From what I’ve read here gills will be found in deeper water this time of the year. All I have are double taper and weight forward fly lines. If I attach a float to my leader wouldn’t that act as a hinge and swing my flies down deep like right angle fishing?
Yes. I have been doing a lot of bass and bluegill fishing with indicators (ok, bobbers) for several years now and come up with some new tactics (new for me at least) that have greatly improved my catch rates.
I like an indicator or float that I can adjust easily for depth. I also dispense with the tapered leader and use a straight piece of mono. The heavy butt section of the tapered leader impairs the sink rate. The straight mono sinks faster and will hang straighter.
This has been so effective that I rarely use sinking lines when fishing at less than 10 feet deep unless I am fishing streamers with a rapid retrieve.
Its been hot here. That last few trips to a local public pond resulted in NO Crappies. Last night I decided to flyfish deeper. I put a Springbrook Wunder microjig about 4.5’ under an indicator. I chose that depth simply because that was the length of the tippet I had tied onto the leader, and the connection point was a good place to ensure my indicator didn’t slide further down the line. This tactic resulted in catching 9 crappies, a bass, several bluegills, and a bullhead. As the sky darkened, a lot of fish started attacking my indicator. I put on a couple different larger topwater patterns, and still managed to catch several more bluegills, along with several more bass, a crappie (yes, they DO often hit topwaters in the evenings), and something larger that broke my line when I set the hook.
I agree with tailingloop that it is best if your hinge point at the indicator comes on the level line of the tippet rather than the taper of a leader. The level line sinks much better and hinges much better than the thicker leader.
Thanks. I never thought about a straight piece of mono, but it makes sense.
Hasn’t been said yet so I will throw it out there. Use flurocarbon leader. Doesn’t float like mono.
George
Yep. Good point. Flouro is more dense than standard mono so sinks better.
Also, over the last few years I have begun to tie most of the flies I use for this technique on Wapsi fly jig heads in 1/120, 1/80, and 1/64 oz size. These hooks sink quickly and get hung up less because the point rides up.
The standard version of the fly jig head uses a gold aberdeen style hook. This style hook will often pull free from snags and can be bent back into shape. After a number of snags and the resultant bending of the hook the metal eventually weakens and the hook breaks. However this results in fewer lost flies. On occasion the hook does bend out on a large bass, catfish, or carp if it does not penetrate deeply. There is a super jighead version that uses a much heavier guage mustad hook. These hold better but don’t come free from snags as easily.
Some examples (all standard fly jig head with aberdeen style hook):
I love the lower left one.
I am the goddess of deep nymphing (self proclaimed…LOL) I will use a floating line with up to 30’ of fluoro. I use one of my slip indicators. For small light hits I use smaller indicator, but I like the one inch size. Good to have sonar to tell the depth, but one of those Ice Fishing clip weights can work. Attach it to the bottom fly, drop it down till it hits bottom, then raise a foot and mark that. That is where I put my indicator. I will also add tags with another fly up a couple feet. I like the jig flies. I tie them in Copper Johns, Haresears, Prince, PT. But for BG, I like softhackle nymphs, and so do they…LOL
Many times I use an unweighted fly and let it drop a long time. Retreive very slowly and the fish will come up to take it.
I cast two rod about 3 minutes apart to let the flies drop.
Rick
FG, how fun are those biots to tie on “upside down”? They look darn good!
Beadhead nymphs and small jigs under an indicator is my favorite way to catch big bluegills. Watching a Thingamabobber take a dive is a hoot!
Great looking flies; I’m sure tired of breaking off flies due to snags. What test fluro do you folks use?
Most of the time I use 4 lb. Will sometime go up to 8 lb. depending on where I will be fishing. I carry spools of both with me all the time.
George
4# or 6# for me
Beautiful jigs, but I must admit you guys have a lot more patience than I do. 
I fish jigs this size on UL spinning gear. They cast easily and sink well on light mono or fluoro. (I have never tried the 1/120 oz jigs, though – only 1/80 and 1/64.)