Quote Originally Posted by Chuck S View Post
...Above I read, "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." Interesting statement but it does seem to fly in the face of physics. Drag is due to the water interacting with the tippet/leader/line combo. Big heavy material, much drag, very light material less drag, thicker material, much more drag, thinner material, much less drag. Am I missing something? A fly line and leader butt is thick by design and thinner tippet is one way of reducing drag based on diameter alone. Another reason for longer tippets is to allow or to create some deliberate slack where the leader doesn't lay out straight but rather allows or causes the tippet to lie down curved, etc thereby allowing the tippet a longer float before it straightens and produces drag. Finer tippet, by the way, is harder for the fish to sense and see, but again that's nothing but physics talking!
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... to thickness regarded the thickness of furled leaders, not mono leaders. That is what you are missing, Chuck. Thread furled leaders are more supple at the thickest part of the butt than 5X tippet mono leaders are at the thin end of the 5X tip.

Here are some pix posted on an earlier thread about the relative suppleness of thread furled leaders and mono tippet -

Rio powerflex 6X tippet.


Danville 210 FlyMaster Plus thread furled leader butt.


Danville 210 FlyMaster Plus thread furled leader tip.


The suppleness is the key - instead of having several feet of relatively stiff mono, you have several feet of material ( wet thread ) more supple than most of the tippet most people use, and during the drift there is generally slack in that supple section of the furled leader, so it is pretty much like having air between the end of the fly line and the actual tippet material.

John

P.S. The thread furled leader was dry when the pix were taken, they are more supple when wet.