Strike Indicator

[JackM]

I have to step in to agree with gfen. Fishing is fun mainly for the same reason throwing a ball against the wall is fun when you are a kid. You do a purposeful action and get an expected result. Avid nymphers whose reason for nymphing is to catch more fish drift nymphs and expect to catch fish. When they succeed, they are happy. Avid dry fly anglers do the same. But the avid dry fly angler is not just trying to catch fish, he or she is trying to catch them in a specific way. The fact that nymphing is so much more effective at catching fish means absolutely nothing to an angler whose goal is to catch them in a certain, but different way.

When forced to "nymph" I like the thingamabobber. It casts well and floats well and shows slight movement better than anything else I have been forced to tie on my leader.

 

[ant]

LOL! Me fishing a Copper John would be like a dry fly guy sinking a nymph! Ha! Ha! Ha!!!! I agree fully, next spring will be my dry fly year. Copper John's I'll think about it. LOL!!

Here's one of my secrets..... take an elk hair caddis and fish it 3-5" below the surface, stripping it in like a wooly bugger. I get more hits on it that way than when I fish it on the surface. And your still fishing dry flies.

 

[wetnet]

JackM wrote:
I have to step in to agree with gfen. Fishing is fun mainly for the same reason throwing a ball against the wall is fun when you are a kid. You do a purposeful action and get an expected result. Avid nymphers whose reason for nymphing is to catch more fish drift nymphs and expect to catch fish. When they succeed, they are happy. Avid dry fly anglers do the same. But the avid dry fly angler is not just trying to catch fish, he or she is trying to catch them in a specific way. The fact that nymphing is so much more effective at catching fish means absolutely nothing to an angler whose goal is to catch them in a certain, but different way.

When forced to "nymph" I like the thingamabobber. It casts well and floats well and shows slight movement better than anything else I have been forced to tie on my leader.[/quote

Woahoo slow that horse down.! Mr. Jack M. There are so many things wrong with your statements. If you think I do not use a purposeful action for a purposeful result and it's all about catching more fish then please delete my pathetic picture of me and my poor little black nosed dace. If you do not think I target fish and catch them you are sooo very wrong. I just don't do it visually by watching their lips smack a fly on the surface. I watch my line. I watch it so carefully I'm starting to tell the difference between the current taking it back upstream or a sneaky brown holding my fly. You Sir can feel free to watch the smack but don't underestimate the technique that I have worked pretty hard to develop. I think I'm more proud to have caught that tiny sardine than if I caught a 21" big boy. I don't brag much about my fishing ability but you watch a line stop in a current and set on a fish that weighs less than a ounce of fish on your line and tell me it's some random luck. Grrrrrrr! Bad Maurice!! OH!! and I don't need a Thingamabobber to do it either! Grrr! LOL!!

To ant, I have used a Copper John. I just seem to get them stuck on rocks more than most others.

 

[stevehalupka]

Here's one of my secrets..... take an elk hair caddis and fish it 3-5" below the surface, stripping it in like a wooly bugger. I get more hits on it that way than when I fish it on the surface. And your still fishing dry flies.

Yes! I do the same. I'll throw wets all day before I repetitively roll cast a quarter up, wait on the dead drift, then swing it. Boring if you ask me. Swinging, drifting with movement, stripping wets entices hits like that of a streamer swing...

nymphing was the first technique I tackled when starting, and I find it the easiest method out there. Really, how hard is it to high stick or throw mends for a true dead drift??

 

[JackM]

Wetnet, I don't know where you got some of the opinions you attributed to me, but if you think you got them from my post which you quoted in full, you must have only been reading between the lines or even between each word. Me thinks you sound defensive for no good reason.

An argument was put forth that wet fly fishing had to be exciting because, as the argument went: catching fish is the goal and you catch more fish with nymphs. This argument is the only thing "wrong" because it fails to account for people like gfen and I who do not have the goal of catching "more fish," but rather have the goal of catching fish a certain way.

I did not and do not deny that a nymph angler can approach the matter the same way, in fact, I said as much and you don't have to project insecurities into my post to read that.

Please keep in mind, I did not advance the erroneous argument that assumed without proof or data that the goal of any given angler is "just to catch fish."

Oh, and I do not always use an indicator to nymph. In fact, excepting when steelhead fishing (where I almost always use one), when forced to fish subsurface for trout, I usually do so "naked," warts and all.

 

[wetnet]

Oh Jack!

Just don't say forced to nymph in any reply to me and there will be no further problems. LOL!

You are such a dry fly snob! I'm serious reread your post! I've learned to laugh more and more and If I don't right away just give me some time. But you are a dry fly snob and I truly believe that just since you "THINK" (You remember this you beginners!) have mastered the better techniques that will teach these young guys something and you say the words "You are forced to nymph" you have left them short. It is not a just dry fly snob comment, it is an overall comment that tells someone that there is no hope to strive for that...... anything....whatever it is...? Jack I can't be mad at you any more than anyone that has tunnel vision. I have it. I can't see a dry fly to save my life, but I sure can nab a fish in all sorts of currents on a nymph and it's not so easy.. so how about you lose your thingambobber the next time you are forced to nymph and give my world a whirl. It's all good Jack. Sorry been way bust to ruffle your feathers earlier.

 

[wetnet]

Sorry steelhead is another post

 

[JackM]

I choose to emphasize being "forced" to nymph because to me, that is how it feels. As you note I am a dryfly snob. But that does not mean I think my preferences should be anyone else's, nor that my preference is on some elevated level of FFing.

Really, that message was the reason I was forced to speak up and agree with gfen.

In many ways, however, I do hold mild contempt for any angler who has the primary goal of merely catching fish in any (legal) way possible. It isn't a mindset becoming of our sport, and that and that alone is my arrogance.

 

[troutslammer]

you walk upon a male or female fly fishing and say "how is it going " as u have noticed they are continously casting drys to fish that aren't rising , they reply " i thought for sure on a day like this the fish would be rising " "how is it going for you " the nymph fishermen or woman replys " i caught some underneath " the dry fly purists replys " i hate nymph fishing !!! " with a disgusted voice , i say " your already disgusted u can't catch em using the method you prefer so why not add a little more disgust and catch a few " lol food for thought !!! i must agree however that most of "us" go to the stream in hopes of a blizzard hatch but catching trout in 8 " of gin clear riffles on nymphs is really rewarding too !

 

[trowpa]

Wetnet - i'm with ya...but frankly... the dry fly snobs don't bother me in the least. More nymphing water open to me then

FWIW - i fished dry flies exclusively for the first 4 years of my fly fishing journey. Then i discovered nymphing and fell in love. to each their own. Jack loves his dries. Let him enjoy them. We love our nymphs. We will enjoy them. No need to claim one technique is "superior".

And Jack - if it was really about catching fish regardless of technique - we'd be using spinners and minnows!

 

[midnightangler]

nymphing was the first technique I tackled when starting, and I find it the easiest method out there. Really, how hard is it to high stick or throw mends for a true dead drift??

Its not hard to get a good nymphing drift. The main challenge of nymphing is strike detection. Even with a strike indicator you will fail to detect a lot of strikes. Certainly you won't miss as many strikes fishing wet flies down & across!

 

[JackM]

trowpa wrote:
And Jack - if it was really about catching fish regardless of technique - we'd be using spinners and minnows!

Don't kid yourself about how many of us do.

 

[JasonS]

wetnet wrote:
I don't brag much about my fishing ability but you watch a line stop in a current and set on a fish that weighs less than a ounce of fish on your line and tell me it's some random luck.

Not to rain on your parade but it was most likely random luck that you caught that dace. Don't want to get into a long discussion of how the mind works/psychology/etc but most likely you are not taking into account all the times you've thought you've seen your line twitch and when you set there was nothing on the end. This time there just happened to be a dace. I'm not saying this to diminish your fishing skills, but i see this type of thinking on a daily basis. Selective memory I think is the term for it.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Many times when your line or indicator hesitates it is nothing more than your weight or fly hitting or rubbing the bottom. When you lift there is nothing because a fish was'nt present . I have caught many small fish nymphing. It is not that unusual. Last Tuesday I caught a small brown on Spring Creek that would'nt push much more than 3" and then caught a rainbow about the same length later that same day. Anybody that nymph fishes will agree you will catch small fish at times but then again you may just catch the biggest trout of your life! Nymphing done properly is not luck. Congratulations on the Dace, what concentration!

 

[JasonS]

WildTigerTrout wrote:
Many times when your line or indicator hesitates it is nothing more than your weight or fly hitting or rubbing the bottom. When you lift there is nothing because a fish was'nt present . I have caught many small fish nymphing. It is not that unusual. Last Tuesday I caught a small brown on Spring Creek that would'nt push much more than 3" and then caught a rainbow about the same length later that same day. Anybody that nymph fishes will agree you will catch small fish at times but then again you may just catch the biggest trout of your life! Nymphing done properly is not luck. Congratulations on the Dace, what concentration!

Your first two lines are exactly what I'm talking about. If you are using proper nymphing technique then you should be setting the hook every time you see your line stop, twitch, etc. Most times it's just your fly or weight getting hung up or bumping the bottom, but sometimes it's a fish. Luck is a bad word to use here because there is no such thing as luck. There are just various possible outcomes, and catching a 3" dace is one of them. Now with that said, if you saw the line twitch and immediately thought "3 inch dace" prior to setting the hook, then you do indeed have sick nymphing skills and I bow to you.

 

[gfen]

wetnet wrote:
You are such a dry fly snob! I'm serious reread your post! I've learned to laugh more and more and If I don't right away just give me some time. But you are a dry fly snob and I truly believe that just since you "THINK" (You remember this you beginners!) have mastered the better techniques that will teach these young guys something and you say the words "You are forced to nymph" you have left them short.

Some people enjoy catching fish.
Some people enjoy fishing.

Some people think fishing is about catching fish.
Some people think fishing is about fishing.

Some people think so abstractly about it, they fish with hookless flies. They really enjoy fishing, alot.

wetnet wrote:but I sure can nab a fish in all sorts of currents on a nymph and it's not so easy.. so how about you lose your thingambobber the next time you are forced to nymph and give my world a whirl.

Honestly, its even easier WITHOUT the indicator because you can feel the thing ticking along.

I don't care if you can nab a fish with the power of your mind, because I don't care about nabbing fish. Neither does Jack. I care about having a good time, and my idea of a good time is fishing.

 

[jdaddy]

She is clearly coming from a competitive fishing mindset, so it really does not apply to you Jerry.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I enjoy fishing too but I love catching! I split the difference and fish with barbless hooks! LOL. I'll also fish a dry fly as quick as the next guy, but only if I see fish rising.With the exception of terrestials if trout are not rising IMO your are just practicing your casting. I can do that in my backyard.

 

[JackM]

Clearly you do not know how to simulate a hatch by repeatedly casting a dry fly to the same drift.

 

[gfen]

jdaddy wrote:
She is clearly coming from a competitive fishing mindset, so it really does not apply to you Jerry.

Actually, alot of the Other Side is coming from a competitive mindset here.. Wet's perspective isn't competitive, its organized competitive sports.

Hers is actually more understandable to me, even if I think its missing "the point*," I understand that she operates on a level of an organized sport where its out to win it, and her kid's fishing is geared towards that goal, then surely hers would be, too.

Others', though, are every bit as competitive, they're just not out to win a game.


* - The point is nebulous. There is no cake. The cake is a lie.