Thanks, Buddy. Awesome pointers. I'll take that into account.
I think this is an awesome time for me to bring up another question.... a 7' furled leader with a 4' tippet is 11' off of the fly line itself. I use a 9' rod. That seems like such little fly line to make a 12' cast, doesn't it?! Am I crazy for thinking that? I do 20' to 30' on occasion, but chasing carp/cats/bass/BG, I'm not casting far. Will everything turn over, speed up, loop the way it should with - hypothetically - only 3'-5' of fly line off the rod tip?