Help with Flyrod

jeff, if you could get an accomplished fly angler to give you a start in the sport, you will save yourself much aggravation.  Lessons are always a good way to start.  but assuming you have reasons for going the route you are, let me offer some help.  First, I am unfamiliar with the Cortland running line you have.  I looked up the specs you provided and find cortland has this line in "Intermediate" and "Floating."  If you have the Intermediate, I would opt for the other 6 weight floating line.  If the running line is a floating line, it may be OK.  However, Cortland says this line is designed for shooting long distance and that it is stiff.  You will not need long distance casts on most creeks, especially Erie Tribs.  Stiffness can be a real hinderance in cold weather.  Thus, all considered, I'd use the 6wt.
 
On the leaders, I am assuming the tippet is monofilament, rather than flourocarbon.  If so, get a tapered leader at one of the shops in mono (if it's flouro, get a flouro tapered leader).  The leader should be between 7.5 and 9 ft. long ending in 3X.  Use the leader as it comes out the package until you have lost (by changing flies or breaking off) about 24-30 inches, then use your 3X to add back the final taper of 24-30 inches.  If the water is ultra-clear and you want to drop down to 4X, you can add that to the 3X.  It will cast best if that 3X section is no more than 12 inches when youo tie in the 4X. 
 
Hopefully this will help a bit.  If you go to one of the bait/fly shops and purchase the leader and a few flies, they may be able to give you some person-to-person advice as well.
 
Good luck.

Thanks guys.    I don't get out much anymore.  Now that I'm successful I don't get to go fishing. My wife is already complaining that I'm going to turn our Thanksgiving family holiday into a fishing trip again.
 
Anyhow.  
 
Do you consider it a problem tying mono leaders to floro tippet's?
 
I have an extra Reel and I think I will go with double tapers advice and go with the double taper floating fly line.
 
I'm pretty good at casting the 6wf.  I'm also good at tying all of the knot's
 
MackJ.  You make a good point with the stiffness of the cortland running line in the cold.  I got this idea from the www.yankeeangler.com.  He states that he likes to use the running line.  He fishes the Salmon River.  Look under FAQ's on his site. 
 
 

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions on these questions and are not meant to argue with any of the above posts.

Orvis makes a line called the Wonderline Easy Mend. It's pricy for some at $59 but everybody I have ever set up with it loves it for steelhead and big river fishing as it combines the the better roll casting characteristics of a DT with the shootability of a WF so you can still hammer out big casts if you have to. It's a very versatile line that works great for big rivers, small streams, and lakes for trout, bass, steel, salmon, and just about anything else you might want to fish for.

IMHO, nylon and fluoro are not the best of friends. I have caught plenty of fish with a nylon leader and a fluoro tippet but I never resort to that combination unless I have to. Fortunately I have the ability to test the tensile strength of things with the proper equipment and when I had suspected a problem in the past I had my father test different combinations of fluoro and nylon and there were slippage/breakage problems with properly tied blood knots that were otherwise unexplainable. We used properly graduated tippet diameters, material was "fresh", knots were thoroughly inspected before testing. They held up to a good pull with both hands but when put on the tensile strength tester with an even amount of force after a while there would be some slippage and then breakage. I figured that this was why sometimes I would test a tippet and it was fine then hook a steelie and after a few minutes of fighting a fish ... POOF! I have not had this problem ever with fluoro to fluoro.

Fluoro is great for it's abrasion resistance and that's where you benefit from a full fluoro leader/tippet. At this point I don't really put too much weight in the whole "It's Invisible" nonsense - you only have to watch a few steelhead and trout run away from 6x fluoro to realize that they can in fact see it. To make it more cost effective take a new leader, clip off two feet(yes I did just recommend you to cut the tippet of of a perfectly goo leader), tie a surgeons or perfection loop on the end and loop to loop your tippets on. Some people will argue that loop knots are not as strong as "hard" knots, well I said these were my personal opinions right?

What kind of fluoro leader are you using that they have a lot of memory? Between Orvis, Seaguar, and Frog's Hair fluoro leaders they have relatively low memory. I can't remember having to do more than a short stretch with any of these leaders.

streetstalker, thanks for your input. i'm always willing to learn from someone elses advice when it sounds reasonable.   i always say "i learn from others mistakes, and try to use only sound advice to keep from wasting my time!"  ~dt

dt,
 
We are still getting a little snow this afternoon in lower Erie county.  The radar looks like the precip has slowed up near the lake.  Good luck.

I'm new to this site.  How do you give stars?

jeffjava
 
The stars are awarded or collected for the number of posts you make.

DT, just FYI wetting a fluoro leader/tippet is not really helpful for straightening because they do not absorb water like nylon does. At this point I use only Orvis Mirage and Seaguar G-Max for steelhead. I work for an Orvis outfitter so of course I get that stuff at a discount but when I'm in Erie and don't have time to swing by the Orvis shop I know that I can swing by any tackle shop and grab some G-Max and I'm going to be fine with it. I don't really notice any difference between the two. Temp will though so sometimes when a leader hits cold water some memory will "magically" reappear, this is also why the wrong line for hot saltwater climates will be too limp to cast properly. Here's what I do if I have excessmemory in a leader. I put the loop around the closed jaws of my hemostats and make two or three wraps two or three feet up the leader and then pull like all get out. This does two things, it straightens the leader and tests out the perfection loop.

One other piece of advice I forgot to mention earlier is to pay close attention to your tippet/leader materials and when trying new materials have a backup. It's not rocket science that different brands of mono, be they nylon or fluoro, are not created equal but after guiding for years I have seen all too often an angler repeatedly breaking off tippets not realizing that they were using incompatible materials and just keep fueling their frustration. If you do find yourself having problems on the stream you can always revert back to the loop to loop system that I described earlier because it eliminates that incompatibility factor.

DT, I bought a spool of Airflow Sight Free for $15 from Folly's one time. I could not get one knot to hold for steelies, ever. I ended up using it for regular trout fishing but it was atrocious for steel. Try the hemostat stretch though, it's a goodie. But really the way I like to straighten out a leader is to tie into a nice 15lb'er and get it on. Another thing you really have to keep in mind is that certain materials do not hold with certain knots. A Frog's Hair rep once told me that Frog's Hair doesn't hold a clinch knot well. They recommend a 16-20 or Pitzen knot for their material. Orvis Mirage and Seaguar G-Max however hold clinch, surgeon's, and blood knots very well as do they hold a perfection loop well. To each his own but make sure that you know what "yours" is before you hit the stream.