>>2682178i think about leaders in sections of 1/3 the length of the lezader, and 1-4 foot segments. if your leader is a 2 to 4 foot leader on a heavy sink tip, you probably only need that leader to be made of a single piece of mono or flouro, but even a 9 foot 4lb trout leader can require as many as 6 or more sections. just try not to change the line size by more than 40% at any given step. a step is where you've tied a knot.
i also tune my leaders to my lines, stiffer lines get thicker butt sections, softer lines slimmer butt sections. the way you check is, after a leader is attatched, you take a foot of slack with the connections in the middle, and you push it together against its own slight rigidity. if it kinks sharply on the fly line side of the connection, your butt section is too stiff. if you get a sharp kink on the mono side of the knot, your butt section needs to be stiffer. then just taper it from there. so lets say youur line balances nicely with a 20 pound butt section. thats where all your leader building for that line starts. so, you like 3x, thats somewhere around 4-6 pound test ish. a 9 foot 6 pound leader for you might look like three feet of #20, a foot and a half of #14, a foot and a half of #10, and 3 feet of 6. to get down to 4, your butt section will get cut in half, your tippet will get cut in half, and you'd add 3 feet of #4. your new leader is 1.5 feet of 20, 1.5 feet of #14, 1.5 feet of #10, 1.5 feet of #6, and 3 feet of #4
if you then wanted to put that 4 pound leader on a line that balances well with a #25 line, you'd simply cut your tippet length in half and add 1.5 feet of #25 to the back, or you could say fuck it and just run a 10.5 foot leader.
also if you haven't figured it out yet fly fishing is autistic
