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[Ry the fly guy]

Hi everyone I have been fly fishing lakes with a fly rod for about a year now, Most of the time I troll with sink line and a leech of some sort, but now I have been wondering how to use a indicator and fish with it properly. If you guys could give me some advice on how to set one up. my current fly rod is a Sage SLT 9ft #6 and I can use either sinking or floating line. I was also wondering if my set up is ok the way it is or if a need a new longer rod or indicator line I'm really hoping to avoid this part because I want to get a new vice and some more tying gear for Christmas.

Thanks,

Ryan

[SteelheadAdict]

9ft 6wt is fine i really do prefer a 10ft but if its not able to happen money wise just used the 6wt now if your fishing in 10ft of water or less a playing old 9ft rio tapered leader will do with some florocarbon tippet add on to it but if you want to fish deeper water such as 15ft u are gona need a longer leader and indicator line really helps turn over the long leaders and indicators i would say the line is  a must my lake leader formula is below

5 feet of 15lb Maxima with a perfection loop on one end for your fly line

3 feet of 10lb Rio floroflex plus

3 feet of 8lb floroflex plus

2 1/2 feet of 7lb floroflex plus

then to a very very small swivel perferbaly black


last but not least 2 feet of 5lb floroflex Plus


any florocarbon can and will work for this just my choice for tippet 

[RalphH]

Basically rig the indicator so the distance from the indicator to the fly is about one foot or so less than the depth of the water you are fishing. You can gauge the depth with a fish finder or lacking that attach a pair of forceps to the bend of your hook then lower into the water until it hits bottom. Raise it one foot and fix the indicator to the leader and you are good to go.

There will be times when you fish the indicator just a few feet above the fly and even apply some sort of fly floatant to the leader a couple of feet below the indicator to keep the fly just under the surface.  This usually works best when fishing an emerger pattern early in the hatch.

[FlyFishin Magician]

Your 9 ft SLT is fine.  My go to rod for dry line chironomid techniques is my 5 wt, 9 ft SLT and it's a beautiful rod!  Perfect moderate action for delicate casts with long leaders.

[Ry the fly guy]

Thanks for the help everyone, I think I'm not going to get a new rod but I will get a new spool and indicator line. Also i will be building some indicator leaders soon thanks for the recipe on that.

[EricR]

The mistake most common when fishing indicator is not getting the portion of the line past the indicator up before loading the rod to cast! Always bring the line up to the surface with a roll cast. If you cannot bring the leader up fully to the surface with a simple roll cast then you need to strip in more line before making any casting motions.
This is my best bow to date and was caught with an indicator fishing a small brushed leach dead slow. The conditions were such that a roll cast was always necessary before starting any back casts. The leader was over 14 feet long and needed to be carefully presented from a distance to talk this beauty into biting my bug! Yes it takes time to learn all the possible ways to fish indicator effectively but the effort is well worth the rewards because it is by far and away the most versatile and effective method possible for many different species in BC

[ajransom]

No need to buy a new rod, yours will be perfectly fine for indicator fishing.

You can make an indicator leader pretty easy - just buy a 12 foot 4X flourocarbon knot less tapered leader, and add a tiny swivel to the end (make sure you out your indicator on first), then use two feet or so of flourocarbon tippet. Pretty simple...

A standard floating line is perfect for this... You can buy specific indicator rigs, but you really dont need to.

[ajransom]

Also, check out some video or books from Brian chan and Phil rowley, those guys are still water jedi's.

[naka21]

You can taper your leader if you want but it is not nescessary. I run 10lb Berkeley vanish too a small swivel then 2ft or so of fluorocarbon. Sinks faster and hangs straighter then a tapered mono leader would. Also don't overthink it, it's basically just bobber fishing. You can attach a weight ( or forceps if your not afraid too lose them ) and attach it too your fly and sink it down and peg your indicator a foot off the bottom for a starting point.  Also if you are looking for another chironomid setup just posted up 2 in the classifieds

[HOOK]

Man I wish I got to fish chironie leaders that short all year long !!!


typically I tie mine 15'-25' and sometimes even deeper. once over 20' they get trickier to cast and yes roll casting them onto the surface is a must. shorter leaders I just pull up slowly until I get the swivel near the surface then pop it out and into my back cast, toss in a double haul and bang I'm back fishing 

I think this year I'm going to try using a sliding bobber rig and see how it works

[Ry the fly guy]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'm super exited to go out and try everything you guys have told me, Thanks.