and tight lines!
Joe
Hi Joe. Thank you.
That has everything to do with the size of the stream and the casting room. If I can make solid, accurate casts, I would use the Harvey for the those hoppers. If I had tight quarters, I’d use the Small Stream. I would use the Harvey Gold all-purpose, if I felt like making numerous changes on one leader.
Cheers.
Dom
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
Another superb leader! I’m really enjoying your articles and formulas for leaders! Don’t get me wrong all your work is awesome! For that last section of 24 inch tippet what do you think about splitting it up and tying a tippet ring at 12 inches? I always change a lot of flys out on a small stream and I think adding a 1.5mm tippet ring will get this leader to last me the whole season.
Hi Sean. Thank you.
I don’t like tippet rings in that final section, no. I even have the smallest/best (in my opinion) tippet rings you can buy, 1.5mm. But I still think the ring affects the cast in the real thin, limp tippet. Essentially, I use tippet rinds as “leader rings,” somewhere further up the leader in the stiffer/thicker stuff. I don’t like them in the tippet.
Article link that applies.
https://troutbitten.com/2018/03/21/fly-fishing-strategies-tippet-rings-for-tag-droppers-no-thanks/
Cheers.
Dom