Interesting piece on STOL techniques in the Super Cub which is nevertheless generally relevant:
http://www.supercub.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=248
One of the most noteworthy things about performance discussions in general on the forums at supercub.org is the way they always tend to get back to weight and how a Super Cub at gross is a very different machine to one lightly loaded. These fellows are simply obsessed with weight and its effect on performance!
I think there is a tendency amongst pilots to discount this difference and to presume that just because an aircraft is within weight and balance limits it can be flown with impunity. It's not just take-off and landing distances which change, but the way it handles, the responsiveness to power and, most critically of all, the stall speed.
It seems safest and smartest to consider that a lightly loaded aircraft and one at gross are two completely different machines in many different ways.
QDM