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Strike indicators
Post 09 Mar 2020, 09:26 • #1 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
I like use vintage gear and strike indicators but when I try to find vintage styles of strike indicators nothing pops up if anyone knows when they were first made or knows of any styles that are pre 1950 it would be a huge help.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 09 Mar 2020, 13:31 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/18/12
Posts: 1712
Location: Bozeman, MT
I would think that originally it was the "Dry - Dropper" combination. The dry fly being the indicator. This is my best guess. But I may be corrected here by another member.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 09 Mar 2020, 13:58 • #3 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
When I was a kid, strike indicators were red and white and made of plastic - the really old ones painted cork :P
Sorry, could not resist...............


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 09 Mar 2020, 18:52 • #4 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/03/14
Posts: 945
Location: central AR
Hey, I must be old, I’ve still got some, even some made of cork in size small enough for a fly rod. If you think weighted nymphs are hard to cast .............


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 09 Mar 2020, 19:03 • #5 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
Thanks hopefully that'll help I just have to find some traditional dry flies in large enough sizes to support a scud or a small midge with a tiny split shot or two


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 10 Mar 2020, 11:37 • #6 
Guide
Joined: 05/02/12
Posts: 100
Location: US-CT
Lets_fish_already wrote:
Thanks hopefully that'll help I just have to find some traditional dry flies in large enough sizes to support a scud or a small midge with a tiny split shot or two


A big foam beetle with a tiny zebra midge dropper works well.

Image

tt


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 10 Mar 2020, 17:20 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
When I was starting out grease on a leader was sufficient to support wets #24-#16 and wine corks worked for garden hackles. When using an indicator the indication is the fish has hooked itself. Without the indicator your fingers can feel bottom bumps and fish nudges that the indicator would miss. The first indicators I recall reading about were pieces of yarn attached at a leader knot, they were not flotation devices.
I'm not certain but I thought the hopper dropper was an adaptation of the plastic bobber by guys too shamed by the red and white ball. For sure the foam hopper is not an old technique.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 08:30 • #8 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
Yeah the foam hopper droppers would have been post 1988 from what I read. The first foam based fly was created in that year but it doesn't mean hoppers weren't made of natural materials before then.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 09:16 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
My Hoppers made from natural materials did not float well enough to support anything, they mostly fished as wet flies rather like the real things. Actually after tying and trying several popular hopper patterns, I came to use the Hornberg Special as my go to hopper, I believe it was intended as a wet fly.
That of course doesn't mean that someone else didn't have better floating hoppers.
For best floating fly type lures, capable of being suspension devices, Tap's Bug or cork/balsa lures were probably it until foam came along.
I don't believe that any definition of fly fishing in the 1970s or before would include any kind of suspension device, fly fishing was escape from bobbers, then carbon fibers made longer rods popular and longer stiffer rods could launch the awkward cork and weight rigs and using corks and weights made fishing more productive for beginners, so it became the guides standard and consequently popular. I still don't consider it fly fishing anymore than spin casting a bobber and fly- which I first did in the early '70s.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 10:43 • #10 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
Looks like I'll have to learn that type of nymphing or figure out another system.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 15:43 • #11 
Sport
Joined: 12/04/11
Posts: 72
Location: US-MI
In 1938 Ray Bergman writes of using a dry fly above a nymph to indicate a strike. I'm 76 and must admit that the first time I heard someone refer to that small piece of foam rubber above a nymph as a "strike indicator" I burst out laughing and as my 81-year-old fishing partner always does, I too am always tempted to say, "you mean a bobber?"----LOL


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 17:22 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Balsa bugs and foam spiders have been around since i was a kid.I think they called them sponge spiders back then.We used the casting bubbles and flies for stocked trout and panfish back then too.I believe foam rubber was a post war product like fiberglass was.To each their own,People who use indicators on 900 dollar rods will also look at spin or bait anglers as some lower form of life.Both are surely more "effective methods"using the common term.If all you want is a high fish count,nothing wrong with that.Same with the soft and hard plastic egg "flies"used in some places.If i do choose to use an indicator it will be a quill,another friend from another forum uses a quill bobber on a fly rod with fly line and fishes with live crickets.He claims the quill lays flat during casting and makes little or no splash.A unique technique for sure.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 19:19 • #13 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/03/15
Posts: 424
Location: Weatherford TX.
In the 80s we threaded a 1”-2” piece of floating fly line onto the leader. Works fine I still use it to this day


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 19:29 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/21/12
Posts: 462
Location: US-NY
Size 8 or 10 stimulator tied bushy.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 19:55 • #15 
Guide
Joined: 02/26/15
Posts: 219
Location: US-north ga.
Back in the early sixties my friend an i
used small popping bugs with a tellico
nymph hanging under it.
I don't remember any commercial fly
fishing bobbers until 80's or 90's.
I still use popping bugs as a float ,and yes trout
will hit them.
And I agree with Trev about the fly fishing
thing.
It's just fishing with fly-fishing tackle.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 11 Mar 2020, 20:40 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
Fly rod fishing can include live bait- crawdads, minnows, night-crawlers all fish well with the long rod. A bottle cork pierced and threaded on a 20# piece of mono with loops each side makes a nice way to attach flotation. A shot on a dropper below the crawdad will help keep it near the bottom.
I see "fly fishing", "fly rod fishing", and "fishing with flies" as often being dissimilar activities, but, I know others have differing perspectives and that's OK too.
Each state or jurisdiction makes it's own rules defining "fly fishing" and in my state a spinning rig or casting rig or any kind of tackle can be used for "fly only" fishing if it will cast a RoosterTail or similar with a bit of feather or hair on it.
The bobber and fly is legally fly fishing in most states but I think it isn't in international competition, that is why the Czechs et al reinvented contact nymphing.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 08:59 • #17 
Guide
Joined: 12/20/19
Posts: 101
Location: Christchurch, NZ
Since I’ve been fly fishing the bobber/indicator thing came along in the 80’s.
I’ve used a tiny piece of foam or bit of wool and continue to use the wool as l find it easiest to cast.
I don’t like casting weight either and as a result likely get less fish but l care not.
I know some like heaving perdigon nymphs on 25’ leaders too but I’d rather go for ultra light spinning.
More important to me is how the fish is treated regardless of method used to hook it.
Land it as quickly as possible , back out the barbless hook while still in the water and watch your trophy swim away unhandled if you can.
Yep... l use a tiny bit of wool as I’m a crap fisherman and need all the help I can get.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 09:12 • #18 
Guide
Joined: 01/09/20
Posts: 113
Location: Killeen Texas
novisor12 wrote:
Size 8 or 10 stimulator tied bushy.


This right here is what I'd do. I've put #14 bead head princes under #12 stimi and been happy with the results. Midges are absolutely no problem with this et up even with a #6 split shot.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 12:11 • #19 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
Stalkermike wrote:
Since I’ve been fly fishing the bobber/indicator thing came along in the 80’s.
I’ve used a tiny piece of foam or bit of wool and continue to use the wool as l find it easiest to cast.
I don’t like casting weight either and as a result likely get less fish but l care not.
I know some like heaving perdigon nymphs on 25’ leaders too but I’d rather go for ultra light spinning.
More important to me is how the fish is treated regardless of method used to hook it.
Land it as quickly as possible , back out the barbless hook while still in the water and watch your trophy swim away unhandled if you can.
Yep... l use a tiny bit of wool as I’m a crap fisherman and need all the help I can get.


The way I see it is if you enjoy a certain style of fishing that isn't hurting anything and you're happy that's all that matters.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 12:18 • #20 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
back in the day, people would swing wets on soggy silk and fish by feel.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 12:55 • #21 
New Member
Joined: 03/09/20
Posts: 11
Location: Missouri
bulldog1935 wrote:
back in the day, people would swing wets on soggy silk and fish by feel.


So on the topic of silk lines I know silk lines are expensive but is there anything that can reproduce silk line such as a very heavy Dacron or other materials like that.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 13:47 • #22 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
If it is protected from mildew, e.g., dried on a line drier after use, silk lines can last forever. You can find really good fine-braid varnished lines on old reels, and I've probably sold a dozen myself (trashing the bad ones).
I think if you queried on Clark's board, people would pony up with vintage silk braid to sell you.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 17:05 • #23 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
When this thread started, I thought it might go toward materials and fly combinations that were alternatives or origins of the strike-indicator-flie(s) combos we see used today, typically with longer, stiffer, graphite rods. Thus, I left it in the fly-tying section. Now, the discussion appears to be towards comparable vintage/fiberglass rod era methods. A message from a member suggested a swap in sections. So let's see if it gets more or different discussion in the "Fishing with Fiberglass . . . ." section.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 19:26 • #24 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2087
Location: US-PA
While I haven't been fly fishing forever, I can't recall doing anything but watching the end of my fly line back when I started which was in the late 70's. If there was a fly fishing "bobber" available, I probably would have jumped on it. Even the books of the era don't mention them.

The first 'purpose" made fly fishing indicators I remember were the Palsa adhesive indicators which I seem to recall appeared in the 1980's.


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Re: Strike indicators
Post 12 Mar 2020, 19:30 • #25 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2087
Location: US-PA
Lets_fish_already wrote:
So on the topic of silk lines I know silk lines are expensive but is there anything that can reproduce silk line such as a very heavy Dacron or other materials like that.

https://www.terenziosilklines.com/en/re ... fly-lines/


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