I have often commented on the common practice that I see these days of using a large indicator and one or more weighted nymphs to catch trout. Now there is nothing wrong with using an indicator or weighted nymphs to catch fish but when that's the only technique that the angler is able to use to catch trout it brings into question how this really differs from a bobber and a worm.
Recently, in one of the trade journals, the editor wrote an opinion piece directed at this very issue. His comment on fishing with indicators and weighted nymphs was quite pointed. He wrote, "And it probably doesn't help that we've dumbed the sport down so much with strike indicators and dredging nymphs through runs that an angler actually has to switch his or her brain back on when they want to try something cutting edge, like say dry fly fishing with a 15-foot leader."

My first thought was that this statement is completely inane as it is the exact opposite of my own experience. I learned fishing dry and it's still an act of will for me to resort to a nymph.

However, on second thought, I think this may be a western problem. A guy wants to learn to fish. He takes some casting lessons, then heads out to Montana. He then spends the next three days watching his indicator from a drift boat. He wants to catch fish, the guide wants to catch fish and dredging a brown ugly legs is the easiest and probably most effective way to do it.

That is not how we learn here in the midwest. I can't speak for the east.