There have been many discussions about strike indicators.
Back in December of 2014 here was one of my answers on the subject:

"I have tried many different strike indicators over the years because I do a lot of nymphing.

Frog Hair makes an indicator that won't kink your line because the indicator is threaded onto the leader before you tie on the flies. They have little rubber snubbers that are supposed to hold the indicator in place but I had problems with that and the indicator moved down the leader as you cast.


I use thingamabobbers but they kink the leader a lot. If you don't have to adjust the depth very much they work ok but if you do adjust the depth a lot you will get many kinks which can act like coils an hide some of the strikes you may get. These also will slip down the leader every so often.


I used to use the foam glue on systems but they muck up the leader and don't adjust at all, you end up ripping them off and placing new ones on leaving these white places on the leaders where the glue was, plus they would come off fairly often and float on down the river.


Yarn type indicators that use the 'O' Ring system never seemed to float well for me, absorbing water and going sub-surface and they also kink up the leader a lot and will also move down the leader every so often.


Tipper type strike indicators where you pull your leader thru a slot and twist the leader around a rubber type object in the center of the indicator were decent, kinking the leader a little, but they seemed to come off a lot, way to much.


I must admit I never tried a soft putty type substance, seemed to me it would be messy and I don't want that kind of a mess on my fingers.


There are the ball type indicators that use a stick or tooth pick shoved into them to hold the indicators. These have to be applied before you rig up like the Frog Hair ones. I have used them but I really don't like the stick where it sticks out of the indicator, my tippet seems to wrap around it every so often fouling the line.


Thingamabobber came out with an attached plastic spike where you threaded the leader through the hole like the Frog Hair the shoved the plastic spike into the hole like the toothpick styles. I tried these, the spike would slip off and I ended up cutting off the spike an just using it like a regular Thingamabobber.


I have tried the balloon system but it also kinks the leader and will often leak air especially in very cold and icy conditions.


Most of the guides I float with use a Thingamabobber style system and I just have to deal with the kinked leader.


In other words, no system is perfect, all have some negatives attached to them but they are so effective that I will continue to use strike indicators.


Hope this helps answer your question.


Larry ---sagefisher---"