PODCAST: Critical Nymphing Concepts #3 — Suspension Advantages– S10, Ep3

by | Jan 28, 2024 | 14 comments

Announcements | Nymphing | The Troutbitten Podcast

 The Troutbitten Podcast is available everywhere that you listen to your podcasts.

** Note **  The Podcast Player, along with links to your favorite players is below.

In the third part of this critical nymphing concepts series, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of fishing with a suspender. 

We cover the following
  • Indicator styles and why the type matters
  • Not all indicators are created equal
  • Choosing tight line or indy, or combing both
  • What you lose by adding and indy
  • What you gain by adding an indy
  • Complications of an indy style
  • What is commonly missed when using an indy
  • Reading an indicator
  • A few more tips  . . .
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | It’s a Suspender, Not Just an Indicator
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Nymphing Tight Line to the Indicator Style — Tight Line Advantage to the Indicator
READ: Troutbitten | The Backing Barrel Might Be the Best Sighter Ever
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line to the Indicator — a Mono Rig Variant
READ: Troutbitten | Your Indicator is Too Big
READ: Troutbitten | The Dorsey Yarn Indicator — Everything You Need to Know and  a Little More

Here’s the podcast . . .

Listen with the player above, or . . .

Find the Troutbitten podcast on any of these services:

— Apple Podcasts
— Spotify
— Google Podcasts
— Amazon Music
. . . and everywhere else where you listen to podcasts.

You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .

podcast.troutbitten.com

Season Ten of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week with episode four. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.

Fish hard, friends.

 

** Donate ** If you enjoy this podcast, please consider a donation. Your support is what keeps this Troutbitten project funded. Scroll below to find the Donate Button. And thank you.

 

Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com

 

Share This Article . . .

Since 2014 and 1500+ articles deep
Troutbitten is a free resource for all anglers.
Your support is greatly appreciated.

– Explore These Post Tags –

Euro-Nymphing | indicator fishing | nymphing | nymphing tips | podcast | tight line nymphing
-- Jump to the Comments Section --
-- Jump to the Comments Section --

Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

Apparel

Stickers

Books

More from this Category

Lane, Depth and Speed – What Matters Most In a Nymph Drift (VIDEO)

Lane, Depth and Speed – What Matters Most In a Nymph Drift (VIDEO)

, ,

When a nymph disappears under the surface, it’s easy to settle for a drift that’s merely good enough . . . but we shouldn’t. Underwater currents are complex, and a convincing nymph drift depends on three things: lane, depth and speed. No matter the rig — tight line or indicator, Mono Rig or fly line — we must understand what the nymph is doing and make deliberate choices about its path. And while all three elements matter, trout are more particular about some drift qualities than others. In this video, I break down each element and rank them by importance, with one goal in mind: better dead drifts and more consistent fishing.

PODCAST: Doing the Opposite – S21, Ep1 (VIDEO and AUDIO)

PODCAST: Doing the Opposite – S21, Ep1 (VIDEO and AUDIO)

,

My friends are here with me to begin season twenty-one with a conversation about doing the opposite. Because if you’re struggling out there on the water, if the net hasn’t been wet in a while and the trout seem to disagree with everything you suggest, then maybe you should do the opposite.

To quote Jerry Seinfeld’s advice to George . . . “If every instinct you have is wrong, the opposite would have to be right.”

UPDATE ON EVENT: The Troutbitten Film Festival

UPDATE ON EVENT: The Troutbitten Film Festival

,

Troutbitten is hosting a Film Festival at New Trail Brewing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and we want you to be there. We’ll gather to share fishing stories, a few beers and good times. The event will feature door prizes with gear from many of the best companies in the fly fishing world, and we’ll have awards for some of the selected films.

The Troutbitten Film Festival features genuine experiences. It’s about the woods and the water. It’s about wild places. It’s about the friendships and stories we all collect from a life on the water. It’s not about exotic locations. It’s not a big fish contest or a big camera contest. If you’re resourceful, you can create something beautiful and endearing for the Troutbitten Film Festival with your iPhone.

Building the Troutbitten Mono Rig – Reels, Lines, Materials, Connections and Knots (VIDEO)

Building the Troutbitten Mono Rig – Reels, Lines, Materials, Connections and Knots (VIDEO)

, , ,

For over a decade, I’ve written and talked about fishing a Mono Rig for all underwater presentations — nymphs with and without an indicator, with and without split shot, dry dropper, streamers of all shapes and sizes and even pure dry flies.

I’ve detailed the formulas for my favorite leaders in many places, but I’ve never put everything together from the ground up. This video answers the most frequent questions about reels, fly lines, leader connections, materials and knots. No matter what tight line leader you choose to build, the principles shown here apply.

Fishing With Visible Flies — Learning From What You Can See (VIDEO)

Fishing With Visible Flies — Learning From What You Can See (VIDEO)

, , , , ,

Seeing the fly is one of the most enjoyable aspects of fishing. But there’s a world of education inherent, too. Watch the fly dance and fall as it mixes with the currents. Notice how it responds to rod tip animation and line strips. Then see a trout materialize around the fly and judge its reaction. Visible flies are teachers. Whether dries, wets, nymphs or streamers, watching the fly helps us refine the techniques that catch fish.

What do you think?

Be part of the Troutbitten community of ideas.
Be helpful. And be nice.

14 Comments

  1. Robin on January 29, 2024 at 10:28 am

    Thank you for this podcast. I started fly fishing after retirement at 70 yrs old and am lucky enough to fish in English chalk streams thanks to an angling society. It took me nearly two years to catch my first wild brown trout, but it was worth the wait and learning process. Your podcast is both informative and useful. Thank you both.

    Reply
  2. Mike on January 29, 2024 at 1:47 pm

    Say good bye to tungsten say hello to drop shot the old bass technique works very well with trout

    Reply
    • Domenick Swentosky on January 30, 2024 at 11:18 am

      Hi MIke.

      I really enjoy drop shot nymphing, and I do it a lot. I published a six-part series on drop shot tactics, found here:

      https://troutbitten.com/category/drop-shot-nymphing/

      Personally, I’d never give up tungsten beads, weighted flies or traditional split shot tactics either. Drop shot just doesn’t work all the time as well as the other tactics. Likewise, the other way around.

      Cheers.
      Dom

      Reply
  3. John Mathews on January 29, 2024 at 7:50 pm

    A good principle I’ve picked up from stillwater (thanks Phil Rowley) is the deeper the indicator is set, the closer you should fish it.

    The reason for applying this in stillwater is for reaction time – the indication of a take is delayed in proportion to the distance between the fly and the indicator. If you fish too far away, you don’t have enough time to set the hook before the fish has spit the fly out. This effect is stronger when you introduce currents that obscure the connection between indicator and fly, particularly if you fish deeper.

    Reply
    • Domenick Swentosky on January 30, 2024 at 11:14 am

      Good stuff. I understand your points. However . . .

      “he deeper the indicator is set, the closer you should fish it.”

      I tend to fish further away when I’m fishing deeper, simply because I probably can’t wade the water. I always have the mindset to get as close as I can. And if I’m having to set an indy deep, I likely can’t wade very close to the target either.

      Make sense?
      Dom

      Reply
  4. John on January 30, 2024 at 8:31 pm

    For sure. It’s better to fish and risk a miss than to not fish at all. In a river you also have the benefit of it being harder for the fish to spit the fly because of the tension between the indi, tippet and fly generated by the current.

    Reply
  5. Doug Puryear on February 11, 2024 at 11:15 am

    I love your podcast and articles. You have literally changed my life.
    Everything in the same lane is so Vimportant. I have no idea how to do that???
    Gratefully.
    Doug

    Reply
  6. Mark Leone on April 4, 2024 at 12:36 pm

    Hey, Dom. I’m a little behind on the podcasts, so just finished this one up this morning. Loved it as I love them all.

    Question: You talk about how one of the benefits of fishing with an indy is that it does a great job laterally (in terms of lane-to-lane) of keeping you in the right lane, provided you’ve cast it properly. Makes sense. But I’m wondering: Does fishing an indy put you at risk of creating drag VERTICALLY, in terms of column-to-column? We know the water column is moving differently 4 inches off the bed as it’s moving four inches under the surface, yes? Can’t one make the argument that the faster-moving surface water will unnaturally pull the fly faster than it should be traveling in that slower water just above the bed, thereby creating drag between columns? Apologies if you’ve already addressed this. And for the record, I love fishing with an indy. I just happened to have this thought this morning. Thank you, my friend.

    Reply
    • Domenick Swentosky on April 4, 2024 at 1:29 pm

      Hi Mark. Good question. My short answer is NO! If things are set up well, then the Indy is bossed around much more by the nymphs below than the surface currents. Your question reveals one of the biggest misconceptions about indicators. It’s a bad assumption that I’ve seen people make full videos about — that the Indy has to go surface speed because that’s where it’s sitting. But that is simply not true.

      With the right rig, intentional casting and awareness, we can read the Indy just like we read the sighter.

      Here’s the article you need:

      https://troutbitten.com/2018/10/17/nymphing-how-to-read-a-fly-fishing-indicator-what-you-might-be-missing/
      Cheers.
      Dom

      Reply
      • Mark Leone on April 4, 2024 at 2:08 pm

        Ah. I didn’t consider “the slow down.” Fantastic. Makes perfect sense. Thank you.

        Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Articles

Recent Posts

Apparel

Stickers

Books

Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

Pin It on Pinterest