I’m no pro when it comes to fishing, let alone fly fishing. (This is my disclaimer) Typically, when I’m fly fishing, I tend to fish a spot for a few minutes, then reel up and move on. What I find to be a pain is dealing with long leaders and getting the line in the water. My perfection loop or double surgeon knot gets caught in the last eyelet/guide and, even worse, when I have to re-tie my tapered leader in the wind.

With this in mind I was browsing around in our local Wal-Mart’s fly fishing section and I found these:

Scientific Anglers L2L Reconnect System.

Seeing this I thought, “Wow, this would kill two birds with one stone!” You can forget all those complicated knots (a boon for the amateur fly fisher like myself) and still have a way of changing out your line very quickly, assuming you have it prepared.

Here’s a break down of how to attach it.

1. Remove your old nail knot.
2. Slip the provided green plastic connector onto the fly line (see below).
   
3. Tie an overhand knot in the fly line, trim it leaving about 1/8 inch of the tag end and slip the connector over the knot.
4. Next attach the provided tapered fly line/tippet by aligning the notches on both connectors and then twisting it 90° to lock it in place.

Fairly simple.

The L2L system uses a color code for different sizes of tapered leader (for example, 5x is orange and the 6x is red). An excellent idea as this helps organize them. Another nice feature is the fact that it’s reusable, meaning you can pull the old leader/tippet out and replace it with your own preferred brand and still use the L2L connectors. Yet another benefit is the connector doubles as a built in indicator. The only problem there being the inability to adjust its location based on the current conditions.

All in all a nice system. Now for the test! Does it glide through the guides?

The answer is yes and no. I found it will move through every guide freely except for the tip. It’s as much of a pain as the perfection loop. I still have to put down the rod and pull it through the tip before I can cast. Bummer. On the bright side and can switch out between 5x and 6x in a matter of seconds.

All of my testing was done out in the field. I sat down next to the water and attached the system. It took less than 5 minutes to get everything together and working.

The system works, for the most part, and I would recommend it to anyone that does not know how to tie a good knot or for someone who wants to switch the leader/tippet in a flash.

**More to come on this we still need to stress test the connectors

Tags: fishing, Fly, Products