Stillwater indicator watchers: What's your approach?

Matt B said:
They are okay in the river, but I like oblong indicators in stillwater to better reveal those light takes. I actually like the indicator to sit a little bit on its side, ideally. It's usually easy to see when the indicator goes down for a strong take, but if a fish takes and creates some slack, if the indi is partly on its side, when the slack forms below the indi, the indi will move.
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Sometimes, the indicator will actually come up. The flies if heavy enough will pull the indicator slightly down. When a fish takes and releases that tension, it can cause the bottom of the indicator to move up.


On a side note, pretty much all of your thoughts on indicators and swivels are mine. As the self proclaimed Stillwater indicator expert in this group, that is high praise coming from me 😁
 
Have bags of Iracators, and they work OK. But have issues with them pre releasing, or not releasing. Grabbing peg with teeth, snapping off fish, etc. Trick seems to be to use a new one every few hours.

Have now tried the "Plumbobber" for two days, and they seem really good. Fun little uprights that pop vertical when flys get to depth. Yes, $7.50 for two, (three sizes, two colors). Heck, this will be the same $ as gallon of fuel shortly....

Plumbobber strike indicator bobber for fly fishing

Plumbobber strike indicator releases from grip on leader to sliding for fishing deep water
www.plumbobber.com

Work really well, easy to reset, tubing sleeve over bottom peg, with extended attached loop they cast just fine. They are one piece, so if you have a break off, and no swivel, just go get them on stillwater. Don't see how to break one, though will likely find a way, easing the cost. Best to use sliding rubber bobber stops to remember the magic depth.

Wouldn't, don't need to use on streams.

Another benefit, when the plumbobber doesn't release and it gets to rod top, a slight tug and it always then releases.

Ron
 
Buzzy said:
Hahaha, I haven't used the 2487 for years and when I did it was for a floating something or other. I too like Daiichi 1150's.

RE: the bold and underlined portion of your comments. In another thread, @SashaD's first post included a link to a video from Mad River Outfiters. I watched it and then let Utube roll to their next video, this one:

I cut the loops off my fly lines, not because of them being "Eeeevil" (Love the way Mr. Pallot says "evil") but initially because the leader loop knot would sometimes hang up in the rod tip, I DON'T LIKE THAT. I digress, the video is very interesting to me from the perspective of turning a leader over, energy transfer and mostly, the knot Flip Pallot uses to build his leader.

btw - I agree with you regarding tapered leaders for long leader indicator use. @troutpocket's leader formulas work for me.
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I was thinking of this when I read the post above, good info. The dude in the orange hat is a bit verbose in my opinion.
 
PhilR said:
Instead of sinking your forceps, make a bunch of depth finders by gluing some foam through the loop on a quarter ounce casting sinker. Hook the foam with your bottom fly and send it down. Less risk of losing your forceps to DJs locker
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Matt B said:
This is an effective rig, but the thing I dislike about this setup is if I want to run the bugs shallow, say 3-5 feet, the swivel or tippet ring prevents me from setting the indi close to the flies.
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A couple years ago I started drilling out the indicator pegs. Make the hole big enough to let the swivel pass through. Solves this problem pretty easily.
 
GRSMITH51 said:
A couple years ago I started drilling out the indicator pegs. Make the hole big enough to let the swivel pass through. Solves this problem pretty easily.
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I drilled out some pegs recently. https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/ind...ers-whats-your-approach.471/page-5#post-20487
I don't see how you would get it wide enough to fit a swivel through, unless you're using one of those super duper tiny swivels, in which case, I don't see the point. I thought guys like swivels for extra weight, er, I mean to keep your leader from getting all twisty :rolleyes:. The tiny ones aren't heavy enough to help sink your flies.
I was able to get the pegs I drilled out wide enough to fit a surgeon's knot through, which was good enough. Any wider and there'd be no peg left.
 
Matt B said:
I drilled out some pegs recently. https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/ind...ers-whats-your-approach.471/page-5#post-20487
I don't see how you would get it wide enough to fit a swivel through, unless you're using one of those super duper tiny swivels, in which case, I don't see the point. I thought guys like swivels for extra weight, er, I mean to keep your leader from getting all twisty :rolleyes:. The tiny ones aren't heavy enough to help sink your flies.
I was able to get the pegs I drilled out wide enough to fit a surgeon's knot through, which was good enough. Any wider and there'd be no peg left.
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I do use the smallest swivel I can, more for changing setup than anything else. I also cut about 3/16" off the narrow end of the peg for weight reduction since it serves no purpose that I can tell.
 
GRSMITH51 said:
I do use the smallest swivel I can, more for changing setup than anything else. I also cut about 3/16" off the narrow end of the peg for weight reduction since it serves no purpose that I can tell.
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Got it, sounds like it functions like a tippet ring for you. What do you use to cut the peg?
 
GRSMITH51 said:
I do use the smallest swivel I can, more for changing setup than anything else. I also cut about 3/16" off the narrow end of the peg for weight reduction since it serves no purpose that I can tell.
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You truly got my attention with the swivel being small enough to go through the drilled-out peg. What size, exactly, are your "smallest" swivels? Thanks.
 
Buzzy said:
You truly got my attention with the swivel being small enough to go through the drilled-out peg. What size, exactly, are your "smallest" swivels? Thanks.
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I don’t remember where I got these. The ‘zon? I think they had a 20 lb version too. These are allegedly 30 lb. CDC5B305-7A1F-41BD-BDA6-C66D58D4B339.jpeg2D23FE3D-2F83-4789-AE6E-605539B460DF.jpeg
 
This is similar to the TDC I always liked, sz. 16. Except for the red floss it could be a swivel. I'd just rather not miss another chance.
swivelish.jpg
 
Buzzy said:
Apparently Phil Rawley, in his new book, talks about having swivels in three colors: helps determine what colour midge to put on and as we know, in BC, one fly per rod.
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Phil has all sorts of interesting ideas that stem from his BC days.
 
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