4 Reasons to Ditch The Indicator
And 2 Reasons to Use One
Join Our List for More Fly Fishing Education
I get asked a lot, “What is the deal with this Euro-nymphing, tightline, indicator-less fishing method I keep hearing about. Is it actually any better?” (and yes, I get it asked exactly like that.) Well today, I’ve decided to answer this question from my own perspective and experience, and the results are actually quite impressive…
DISCLAIMER: This article is going to convince you to try euro nymphing. It’s ok, just go with it. You’re also going to have a lot of questions on how to start euro nymphing, and we want to help you with that too. If you want to learn more, our Euro Nymphing Course is an excellent resource. We don’t say this to convince you to spend money with us, we say this because we’re passionate about teaching anglers how to catch more fish and find new adventures. We love teaching others about the techniques that make fly fishing most enjoyable.
Watch The Video
It’s an easy read, and only takes about 30 minutes per lesson, and you can take it as many times as you want. You also get 50% off our euro nymph assortments (we have 3 of them and more on the way) and you can use that to stock your new euro box up with all the best flies, turning you into a euro nymphing master in less than a month. Check it out, our courses are simple, yet comprehensive allowing you to learn from a trusted, single-source and is always being improved and updated.
1 – It Beats the Current
Match The Hatch, Match The Current
The current when using a strike indicator is often your enemy. When you ditch the indicator, however, you negate nearly all of the effects of the current on your flies. The current in a column of water does not move at the same speed. Water on the surface of the river almost always is moving faster than the water at the bottom of the river. When you have a strike indicator floating at a faster speed than your flies down lower (where the trout are), it drags the flies, and the trout catch on and will ignore your presentation. When you remove the strike indicator, the only drag that happens from the current is on your leader/tippet, which is substantially less than before. This difference is a key part of why tightline nymphing is so much more productive than traditional indicator nymphing.
Keep in mind this is not the case if you’re using a strike indicator from a drift boat. On a drift boat, you cancel much of the effect of the current as you’re matching the speed of the current to your drift, but there is still some that happens from the difference in speed from the top of the water to the bottom of the water.
Another key advantage when you eliminate the strike indicator is how naturally your flies can behave. Without the extra buoyancy forcing the flies into an unnatural path, they drift freely, mimicking the organic movement of real aquatic insects. This subtle difference often triggers more strikes, especially in pressured waters where trout have seen every trick in the book. The freedom of movement you achieve allows you to better “read” the current, understanding micro-currents and pockets where fish are holding—knowledge that sharpens your instincts the more you practice.
Key Benefits of Ditching the Indicator:
- Improved Drift: Flies move more naturally, increasing your chances of fooling wary trout.
- Enhanced Sensitivity: You’ll detect subtle takes that would be masked by an indicator’s delayed response.
These small shifts in technique might seem minor, but they stack up quickly. You’ll not only catch more fish but also develop a stronger connection with the river, honing your awareness of both your flies and the trout’s behavior. That’s the real secret behind why euro nymphing works so well—it teaches you to be in sync with the current, not fighting against it.
2 – It Tightens Up Your Game
Shorter Casts = Better Casts
There’s a reason 50ft casts are called hero casts, because it takes a hero to make them work. I don’t care if you’re the best angler in the world, you have a lower chance for a successful hookset and landing of a trout the further out you cast. It’s just science.
In euro style nymphing, you make shorter casts with less line – this means you have a tightline the entire time you fish and the moment you feel a bump or see your line move in an odd way, setting the hook is near instant and results in more hookups. (I still miss many fish this way because fish eat and spit flies quickly especially on pressured rivers so there’s never a 100% day with every eat being a hook up. But this helps and teaches you a lot about how many fish that eat the fly and with an indicator you’d never even see it move, more or less be able to set in time. It’s wild really.)
Another benefit of shorter casts is the increased control over your presentation. With less line on the water, you reduce slack, allowing for quicker hooksets and more precise manipulation of your flies. You can steer your nymphs into pockets, seams, and undercuts with pinpoint accuracy—something much harder to achieve with long, loose casts. This level of control helps you target specific fish-holding zones, making each drift more productive.
Why Shorter Casts Tighten Up Your Game:
- Faster Hooksets: Minimal slack means quicker reactions to subtle takes.
- Enhanced Accuracy: Pinpoint casting allows you to place flies exactly where you want them.
- Better Line Control: Less line on the water reduces drag and improves strike detection.
- Focused Drifts: Short, controlled drifts keep your flies in the strike zone longer, increasing hookup potential.
3 – Double Those Drifts
Now That Fly Will Hunt Twice as Hard
The more time letting your fly hunt for trout, the more trout you’ll catch. The more time your fly can be drifting productively, the more fish you’ll catch as well. Both of these are key as you can make a 100ft cast but only get 10ft of a good drift due to drag.
When you tightline, you get shorter, better-producing casts/drifts due to what I said above. This also means you can get more drifts in a day. When I watch a friend fish an indicator and cast upstream 25ft and do a 15-second drift, I can fish that same water with a 10 ft cast and a 10-second drift. Over time, I get more casts and longer drifts with each cast. More drift = more fish, it’s just a numbers game at that point. But it’s not just about quantity—it’s about quality too. With tighter, more controlled drifts, your flies stay in the prime feeding zones longer and more effectively. You’re not wasting time with sloppy, unproductive drifts. Plus, you can quickly cover different micro-currents and depths without having to constantly adjust your rig, allowing you to fish more water efficiently.
- Vary Your Entry Angle: Changing the angle of your cast helps your flies enter the water more naturally, reducing splash and spooking fewer fish.
- Master the Micro-Drift: Instead of one long drift, break it into micro-drifts by subtly adjusting your rod tip to guide the fly through multiple feeding lanes in a single cast.
- Use the Pause Technique: Briefly pausing your rod tip mid-drift can create an enticing movement that triggers reaction strikes from hesitant trout.
- Fish Up and Across: This positioning allows for longer drifts with better control, maximizing the time your flies are in the strike zone.
4 – You Can Adjust Your Depth With the Tip of Your Rod
No More Line Kinks or Begrudging Indicator Adjustments
It’s a pain in the butt to walk 10 ft up the river and have to mess with that strike indicator and adjust the depth. Most of us just don’t do it and either fish the water with an improper depth, or skip the water altogether to go find more water like you were just fishing. It’s a huge mistake to do that. What if I told you that all you had to do to adjust your depth 6 inches was raise your rod tip 6 inches? Well now, that’s much easier isn’t it?
You can adjust your depth on every cast, or as needed. This is huge when you’re wade fishing from a deep hole to a shallow riffle. With an indicator, you have to adjust the rig every time you want to change depth in the river. With a tightline technique, you can simply raise or lower your rod the amount needed to change your depth. Makes it super easy to cover water as you wade of all different kinds (which in turn you’ll find fish in places you never thought and you’ll learn to stop walking over productive water).
An added bonus is the ability to “pulse” your flies mid-drift. By subtly lifting and lowering your rod tip during the drift, you can create an enticing vertical motion that often triggers aggressive strikes from curious or hesitant fish. This micro-adjustment allows you to actively fish the fly instead of just passively drifting it, which can make a world of difference, especially in heavily pressured waters.
Key Techniques for Dynamic Depth Control:
- Rod Tip Adjustments: Raise or lower your rod to fine-tune your fly’s depth instantly.
- Pulse the Drift: Add subtle up-and-down movements mid-drift to imitate natural insect behavior.
- Cover More Water: You’ll be able to cover a lot more water with arm-only adjustments. Covering water catches more fish.
- Quick Depth Changes: Seamlessly transition from deep pools to shallow riffles without pausing to adjust your rig.
Get the Best Flies to Fish Without an Indicator
Euro nymphing flies are specially designed to optimize a tight-line nymphing technique as we’ve described in this article. They ride hook point up giving you less snags as you figure out how to glide your nymphs through the strike zone. In addition, they all come with large tungsten beadheads which get them down fast in the strike zone and helps you feel and detect strikes without a strike indicator more easily.
Hint: Right now the Euro Copper and Prince assortment is on sale for $69 instead of $119. They are the perfect blend of new euro flies mixed with the flies you already know and trust. Grab them today while the sale is active.
And 2 Reasons to Keep the Indicator
While I’d say I tightline nymph about 80% of the time now, there are certainly some times you want to keep that strike indicator on. Let’s go over those to make this a well-rounded guide.
You can’t reach the drift you want if you can’t reach where you want to cast with your rod tip, you won’t be able to tightline very well, so that’s when you use an indicator to cast further out. There are times where the river is too big, or the current is too strong for you to wade to the place you want. That’s when adding a method to suspend your nymphs works great. I really like wool or yarn indicators as they are more sensitive and productive for me, but that’s a completely different guide I’ll do another time.
One trick when fishing with an indicator at distance is to mend your line aggressively to reduce drag. High-stick mends can create subtle, controlled adjustments without pulling your flies out of the strike zone. Pairing this with slack-line presentations helps maintain a natural drift even in tricky currents.
You’re in a Drift Boat The other time you will struggle to euro-nymph is when you are on a drift boat. You need to be 25-30 ft away from the drift boat most times in order to catch fish. That’s further than you can tightline unless you have a 20 ft fly rod (which I don’t think they make), so stick to the indicator in the boat.
Drift boats also offer the advantage of covering vast stretches of water quickly. Using an indicator allows you to adjust depth on the fly and target fish holding in deeper seams or complex current structures. The boat’s movement helps manage the drift, but learning to control slack and maintain tension is key to maximizing hookups.
When to Keep the Indicator On:
- Long-Range Drifts: Perfect for casting beyond your tightline reach in wide rivers.
- Strong Currents: Helps suspend nymphs effectively when wading is not an option.
- Drift Boat Fishing: Maintains control and sensitivity while covering large sections of water.
- Versatile Adjustments: Quick rig tweaks allow for depth changes without constant repositioning.
Conclusion
So if you still aren’t convinced that ditching the incidator can improve your fly fishing game, then I challenge you to prove me wrong. Go and spend 2 hours on the water. 1 hour with your method and 1 tightlining and see which catches you more fish. I’ve done this test many times myself and I know how it turns out, which is why I tightline.
Try it out, you’ll be impressed with how easy it is to outfish your buddies and find productive water across the entire river and not just the holes.
Ready to Learn More?
Grab Our Online Euro Nymphing Course Below!
Unlimited Lifetime Access: $199
Fully Online | Self Paced | Lifetime Access
7 Lessons | 90+ Pages | 20 Videos | Pics | Diagrams & More
What You’ll Get In This Course
- 7 Lessons that teach the entire euro nymph technique
- Perfect for beginner to intermediate skill levels
- Catch more fish than ever thought possible
- Get unlimited access, take as many times as you want
- Get three, 50% off coupons for our euro nymph assortments or other courses
- Guaranteed to make you a better angler or your money back
- Access through our app for offline reading
Lifetime Access: $199
Lesson 1
Length: 13 Pages + Videos
The Benefits of Euro Nymphing
The first step in understanding a new technique is to learn why it is so effective, and why using a strike indicator is really hurting your ability to catch more fish.
We cover the 7 disadvantages of indicator nymphing and then describe why euro nymphing solves these so elegantly. We lastly address common problems encountered while fishing and how euro nymphing turns them into advantages.
All Thing Euro Gear
In this lesson, we discuss the wide array of euro nymphing gear to help you understand what new gear you need, and the benefits that this gear brings.
We also provide a priority checklist that helps you with the essential gear, and utilizing your existing gear.
Lesson 2
Length: 20 Pages + Videos
Lesson 3
Length: 10 Pages + Videos
Learn the Top Euro Casting Techniques
Casting is remarkably different with euro nymphing. We will be covering all the top 4 euro cast techniques as well as discuss the concepts behind the casts to help you make successful and accurate casts. We include instructional videos on these top 4 casts to really help you learn these techniques.
The Drift
You cast for show, but you drift for dough…errr trout.
In this lesson, we provide written and video instruction as well as a ton of images to teach you the 3 essential drift techniques when euro nymphing. With these techniques you will have complete control over your nymphs in the river allowing you to catch even more fish than you ever thought possible.
Lesson 4
Length: 17 Pages + Videos
Lesson 5
Length: 10 Pages + Videos
Hacking the Learning Curve
Lessons 1 – 4 teach you waht you need to know, but lesson 5 simplifies and streamlines the process allowing you to learn faster. We discuss the most common struggles with euro nymphing and show you how to resolve them
FLY SELECTION
While we could do an entire course along on this topic (oh wait we did), we go over all the top patterns and their composition to understand why flies are so effective.
We’ll also cover what to do when you’re not catching fish and strategic adjustments throughout the day based on euro nymph knowledge.
Lesson 6
Length: 18 Pages + Videos
Lesson 7
Length: Ongoing Pages + Videos
Ongoing Tips and Tricks Section
This technique is always progressing, so we dedicated an entire lesson on tips and tricks to improve. This will get updated all the time with additional questions answered and tips provided. Check back often on here and ask questions to get them answered and added to this lesson
What’s Holding You Back?
This course will teach you the most effective way to catch trout that has ever been invented. We are genuinely excited to teach you this amazing new skill and look forward to having you in our community!
© The Catch and The Hatch 2025 | View Our Privacy Policy Here
