Tying your own leaders

Home from my real job and in the safety and comfort of my office here at home. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the importance of leader/tippet use and materials. I, for years have always purchased a pre-made tapered leader and have caught fish forever, but lately Ive been making my own leaders and stepping the size of the materials down into a knotted taper usually in three sections. Nothing new or high tech, but what I've noticed and maybe I'm wrong but...have I been catching more fish? I start with a #20lb test base at about three feet long which i tie to the fly line and then step down to an #8lb test piece of Maxim again around three feet long and then to a 4x tippet material usually a Scientific Angler Freshwater tippet and that length will vary dependent upon water and clarity. I really believe that as of late or at least as long as I've been tying these, my catch is up! I attach all of these sections with a simple double surgeons knot and have played with material colors and that hasn't seemed to change anything thus far. So my question to you is, What is changing? In my mind a knotless tapered leader should be less visible and simply lay better in the water, but it doesn't, it really doesn't change the effect in any negative way.. So if you don't already tie your own, give it a shot! and if you do, I'm sure you'll agree with me that it's another way that we as fly fisherman/tyers are always finding another way to be more involved in every aspect of our love and another way we all are.."High on the fly".

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Jeff