2. What is an indicator? (2 of 21)

You remember sitting on a dock fishing a worm? You may still do it now, either for your own fun on a lazy afternoon or with your kids. Fly fishing with some kind of indicator is just slightly more sophisticated than bobber fishing. But your indicator much more than being just a signal of a strike is a drift indicator.
It tells you in what current lane your fly is drifting. And by carefully observing your indicator, it gives you a hint on whether your fly is drifting naturally with the current. When I first learned to fish nymphs, we didn't have sophisticated indicators. And we use the direct upstream or almost direct upstream approach and watched our floating line.
This is a nice clean way of fishing. And I still use it at times today, especially in clearwater where I can see trout in the current. But most people agree that the use of a separate indicator on the leader is an easier and more effective way to do it.