The double strike indicator

A while back I wrote about the steelhead style indicator and it's superiority to all other strike indicators. This is still true, but there is another strategy that you can use. This one is a pain to prepare, but absolutely effective and amusing to boot. It is the double strike indicator, and uses two indicators placed strategically on the leader to detect the most subtle takes.

1.Get a package of those Rio Kahuna indicators. This is essentially a blaze orange section of fly line. Break off two pieces, each about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long. Snap them off with your fingers, and do not cut them to length because they have a mono core that must be pulled out to create a hollow tube so you can thread them on the leader.

2. Get a 9 foot tapered leader. For trout, I like Orvis super-strong leaders, for bass and salt I like the Scientific anglers bonefish ones. Although any tapered leader will work.

3. Thread both indicators on the leader. For trout tippets this will be easy, but for thicker tippets you may need to carefully thread them on to a needle. The hollow core is teeny ...After you get them on slide them up to the butt so they are out of the way.

4. Cut the leader about 4 or 5 feet down from the butt end, and tie it back together with a blood knot. Slide the first indicator down to the knot which will hold it in place.

5. Cut the leader again about 2 feet below the butt, knot it back together, and slide the second indicator down to the knot. You now have a ruined tapered leader with two indicators about 2 or 3 feet apart.

The fun comes in fishing this rig, and it is a hoot. What you are doing is watching not only the movement of the lower indicator, but the relative position between them. Any time the distance between them or their relative position changes, it is likely a fish. One of my favorites is when the lower one starts moving upstream while the upper continues down. There are all sorts of crazy ways to detect fish, and it is surprising how many takes you perceive that would be missed with a single indicator near the leader butt. So you have to buy indicators, and it sort of trashes a perfectly good knotless leader, but the education and fun are worth it. Try one sometime.