Whilst i appreciate they arent everyones cup of tea im just wondering which are the most popular?
Thanks in advance.

This is a can of worms in here!

The great debate over indicators and no indicators will rage on until infinity.

With the appearance of the Thingummy Bobber we are one step closer to float fishing.

A bushy dry fly with a buzzer hung under it is just acceptable as fly fishing, anything else is float fishing in my book.

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Roddy

"Sod it! I am going out to sink a klink!"

ok. so it pretty much is float fishing.... so what, it doesnt mean its wrong or right, and why should we put barriers up between coarse and game- infact all disciplines of fishing for that matter.

Floats are indicators, theres no denying, and indicators that float, well need I say. theres no reason why it should be frowned upon IMHO.

now, indicator types.

dry fly- something like a parachute should do the trick, i use a reverse para, klinks are very popular for this. most of the time the dropper is attached to the bend of the hook. good for single nymphs, im no expert with these but i always seem to get tangles but it works great on its day, and ive found your equally likely to get a take on the dry or dropper if the fish are in the right mood.

putty- will not kink your leader, and very easy to apply, and floats good. a bit heavy on your line on the cast, but no problem when your fishing short range. I like to use it in small blobs a foot or so apart along the leader- you get to see every little movement on the leader, great for czech style tactics on rivers where the fly line doesnt touch the water.

thingymabobber- ultra bouyant, i use this for deep holes on rivers with ultra heavy nymphs, very effective too. although they have a tendency to kink the leader.

yarn- good for lighter flies in riffles, i like to use a dull colour that wont spook the fish, such as grey. sits in the surface so it 'sticks' when mending line- grouse might explain better. depending on how you attach them they can kink the leader.

plastic twist on ones, e.g. football indicators- ok, float ok, sit a bit high, kink the leader slightly but are good for altering depth of flies.

other indicators i am yet to use-

stren coil- a tight coil of stiff, brightly coloured mono that when greased up floats high and acts as a shock absorber to taking fish.

im sure theres a few ive forgotten

You've forgotten the 14 bite indicators you were born with - 15 if you include the brain which I am afraid is sometimes not in much evidence on this subject.

You've got 10 fingers and thumbs, two eyes and two ears; all of which act as bite indicators under the right circumstances. So, unless you are prepared to mutilate yourself in the pursuit of purism, I suggest you live with the fact.

Like all bright ideas in advancing techniques it is not long before some character comes along and adapts or alters it. Viz the booby. Originally designed and intended to be fished dead slow along the bottom in early spring it now comes in so many guises that the originator regrets he ever invented it. People actually ledger the thing, and if that's how you get your rocks off, so be it, but it ain't fly fishin'.

Now the indicator. Originally intended to be used at concrete bowl reservoirs like Farmoor to present buzzers and other small imitative patterns slowly and at depth. People now use it to suspend Blobs 3 feet down! Like the booby originator I really regret putting pen to paper in 1989 telling people about the indicator we had been using since 1978. I first used it from a drifting boat in 1988, and it worked. Having proved the fact I didn't bother much more about that aspect, but others did and the indicator ended up getting banned from competitions.

I use it on rivers - sometimes. When I do I use one of the Fish Pimps which I have adapted - see, at it again! - so that it is fixed to a short length of braid between the fly line and the leader. On reservoirs I still use the original tactic of long leader, small flies slowly fished or static if possible, and the egg yarn indicator attached to the braid butt piece. It works, I catch fish, and I see no reason to apologise for that any more than for using a DI3 15 seconds down.

I do hope that those who denigrate the indicator but suggest using a dry fly instead make sure they don't strike when the dry disappears, because to do so puts them in exactly the same position as the man using an indicator pure and simple.

Back to the original question.........I use fish pimps - have tried all else but fish pimps are the best, in my books that is..!

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BEN!!!!!! How could you????

Hi, Carpmagic,
if you look at the post i put in under sight sticks,
this was taking from an article in Trout fisherman.
Indicators have always been a controversial subject,along with Booby Fishing,
at a local loch indicators are banned,
but you can cast your fly rod with a booby, put the rod down and have a cup of tea,
And wait till your rod tip starts to shake,
There is a large sign at this fishery that says Fly fishing only?

Dear Me! The things that pass for fly-fishing these days. May as well put up a sign saying "Any Method".

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*
How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

~~*~~~~~
*****©(

FOG - I like a bit of pimping when I go fishing

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I use fish pimps, i modify them by taking out the rubber core and glueing in a piece of cotton bud tube, then i peg them in position with a small piece of toothpick...

I fail to see the difference between watching a pimp for bites and watching your braided loop... the water i fish is fast and broken in places, you would struggle to see the bites...

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