Indicator fishing for steelhead

[flytrekker1007]

I cannot for the life of me catch a steelhead on an indicator setup. I run a standard 9 ft tapered lead with 18" of fluorocarbon attached with a blood knot. One to two split shots with a bead pegged 1-2". My real question is how far to set the indicator. If the water is 5 feet deep, do I set my indicator 5 feet up from the split shot? Or more or less? I have hooked up more times swinging flies then I have on an indicator and bead, and it should be the complete opposite.

 

[Casting Call]

f-t how deep in the colum does your fly go when yoou hook-up? Set your indicator that far above your bead. Now your float fishing with a fly rod. It takes a soft mend to keep your line simi tight. GL Tony

 

[flytrekker1007]

When I'm swinging I know I'm get down in the colum when I let it sink. I usually hook up when my fly is half way through the swing. So, back to the indicator question. If the water is five feet deep. My indicator should be five feet from my bead, not my split shot. Won't this make my indicator pull my weight and bead on the river bed? Doesn't seem natural. Right?

 

[flytrekker1007]

Keep my line tight while indicator fishing? Does this make the split shot and bead ride downstream of the indicator?

 

[halibuthitman]

You need scope, if the water is fast, or just shallow you need 1/3 more than the depth in 4 ft of water i would set my indicator 6 ft up.. As the water deepens and slows down you can use less scope. A bead needs to be on or very near the bottom to be efficient. Warning: if you are fishing in too shallow of water with a 10 ft leader your gonna get called a flosser. One must have pretty thick skin to bead fish with a fly rod. Dont try to mend all the drag out of your presentation, some drag is required to let the indicator keep up with the bead which is often down stream of the indicator when you think its still behind it. I never set the hook bead fishing, i simple lift the rod and let the fish set the hook-

 

[flytrekker1007]

So the amount of split shot is pretty important. You want the amount of shot to match the speed of the water because you want the bead or fly going about the same speed as the flow, correct?

 

[halibuthitman]

You want to use as little weight as possible, a bead is pretty buoyant and moves arount a lot. For some reason a "natural" drag free drift is not important with beads or plastic worms.. Both defy the laws of drag free drift- too much weight will definitely hurt your hook-up ratio and you will snag bottom a lot-

 

[flytrekker1007]

I was really confused, because I was under the impretion that the splitshot wasn't supposed to be ticking the bottom. But if I use less split shot to get a more natural drift I might as well ditch the stupid indicator.

 

[halibuthitman]

I was really confused, because I was under the impretion that the splitshot wasn't supposed to be ticking the bottom. But if I use less split shot to get a more natural drift I might as well ditch the stupid indicator.

The shot definitely should hit the bottom and beads work very poorly without the indicator.. The bead needs to roll over rocks and bounce , its part of the presentation. Now if you were float fishing heavy beads on a float rod you could fish the bead up off the bottom... Its different

 

[flytrekker1007]

I have always been able to catch trout on a nymph setup, I guess I just need to think in the same terms and stop over thinking it.

 

[flytrekker1007]

Makes sense, the heavy bead is acting more like a split shot or a bead head nymph.

 

[halibuthitman]

Focus on tighter faster water with a broken surface under 4 ft deep and slways keep the float slightly ahead of the bead, and smear some pearl white nail polish on all your beads... Its money-

 

[flytrekker1007]

Thanks for the tips. I'm getting desperate for a steelhead. This is my second year fishing for them on the fly. I had a lot more success swing for them last winter than I've had trying to nymph for them this winter. But the rivers have kinda been low this year too.