Balanced Leech Methods?

[Breck]

A lake very close to my house has huge populations of big cutties and grayling. Just after ice off in the Spring, the lake hosts lots of anglers in various types of watercraft who come in droves to fish for both the grayling and trout using balanced leeches under indicators. I tried my luck there last April in my drift boat, but was slow trolling Woolley Buggers on sinking fly lines. All the guys fishing the balanced leeches were having a grand old time while my boat blanked. The anglers all congregate on the edges of reed beds. I cant imagine the water depth is any more than 8-10 feet or so.

So, how do you do this? Ive never tried it. Do you essentially just use a floating line with an indicator on a standard 9' tapered leader?

There's another lake also close to my house where folks use balanced leeches for smallmouth bass and do very well at it. I'd like to try that too.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Buzzy]

Breck -
I'm sure there will be others who can share their experiences with balanced leech fishing using an indicator. It's a technique I use frequently, sometimes with very good results. In the situation you describe, the bobber guys are fishing the edges of reed beds; I like to do this as well. One of the lakes I fish in the spring has reed/tules along the shore. I like to peg my indicator in this shallow water, so the leech is suspended a foot or so from bottom. I generally use leaders longer than 9 footers, but not always. It depends.

When I'm fishing deeper water, up to almost 30', my leaders are home built. @troutpocket - he's got a great formula I'm sure he'll share (please, Rod).


This once was a full bodied Simiseal dubbed balanced leech that a dozen or so trout destroyed.

You mention using balanced leeches for smallmouth - I haven't used balanced leeches for smallies but have indicator fished with small jigs which aren't all that different from a balanced leech.

Good luck!
Patrick

 

[troutpocket]

A lake very close to my house has huge populations of big cutties and grayling. Just after ice off in the Spring, the lake hosts lots of anglers in various types of watercraft who come in droves to fish for both the grayling and trout using balanced leeches under indicators. I tried my luck there last April in my drift boat, but was slow trolling Woolley Buggers on sinking fly lines. All the guys fishing the balanced leeches were having a grand old time while my boat blanked. The anglers all congregate on the edges of reed beds. I cant imagine the water depth is any more than 8-10 feet or so.

So, how do you do this? Ive never tried it. Do you essentially just use a floating line with an indicator on a standard 9' tapered leader?

There's another lake also close to my house where folks use balanced leeches for smallmouth bass and do very well at it. I'd like to try that too.

Thanks for any insight.

Hi Breck! I envy your local opportunities!

If you’re going to spend time on your local lakes, you might as well get proficient fishing with indicators. They just work at times when nothing else does.

To start with rigging, I tie up my own leaders. Factory tapered leaders are primarily for dry flies. My indicator leaders are thin to sink quickly. I start with a butt section of 18” of 12lb maxima ultragreen, then a variable length of 6-8lb maxima (enough to get within a few feet of your target depth), then 2-3 feet of 2x or 3x fluoro tippet. Join each section with a triple surgeon’s knot. You’ll want the total length of your leader to be around 25% longer than the depth you plan to fish. Add a slip indicator before you tie on your balanced leech.

When you get to your lake, take a depth finder. Watch the people catching fish. Try to get on their same depth contour outside the weed line. Set your slip indicator to hang your leech 1-2 feet off the bottom and make adjustments if you’re not hooking up. Sometimes mid column, like 6’ deep in 12’ of water works better.

Good luck!

 

[troutpocket]

 

[Gary Knowels]

Because I don't know what I'm doing and don't fish that often and was on a tight budget for a long time I have used on older tapered leader cut back to the same diameter as 3x, tied on enough 3x to get depth, then 18" of 4x to the top fly and more 4x to a second fly. It's worked ok, but I'm ready to step up to troutpocket's setup.

I do like this for a leech pattern. Pine squirrel zonker strip and a bit of crystal flash on a jig hook. Cheap, fast, and easy to tie. Durable and catch a fair number of fish for me. Also great 8n olive

 

[Gary Knowels]

I'm kinda busy for the next couple of weeks, but it would be fun to do a bobber leech swap.

 

[Breck]

Thanks for all the great info, gents.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Add a slip indicator before you tie on your balanced leech.

This is the most important part of all the great info in Rod's post!

Nothing worse than getting all setup and realizing you forgot to add the damn indicator. This is normally when Ira starts crushing fish and then I lose my mind trying to get that indicator on their as quickly as possible while watching him catch fish.

 

[Breck]

This is the most important part of all the great info in Rod's post!

Nothing worse than getting all setup and realizing you forgot to add the damn indicator. This is normally when Ira starts crushing fish and then I lose my mind trying to get that indicator on their as quickly as possible while watching him catch fish.

Okay. Dumb question: How do you get a slip indicator over the knots on a handmade leader?

 

[Buzzy]

Okay. Dumb question: How do you get a slip indicator over the knots on a handmade leader?

Not a dumb question! Iracators: http://www.floatsunlimited.com/p087rw-25.html

I buy these indicators (last order was 100*), when I got them, I spent about 45 minutes with my cordless drill, fitted with a 5/64" (I think) bit and enlarged the diameter of the hole in the peg.

*I probably won't ever need to do this again

 

[hiddentalus]

Thank you for sharing your leader and photo of your flys troutpocket. Do you use foam on your j hooks to help keep them balanced, and if so, is it 1 mm? I have been tying some similar using 1/8 in foam on a few patterns.

 

[troutpocket]

Thank you for sharing your leader and photo of your flys troutpocket. Do you use foam on your j hooks to help keep them balanced, and if so, is it 1 mm? I have been tying some similar using 1/8 in foam on a few patterns.

Is this what you are asking about? That’s just the hide from the zonker strip.

 

[hiddentalus]

Yes, that is what I was looking at. I thought it might have been some foam to balance the j hook.

 

[Matt B]

Not a dumb question! Iracators: http://www.floatsunlimited.com/p087rw-25.html

I buy these indicators (last order was 100*), when I got them, I spent about 45 minutes with my cordless drill, fitted with a 5/64" (I think) bit and enlarged the diameter of the hole in the peg.

*I probably won't ever need to do this again

I encountered some semi-major frustration yesterday because I have *not* done this. Not yet.
I will be drilling out some pegs soon!
Geez, yesterday, I had two clusterf*!k tangles like I can't remember having in years. First my deep water indicator leader and then my fly line that I had stripped out in the bottom of the boat, sheesh, it was like a full 30 minute ordeal.

 

[troutpocket]

The only knot I have to get past the peg is the triple surgeons connecting the 6lb maxima to fluoro tippet. This generally isn’t a problem but I do find an occasional peg that doesn’t slide over.

 

[Buzzy]

I encountered some semi-major frustration yesterday because I have *not* done this. Not yet.
I will be drilling out some pegs soon!
Geez, yesterday, I had two clusterf*!k tangles like I can't remember having in years. First my deep water indicator leader and then my fly line that I had stripped out in the bottom of the boat, sheesh, it was like a full 30 minute ordeal.

Not laughing at you, but with you. A 25' or 30' leader, a little wind. Oh my! Sometimes I find it a lot easier to start cutting and reknotting than trying to untangle.

 

[Matt B]

Not laughing at you, but with you. A 25' or 30' leader, a little wind. Oh my! Sometimes I find it a lot easier to start cutting and reknotting than trying to untangle.

I kind of wished there were someone there to laugh at and with me because I was getting a little irritated TBH which is not the thing to do on a fishing day. Especially after I did abandon the leader, tied up new parts as needed, and then immediately had the fly line fiasco, no cutting allowed!!

 

[troutpocket]

I encountered some semi-major frustration yesterday because I have *not* done this. Not yet.
I will be drilling out some pegs soon!
Geez, yesterday, I had two clusterf*!k tangles like I can't remember having in years. First my deep water indicator leader and then my fly line that I had stripped out in the bottom of the boat, sheesh, it was like a full 30 minute ordeal.

Might be time to meditate on the Feng Shui of your boat

I have a few outings like that every season!

 

[Matt B]

The only knot I have to get past the peg is the triple surgeons connecting the 6lb maxima to fluoro tippet. This generally isn’t a problem but I do find an occasional peg that doesn’t slide over.

I don't like having to pull it through forcefully, either, though. Feels like it weakens the knot.

 

[Buzzy]

I kind of wished there were someone there to laugh at and with me because I was getting a little irritated TBH which is not the thing to do on a fishing day. Especially after I did abandon the leader, tied up new parts as needed, and then immediately had the fly line fiasco, no cutting allowed!!

These things happen - I try not to let setbacks get to me off but sometimes they do. When I tangle a leader or a fly line (those full sink fly lines can be troublesome) I've learned that these are just part of the game. (Until they happen repeatedly on the same day and then......) ;-)