Wow...this thread went better than I thought. The feedback is telling me what I had been thinking all along(but then again I have a tendency to be often wrong but seldom in doubt).

I myself use an indicator at times and under other conditions, go without an indicator. I also make adjustments as I go. Regardless I'm still continuing to learn and continue to ask questions. I also wonder how many takes I actually miss when I'm out nymphing.

I believe Buddy's last post addressed a lot of the same questions I ask myself. Generally I'm guesstimating the depth of the water I'm fishing based on what I think I can see and also based on the flows.

Also as was pointed out, the depth of the water does change as you move from spot to spot which does result in me having to continually adjust.

After having read the general 1.5 to 2.0 times rule/guidance a number of times and applying some of that logic onstream, I finally realized that the rule never said what the actual reference point was(you think about things like this sometimes on the drive home from fishing). That's why I decided to ask to see if I was missing something.

Everyone's perspective is appreciated on this subject. It is interesting to hear different folks approaches on nymphing with and without an indicator.