[andrewp]

I have just returned from a weeks fishing  at various  venues in the Aberdeenshire area and was suprised at the amount of anglers using 'strike indicators' what is the general opinion of this method of fishing ?

I personally do not think that this is fly fishing but would welcome any comments from other anglers.When my father taught me to fish almost 40 years ago, it was for roach and rudd and we used the float and worm or maggot method and to me the strike indicator and 'bunny leech' seem to be very similiar.

Looking forward to your views regarding this.
 :
Tight lines
Andrew

[Andy.X.]

i think they should be banned in competitions.
i think if your fly fishing you should fly fish.
when i was young and knew no better ,if we struggled to catch any fish with the spinners or worms we would sometimes resort to some fly fishing with the spinning rod and real.A bubble float was cast out with a fly on the leader and it was very effective and accurate and a lot less hassel but now i'm a bit older i think its a bit like cheating.
i think the bite indicators are just the same.
lets stop making fly fishing lazy.

[ANDREW BEBBINGTON]

hi had a few conversations on this before

http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276

there is a link on that posting to another conversation that was had previously

andrew

[Dave Gordon]

The problem i see here is that if we ban everything we do not personally agree with is that soon we will all fish dry fly and be 100% C&R. We all fish for different reasons and different solutions please us. I fish for enjoyment, as I am sure we all do but to be the company is often as important as the fishing. Fishing a bobber allows me to relax, have a laugh and often not catch too many fish! I dont concentrate too hard and really dont catch too many fish, a bobber allows my relaxation. The thought of fishing in a boat on my own appauls me, i have never and would not do it. Suppose it also halfs Mike income, and reduces fishing space for us all. Come to think of it i would concentrate twice as hard
 would catch twice as many fish and still be miserable!

I think we have to remember that we are largely fishing artificial ponds with artificial fish in them, no insult meant but there fish did not get to 2 lb plus feeding on buzzers, lets not kid ourselves. These are no chalk streams.

I taught my son to fish with a bobber so he could add another sense to his fishing. I have taken countless new fishers to Haddo and the like, and often the river anglers need a little help, the bobber can do this.

Lets face it, a more sucessfull method of fishing is an intermediate line and a cats whisker, or cormorant whipped past their noses, it is probably as easy, just waz it out, rest and whip it back. As the line is tight it will hook its self and job done.


On a perfect day at haddo, loch to ourselves, dry flies, sunny and two weights.

Normal day, loch 3/4 full, bobbers until the rise starts, then drys. laugh till i pop and catch about 12 at best. Lets not ban anything that does not damage the fish or the enjoyment of others.

[Stuart Smith]

i use them when im fishing on my local river.its very small and normally u cant get to the water and control your line very well or not at all.i use bugs quite alot and the indicator lets me set my leader length and get my flys in the wright place.

before i got indicators i was useing a dry fly but it was quite hard to see and got pulled under alot so the foam floats great and because its so bright i can see it well into dark

stuart

[Andrews brother]

I have got to agree with my brother on this one. Whilst not being a purist as such the sight of these "pike bungs" floating around ready to trap the unwary does not do it for me, far better to try to outwit your quarry with a well tied imitation of a natural prey item. After all, if , when you go fly fishing, all you want to do is haul out fish after fish with this method then call it indicator fishing instead.

[Sandy Nelson]

On old ground here.

The use of floats when flyfishing is personal preference, i personally find i can spot more takes from the tip of my flyline when fishing small nymphs/buzzers than when using a bung, however for those with less than perfect eyesight they are ideal.
They also allow you to present a buzzer perfectly as the float will allow the fly to rise and fall in the water at the desired depth just like the real thing, one could argue that fishing a buzzer under a bung is more imitative fishing than not using one and remember fishing New Zealand style with a nymph suspended beneath a Big Dry is the same thing just a bit more subtle. :
I too taught my son to fish intially with a float, but he soon got tired trying to cast it, and once he realised he could spot the takes without it, his casting improved and so did his fishing, all down to concentration as dave says.
I know on some waters you can find guys lined up sitting on boxes with a fritz hung beneath half a dead sheep, unfortunatley this is an unwelcome side effect, but fundamentally the bung has its place in any anglers armoury, if they choose it.

As for chalkstreams Dave where do the fish come from? it too is generally an artificial enviroment and the fish certainly don't grow to the size feeding on mayflys and iron blues, now trout in the Rivers of the NE are a different ball game

Sandy

[spencie]

I think it's a case of each to there own. I sometimes fish an indicator sometimes not. I am in the same boat as Dave and usually fish with company which is half the enjoyment of the day, having a laugh and a joke. Catching is a bonus and thanks to stocked ponds this is usually not too big a problem although evem the best anglers can blank if the fish are not playing.

[duncanm]

I am in the same boat as Dave.

That boat would be pretty low in the water!

[Andy.X.]

would it be ok to use a bubble float and spinning rod on a stocked pond as long as you used babrles hooks and returned all fish undamaged ??

[wildfisher]

Bottom line is if you don't like it don't do it.

As long as the angler fishes within the rules it is no one else's business.

Personally I find the spectacle of a Rapala with 3 trebles being ripped through the water on the council beats of the Don far more irritating and disruptive to fly fishers.  However, it is none of my business – these chaps are fishing within the rules so if I don’t like it I can bugger off and fish somewhere else where it is not within the rules and I won’t see it

[Dave Gordon]

that boat would be very low in the water!

However is fly fishing perhaps a weighted lure/fly cast with a spinning rod. Tube fly and a small spinning rod is clearly spinning. cast a wsw or cats whisker with a small weight across any trout pond and wind like hell and they will take it, whether the weight is the line or a weight on the line, same arguement. now what is worse, buzzer under bobber or spun cats whisker.


the delivery system is irrelevant, the fly rod is only a fly rod if the line is   the weight to deliver the fly. Add a fixed spool reel and it is no longer fly tackle. Fly rods have been used for years for casting baits and as such are no longer fly tackle and would be banned from all trout fisheries i know. i know of no white and green natural fly/ insect/fish an inch long or so clearly this is lure and not fly fishing, if one wants top get complicated about it.

I know many who fish worms from flyrods, but under no missunderstanding is this fly fishing

So what is the issue, a indecator of take or weight. A bobber is lighter than water so floats, so weight is not the issue, delivery system is the fly line, so that is not the issue. It catches less fish that a sinking line, clearly that is not the issue.

The point over chalk streams is well made, they are artificial too, not bad, just false, forgot that! point well made, have not fished hampshire in 25 years so forgive me, spose even then they were stocked

I am a salmon fisher, fish ponds when salmon are not in abbundance or fishing with duncan, children or the elderly.

Dont do competitions, think hard or try hard. 100% C&R ideally enjoy what i do.

Is my bobber a problem to anyone else, no, efficient, not the way i do it!

I have sinking and intermediate lines, perhaps i should start trying hairy rapalas.

Mike, now what is the thinking re frodin tubes, clearly a fly, allowed on Park on the Dee so ok, but tell you what, waz a collie out over any trout pond and i would give councelling or ban, minimum.

Take a bobber to the test or park and it would not work,  not banned simply inefficient, sinking line and a cats on the test, now we get a ban for life!

Lets relax re this, bobbers work for the lazy, new and beginners. I am lazy, and a happy angler. I would happily ban one to a boat, and make each  boat take two, more space for me an my bobber. Dont do competitions so no issue for me here.

So, in conclusion, ban one in a boat , any lure worked like on spining tackle or any fly out of place on the test! (joke)

[Dave Gordon]

wild fisher

respect

took me 300 words to say that

D

[duncanm]

This is an old discussion.  I am sure that somewhere GEM Skues discusses using sheep’s wool as an indicator for use while nymph fishing - is anybody going to say he was not fly fishing??  Although he was roundly criticized for his techniques (as was Frank Sawyer by the purists (?) of the day)

In this age of super advanced carbon fiber rods, aerospace aluminum reels with carbon fiber drag systems, state of the art lines with hi-vis coatings designed to float higher in the water than ever before, fluorocarbon leader material, flies tied on chemically sharpened hooks using all synthetic materials and tungsten bead heads can anybody honestly say the "soul" and the definition of fly fishing depends on the use or non use of a tiny bit of foam rubber?

It all (As I have said before) seems a little bit precious to me.

[Tam Greenock]

Tried it once, didnt like it, wont do it again