10-23-2008, 10:46 PM
Let's take it in order.
The rolled-cylinder indicators do float. Just not as high as the punched disc type. If one isn't enough, a second one, a few inches away, does the trick: and gives you a better line of sight towards your fly.
Indicators, used correctly, are primarily used to give a visible indication of where your fly is. That's why they're called "indicators" instead of "bobbers."
While floating indicators can be used for nymphing, they are more often used for one of two reasons: to, in effect, shorten the leader length, or to show you where a small, otherwise invisible, fly might be on the surface.
If you add up the materials used as indicators, however, you'll discover that more of them do not float than do. Yarn, for instance, is a subsurface indicator.
If your leader is straight, as it should be, you then can follow the indicator as it follows the nymph, and you'll know precisely where it is, and when (hopefully) a fish picks it up.
Floating lines all used to sink, eventually. Modern, high-end floating lines do not. If your line is sinking (absent some reason like a weighted fly pulling it down), try cleaning it, and it should float high and dry.
Generally you're right about heat. It's not a good idea. But those tubes will shrink just from the heat of a hair dryer, without affecting the leader material.
Building leaders of any kind, like tying flies, is a nice off-season activity. Those leaders were all pre-built (Jimmy's been gone several years, now, but I still have a few of them in my kit), and designed specifically for nymphing for smallmouth.
Brook
[signature]
The rolled-cylinder indicators do float. Just not as high as the punched disc type. If one isn't enough, a second one, a few inches away, does the trick: and gives you a better line of sight towards your fly.
Indicators, used correctly, are primarily used to give a visible indication of where your fly is. That's why they're called "indicators" instead of "bobbers."
While floating indicators can be used for nymphing, they are more often used for one of two reasons: to, in effect, shorten the leader length, or to show you where a small, otherwise invisible, fly might be on the surface.
If you add up the materials used as indicators, however, you'll discover that more of them do not float than do. Yarn, for instance, is a subsurface indicator.
If your leader is straight, as it should be, you then can follow the indicator as it follows the nymph, and you'll know precisely where it is, and when (hopefully) a fish picks it up.
Floating lines all used to sink, eventually. Modern, high-end floating lines do not. If your line is sinking (absent some reason like a weighted fly pulling it down), try cleaning it, and it should float high and dry.
Generally you're right about heat. It's not a good idea. But those tubes will shrink just from the heat of a hair dryer, without affecting the leader material.
Building leaders of any kind, like tying flies, is a nice off-season activity. Those leaders were all pre-built (Jimmy's been gone several years, now, but I still have a few of them in my kit), and designed specifically for nymphing for smallmouth.
Brook
[signature]