Thank you, Buddy!
Thank you, Buddy!
I have made hundreds of the indicators shown to give away at Exhibitions and Conclaves. They work best in fast moving water where a Stimulator (or similar) large fly indicator may get swamped by the ripples. If you have to use a lot of weight to compensate for the flow, you will also be glad for a large indicator. Unfortunately, they are prone to wiggle a lot in the water which makes detecting subtle strikes difficult.
As for effecting casting, I really don't like the thingamabobbers because they are expensive, they can put a hesitation in laying down a cast, and i can do the same with a lighter weight plug of foam cutout with a hollow punch. Cut the plug, burn a hole crossways with a hot bodkin, thread a loop through the hole and voila!
Foam indicators as show in the photo are easy to make and probably cost about a nickle each. Cut the foam into long tiny strips with a table top paper cutter. Now you need a pair of forceps. Put an "O" ring on the forceps before you open then. Open them and grasp however many strands of the foam you want in the indicator. Bring the ring off the forceps to the middle of the strips. Now put another "O" ring on the forceps. Grasp the foam strips at the "O" ring you have on them and pull the new "O" ring over the strips, folding them around the first "O" ring. That's it.
The hardest part was finding the gasket "O" rings (and, sorry, I've lost the selle's addressr) which come by the thousand -- so you really only need to order once.
Was it an article by Ray Bergman, John Alden Knight, or A.J. McLane where I first read about using a large bushy Bivisible as an indicator? It seem like multi-fly rigs have been around for a long time. In fishing many believe that two hooks are better than one no matter what tackle is used. Some believe in even more hooks though I have had my best luck with single fly rigs.
It was refreshing to see this old tip reincarnated in the 21st century with 21st century materials. What is really changing here is the fly, which was traditionally fur and feathers. Today you can fill your vest with creations made of materials grown only in test tubes.
Better fly fishing through chemistry!
Bear742
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