Streamside ID for similar Polyleaders (VersiLeaders)

Pescaphile

Pescaphile

Steelhead
I like Polyleaders (VersiLeaders) and use them primarily for steelhead fishing. I got my first set (Airflo 10' Salmon model) in the late 90s and they've been great. So have the 12 and 15' RIO VersiLeaders that I picked up later. I could tell the different sink rates on the original Airflo models apart well enough and the RIO versions had different colored loops which made differentiating them from the others fairly easy.

Yesterday I received a new set of Airflo 5' models and some of these are indistinguishable from others. There are three clear ones and two dark grey/black ones that I can't tell, or can barely tell, apart from the other inside under a light. I certainly won't be able tell them apart on the stream in low light if they happen to get mixed up and put in the wrong pocket of their leader wallet.

Does anyone have a good system to mark these things to make IDing them simple while astream in low light? One of the three clear ones is a floater and I never use that one so I really only need to mark one of the black ones and one of the clear ones if I remove the floating one from the wallet.

I am thinking of a couple wraps of bright unistretch with some fleximent or just a simple nail knot at the loop on one of the black ones and also on one of the clear ones. I could probably just use a sharpie on the clear ones though that probably won't last too long. Perhaps someone has encountered this problem and has a better solution?
 
J Watrous said:
I hit mine with sharpie and a bit of flex uv resin (wader repair flavor) I smeared over it because that's what I had on hand when I discovered the problem. No stripe = float, 1 stripe = int, 2 stripes = moderate sink, 3 stripes = fast.
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Thanks. Can you see that on the black ones? I suppose just the lump of resin on one of the two black ones while leaving the other one alone work.
 
Pescaphile said:
Thanks. Can you see that on the black ones? I suppose just the lump of resin on one of the two black ones while leaving the other one alone work.
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Sorry, thought you meant just the clear ones. I only have one dark/black one. Maybe a paint marker and then the uv?
 
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I thought rio versileaders had color bands on them?

Airflo poly's are differently colored, it's just barely perceptible. Float/hover/int are all clear though.

I like J's idea. Marker, or you could use different colored thread. Just a couple wraps at the loop, enough to notice, and cover it with a tiny bit of knot sense. You could do bands to show sink rates, or a different color for each rate.
 
DerekWhipple said:
I thought rio versileaders had color bands on them?

Airflo poly's are differently colored, it's just barely perceptible. Float/hover/int are all clear though.

I like J's idea. Marker, or you could use different colored thread. Just a couple wraps at the loop, enough to notice, and cover it with a tiny bit of knot sense. You could do bands to show sink rates, or a different color for each rate.
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The RIO versions I have do have colored bands on the loops.

The new polyleaders do not. The three clear ones are almost indistinguishable from each other under good lighting -same with the two black ones. The others have distinctive enough colors that I don't need to do anything to tell them apart.

Jake's idea sounds good to me too. I'm going to use it with the clear ones and try to find something colored (I'm still thinking a couple of wraps of unistretch) to mark one of the black ones.
 
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