Henderson, I think your suspicions are correct about long mends. But, the head on the Headstart is about 32' long, so it should still mend well out to about 40' or so. (leader included) I rarely nymph this far out, but you know what you'll be doing with it, not I.

I'll have to admit I have not used it to nymph with an indicator. I use it on my short 4wt that I use for small river bass and panfish because it turns over poppers very well.