Stillwater indicator watchers: What's your approach?
- Thread starter Matt B
- Start date
Since I fish from shore a lot and can't get ideal wind positioning I too have found a mend sometimes is just the ticket to draw a hit.While fishing one of our area Cutthroat lakes I stumbled onto a quirky 'method'.
A breeze came up in the afternoon and blew a belly in my line so I made a frustrated mend that moved the indicator a foot or two and it was fish on.
The 'method' gave me the giggles as it continued to repeat itself on almost every mend.
When I came to shore a fishless, gear guy that was watching me from the bank asked alot of questions and said he thought he just might take up fly fishing.
Flybox1
Steelhead
Flourocarbon leaders (Berkley Vanish). 10' 12lb / 10' 10lb / 6' 8lb / swivel----and then whatever length tippet material
At least 1 tungsten-beaded fly.
If the water is calm, jiggle it.
FMD (Frustration Mitigation Device) - I hate reconfirming depth/bobber placement after landing fish with dropping forceps over the side, so do it only once by adding a dacron sliding bobber stop to my leader, set right at water line. This allows me to adjust my bobber relative to the bobber stop and keep my mids in the zone. Only need to reset the bobber stop when I change locations/depths.
At least 1 tungsten-beaded fly.
If the water is calm, jiggle it.
FMD (Frustration Mitigation Device) - I hate reconfirming depth/bobber placement after landing fish with dropping forceps over the side, so do it only once by adding a dacron sliding bobber stop to my leader, set right at water line. This allows me to adjust my bobber relative to the bobber stop and keep my mids in the zone. Only need to reset the bobber stop when I change locations/depths.
Old news on this technique. This is what you do if you don’t have a fish finder.
Full sink line, 4 ft leader, 2 feet of tippet, chironomid. Hemostat clipped to the fly. Sink the rig until you touch bottom. Reel in slack until line is tight. Strip line back in. Remove hemostat. Cast line back out and let it sink to vertical. It’s not at or near the bottom. Extremely and painfully slow begin to retrieve line with your finger tips until either a fish strikes or you see your tippet. If a fish strikes, reel in any slack you gathered. Now you know the depth fish are holding at. Do not use your reel to play the fish in. C&R the fish, and cast your line back out for round #2.
If this doesn’t work after several minutes, you might consider moving somewhere else on the water.
Full sink line, 4 ft leader, 2 feet of tippet, chironomid. Hemostat clipped to the fly. Sink the rig until you touch bottom. Reel in slack until line is tight. Strip line back in. Remove hemostat. Cast line back out and let it sink to vertical. It’s not at or near the bottom. Extremely and painfully slow begin to retrieve line with your finger tips until either a fish strikes or you see your tippet. If a fish strikes, reel in any slack you gathered. Now you know the depth fish are holding at. Do not use your reel to play the fish in. C&R the fish, and cast your line back out for round #2.
If this doesn’t work after several minutes, you might consider moving somewhere else on the water.
I haven't fish in a lake in over 15 years. When I moved to Montana I sold all my floating shit, But if things work out this summer I might invest in another float tube. But then I'll need some fins. It seems like it never ends. If you don't need one thing you need another.
Well, you don't have to have fins if you just get a friend to tow you out there, just ask @Ceviche.
I've fished with Ceviche when I lived in Washington. I don't think that he wants to come to Montana to tow me around.
Lasso a strong-lookin’ duck!
Hey, I have that indicator! Works great for Tuna.
tkww
Steelhead
Friends don't let friends use TMC 2487s.
In all seriousness, I've had very modest-sized fish straighten those out. I've switched to Daiichi 1150s altogether for scud-style hooks, as I like the inline eye.IMO thin leaders can't be emphasized enough for achieving a fast sink, regardless of what other weight is involved--beads, a *gasp* swivel, split, whatever. If you do loop to-loop to your fly line, you do need some thicker stuff for a short butt or else the thin stuff will eventually cut your into fly line.
I think adding tippet to a regular leader has fairly abrupt diminishing returns, as most of that thick mono butt/taper just isn't suitable for (fast) sinking unless you have a significantly heavy anchor fly. So you end up with a scenario where it's adding 6-7' (or more) to you leader length, but isn't contributing anything to your sinking depth. Granted if you're using a leach or jig or something really heavy to get down, you can probably reasonably sink a few more feet of that thick mono. But then you're also casting something heavy (plus a bobber) on even longer leader.
Excellent point!!!
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.Friends don't let friends use TMC 2487s.
IMO thin leaders can't be emphasized enough for achieving a fast sink, regardless of what other weight is involved--beads, a *gasp* swivel, split, whatever. If you do loop to-loop to your fly line, you do need some thicker stuff for a short butt or else the thin stuff will eventually cut your into fly line.
I think adding tippet to a regular leader has fairly abrupt diminishing returns, as most of that thick mono butt/taper just isn't suitable for (fast) sinking unless you have a significantly heavy anchor fly. So you end up with a scenario where it's adding 6-7' (or more) to you leader length, but isn't contributing anything to your sinking depth. Granted if you're using a leach or jig or something really heavy to get down, you can probably reasonably sink a few more feet of that thick mono. But then you're also casting something heavy (plus a bobber) on even longer leader.
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.
Fred - I haven't watched Part 2 of the Brian/Flip videos. You ain't a dip. Get that float tube inflated, it won't be too much longer:That's some good info Pat.
I guess that's why he's Flip and I'm a Dip.
I'm going to set up some line/leaders that way.
Tungsten works great…16 gauge, #6’s.No doubt that old patterns worked, and that lots of fish were caught before tungsten, but you can’t deny that tungsten makes things better.
1. Tungsten puts your flies in the zone faster.
2. Tungsten gives you a better understanding of the exact zone you are fishing in, because it will stretch your leader out more true to the depth you set your indicator.
3. Tungsten holds your indicator more securely so you can notice micro takes more effectively. This means that lower weight doesn’t pin your indicator in a specific orientation allowing the indicator to move more with wind and waves.
4. Tungsten flows off my tongue better than Brass
BDD
Steelhead
Some of my earliest fishing experiences was anchored up and still fishing 10 or 12 feet down for silvers in Baker and Shannon. You had to watch the rod tip for long periods. When it got slow, you could slowly hand-twist retrieve the line to to keep your hands busy and it would often trigger a strike. But I learned to patiently wait for a strike. That patience carried over for bobber fishing with a fly rod. I don't mind sitting and waiting for long periods watching a bobber. Fortunately, when things are on (which is often during prime time spring season) you don't have to wait long. When things slow down a little, I do the same thing as I did as a kid waiting for action...slowly strip in with a hand-twist retrieve to keep your mind busy. It often leads to a takedown as well.
Since I rarely fish chironomids, but will if it’s slow, do you use these for that much leader out?
my go to rig, works great..get a lot more hookups tying the first chrom to a blood knot tag instaad of tying 'inline' with the second chrom tied to it's hook...much more natural floating and bobbing freely. Instead of the swivel I use a micro ring..can go all season changing nothing but tippet.
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.
Something very similar.
