{"id":33246,"date":"2026-08-30T07:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T05:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/?page_id=33246"},"modified":"2026-09-07T12:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:56:11","slug":"small-stream-leaders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/articles\/small-stream-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Stream Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-33246\"  class=\"panel-layout\" >\n<div id=\"pg-33246-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" >\n<div id=\"pgc-33246-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" >\n<div id=\"panel-33246-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" >\n<div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t><\/p>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33251 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Small-Stream-Leaders-main-image-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"pgc-33246-0-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" >\n<div id=\"panel-33246-0-1-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"1\" >\n<div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t><\/p>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Ed Herbst writes: A leader is the invisible link between angler and fly and on our small, clear, skittish Cape streams getting it right matters more than almost anything else in the cast. Because our tiny 'Whisper Rods' carry so little line, it is the leader that does most of the work of turning over a fly gently enough not to spook a trout lying in six inches of gin-clear water.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>This folder brings together what CPS members have written on the subject. It opens with Stanton Hector's account of the double-tapered, convex leaders he began testing in 2007 after I asked him to try out a number of convex leader formulae following a conversation with Leonard Flemming \u2014 an approach he has since refined for ultralight rods. From there it moves to MC Coetzer's more advanced leader systems. It ends with my own notes on the leaders I have settled on for the 'Whisper Rods' I fish on the small streams that gave Peter Turnbull-Kemp's 'Waters of Lilliput' its name.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Revised-double-tapered-leaders-Stanton-Hector.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Revised double-tapered leaders - Stanton Hector<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Advanced-leader-systems-MC-Coetzer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advanced leader systems - MC Coetzer<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Leaders-for-Lilliput-Water-Whisper-Rods-Ed-Herbst.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leaders for Lilliput Water Whisper Rods - Ed Herbst<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Furled-Leader-Andrew-Fuller-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Furled Leader - Andrew Fuller<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Herbst writes: A leader is the invisible link between angler and fly and on our small, clear, skittish Cape streams getting it right matters &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":843,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33246","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33246"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33258,"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33246\/revisions\/33258"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piscator.co.za\/CPS2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}