A lot of people have poo, poo'd the idea of leaving the lead on, its simple physics, you need the weight of the lead to pull the leader off. If I told you what I was fishing over you'd understand the reasoning behind this train of thought. Ive never really fished pop ups a lot, but the rig works really well for me.
totally agree chillfactor/nmo1/rosstheangler. ive caught 2 carp that have been trailing rigs with no lead but a length of leadcore,both of these rigs had left swelling and infection were the partialy rusted hook was still attached. ive never seen rusty hooks in fishes mouths when the leads were still attached,only fresh hooks,which makes me think they need the lead as the pivot to eject the hook/rig. i noticed in another thread pictures of apparent death rigs,both rigs were successfully ejected so how is it a death rig. has anyone found tethered carp with the lead still attached?
This is why I can't understand when people say dumping the lead on a chod / helicopter setups is safe .
If you get snapped for some reason the lead needs to be there to aid the fish to pass up the main line and free itself from it all .
The korda naked system is something i've started using and every time i've had a fish the top bead has gone during the fight . So in the event of a brake the lead sinks to the lake bed and the chod rig passes up & off the line .
can't see how you can get much better than that tbh.
I'm different to you though Gary as my chod is always set at least 3 ft up the line away from the lead to help it sink as slowly as possible and sit on top of the weed or what ever debris your fishing over .