Year after year, I see anglers making the same mistakes when they use indicators while nymphing large rivers for trout and steelhead. They’ll fish a run with no luck, then one of my clients will step in and hook a fish in the first few casts. The previous anglers were fishing the right flies, but they didn’t have the right method nailed down. After 15 years of guiding on the lower Sacramento, Feather, and Yuba Rivers in Northern California, I’ve logged thousands of hours of indicator nymphing on large rivers and can help you become a better indicator nymph fisher in the conditions that prevail there. Small adjustments to your methods when fishing these rivers will help you hook more fish, whether you’re a novice or an advanced angler.
Basics of Indicator Nymphing
First, some basics. Indicator fishing on larger rivers is generally done with an angler fishing flies beneath some kind of float — a bobber, yarn, balloon, or whatever. This glorified bobber fishing is incredibly effective on California’s medium-to-large rivers, such as the lower sections of the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, American, Yuba, Feather, and Sacramento, as well as the Trinity, Russian, Eel, Mad, and Smith. Most of these river sections are tailwaters below major dams, and their gradient tends to be less than on many freestone rivers, creating lots of deep water and pools where indicator nymphing work well.
By contrast, Czech or tight-line nymphing without a floating indicator is an effective method for fishing freestone rivers and smaller streams, where the gradient tends to be greater and the water flows faster. Large rocks and boulders within the stream create seams and
pockets of slower current where fish will hold and wait for food to come to them. Tight-line nymphing is the preferred method when fishing this pocket water, because you can place your flies precisely in the seam or beside the pocket and keep them longer in the zone where the fish are found. If using a floating indicator, conversely, the fast, turbulent water can grab it and rip the flies out of your control and away from the fish. That’s why tight-line nymphing prevails on small, fast creeks, as well as on such rivers as the Pit River, the upper Sacramento River, and the McCloud River, where pocket water dominates the terrain.
Generally speaking, an angler fishing with an indicator on larger rivers is fishing with multiple flies and a piece of split shot. The flies alone don’t have enough weight to sink through the higher flows of the bigger rivers, down to where the steelhead and trout are holding. The split shot needs to be near the bottom of the river or tapping along it to help ensure the flies will be seen and eaten by the fish. Typically, large, heavily weighted flies are not used with indicator nymphing, because you want the fly to drift naturally along the bottom of the river without it getting stuck. A heavy fly does not drift naturally. The general idea behind indicator nymphing is to cast upstream and allow your indicator to float along the surface with no tension or minimal tension on your flyline. Mending line is crucial to the success of indicator nymphing. To reduce tension on the fly line, the angler has to mend it frequently, rolling the line in the opposite direction from the direction in which the currents are pulling it at the moment. It is very important that when an angler mends, the majority of the line goes above or below the indicator, opposite to where the currents involved want to take it.
When there is no tension on your fly line, the indicator floats along the water’s surface without drag and allows the split shot to sink your flies to the bottom of the river, where they drift like real nymphs, eggs, or minnows. When the fish eats the fly, the angler sees the floating indicator go under and quickly sets the hook. Then the battle is on.
Common Mistakes
The number-one mistake that I see anglers make on larger rivers is not rigging their leaders properly for the depth of the water. Remember, the goal here is to get your flies near the bottom, where the trout and steelhead hold. Often, when I float past someone while guiding a large river, they are fishing about 5 or 6 feet of leader between their indicator and their flies. Generally speaking, this leader is too short for nymphing California’s bigger rivers. If they see my clients hook fish, they’ll frequently ask me how deep we’re fishing and which flies we’re using. When I tell them, they’ll most often reply that they’re at the same depth with the same flies. The mistake that many fly fishers make when talking about leader length is that they measure it from the indicator to the flies. This is wrong! Guides and indicator-nymphing experts will tell you that the industry standard is to measure from the indicator to the split shot.
I know that this doesn’t sound like a big difference, but it makes all the difference in the world. I am going to assume that most people fish about 18 inches between the split shot and first fly and then another 18 inches to the second fly. So from the split shot to the second fly there is 3 feet of leader. If you’re like many anglers who are fishing a 6-foot leader, that means you have 3 feet of leader to the split shot and then 3 feet of leader to the end fly. But if I am fishing at 6 feet from the indicator to the split shot, that means my flies are 3 feet deeper in the water column, compared with the rig that others are fishing. Three feet is a huge difference when trying to get the flies to the fish at the bottom of big Western rivers. Most of the time, a fish will not move more than a foot or two to eat a fly, so positioning the fly at the right depth is critical. On these larger rivers, 6 to 12 inches can make the difference between hooking fish or watching your indicator float on top of the water all day.
The second-biggest mistake that most anglers make on bigger rivers is they don’t fish with enough weight. One question that I get frequently from my clients is, “What makes a good indicator nymph fisher on these larger rivers?” My answer is always the same — “One split shot.” This sounds odd, but it is true. If your flies are not near or bouncing on the bottom, the chances of hooking a fish are greatly reduced. Yes, every once in a while there will be a willing fish actively feeding higher in the water column, but most of the time, the fish in larger rivers are resting on the bottom, waiting for food to come to them. The angler will know that the flies have reached the bottom when the indicator starts going under because it has been impeded by something on the bottom. In my opinion, if an angler is not hitting the bottom every 10 to 15 casts, more split shot are needed.
If you put on a second split shot and still don’t hit the bottom, try adding length to the leader. However if the indicator is going under every cast or even every eight casts, either the amount of split shot or the length of the leader needs to be reduced. Remember, the goal is to get a natural drift while keeping your flies close to the bottom without getting stuck all the time.
Never be afraid to get down deep on large rivers. Most of the big-river guides I know use the Dinsmore tin egg-shaped split shot, and each year, fewer and fewer guides and anglers are using lead. The tin shot keeps its shape better than lead and thus is usable for a longer time.
Many anglers use small split shot. I see them putting on BB-size split shot when fishing a river that is flowing between 1,000 and 2,000 cubic feet per second. I don’t even own BB-size split shot. In Dinsmore egg split shot, a BB is
0.4 grams. The rivers I fish flow between 1,000 to 15,000 cfs, and the smallest split shot that I own and use is size AAA. The AAA split shot weighs 0.8 grams. So right from the start, I am using twice as much weight as many anglers. And more than two-thirds of the time, I am fishing with two AAAs or 1.6 grams of weight on my leader. When the bigger California rivers get really high during the summer, I sometimes put on a third AAA, to make 2.2 grams. So the next time you are on a large river, don’t be afraid to use enough weight to get down deep to the fish.
The third mistake that I see many anglers making on larger rivers is their unwillingness to make adjustments on the water. The most respected indicator nymph fishers I know frequently change the length of their leader and the amount of split shot based on the spot they are fishing. Adjusting your leader length is fairly simple — you either add or subtract tippet or move an adjustable indicator up or down.
Let’s be honest: most of us are lazy when we get on the river, but if you want to hook more fish, being willing to make adjustments will help ensure that you experience more hookups. If the goal is getting the flies to the bottom of a large river and you are fishing a spot that looks about seven feet deep, set the leader and amount of split shot according to that depth and current strength. When you move to the next spot and the run is five feet deep, shorten the leader length to match the new depth of the water. Then when the third spot is nine feet deep, go deeper and heavier, always with the goal of trying to hit the bottom.
I try to set the leader length from the indicator to the split shot about 6 inches longer than the depth of the water that I’m fishing, because I want to make sure that my flies are on the bottom, but are not constantly getting stuck. If you fish leaders a lot longer than the depth of the water, the odds are you are going to lose many flies and make your local fly shop incredibly happy with increased sales. If you’re having difficulty estimating water depth and thus the length of the leader needed, figure out the width of your wingspan, fingertip to fingertip, and use that as a rough visual measuring stick. The human measuring stick will never let an angler down.
Try to remember the depth and number of split shot that you use in each fishing spot. The more you fish a river, the more knowledgeable you will become about each riffle, run, and hole and the exact amount of weight and leader length needed. (This is also useful advice if you’re tight-line nymphing.) You will know that in spot A, you fish with a 7-foot leader and two AAAs, while in spot B, you fish with a 4-foot leader and one AAA. If you can remember the river in this way, you will not have to continually guess with your leader length and weight as you move to each spot. You’ll be more efficient, and you’ll have more fun.
Indicator nymphing is a simple, but very effective fishing method on larger rivers. If you avoid these three common mistakes, you’ll not only have more success, you’ll realize that fly fishing isn’t necessarily as complex as some people make it out to be. Fishing with floating indicators is, at its core, the same as the bobber fishing you did as a kid, only with a little more activity when it comes to mending lines and achieving depth.
