Gene Hill said that “nymphing…with a bobber (“strike indicator” indeed!) has little to do with real fly fishing.” Well, apparently Gene never cast for pan fish in a 30mph Kansas wind like I was trying to do last night! The water was choppy; there’s no way I would ever have seen a hit; would have had to have been a strong hookup I could feel. Not the best conditions but I was determined to get out there; did manage a nice bluegill and a small bass, and had a couple of hits that I missed.
Anyway, I was using my 7wt and one of those thingamabobbers, and my question is, how the heck do you keep those things from sliding down the leader? I was trying to fish my fly at about 24" but after a couple of casts I’d be down to 12" or less.
I looked on line and there’s a guy with a youtube video showing how to attach it (same as I did); he said his slips too so he sticks a tootpick in to hold it; that seems like a pain to me. I see they now make them with a little attached plug that goes in the hole. I guess I’ll go back to my twist-on indicators, although the rubber seems to break on those after a while.
I guess the “usual” way of putting them on is to put a loop of leader through the hole in the thingamabobber, then put that loop over the body. If using fine tippet, less than 2X, this will tend to slip. What I have done is to wrap that loop around the thingamabobber a couple more times. It can make it hard to move it when you want to, but you can get it to say put. Another way is to place it just above your tippet knot. It should not slide down past the knot.
If you have any mainstream bass tackle stores near you, you can buy little tapered rubber sinker stops. The bass guys use them for keeping their sliding sinkers in place. They are about two inches long, taper from a very thin point to about 1/8 inch, and don’t cost too much. After you loop your strike indicator in place in the normal way, slide one of these through the hole, pull it tight, then trim it. Leave it about 1/2 inch long, and when you need to move the indicator, just pull out the stopper, move the indicator, and then replace the stopper. You can do the same thing with a large enough rubber band, but then you have to either taper cut them or rig a loop to pull them through. Either way works quite well (Gene Hill, like many of us, has his own opinions about how to fish. His has no more or less validity than yours or mine.)
The best way I know to attach a thingamabobber to a leader is a simple overhand knot. Slide the leader or tippet through the little loop, form the overhand knot around the loop and snug it down. That will keep it in place where you put it, and it is easy to adjust by simply openning up the knot and sliding the 'bobber up or down the leader or tippet.
Now most people think an overhand knot is an evil thing. And if you let it tighten down on itself, it certainly will weaken the leader or tippet at that point. But if you don’t let it tighten down on itself, an overhand knot will knot cause you any such problems. You might get a bit of a kink in your leader or tippet, but that should come out with a bit of massaging.
I’ve used that approach for several years now and only once had a leader break at the point of overhand knot attachment, and that was after many, many days of fishing the same set up with the 'bobber in exactly the same place high on the butt end of the leader.
Well, I didn’t really didn’t post that to set Gene up; it was supposed to be funny. The late Gene Hill was one of America’s greatest outdoor writers. If you haven’t read Gene, you are missing something IMHO; few writer’s have come so close to identifying and expressing the human element of hunting and fishing.
Was out mainly for white bass, chucking a new baitfish pattern… didn’t get so much as a sniff. I kept going smaller and smaller and ended up with a black pheasant tail under an indicator. Nothing!
I would follow the instructions for rigging that came with your thingamabobbers. Even after doing so they may slip a bit. After rigging you might also want to try and put a small piece of square tooth pick in the hole to help hold it in place. They also now come with a little peg attached to help hold them better.
