Thoughts on fishing the middle of the water column.

[ICE]

Some thing I've been working over for a while and haven't been able to figure out a good answer for myself. So....
When nymphing with an bobber and want to fish the middle of the water column what's your set up?
I'll add shot and move the I bobber around until I find fish and think I've found the right depth, but I still have doubts about if it's the most effective set up. I also will typically use 4 bb or a couple of ab's to hit bottom then adjust. I never use the smallest of weights in my kit. Maybe I should?
I've done some searching and almost all resources talk of bouncing the bottom, fishing a dry/dropper, swinging or sink tip. Lots of options just not what I want to hear (inregards to my focused question).

Thoughts?
Ice

[cyama]

The simple answer is once you have hit the bottom of the run you are fishing by adding more and more weight, is to then just take off some weight and you should be in the middle of the water column. Most guides use this method. They set up their rods with one to two feet of 15-20lb mono to the bobber. Then depending on the river and the flows they run 4x to 1X floro from the bobber to the weight. A standing starting point for a new river or starting the season is five feet of "leader" from the bobber to the weight usually 3x. I usually start with one AAA weight and keep adding weight till I hit a big snag or a ton of moss. For the most part you want to be just off the bottom, but if you really hammer a run or it is already hammered you can run into fish as you add or subtract weigh and change flies. I have found it usually just best to be just off the bottom and change flies. Flies and tippet size seem to be the most important part about whether you are catching or not.

Once you have figured out a river by fishing it a few times you can just look at the flow charts for the river. At that point you should be able to walk up to a run know where all the snags and rocks are and know the setup. That is this run is 4 feet to the weight and you can add two flies one BWO and one midge, or 6 feet and three triple A's just because the river just rose to 1,500 CFS.

[JD]

Ice:

Why would you think fishing the middle of the column is any different than fishing the bottom? Ultimately if you need as much weight as you describe (must be some fast rivers in your area), taking off weight does not make any sense because you still need to get down and stay down, even if you are fishing higher than right off the bottom. You could take some weight off and then the current would effectively shorten your depth, but that adds slack making strike detection harder, so I prefer shortening the leader and not changing the weights unless the current changes. Typically if I'm fishing medium to deep, I like using a very heavy point fly such as Pat's Rubberleg or even Beldar's Stonefly, rather than load up on the split shot. Only time all the weight comes off is with very shallow presentations, or slower water.

[ICE]

Thanks for the response' s. You've pretty much asserted my thoughts but wanted to hear it directly from others. I suppose it's akin to trolling a lake using a down rigger just without the release system and a lot less weight.
Thanks
Ice

[ICE]

I figured I'd bring it back. I just found this on Gink & Gasoline
6 Tips for Catching Suspended Trout
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-tips-technique/6-tips-for-catching-suspended-trout-2/

J. Ice