Leader Advice

Grad a spools of pline floro or seaguar floro in 10,12,15lb test you get a few hundred yds for what you'd spend on a single 25-30meter spool.

8 weight can get a little sketchy depending on the action. I have one 8 weight I do not feel that good about for salmon and another with a fatter action that I have caught many.  I will often use  a simple 20/15 leader and then 10lb tippet. If there is alot of brush I will just go 20 and the 15 tippet. I use  spools of seaguar floro for all this, sometimes I will just use some trilene xt, especially for the leader..  

While its not your standard leader formula , when fishing for salmon I go along the same lines as Clint .
For me it's 5' leader of standard 20 lb berkley big game then 4' tippet of maxima chameleon in spools of 12-10 & yes 8 lb. Maxima seems to me stronger then test rated and is obviously larger in diameter then others.
I do not get to fancy on my leaders & tippets for salmon as you will tend to see they get chewed up and broken off often . I don't ( but its ok to ) use a swivel to attach leader to tippet. I just double surgeon knot them together . Using a swivel does allow you to keep your leader portion in tact longer but also means another component to fail .
As for any shot I may add , it will be right on the tippet very close to the fly .
Unlike a trout , salmon will either strike or it won't . It's not going to be picky and examine your offering such as a trout would so my thoughts are to keep things simple and strong .
Also as for your rods , in the many years fishing salmon I have used an 8 wt. . And yet to break a rod . Given that said , all 8 wt rods are not equal . My st croix rod is much stiffer then my 8 wt sage . I often felt the sage was going to blow up .It all depends on the action and model from manufactures . There have been times I sure wish I had a 9 wt but make due with what I have.

I'm sure many others will have different leader/ tippet formulas that work as well.
Good luck .

To clarify what fitchy said about tippet length,your weight can not be more then 4' from hook.
I build a tapered leader but that's me,you can do what others have said and it works.

I would suggest putting 25 or 30# butt off of your fly line before the 20#.... I'm withfichy on that one for a few reasons

pafisher
Glo bugs,estaz flies on #10 egg hook,various nympths,streamers,wooly buggers,and just about anything else.However many times color is the most important so have all types with pink,red,chatreuse,oregan cheese,black,brown,olive.and others.
By the way use floracarbon tippet in 8 -12#,it sinks and does make a difference with visibility.Also use just enough weight to tick the bottom while making a DRAG FREE drift

That was the Master Class.

Perfection loop. Use amnesia 30 lb butt then a 7' tapered ( bought ) leader, frog hair fluro tippet for steel trout .
Salmon , well I'm cheap and fugal , plus its a bear to see anymore . Many knots cause many problem for me and those fish cause many retires .
I'm not typically nymphing / bouncing salmon so I just forgo the tag/ swivel and direct weight to tippet up close .
Just my way to roll on those species

I've never had a Spro swivel fail. I doubt I go through 3 dollars worth in a season.

fichy
I've never had a Spro swivel fail. I doubt I go through 3 dollars worth in a season.

In that regards, my reference was to my knot or tying them , not the swivel itself..
I use spro micro for steel to ice fishing and the size #4 welded ring B/B coastlocks on the lake... They aren't no cheapers..