And chime in I will, thanks, John. I do "roll my own", leaders that is. The links provided don't really go into detail and don't provide instructions for compound leaders. Nevertheless, I am hooked by this method of leader construction and now only use these types of leaders for all of my flyfishing applications, be it 12-foot leaders on my favorite spring creek or 4-footers for my 8-wt for silver salmon in Alaska. I can twist a 7-foot compound leader in less than 5 minutes; I've even done it on the water when I forgot to bring a spare and had troubles. Usually I will fish a single leader for most of the season. The ease of construction, smooth turnover from anything from size #22 dries to large 00 streamers and the stretch while fighting a fish keep me coming back. I haven't used a regular tapered mono leader for the past 5 years. These leaders are made only out of mono (usually 2x Maxima) and terminate to a 2x tippet to which you can add tippet material for whatever application you need.
Anyway, there you have my 2-cents worth.
Kelly.
Tight Lines,
Kelly.
"There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."
Roderick Haig-Brown, "Fisherman's Spring"