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Dad and Em with a feisty DRC Rainbow
Hi! My name is Emma. Here's Dad and me with a beautiful DRC Rainbow I caught Spring ‘09 on a brown SJW. I enjoy flyfishing and I really enjoy helping Dad create and tie flies and furled leaders.
Our Story...
Dad and I have decided to introduce our own line of fine fishing products. I was looking for a way to earn some extra money to support my favorite wildlife funds, including World Wildlife Fund, Save the Manatees, Wayside Waifs, etc... and Dad was on his way to perfecting his furled leader designs. We decided to combine our efforts and thus Dad & Em's Fishing Products was born! Dad and I work together on the leaders. I lay them up on the furling board and Dad helps with the knots and other details. We designed the packaging together and I get to name the different fun colored leaders! My favorite is the pink and blue one so I named it Emma's Bubble Gum.
Why Furled Leaders?...
Dad was introduced to furled leaders years back when he was teaching my big brother Seth to fly fish. The constant tangles and birdsnests that Seth was creating while fishing with the standard knotless tapered mono leaders frustrated both Seth and Dad. On one fishing trip Seth managed 5 major messes before noon resulting in 6 new mono leaders! Dad had had enough and began a search for something better. A fishing friend suggested trying furled leaders. Dad quickly found out that the furled leaders were much much better in many ways. The typical wind knots and birdsnests were greatly reduced. The ones that did occur came out without kinking the furled leaders. They lasted many times longer than the mono tapered leaders. The thread-style furled leaders have no memory and remain good as new for many fishing trips. They cast better with the ability to turn over most flies and nymph-shot-indicator rigs. The flexibility of the thread furled leaders provides the most life-like, natural 3-d drift. The also have a wonderful built-in shock absorber quality to them. This really helps protect lighter tippets!
Needed Improvement...
For as good as the commercially available furled leaders were, they still weren't quite perfect. Some had looped ends on both ends, some had tippet rings that bent and broke, several sank and some even used inferior thread that didn't furl tightly or frayed and broke. Dad spent many hours researching available threads, tippet rings and furled leader recipes. He studied the tapers of several leaders and developed a computer program to optimize the perfect taper. Turns out a carefully designed taper is the most efficient method to transfer the energy from the fly line to the fly. He used the highest quality thread combined with an inner core of monofilament. He sourced unbreakable micro-sized stainless steel tippet rings that actually float. He made up prototypes and tested them. He tweaked this and tweaked that. Finally, Dad knew he had done it...
The Progressive Rocket Taper Furled Leader was born!
How to Use Them...
Attaching and Fishing a furled leader is easy! Dad & Em’s Furled Leaders attach to the flyline with a loop to loop connection. The integrated Shorb loop on the leader butt end makes it that easy. The micro-sized ss tippet ring provides a quick attachment point for your favorite tippet. We suggest using a 3 to 4 foot piece of 4x to 6x Rio Powerflex or Fluoroflex tippet material. Attach the tippet to the tippet ring with an improved clinch knot. Tie on your favorite fly, dry or nymph (de-barb the hook!). If you're fishing a nymph rig, add a 'b' shot 14" above the fly and a thingamabobber indicator above the tippet ring to your desired depth. You will love the fact that the thread-based furled leaders have no memory! The indicator simply won't kink the leader and it stays put where you want it. Our "floating" furled leaders come pre-treated with Loon's Premium Aquel floatant. They will easily float for a good 6 to 8 hours of fishing before needing any added floatant. If you do need to treat them use a little of your favorite floatant to keep them riding high all day long! We do suggest carrying a few spares though so if your leader does somehow get waterlogged you can easily swap it out for a fresh one. Let the swamped leader dry out overnight, retreat with floatant and it will be good as new! It is important to know that once a thread-based furled leader is waterlogged, adding floatant won't help!
Our Furled Leader Models...
For the majority of dry fly, soft hackle, nymph rig fishing you do you will like the floating furled leaders. Even with a nymph rig you will appreciate the floating leader. It will not drag your indicator down and picks off the water with ease and little spray. If you like to fish streamers deep or just want a sinking leader for deep stripping cracklebacks, you'll want the sinking type. The sinking thread type are unwaxed thread treated with a special sinkant. They offer a slow sink rate once saturated with water. If you need a faster sink rate choose the 100% Fluorocarbon furled leaders. They sink somewhat faster. Consider ordering a 4' leader with the micro-swivel option when you're constantly fishing deep or heavy streamers. The swivel will eliminate the tippet twisting. If you need to swing a heavy 4" PMS or other half-chicken-sized fly consider using a shorter, heavier leader made from fluoro for sinking flies. For heavy floating flies and bass bugs, use our stiffer mono or our newest stealth spider leaders. Colors are up to you. We have fished with many different colors and the fish don't seem anymore spooked with hot pink than with a color that matches the water. The two-tone camo colors do tend to blend better with the water and we feel these do offer a slightly more stealthy appearance. If you don't see what you want, just ask. We can customize a leader for your application!
Update!!!: The Nymph Flyfisherman absolutely love the Fl. Hot Pink leaders. The Pink Flamingo in a 5'- 4/5 wt. is our best seller!
Progressive Rocket Taper Furled Leaders
3ft - Any wt - $3.00
4ft - 2/3 wt - $4.00
4ft - 4/5 wt - $4.25
4ft - 6/7 wt - $4.50
5ft - 2/3 wt - $5.00
5ft - 4/5 wt - $5.25
5ft - 6/7 wt - $5.50
6ft - 2/3 wt - $6.00
6ft - 4/5 wt - $6.25
6ft - 6/7 wt - $6.50
7ft - 2/3 wt - $7.00
7ft - 4/5 wt - $7.25
7ft - 6/7 wt - $7.50
Specify tippet ring or micro-swivel
Add $2 for the Fluorocarbon and Stealth Spider models
Pricing includes handling and US Mail shipping in the USA!
We are working to get a direct PayPal Payment system setup on our site but for now you can simply order by
Emailing us at dadem@thesimontons.com
or give us a call at (913) 849-3717 and ask for Emma or Troy
Fly Shop Owners - We also have special Fly Shop Pricing - Give us a call!
DOWNLOAD OUR COLOR/PRICE LIST
Our Furled Leader Tippet Ends...
Micro Stainless Steel Tippet Ring and Micro Swivel
Our Furled Leader Colors...
Emma's Bubblegum in Pink and Blue. Pink Flamingo in Fl. Hot Pink and Wine
My favorite colors to make and fish! A girls gotta have her pink! The Pink Flamingo is the color to fish when ultimate leader visibility is needed.
GI Joe Camo in Olive and Tan. Bennett Tinge in Olive and Grey
The Bennett Tinge is one of Dad's Favorite colors to fish. He says it perfectly matches the Bennett Springs greenish-gray off-color water when it's running above 2'.
Bull Snake in Black and Dark Olive. Fishies Delight in Wine and Dark Olive
Bull snake and Fishies Delight are the perfect night-time or muddy water fishing leaders.
Think Taney by moonlight!
Spicy Mustard in Yellow and Dark Brown. Copperhead in Dark Brown and Orange
Spicy Mustard blends well with the mossy covered clear streams. The Copperhead was created to blend with the Fall leaf dump!
Paola Cat Camo in Purple and Gray. Vanilla Pudding in Tan
Paola Cat Camo is apptly named for Dad's school colors and also his fishing buddies OA Forum handle. The Vanilla Pudding is a good all-around solid color for those who prefer this look. We can make a solid colored leader from any of our standard colors.
Garter Snake in Pale Yellow and Olive. Sweet Relish w/ Indicator in Pale Yellow and Light Olive
Garter Snake is the perfect color to match the moss-covered bottom and gin clear low level water at Bennett and Roaring River. Gink up the Fl. Hot Pink indicator section on the Sweet Relish and this is a super leader for high stickin' a naked nymph or soft hackle. The pink section right at the tippet points right to your fly! This indicator section can be made into any of the colors above! We can also put the indicator section at the butt end if you prefer.
Stealth Spider in Dark Green Spiderwire. Smoky Mountain in Lt Green Mono
The Stealth Spider is our premium leader. The Spiderwire thread has almost zero stretch and furls up into a wonderful leader. It is impregnated with Telfon and floats forever! The Stealth Spider is somewhat stiffer than a standard threaded furled leader but not as stiff as a mono or fluoro furled leader. Off course it has no memory and is tough! Dad fished this leader one day at Bennett and brought to hand 33 trout. The leader still looks just like new. If you need stiffness in a leader for the ultimate in turn-over ability, choose the Smoky Mountain. We use mono or fluoro for these. Adding some floatant to the mono ones will keep it riding high. The Fluoro will sink if not treated with floatant. We have found that the fluoro when used as a furled leader does not give you the "invisibility" of what you get when using fluoro as in the 6x tippet. So what you're getting is it's natural tendency to sink! Both Mono and Fluoro furled leaders do have some "memory". The thingamabobber will leave slight kinks in these leaders. So keep that in mind as well.
Coming Soon...
We plan to add some of our custom fly tying materials and flies shortly. Stay Tuned!!!
Kansas Golden Trout Dad caught on his Island Park Mulberry Fly!
We appreciate feedback!!! Let us know what you like and dislike about our products. We are constantly making improvments based on your comments!
Email us at dadem@thesimontons.com
Here's my big brother Seth with a Beautiful Cutthroat he caught in June 2009!
Did I mention the time that I outfished my brother? Read about it here... Fishin' Tales