Indicators

[51BC]

The thread on Czech nymphing got me to thinking ( about time something did ! ). I have a lot better success 'tight line' nymphing than I do trying to use an indicator. Is it just me ? Am I doing something wrong with the indicators ? Am I acidently doing something right without the indicator ? Anybody else notice this ? Is my hand/eye coordination that bad ?

[Buddy Sanders]

51,

Using indicators is just a different skill than not using them.

Thing like how deep to set them, how they behave on the water, what a strike looks like, and casting them so that the flies are where you want them all take some practice.

Most of the best indicator fishermen will be constantly adjusting the depth to meet the current (pun intended) conditions. Things constantly change on a river, especially since few of us stand in one place and fish the same stretch of water all day.

Different indicators will behave differently on the water. Learning to read what your indicator is telling you is teh first big step in really getting it as far as indicator fishing goes. If you really get into it, you will find that using different ones for different waters and conditions might appeal to you. Many of us settle on the one style we are comfortable with and then learn to read it under the conditions we fish.

It would be wonderful if all you needed to see to know you had a strike was the indicator completely submerging itself and heading off in the direction the fish is towing it. Unfortunitly, it's seldom that obvious. Learning to tell all the little hesitations, bobbles, and movements that telegraph light strikes takes attention and experience.

Casting with an indicator takes some experience. Not getting it out there, that's just a slight adjustment anyone can make. But knowing how the indicator effects where your flies are in relation to where the indicator landed is something you learn only from doing it.

I did some fishing with a guide friend of mine this past summer. He usually works full time for a resort and guides their clients five days a week. The resort was closed this past summer due to the economy, so he made less money but had some free time to fish.

We were in my boat on large lake fishing streamers for trout.

He remarked that he was really enjoying it. The fishing was slow, but he was enjoying the chance to look around and see the scenery.

He's an expert indicator fisherman. When he's fishing an indicator, he's so focused on it he seldom notices what's happening around him.

Buddy

[clarkman23]

The thread on Czech nymphing got me to thinking ( about time something did ! ). I have a lot better success 'tight line' nymphing than I do trying to use an indicator. Is it just me ? Am I doing something wrong with the indicators ? Am I acidently doing something right without the indicator ? Anybody else notice this ? Is my hand/eye coordination that bad ?

this just my personal opinion on this, but I think that one misses many more strikes with an indicator than tight-line/high-stick nymphing. It's probably due to the fact that one is setting the hook with the slightest abnormal movement or feel of the line. I know that when I use a bobber (let's call them what they really are) I tend to set only on the hard strikes, so I'm probably missing plenty of fish. The idea is to set anytime the bobber moves abnormally, I just don't use one enough to really develop a feel for that.

[Silver Creek]

The idea is to set anytime the bobber moves abnormally, I just don't use one enough to really develop a feel for that.

That is the traditional instruction. Strike when the indicator hesitates its drift.

But there is a corollary to that rule. Strike when the indicator does not move at all after a cast. The indicator does not have to move to indicate a fish!

I learned this lesson from Chuck Rizzuto on the San Juan. I cast behind a rock and the indicator just stayed in one place, it never moved or went under water. He told me to strike and to my surprise, I had a fish on. I asked him how he knew that I had a fish when the indicator never went down or even twitched.

He said that the current should have washed the indicator out from behind the rock! Something was holding in that position and it was probably a fish. I've had that very same thing happen to me several times since. So if you cast behind a rock and the indicator does not wash out, strike. It happened to me twice last year.

[sagefisher]

I nymph with the straight line method in smaller streams where the target area, say a soft pocket or a seam are within easy high sticking it distance. But, on the rivers out west, which tend to be fairly large, nymphing with a strike indicator is a far more productive way to go. You can cast out, toss in a mend, and work the seams and soft waters that are close to you then slowly add more line and work the waters that are a much longer cast away from you. If you only tight lined or high sticked those waters you have to pass up a lot of opportunities for fish. I prefer the Frog Hair indicators as they are really easy to move up and down the leader to adjust the depth of the nymphs. The nymphs have to be touching the bottom or you are not deep enough.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[clarkman23]

That is the traditional instruction. Strike when the indicator hesitates its drift.

But there is a corollary to that rule. Strike when the indicator does not move at all after a cast. The indicator does not have to move to indicate a fish!

to me, that includes "any abnormal movement"...since typically a bobber is going to float down with the current...

but hey, just a matter of semantics...

[Sasha]

I am not a dry fly purist or snob. It just so happens that most of the waters I choose to fish in a given year are great dry fly waters. With that being said when I do fish nymphs I personally like using a bobber aka: indicator. I don't know maybe the reason for it is because that is how I learned to nymph. I was also taught to set the hook when I see any abnormal movement on the indicator. I was also learned real quickly to change the length on the bobber. Good mending helps, and so does "twitching" the flies from time to time (especially on some of the tailwaters here when using RS2's and Midge emergers) What is kind of funny is that in the few rivers I chuck lead there is no mistaking a strike. I swear some of those fish just hammer the flies. I have also found (recently as in last year) that I am more successful using 3 nymphs rather than 2.

But the great thing about this sport is that everybody can do what they like and what works best for them. Personally I would rather be on some obscure freestone in the mountains chucking big bushy dries than chucking lead on a tailwater; but hey that's just what I like to do.

[Big Bad Wulff]

I hate indicators myself.
Only time i use one is to get a fly at a certain depth.

[Buddy Sanders]

Clarkman,

Shhh! We don't want to upset the purists. Bobbers is so not in the fly fisherman image . But that is what they are, certainly.

BBW,

"Only time i use one is to get a fly at a certain depth."

I think that is the only reason anyone uses them. That's kind of their purpose. Being able to cast across a current and get the fly to drift properly at the correct depth without the current between you and it interfering. Since you can see your line, you can mend it when appropriate, and since you can see the indicator, you can see when drag starts to adversely effect your drift.

Otherwise, it's much easier to fish without them. Especially in the area of strike detection. Much easier to feel a fish pull on the line than to interpret whats happening thirty or more feet away by looking at a small floating bobber.

Buddy

[51BC]

I appreciate everyones input. Gives me something to ponder over the winter and something to work on come spring.