Let’s be honest, a strike indicator is a fancy fly fisherman’s term for a bobber. Depending on who you are (and also where you fish), you either avoid using strike indicators like the plague, saying there’s no reason a fly fisherman should ever use a bobber, or you admit they’re a necessary tool for nymphing and shamelessly use them. Either way, strike indicators are bobbers, there’s no getting around that. You either leave your pride at the door and use them (justifying to yourself that it’s worth it because you’re catching more fish), or you high stick nymph as best as you can without an indicator, inevitably missing a lot of strikes. Fortunately, I’ve found a way to leave your bobbers in your tackle box while still catching just as many fish (if not more).
My strike indicator is a green weenie. Every time I nymph fish, I use a 2- or 3- nymph rig, depending on the water I’m fishing, and my top fly is almost always an unweighted, beadless green weenie. The middle fly is something light, like a zebra midge or small Higa’s SOS. Lastly the bottom fly is a larger nymph, perhaps a size 12 hare’s ear or a big stonefly. Regardless, the top fly is a green weenie. It trumps a traditional strike indicator in many regards, thus here are 10 reasons why you should use a green weenie every time you nymph fish…
This brookie hit the bottom fly of this 2-nymph rig, a frenchie.
1.) A strike indicator doesn’t have a hook. Sure, most of the fish are caught on the middle or bottom fly, but I’d venture to guess about 10-15% of the fish I catch while nymphing are on the green weenie. This year alone I’ve caught 30 trout on that fly. How many people can say their New Zealand Strike Indicator Tool caught 30 trout?
Doubles…You can’t do this with a strike indicator!
I began fly fishing in the month of October several years ago, and the green weenie was the first fly I used while learning to fly fish (mainly because my buddy could tie them up really fast and didn’t charge me for using them). Let me tell you, this fly catches fish.
2.) It’s a great attractor pattern. Even if the fish aren’t hitting the green weenie, (and maybe this is more anecdotal than fact), I believe the green weenie at least catches the trout’s attention. The trout look at the bright fly as it goes past, notice a more natural pheasant-tail nymph behind it, and eat that. Especially in rougher water, I think the brightness of the green weenie helps trout find the other flies.
This brown trout took the second fly, a size 16 Higa’s SOS.
3.) No drag. Since the green weenie is in the water instead of above it, you will get a more natural drift with the flies. There will be no unnatural drag.
4.) This 3-nymph rig allows you to easily adjust the depth you are fishing, simply add slip shot. Strike indicators are more difficult to adjust, and any adjustment would essentially make your leader too long or too short.
5.) No big splash. This setup hits the water fairly gently. I’ve casted Thingamabobbers before, and I was certain that any fish nearby would have high-tailed it out of there. The splash is much greater, and the presentation is much more unnatural, with a traditional indicator.
6.) No ridiculous bobber on top of the water. I don’t know how much this actually effects the fish hitting a fly, but as an angler it seems like having a bobber float above the fish right before you want it to eat a fly isn’t a good idea. The more natural presentation would be without a bobber.
7.) Doesn’t kink your leader. Most strike indicators work by attaching something that floats to a loop in your leader. This loop, in my experience, can kink the leader. This is problematic if I want to go from fishing nymphs to dry flies, as the kink adds extra drag on the water.
A fresh green weenie, hot off the press!
8.) Green weenies are cheaper. Thingamabobbers are about $1.50 each, while I can tie a green weenie for pennies. Granted the fly is less durable than the bobber, but I’m almost positive I still come out on top.
9.) Indicates dry fly action. The green weenie is unweighted, and the chenille makes it almost float until the other nymphs have time to sink down and pull the fly underwater. There have been several times this fall when I’ve started my day fishing with nymphs and have had strikes at the green weenie right after it hit the water while it was floating. I decided the trout were looking up, so I changed to a stimulator and had success with a dry fly the rest of the day. This indication of dry fly action would not be accomplished with a normal strike indicator.
10.) You’re not using a bobber! You don’t have to turn in your man card using a green weenie as your strike indicator. Instead, you can simply play it off to your buddies as using a 2- or 3- nymph rig. There’s just something not quite right about slaving over your vise tying intricate flies and fishing them under a plastic bobber.
Conclusion:
Despite all this, there’s no doubt in my mind that there are places for strike indicators in fly fishing. Out west, for example, fishermen are making 60 foot casts across the current for fish that are holding 5 feet deep. I wouldn’t be able to see the green weenie, nonetheless feel a strike under those circumstances. Spey fishing is another example of where strike indicators are very beneficial, since casts are upwards of 100 feet.
A gorgeous Shenandoah Valley brook trout
But in the Shenandoah Valley, and it’s safe to say about 99% of the streams found in Virginia, a traditional strike indicator is not necessary. I can see the green weenie underwater just fine about 30-40 feet away, which is about as far as I ever need to cast for trout. Any twitch, stop, tug, or jiggle of that green weenie and I set the hook. Try it out, you’ll be amazed at how many more trout you’ll catch!
Soli Deo Gloria
East Coast Fly Guy 
gorgeous catch in that last photo
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Pretty brookies and a good article.
On the matter of strike indicators… I suppose a lot of factors come into play. If your fly line floats well, your leader is good and straight and you can manage directly upstream (or nearly directly upstream) presentations, you might not need an indicator at all. I fished that way for awhile before experimenting with dry fly dropper rigs. An Elk Hair Caddis above a pheasant tail, or whatever… But then you’ve got to mess around with floatant and it’s one more fly to potentially break off or hook on something. One more fly to tie on.
These days, I’m into simplicity. I’d rather have simple than a few more fish. So I pinch a pinky fingernail size piece of brightly colored adhesive plastic foam onto my leader and fish a pheasant tail (usually) below that. I can easily slide the foam up and down the leader, to adjust for depth. More subtle than the bobbers that have become popular (but I get it… people can see them), easier to rig up than any other indicator system I’ve found, little wind resistance, easily removed at the end of the fishing or if I switch to dries or want to swing a wet fly or fish a streamer… When I’m fishing nymphs, I like to think about that one nymph and that one trout that might be looking at it, and not a lot else.
Brookies in fall. Is there anything better? Thanks for writing this post.
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Interesting idea. Thanks. Could you tell me how you rig the flies below the weenie? Do you do it inline (eye to eye, or bend to eye) or do you use droppers?
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I attach the back fly bend-to-eye. Another good tip is to tie the knot that will attach to the bend of the fly on your pinkie finger first. It’s so much easier to tie it there and then simple cinch it on the fly after you’ve tied it.
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Also, could you go over how you use split shot. Where do you attach them, what brand (I’m especially interested in how shot are removed when one needs to use less weight)? Thanks.
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I use split shot about 8-12 inches above my first fly, depending on the depth of the water. I remove the split shot by trying to split the shot with my fingernail. It almost always works.
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