I usually only use them if I'm fishing a pond and the fish are just feeding under the surface. The indicators I use are reusable and allow me to quickly adjust there position on my leader so I can adjust the depth easily. Slowly striping the line in with the fly just under the surface works as well, but I prefer to just let the fly slowly drift in the water. It is both exciting and disappointing when you see a fish take your indicator (the thrill of seeing a fish come flying out of the water with the indicator only to realize there is no hook ). I prefer using a dropper fly on rivers, but on most ponds I'm stuck roll casting a pretty good distance and usually get my line all tangled up when I try using a dropper.