I think we've likely beaten this to death but I'll get off my stool for one more round.
I'm sitting in front of the computer with three things. An 8-weight, WF, floating Cortland flyline; a tapered mono leader, butt diameter .024"; and a 6' furled leader made of 6/0 UNI-Thread (don't know how many strands). At least to my bending tests, the line and mono are close in both diameter and "stiffness", the furled leader has approximately the same butt thickness but is clearly "limper." If you are saying that the best energy transmission occurs when the tip of the flyline and the butt of the leader are "identically stiff" then I agree. In which case, at least in my hands, the mono wins. A corollory is that the tippet end of the leader should also match the tippet properties, true for a furled leader and light tippets but not for the furled leaders I've seen and the heavy tippet used for large flies. Of course I now have to trade with Henk for one of his pike leaders to see if it's stiffer than regular furled leaders and if it turns over big flies in my hands as well as he says it does in his. As I recall, this started when a lister asked if furled leaders worked for large flies. You said yes, but recommended one tied from 3/0 thread or mono. I said that I disagreed because I had tried one constructed in the first way you recommended and it didn't perform satisfactorily, because, I felt, it wasn't stiff enough. You, however, never did say that you had tried your recommendation successfully. Cheers, Paul -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Atlantic Salmon, Ausable River Journal, Miramichi River Journal, and Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies.
