The following is a trick I happened upon after fishing some of Rick Trayling's (Prince Rupert, B.C.) leaches. Rick sells his leaches with the bait hook in a loop of dacron/gelspun hanging free from the rabbit - the problem that I found was that, despite the advantage of being able to freely change the hook, the hook and it's loop hung well below the rabbit and often resulted in a missed or chin(foul) hooked fish. In resolving resolving the problem by putting the hook through the rabbit I realized that I needed the loop to be intertwined with the rabbit over it's whole length - hopefully the following series of shots will illustrate the concept.The first shot shows the dacron loop with a strip of rabbit tied in.
speydoc
The head is finished off with a few strands of krystal flash. I then turn the fly around and upside down(I have already cut the bend of the front hook off, leaving a small section to hold in the vise) and make an even number of short longitudinal cuts in the rabbit strip with a pointed scalpel blade. I then push a leg knotting tool up through the rabbit strip cuts to catch the dacron loop and pull it back down through the rabbit, as illustrated in the attached shot.
speydoc
The rabbit can then be slid along the dacron to allow the loop to lengthen so it may better pass through the eye of a bait hook and over the loop of the hook, securing the hook. Two finished leaches are shown in the attached shot, so is a little devise sold in sewing stores as a "knit fixer" for $1.50 - it is the latter devise that allows one to pull the dacron loop down through the slits in the rabbit.
speydoc
A quicker way would be to tie the string leech onto a tube and use a furled line and hook; this allows you to change hooks and peice together body parts on the bank, and you can fix beads onto the line for wieght he are two pics one inverted for a better picture:
Jeremy
I experimented with the tube system a couple of seasons ago - it did not work for me as I found the tube would try and slip over the knot(I was using 50lb "Fireline"), I also had difficulty in getting the lengths correct when I tied the knots and I found that there were problems with tangles when I looped the line through the rabbit only once, at the end - hence my threading the line back and forth along the length of the rabbit.
It lookes like you may have solved some of my problems - exactly what material is your "line", how do you make the knot? and how is the bait hook conected? - it lookes very smooth, is it a loop connection? Are you are able to post a close up of the connection?
For the record, the time to tie the tube vs. the leach is about the same - the tube system would be superior if I could just figure out a simple line system as if offers the advantage of changing the line as well as the hook.
Thanks for the interesting response.
speydoc
I tie these on tubes and "peg" the hook in position. It takes more time to describe than to actually do it.
Slide the leader through the very short tube, tie the hook on, decide on how far back you want the hook, then firmly push the pointy end of a short piece of round toothpick into the tube. Done.
At first I did, it seems that until the toothpick got soaked through it would slip a little. I have found that if I push it in after a few casts that slippage is not an issue.
If I'm reading correctly, you then have a free swinging tail and a free swinging hook on an inch or three of mono to keep the hook near the tip of the tail. What keeps the hook from fouling with the rabbit tail?
I try not to make my hare hair tips longer than where the hook will lay. Sometimes a bad cast will put the hook into the main body so I keep an eye on the fly. Did a whole run once with my leech tied in a knot. Another thing I've started doing is sewing the eye into the hide with some kevlar thread. Then just the tiniest dab of superglue on the knot. It takes more time, but the hook rides true and I think it gives a better set in the mouth.
Additionally, I use gel spun to weave through the tail. It isn't so stiff and wiggles more. I never have been concerned about changing hooks.
Kush
Thanks - I still have a whole batch of tube leaches that I will try with your method for springs in June, I might also try a long non slip loop knot with a bead between the tube & the knot if I get a lot of sliding.
speydoc
It happens once in a while - but not very often. It seems that the stiff mono, I use 15lb Maxima works quite well.
speydoc,
I tried the non-slip loop when I was experimenting and the problem for me was getting the doubled line of the loop through the eye of the hook.
I also tried the method that Rick Whorwood showed me, which is to use the little rubber bobber-stops that you can buy for use with sliding bobbers. It is actually kind of cool, thread the line through the tube, slip the stop on, tie the hook, then slide the stop into position. Unfortunatey they tend to slip while casting, so Rick uses a drop of superglue to hold it.
It works quite well, but I didn't stick with it as it was just too much bother. Between getting and keeping track of the stops then gluing it in place - the tooth pick is so much quicker. This is especially true if you feel that uncontrollable urge to start searching for the magic pattern! Or even worse you break off a fly and have to re-tie in very low light
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