Why Strike Indicators?

[Rusty_Shackelford]

I am new and cannot understand why anyone uses one instead of a dry dropper rig? Is it because it's easier to adjust depth with the indicator? I realize for some really heavy rigs they may be needed for enough buoyancy, but for small nymphs what's the advantage? To me indicator fishing feels a lot like bobber fishing which I never enjoyed even with conventional fishing and I have little to no interest in it.

 

[troutbert]

Rusty_Shackelford wrote:
I am new and cannot understand why anyone uses one instead of a dry dropper rig? Is it because it's easier to adjust depth with the indicator? I realize for some really heavy rigs they may be needed for enough buoyancy, but for small nymphs what's the advantage? To me indicator fishing feels a lot like bobber fishing which I never enjoyed even with conventional fishing and I have little to no interest in it.

In that case, continue not using them. I don't use them.

 

[ColdBore]

Rusty_Shackelford wrote:

I am new and cannot understand why anyone uses one instead of a dry dropper rig? I realize for some really heavy rigs they may be needed for enough buoyancy, but for small nymphs what's the advantage?

Besides needing more flotation for a multiple nymph rig, with heavily weighted nymphs, an indicator is much easier to see than a small dry fly. Aside from the better visibility in faster, rougher water, some of us are getting to where keeping track of a small dry fly is just harder to see than it was a few years (decades) ago.

And, an indicator doesn't get waterlogged and need re-dressed with floatant like a dry fly.

Rusty_Shackelford wrote:

Is it because it's easier to adjust depth with the indicator?

It is definitely easier to make quick adjustments with an indicator.

Rusty_Shackelford wrote:

To me indicator fishing feels a lot like bobber fishing which I never enjoyed even with conventional fishing and I have little to no interest in it.

I found that a small indicator really helped me as I learned to nymph fish. However, like you, I always felt a little bit "dirty" using one, and wanted to get away from them. Now I tightline nymph, with the lessons that I learned by watching an indicator being a definite help to my new pursuit.

 

[ColdBore]

troutbert wrote:

In that case, continue not using them.

I couldn't help but laugh when I read this! :lol: :-D

It's absolutely true. If you don't like it, just don't do it. Pretty simple.

 

[GeneBeam]

I sorry but I do use strike indicators when wet fly or nymph fishing, I old, 71 and blind in one eye, I always dreamed that when I retired, that I did just late last year, all I wanted to do is fly fish, in fact it is only type of fishing that I have done since 1976. I don’t own any other fishing gear. No, I don’t use bobbers but strike indicators or a dry fly as an indicator, yes. If you don’t want to use one go for it, but don’t think you are better than someone who uses one or needs to use one to fly fish. We have enough elitist fly fishmen in the world we don’t need you looking down their nose to someone just because they use strike indicators. Even though I have been fly-fishing since 1976, I have only been doing it off and on and by my own estimation I’m still a novice but trying to get better every time I go out, using strike indicators.

 

[Bocianka1]

Often the water i fish has multiple types of water in very close proximity. for example, a dam with deep pools and heavy current followed closely by riffle water with shallow pockets, then a slow deeper bend with undercut banks around the next corner.

I like to cover water and not stand in one place for too long and having an indicator allows me to continue using my nymphs and droppers but adjust the depth quickly to math the different types of water.

I typically prefer a dry dropper rig when fishing in the spring when i'll target specific types of water. the dry fly will usually have a cleaner landing and spook the fish less when compared to foam indicators. I've just picked up some New Zealand Wool, but haven't had a chance to experiment with this yet, but that might be a better option for not spooking the fish. Another reason i prefer the dry dropper is that I've had curious trout try to eat my indicators on several occasions. Given the choice, i'd rather use a dry fly and give the fish another option that actually has a hook on it.

All that being said, I still use indicators, especially during the winter months. The action on dries is often non-existent for the winter fishing that i get to experience making a dry fly irrelevant and the ease of changing depths quickly makes them a good choice for my style of nymph fishing.

 

[troutbert]

Try this method.

Use a standard rod, like a 9 ft 5 wt or 8 1/2 ft 5 wt. Or whatever you got.

Use a standard leader like a 9 ft leader tapered to 5x.

Tie on a standard nymph, like beadhead Walts worm.

Then just FISH. Just cast it out and drift it through good looking spots. Drift it through pocket water. Through runs. Where riffs flow into pools.

Start out with a short line, fishing the water close to you. Then gradually pull out more line, fishing the water further away.

As you get more line out, you will encounter drag, but there are ways to manage that.

The upstream reach cast is IMHO the most important part of managing drag.

You can also do line mends during the drift to limit drag.

I started fly fishing when indicators did not exist, and this is the way we fished. It is similar to some wet fly techniques. And also to how people fished bait with fly rods, which was common back then. Some people still do, but it is much less common now.

 

[Rusty_Shackelford]

Thanks for sharing y'all, love hearing how everyone makes everything work.

 

[troutbert]

Here's how most people fished worms or salmon eggs with a fly rod.

Standard rod, standard line, standard leader.

On the end: hook with worm.

Weight: a split shot about 10 - 12 inches up.

Fishing technique: Throw it out there and drift it through good looking pockets, deep runs, undercut banks, where riffles flow into pools, etc.

Just tie on a mayfly nymph or caddis larva imitation instead of bait and otherwise it's exactly the same.

 

[ColdBore]

troutbert wrote:

Here's how most people fished worms or salmon eggs with a fly rod.



Just tie on a mayfly nymph or caddis larva imitation instead of bait and otherwise it's exactly the same.

I'd have to disagree with that.

A bait "take" is much different than an artificial nymph "take".

With bait, it tends to be a bit more assertive or aggressive, making it much easier to feel than the subtle take of a nymph.

And with bait, the fish will hold it much longer, due to taste and texture. With an artificial fly, it is often take-and-spit-out in less than a second. You need to be much more aware, and much quicker on the hookset. That's hard to do if you never even knew the fish took the nymph.

To illustrate that a little further, when was the last time you saw a fish hooked deep in the throat with a fly, yet it happens frequently with bait.

 

[afishinado]

ColdBore wrote:

troutbert wrote:

Here's how most people fished worms or salmon eggs with a fly rod.



Just tie on a mayfly nymph or caddis larva imitation instead of bait and otherwise it's exactly the same.

I'd have to disagree with that.

A bait "take" is much different than an artificial nymph "take".

With bait, it tends to be a bit more assertive or aggressive, making it much easier to feel than the subtle take of a nymph.

And with bait, the fish will hold it much longer, due to taste and texture. With an artificial fly, it is often take-and-spit-out in less than a second. You need to be much more aware, and much quicker on the hookset. That's hard to do if you never even knew the fish took the nymph.

To illustrate that a little further, when was the last time you saw a fish hooked deep in the throat with a fly, yet it happens frequently with bait.

Troutbert's statement "Just tie on a mayfly nymph or caddis larva imitation instead of bait and otherwise it's exactly the same" has a lot of truth to it.

I started FFing as a kid. At the time all I knew was how to fish with bait for trout and I had no teacher. Basically I learned to cast ("sling" actually) my fly up and across and follow it down. I set the hook at any movement or change in my line drift.

I caught plenty of trout. In fact sometimes many more than I did using bait, especially later in the season. I also encourage perspective anglers to keep things simple. Don't worry about matching the hatch, indicators, specialized rods and outfits, etc. Cast your line in the stream and pay attention. That's really all it takes. As time goes on you can and will refine your methods and rigs, but it shouldn't be rocket science.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

In low light I may use one as my eye sight even with glasses doesn't always see the dry fly.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

I agree with Troutbert re: fishing flies like bait. Old timers like me fished bait early in the season and switched when the hatches started coming off. Some used old bass casting line rather than a fly line to bait fish. Leader ,split shot 10 to 12 inches up from the hook,add a garden hackle and it was game on. GG
Remember Salted Minnows and the needle used to rig them?

 

[wbranch]

I never enjoyed even with conventional fishing and I have little to no interest in it.

Then don't do it. Learn to nymph fish without the indicator. I know many excellent fly fishers who either don't, or only rarely, use indicators. While in some streams they have there place in most free stone, or tail waters, they are unnecessary.

If a stream you are fishing has a lot of aquatic vegetation and you are getting green gunk on your fly often then applying an indicator to keep the fly above the vegetation is a good thing. The only time I would ever use an indicator when trout fishing is when I fish for steelhead in streams and rivers with a lot of loose shale on the bottom instead of the more common rocks and boulders. Loose shale seems to be a fly magnet. I've had days before I started to use an indicator when I could lose a dozen nymphs. Adding an indicator brings that loss pretty much to zero.

 

[Baron]

I've used Indicators and I haven't . Caught about the same. Indicators help in visually challenging conditions such as rough water, murkiness and nightfall.
It was a year ago that I began FF. Initially I thought that FF were snooty. After all they won't call a bobber a bobber right? Then I walked into a fly shop in VT and My fishing world changed. I found out how down-to-earth most fly fishermen are and I now love it above all other forms of fishing.
So, to be fair, an indicator doesn't only suspend your presentation and tell you when you have a bite, as does a bobber, but it also tells you where you are just drifting to just before dark in turbulent water, in the pouring rain, while using otherwise invisible bait in a stream you may or may not know. After a while, once I know the stream, the rain stops, the conditions ease and I can see I no longer need the indicator; though I may change out types of nymphs more often.
Still new at it.

 

[hunter1]

When I was young ,I fished nymphs with out an indicator. Now at 70, My eye's aren't as sharp as they were then and I have to wear glasses. Now I nymph with an indicator and use indicator dry's when I can get away with them.

 

[BruceC2C]

When I first started FF, all I wanted to do was swing
streamers downstream.
Like you, I had ZERO interest in nymphing\ indicator FF.

Being that I fish 12 mos/yr...eventually I came to understand the fundamentals and productivity of fishing upstream..using an indicator..and developing your skills to pay attention.

May I suggest commit to
6 consecutive outings nymphing upstream with Thingamabobber
6 consecutive outings nymphing upstream with " sticky/palsa type"
6 consecutive...with any other type indicators that appeal to you

On paper...this sounds boring and painful.

Provided u r working fishy water,
and have an abundant variety of BB spit shot that u change according to the situation, your " a ha" moment is just around the corner.

 

[OldLefty]

I've been fishing nymphs since '72 and, I confess, I'm sure I still have a lot to learn.

My professional statement is: No matter what you employ, whether it be a sighter built into your leader, an attached strike indicator (which includes the dry in a dry- dropper rig) or the line to leader connection, it provides you a means by which you can detect an abnormality/interruption in drift.

There are pros and cons with all of them. For example, with a sighter system fishing in windy conditions can be a problem since the rod tip is usually positioned high above the water and wind loves to push on anything; hence, the wind can push our flies right out of the drift. With most indicators on the leader the surface tension of the water will actually help to hold it in place on the surface and we get the drift we desire. And, as others have already stated, with most strike indicators which we attach to the leader we can adjust their position quickly and easily which is necessary to be able to vary the depth at which our flies ride to be able to effectively fish the varying depths and current speeds we encounter. It's amazing how much difference there is in recognizing the need for change and not doing it and actually making that change. And herein lies a drawback to using any indicator, dry fly in a dry-dropper included, which can't be readily repositioned. There are a lot of trout that will not be offered an opportunity to see your nymph. Sometimes that won't mean much; however, other times it can mean everything.

Oh, and to the statement about putting a split shot on the leader and attach a nymph at the end and fish, well, this is the way I fished for more years than I want to count. And, believe it or not, many who know me could vouch for the fact I fooled a fair number of trout over those years. As for strike indicators, I used what is now referred to as a sighter long before we were introduced to that term. And now, there's the drop-shot rig for fishing nymphs. It's great!

It all comes down to "whatever trips your trigger."

 

[afishinado]

OldLefty wrote:
I've been fishing nymphs since '72 and, I confess, I'm sure I still have a lot to learn.

My professional statement is: No matter what you employ, whether it be a sighter built into your leader, an attached strike indicator (which includes the dry in a dry- dropper rig) or the line to leader connection, it provides you a means by which you can detect an abnormality/interruption in drift.

There are pros and cons with all of them. For example, with a sighter system fishing in windy conditions can be a problem since the rod tip is usually positioned high above the water and wind loves to push on anything; hence, the wind can push our flies right out of the drift. With most indicators on the leader the surface tension of the water will actually help to hold it in place on the surface and we get the drift we desire. And, as others have already stated, with most strike indicators which we attach to the leader we can adjust their position quickly and easily which is necessary to be able to vary the depth at which our flies ride to be able to effectively fish the varying depths and current speeds we encounter. It's amazing how much difference there is in recognizing the need for change and not doing it and actually making that change. And herein lies a drawback to using any indicator, dry fly in a dry-dropper included, which can't be readily repositioned. There are a lot of trout that will not be offered an opportunity to see your nymph. Sometimes that won't mean much; however, other times it can mean everything.

Oh, and to the statement about putting a split shot on the leader and attach a nymph at the end and fish, well, this is the way I fished for more years than I want to count. And, believe it or not, many who know me could vouch for the fact I fooled a fair number of trout over those years. As for strike indicators, I used what is now referred to as a sighter long before we were introduced to that term. And now, there's the drop-shot rig for fishing nymphs. It's great!

It all comes down to "whatever trips your trigger."

I also tight-lined nymphed with a sighter (yellow Stren at the time) way back-in-the-day.

I have "dropshot" nymphed for way over 30 years before it was named.

The threads from this site only go back to December of 2006 for technical reasons.

I found a post I wrote about rigging splitshot on the point from back in 2007 here.

There isn't a whole lot of things that are really new. Many of the "new" things were also done long ago and just not written about or known by many.

 

[troutbert]

afishinado wrote:

I also tight-lined nymphed with a sighter (yellow Stren at the time) way back-in-the-day.

Did you come up with that on your own?

If not, who did you learn it from?

I'm curious about the origins of this.