I had almost forgotten how much I like this YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon leader, but has anybody got a clever way to decant it onto smaller spools?

A while back I saw a reference to something, and I went looking around here because I knew I still had some somewhere. I am talking about the excellent YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon leader, a leader material that I used to use a lot for my lure fishing, and which I can’t remember ever letting me down. There are a lot of good fluorocarbon leaders out there for all kinds of different prices, but I had a lot of good bass fishing with that YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon and I have good memories of it………….

I do like to carry maybe two or three different breaking strains or diameters of leader material with me when I go fishing. Some of you might deem this somewhat unnecessary, but I do believe in varying the diameters or breaking strains of my leaders depending on where I might be fishing and the conditions and so on. I am not that keen on swapping the essentials in and out of my waterproof fishing rucksack because I know I will end up forgetting something vital at some point, so I like to carry the various leader materials with me.

So if I was to carry say three spools of this YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon leader in my rucksack - maybe 12lbs (0.305mm) for the lighter estuary stuff, 16lb (0.346mm) or 20lb (0.378mm) for the regular stuff, and 25lb (0.443mm) for the heavier/rougher work - then it actually adds up to a good bit of line I am never going to need for the one session. This particular YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon leader comes on 100m spools which are not exactly small and which take up a bit of room in my rucksack. Plus a bit more weight to carry when I am already always carrying some fairly heavy camera gear and assorted bits and pieces.

I really like that Sufix Advance fluorocarbon as well, and when I first started fishing with it I found some really small little 50m spools like you can see above (the lure is the Savage Gear Savage Minnow Weedless 10cm 16g, for scale). The very good Varivas Sea Bass Shock Leader fluorocarbon also comes on tiny little spools which are easier to carry and take up less room in a rucksack or a wader pocket or however you might carry this sort of gear. Same for the really good Savage Gear Semi-Soft fluorocarbon below. I have gone looking though and I can’t find those little 50m Sufix Advance spools in stock.

I know it’s not exactly scientific, but leader materials that I happen to like are all about feel and trust to me. I have to like how the stuff feels when I have secured it to my braid with an FG knot - I err towards a stiffer feeling fluorocarbon - and of course it has to knot well to my lure clip. I then need to build up a good feeling of trust in whatever leader it is via a lot of fishing time with it. If you can tie a proper FG knot and you regularly check and/or change your leader when required, a leader is quite simply not a weak point. I have repeatedly tried fishing braid straight through to my lure clip and I know that plenty of anglers fish like this - but it’s not for me. I want that short length of leader at the end of my braid. If you ever worry about your leader when you’ve got a decent fish on then I would politely suggest that you need to learn how to tie a proper FG knot and then trust completely in it.

So along with a few other leaders, I really like this YGK Nitlon DFC leader all over again. But of course I don’t need 100m spools of it when I go out fishing, indeed I rarely find myself needing to change a leader when I am actually fishing so in truth I only need a small bit of the different diameters I might want to carry with me. Anybody got a clever idea how I might decant say 10m or 20m of the leaders I want with me onto smaller spools - as in what could I use as a smaller spool to decant onto? I could of course reuse the (small) empty or nearly empty spools of the Sufix Advance I have here, but can anybody point me in the direction of something I might buy on something like Amazon which could do a similar job for me? You all have a good weekend, can’t wait for the second Lions test match tomorrow morning, and how awesome is the Test cricket against India at the moment? It’s not far off two years since my heart attack, and for so many reasons I am so bloody happy to still be here! Top of the list being family of course………..

Disclosure - If you buy anything using links found around my website, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you anymore to buy via these affiliate links - and please feel entirely free not to do so of course - but it will help me to continue producing content. Thank you.