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.
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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.
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7 rigs
I built this rig to get a weighted hex fly down to the lake bottom where trout are waiting for natural hex emergers to rise up the water column. It uses a slip bobber to suspend the fly 12 to 24 inches above the bottom in 15 to 35 feet of water, letting me fish without casting while the fish camp in place before they start moving up to chase the hatch.
A 10' 8" indicator nymphing leader on Maxima Chameleon. The butt steps from .017" to .010", then 18" of .009" runs to a 4 mm heavy tippet ring, with 24" of 3X and 24" of 4X fluorocarbon below it. A 3/4" trapped-air indicator, one No. 4 split shot and a #16 Tungsten Bead Pheasant Tail make it a ready-to-fish indicator rig for riffles and runs.
Gary Borger's 9-foot leader for bouncing a nymph along the bottom: 45" of .020" butt, 17" of .013", and a long 45" tippet of 0X (.011"). Two No. 4 split shot ride 10" above a size 8 stonefly nymph, and a small yarn indicator on the butt shows the take. The stout tippet holds up to the shot, snags and big fish on 4-7 wt rods.
A 15.5-foot stillwater indicator rig for hanging a small chironomid near the bottom of a clear lake. An 18" butt of 20 lb Seaguar Blue Label leads into 120" of 10 lb (2X, .009") Blue Label, a #12 barrel swivel and 48" of 5X (.006") fluorocarbon to a size 16 tungsten-bead chironomid. A 7/8" release indicator rides near the top, and a No. 4 split shot sits just above the swivel.
A 15.5-foot stillwater indicator rig for hanging a chironomid near the bottom of a lake. An 18" butt of 20 lb Seaguar Blue Label leads into 120" of 10 lb (2X, .009") Blue Label, a #12 barrel swivel and 48" of 4X (.007") fluorocarbon to a size 14 tungsten-bead chironomid. A 7/8" release indicator rides near the top, and a No. 4 split shot sits just above the swivel.
A simple indicator nymphing leader, 12' 11" long, for a 5-6 wt line. It starts with a 22" butt of .012" mono and 79" of 0X mono, then steps down through 20" of 3X fluorocarbon to 22" of 5X fluorocarbon. Below that is a 2 mm tippet ring and a final 12" of 5X to the fly. A 1/2" trapped-air indicator rides on the 0X, and a BB split shot sits just above the ring to get the nymph down.
A 17-foot leader for nymphing under an indicator at short range on a 3-5 wt. It steps down in 29" sections from .018" through .016", .014" and .012" to 1X (.010"), then a 23" 3X (.008") sighter and 40" of 5X (.006") tippet. A 1/2" trapped-air indicator rides on the 1X section, and a No. 4 split shot sits 10" above a size 16 bead-head nymph.
