Losing the indicator

[Fly guy]

So lately I've been trying to nymph more without an indicator and I find that with a good flow of water it works well.  The issue I find is when fish are holding in the frog water behind a rootwad or other obstructions my nymphs do not move unless I suspend them via the use of an indicator.  Do any of you fellas have any tips for fishing slower water and seams without the use of an indicator? 

[tjm]

I pretend I'm using worms, I cast beyond and hand twist retrieve, repeat,- this can be either bottom crawling or with greased leader working in the film.  I pretend the fly line is the indicator and strip line to set the hook. An upstream tuck cast puts the fly down fairly quick, but upstream I probably have to strip retrieve to keep up with the slack.  A real fly fisherman probably does it differently. If I even know what seams are, I don't consciously think about them. I used to be a really good worm fisher and all my fly fishing is based on  using live bait.

[Fly guy]

Interesting I'll give it a go.  My father was big into lures and artificials so I never fished worms and transitioned to a fly rod pretty quick as I can't cast a bait caster or spinning rig worth a darn.

[fishinwrench]

Here is how I attempt to explain it to my bobber drifting brethren: 

First off you pretty much need moving water. Nymphing in stillwater is a different game.  The key is to stay tight enough to the fly (or split shot) that any interception of the fly immediately causes things to start tightening up.  Think of each cast as "setting a trap". So that anything that picks up your fly immediately causes everything to start tightening up.

Don't concentrate on the end of your fly line, but instead concentrate on the ANGLE of the fly line between the tip of your rod and the water surface. Remember that you are an "ANGLER" (key word there).  Do your best to maintain that angle as the fly drifts....and anytime that angle changes, and things begin to tighten up....SET THE HOOK.  As long as you are doing your part correctly the only things that can cause the line to tighten up are #1. Your fly has bumped the bottom. #2. Your line or leader has drifted across an opposing current seam. #3. Your fly is in a fishes mouth. 

So cast. 

Then mend to "set the trap".

Then become an "angler"...in the true sense of the word.  Follow the TRAP with your rod tip while maintaining a constant angle in the line between rod tip and water surface,  and watch for something (uncontrollable) to change.

If you are bumping bottom too often, or not often enough....alter your weight or your tippet length. 

If you are always getting swung into opposing currents....change your positioning, or get better at mending.

Now that THAT is out of the way, my favorite method for fishing dead slick water behind boulders is to sight-fish it.  Use a fly with a hotspot, or something you can see....and set the hook when it suddenly disappears.

[tjm]

Ted Fay and Joe Kimsey were the guys that I read about using Euro-Nymping before it was Euro-nymphing in a place called California ~1970-'80.(they had learned this Euro-nymplig from a local Indian- Ted Towendolly)
Some reading that might help you or might not- it's not my cuppa, I like to keep the rod lower and maintain feel. I read about all this back in the late '70s, in various magazines and perhaps a book and did learn to do it on New England brooks, I was also learning various wet  and dry fly techniques from many authors and books, if it was in print about fly fishing  @1976, I likely read/studied it, but the greatest influence on my fly fishing techniques was no doubt the previous success with night crawlers and the ideas presented in the books got adapted to my worm tactics. I used Humphrey's Cobra mono instead of fly line and with heavy nymphs or shot, it is a good method- sorta throwing the jig & shot rather than casting the line and the line towing the fly, but,  as time passed I learned that my preference is a heavier line and lightly weighted nymphs.

http://gbflycasters.org/Library_articles/Eric Palmer/Towendolly-Oct-2017.pdf
https://news.orvis.com/fly-fishing/nymphing-method-shocked-fly-fishing-world
http://wildwatersflyfishing.com/2019/04/
https://www.sfgate.com/outdoors/article/Fly-fisher-Fay-s-influence-still-impacts-5425867.php
http://www.danblanton.com/viewarchive.php?id=101670&archivefile=/arch200803.php
https://www.billkiene.com/forums/showthread.php?33061-Ted-Fay-had-a-big-effect-on-fly-fishing-trout-in-Nor-Cal
https://troutbitten.com/2016/01/13/tight-line-nymph-rig/

[XP 590]

bobberlivesmatter#

[laker67]

When I started fly fishing as a kid back in the 50's, you only used bobbers on a cane pole. The so called indicator was yet to be invented. By the time they came along, I was well into sight fishing. Most indicator fishermen are so in tuned to watching the indicator, that they fail to notice what is actually happening in the water around them. Them little flashes that you see, out of the corner of your eye from time to time, are usually a fish tasting your fly then spitting it back out as the indicator travels on undisturbed. I think that the person who invented the indicator also had a role in the self driving car. 

[fshndoug]

I am with you laker.I would rather sight fish than use an indicator.Although indicators certainly have their place,you can't complain about the success we have had by not using them all that often.Watch the fish and pay attention to their behavior and you will catch more of them.

[fishinwrench]

Drifting midges in really slow water is the only time I'll use a bobber, and I gotta be pretty desperate for a bite to resort to that.   Nothing wrong with it, if it works for you and you enjoy it, but I just find it mind numbing and generally less effective.

[snagged in outlet 3]

I grew without them too.  But I use them a lot drifting surf and turf.  Boat fishing high water especially.