Don't get me wrong. Tapered fluorocarbon leaders have their time and place. However, for the most part, they are unnecessary. Striped Bass are not leader shy, especially not when they are feeding at night. It can be nice to support your local fly shop, but $6 a leader seems steep when a strand of monofilament will do.
In most cases you can simply run a straight section of 15-30 lb. monofilament as a leader. No need for anything too long, a 6 foot section will do. I like to build in a butt section to my leaders. I find that it helps when casting large flies or multi-fly rigs, especially in windy conditions. I do this by taking a 3-4 foot section of 40 lb hard mono and tying perfection loops on either end. One of the loops is for connecting to the welded loop on the fly line, the other is for connecting the tippet. I then take a 3 foot section of 20-25 lb. mono and tie a perfection loop in one of the ends. I can then attach this to the 40 lb. butt section via loop to loop connection, thus creating my leader. For smaller flies and situations that require more finesse I scale down my butt section to 25 lb. test and use 15 lb. test for the tippet.
The great thing about making leaders this way is the ability to customize. By pre-cutting various butt sections and tippet sections you can instantly mix and match to fit an array of fishing situations. It is also incredibly cost effective. You can buy a few spools of monofilament line in various pound tests and make your own custom leaders for years to come.
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