Korda Developments SafeZone Leaders

Most of you reading this will already be using or have used the SafeZone leaders and you may be wondering to why we are reviewing them now, but for the latter part of 2010, Korda have redesigned the leaders with some significant points that we feel are important to bring to the visitors attention.

The first point is that Korda have released a new "colour" to the range, bringing the total colour choice to 5, with a clear leader. Lots of anglers have been reverting to fluorocarbon or other clear mono leaders rather than the coloured versions as they feel that they are less conspicuous on a greater range of substrates than a single colour.

The second point is that Korda have now lengthened the leaders by 50% from 24" to 36". A lot of people might be wondering why Korda have done this, but the answer is very simple - anglers have been asking for longer leaders! The old leaders were fine for the majority of tasks, but some anglers (including myself) found that they were too short for fishing effectively with helicoptor style rigs - especially ones that required the hooklink to move along the length of the leader in a similar way to a running Chod rig. The lengthening of the leaders to 36" enable the angler a greater scope without having to buy multiple types of leader. Strangely though, Korda haven't included a helicoptor version of the new leaders in to the range, but this is easily done by using the ring swivel version, chopping off the swivel from the fused loop & replacing it with a "Quik Link" and then putting the rest of the required components onto the leader.

The third point is that the new leaders appear to be slightly thinner than the originals. I cannot be 100% certain that this is the case due to not having any of the older leaders available to compare against.

With these 3 subtle changes from the original leaders, everything else has remained the same with two tungsten collars fitted at equal intervals along the leader and small fused loops to attach to the mainline. The leaders are rated at 30lb breaking strain and contain a 30lb monofilament inner coated with a Polyurethane outer. A lot of anglers wrongly think that if the outer coating is damage by line cutting into the loops that the breaking strain is massively lowered. This is not the case at all and leaders with loops that have been cut into by the joining knot will still give at least the stated breaking strain. To lessen the chance of the line cutting into the outer coating, the use of a Palomar knot or Loop to Loop connection is recommended as the pressure is spread across two strands of line rather than a single strand with a Grinner or Half Blood Knot.

Korda have released two styles or the new leaders to the market - one fitted with a size 8 ring swivel for use with normal safety lead clips or inline leads and the other fitted with a Hybrid Lead Clip which is permanently fixed within the fused loop making it 100% certain to drop the lead should it become snagged.

The standard colours are available in both Hybrid Lead Clip and Ring Swivel: Gravel, Clay, Weed, Silt and the new Clear version.

Even with the changes and lengthening of the leaders, the price has remained the same at £4.75 for the Ring Swivel version and £5.50 for the Hybrid Lead Clip variant.

Overall Conclusion

As someone that use a lot of leaders in my angling (only using tubing on venues where leaders are banned), the introduction of the longer SafeZone leaders has given me another option. The tungsten collars are smooth and unobtrusive to components place upon the leader and also sink the leader down quickly. The fused loops are seamless and are not larger than required which minimises the chance of picking up a twig or weed around it. The guys at Korda have now given me a big problem with the launch of these (and the other new products) in that it is going to look as if all the gear in my box is from one company (which is not a good thing when you need to be impartial as a reviewer!!!). Joking aside, I have found a place in my box for all of the new Korda products as they do the job that they are intended to do and do it very well.

For more information on any of the items in the product range, please click on the Korda logo below.