Rigs Lab · Gear & fly fishing rigs + leaders
The rig builder and library for fishing. Lay out every cut, knot and turn to scale, start from a photo of a formula in a book, on a website or in your notebook, then publish it for anglers everywhere to tie, clone, share, print and fish.
Build it to scale
Every section, knot and turn, drawn the way you tie it, with the cut list worked out for you.
Start from a photo
Snap a formula from a book, a website or your notebook and it comes back as a rig you can edit.
Test it in the tank
Watch it drift, sink and turn over before it ever touches the water.
Share it, print it
Publish it to the library, send the link, or print a card for your vest.
41 to 49 of 49 rigs
A 10-foot bonefish leader for 7-9 weight rods. A 60" butt of .020" mono drops quickly through .018", .014" and .012" to a 24" tip of 1X at .010". The long butt drives a weighted flats fly into the wind, and the 1X tip is light enough for clear water and strong enough to hold a running bonefish.
A 12-foot tapered monofilament leader built to turn over streamer flies smoothly and deliver them with precision on the flats. It steps down through six sections from 30 lb butt to a 17 lb fluorocarbon tip, giving you the power to cast distance while maintaining delicate presentation where bones are feeding.
A straightforward 8 foot 5 inch streamer leader for 4-7 wt rods. It tapers from a .021 inch butt through four 15 inch sections, then 9 inches of .013 inch and 8 inches of 0X, to 24 inches of 2X tippet. The stout tip turns over buggers, sculpins and baitfish patterns and stands up to hard strips and strip-sets on trout.
A 9-foot-4-inch (112 inch) tapered steelhead leader for 8 to 10-weight rods and floating lines, built to turn over weighted streamers and swung flies. Seven Maxima sections step from a 28 inch, 40 lb (.024") butt through short middle pieces to 30 inches of 10 lb (.012") Maxima Ultragreen tippet, joined with blood knots and a triple surgeon's knot. It is a workhorse for swinging and stripping streamers in steelhead runs.
Kaufmann's 10-foot steelhead leader for a sink-tip line: 35 inches of .023 mono stepping through .021, .017 and .013 to 30 inches of 1X, .010. Blood knots join the heavy sections and a triple surgeon's knot joins the tippet. The sink tip takes the fly down, and the leader turns over a swung streamer on a 5-8 wt rod. There's also a 0X variation; see the questions below.
A 54-foot tight-line mono rig for fishing weighted streamers and jigs to steelhead and big trout. It runs 564 inches of 20 lb Sunset Amnesia, 18 inches of 15 lb and 18 inches of 12 lb Maxima, a 4 mm heavy tippet ring, a 12 inch Cortland bi-color sighter and 36 inches of 0X fluorocarbon tippet. The thin mono replaces the fly line through the guides, so the fly sinks fast and you stay in direct contact with it.
An 11.5-foot mono leader for wading the coast after sea trout with flies from #8 to #2. A 69 inch butt of .015" carries the cast into the wind, then it steps through 21 inches of .012" and 21 inches of 0X, .011" to a 28 inch tippet of 2X, .009". The length keeps the fly line away from fish cruising in clear, shallow water, and the 2X tip stands up to hard takes, stones and weed.
Lefty Kreh's simple 9-foot leader: about half butt, a quarter middle, and the rest a short step and tippet. Here that is 48 inches of .024 mono, 24 inches of .021, 12 inches of .018 and 24 inches of .013 at the fly, joined by three blood knots. Built for a 7-8 wt line, it turns over streamers, bass bugs and light saltwater flies.
A short, stiff 7-foot (84 inch) leader for 4-7 wt lines. It steps from an 11 inch .021 butt through .019, .017, .015, .013, .011 and .009 to 16 inches of 3X at .008. The heavy butt and short length turn over bushy dries, hoppers, small streamers and other wind-resistant flies with accuracy.
