Quote Originally Posted by lastchance View Post

John and Joni, Do you think furled leaders, because of their thickness, have more of a drag?
... any size mono leader or any size furled leader, so I don't know that furled leaders, generally, are thicker than mono leaders.

Drag is caused by the leader / tippet pulling or pushing a fly off course of a fully natural drift of that fly with the current. The thickness of the leader / tippet has nothing to do with that happening. However, the stiffness of the leader / tippet definitely does. ( The size of the fly relative to the stiffness of the leader / tippet is also a factor - the same leader / tippet will drag a very small fly before and more noticeably than it will drag a very large fly. )

Regarding the thickness / stiffness issue, consider this as an experiment. Take two pieces of spaghetti out of the box. Put the end of one piece on the kitchen counter against a dime. Cook the other piece for fifteen minutes. Now put the end of the cooked piece on the counter against a second dime. The cooked piece will be thicker. Now, pushing the end of each piece of spaghetti farthest from its dime, push the dimes. Huh ???? Watch one dime move and watch one piece of spaghetti move.

Now secure ( somehow ) one dime to the uncooked piece of spaghetti and place the other end as close to the dime as possible. Then secure the second dime ( somehow ) to the overcooked piece of spaghetti and place the other end of that piece as close to its dime as possible. Now start pulling on each piece of spaghetti. Huh ??? Watch one dime move and watch one piece of spaghetti move.

That experiment would obviously be an exaggeration of the relative stiffness of a tapered mono leader and a thread furled leader. But I think it illustrates the principle that the more stiffness there is, the more likely drag will occur and the more suppleness there is the less likely drag will occur.

John