Yarn for Strike Indicators

[MD_Gene]

I was thinking of making my own yarn strike indicators but know next to nothing about the stuff.

I saw that one brand is made with "poly vee yarn". Never heard of that. Anyone know if one type of yarn floats better than others?

Recommendations. Thanks

 

[Fishidiot]

I'm not familiar with the specific yarn that you mention, however, I used to use yarn indicators and just bought basic yarn at craft stores. Although I rarely use yarn indicators anymore, I think that some of the materials used to produce egg flies like "glo-bug yarn" etc. would be useful as well. The key is to use something very light and that doesn't soak water. I also used dry fly floatant on my yarn indicators as well.

 

[Daniel45]

Yeah i used the Loon Floatant paste on mine. Worked really well when i used them.

 

[lineman]

Polypropylene yarn is a floating yarn. It can be found in some craft stores under the name of macrame cord. "Bonnie" brand macrame braid is fairly common. Buy a skein of Macrame cord and unfurl it and cut it as needed to make a lifetime supply of strike indicators.

 

[Fishidiot]

lineman wrote:
Polypropylene yarn is a floating yarn. It can be found in some craft stores under the name of macrame cord. "Bonnie" brand macrame braid is fairly common. Buy a skein of Macrame cord and unfurl it and cut it as needed to make a lifetime supply of strike indicators.

Excellent! Thanks for the tip.

 

[fisherboy3]

The new New Zealand Wool strike indicator has the best yarn ive used. One small dab of ghink and youre gonna be floatin high and dry all day.

 

[AkDan76]

google new Zealand strike indicator. Their video shows you everything you need to know. Add gink/loon floatant liberally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BawK1YzmKLY

I use a small latch hook, I think its called a nit picker, I use one for furled leaders, it worked great. 2 bucks at walmart.

Tubing I found at a craft shop for necklace stuff. Comes in a skeen of black and skeen of 'clear'.

Buddy gave me some angora. it worked but it matted a bit with too much floatant (gink or loons). That macramé may work, or sculpin wool. if you buy the NZ wool you can soak it in and not matt down.

The mini latch hook (nit picker at wallys) held roughly 4 pieces. Take the tubing and cut it. Loop line through, take a small bundle of wool, pull it back down into the tube. What the video you'll see how its done...its super simple. You really don't need 10 cut tubes though you wont be saving much going this route unless you can get a couple guys in on it. Split the tubing costs.

Thanks Jon (bigslackwater)! I had never heard of it before this trip.

You can buy the wool separate. The tubing comes in clear and black which is a lifetimes supply for a bunch of guys. The NZ wool floats like a cork and lands like a feather!!!


Here's their web page. You can buy the system or replacement wool at cabelas.
http://www.strikeindicator.com/

 

[gfen]

lineman wrote:
Polypropylene yarn is a floating yarn.

Almost, but not quite.

Polypropylene is hydrophobic. It doesn't mean it's "floating yarn" just that it has a tendency to not wick water up.

Antron, on the other hand, is hydrophillic. It has a tendency to wick water up.

When you squeeze your waterlogged mess of a yarn ball in your shirt, the poly yarn will tend to shed more and return to a floatier (that's a science word!) state; whereas something like antron will continue to be saturated no matter how hard you wring it out.

If you're going to make yarn indicators, you want to use polypro yarn. You also don't want to bother in winter when it'll just freeze into an iceball and sink no matter how much crap you slather into it to try and make it float.

 

[bigslackwater]

I tried the New Zealand thing and I'm a believer now! Dan has a lot of useful information 2 posts above. You can easily make a do it yourself system like he did. The hook to catch your line and feed the tubing on is crucial. I think you could easily make one with an old awl or small screwdriver...use dremel to grind in a notch.

 

[AkDan76]

Jon you showed me I can't take credit!

The latch (nit picker I believe it was called) worked great. 2 bucks at wallys.

I picked up a couple bags of replacement yarn for here being I likely won't find it.

Gfen, mine didn't freeze at 20. I'm hoping to make a run south for dollies in a few weeks. Still a few silvers spawning and dying. The trout are still on egg and flesh patterns. 450miles one way. I need a copilot!

 

[troutfanatic]

I don't use indicators much, I prefer to put a foam bodied dry fly on top. Typically, I like never sink caddis patterns, but I have made my own New Zealand strike indicator kit. I took an embroidery needle and filed an opening in the side of the eye. I inserted the tip of the needle in a piece of dowel rod- about one inch.
I bought 3/16" plastic tubing with a 1/8" opening off the internet and used standard egg yarn as the material. It works ok but you must add flotant to the yarn on fairly regular intervals.

 

[MD_Gene]

Thanks for your insights.

 

[AkDan76]

Tf,

What kind of yarn and floatant are u using?

With the nz wool and gink I didn't have to reapply at all on a day of fishing. I believe Jons using loon but I may have been wrong. I didn't try not reapplying the next day to see how long one application would last.

I tried angora and unfortunately it matted down with the gink and eventually sank.

I don't believe u need the nz wool but so far with my limited tinkering I haven't tried anything cheaper or easily found. Something I need to work out or suck up the shipping !

 

[troutfanatic]

Tf, What kind of yarn and floatant are u using? With the nz wool and gink I didn't have to reapply at all on a day of fishing. I believe Jons using loon but I may have been wrong. I didn't try not reapplying the next day to see how long one application would last. I tried angora and unfortunately it matted down with the gink and eventually sank. I don't believe u need the nz wool but so far with my limited tinkering I haven't tried anything cheaper or easily found. Something I need to work out or suck up the shipping !

Brother, I have to caveat that I don't use indicators much. I used to but nowadays I use neversink caddis, foam hoppers and stimulators as the floater.

I am not sure what floats best. I started using cheap yarn for tying egg patterns that I bought off of Jann's Netcraft or Hook Hackle. I am sure there is some better stuff out there. Maybe try some of the recommendations from other posters in the thread?

As for flotant, I use loon as well. The yarn still sinks after a few casts so it is far from flawless.

I am wondering if maybe the yarn was soaked in floatant and allowed to dry if it would not work better?

I have a real NZ Strike Indicator. I have not used it yet. It was given to me as a Christmas gift at the place I volunteer at as a casting instructor. I will try it this week as I will be getting on the road to PA in about an hour.

cheers

Brian

 

[AkDan76]

Good luck fishing! I think you'll like the nz wool better than glo bug yarn or glo bug rope, making the assumption that's what it is! I'm sure there's other good subs for the nz wool and many that won't float well at all! I'm hoping to find something easier than the nz wool to round up that works just as well. And rule out those that sink like lead.

I hear the hopper dropper style. It frustrating, albeit exciting watching a 10lb bow hammer a thingymabobber instead of hooking them. They hammer them hard when they do! Lol We've had that happen quite a bit up here. Our wild bows are not always the brightests.

 

[afishinado]

The NZ indies work well. For the yarn, "Poly Yarn" is a good choice since it floats well and it's cheap, easy to find and comes in a variety of colors.

https://www.google.com/#q=poly+yarn+indicator&revid=1835460050

 

[lineman]

It's been my experience with the N.Z. indicator setup that if you fish pools, flat, slack water with light, small nymphs it will do an admirable job. But if a lot of your fishing is deep, fast, riffles with tandems or trios of heavy nymphs, you're better off keeping the N.Z. in your vest. It simply won't float high or at all under these conditions regardless of how much Gink or Loon you drench it with.
The purpose of an indicator is to float high at all times so the angler can in turn detect any and all subtle takes. In order to get your rig down to where the fish are it needs to be heavy. The trapped air (thingamabobber) and poly yarn indicators are capable of supporting a heavy setup, the N.Z. is not.
On the spooking issue, I don't feel a floating plastic ball is any more alarming to the trout than is a ball of sheep's wool that keeps bobbing a couple of inches in and out of the water.
The best high floating indicator I've found is the Air-Lock http://www.skru-it.com/prod_airlockindicators.php
Adjustable with two fingers of one hand, easy on and off and most importantly, won't kink your leader. If you must use an indicator or one that will hold up your rig under all conditions I think this is your best bet.

 

[afishinado]

^ all good points above.

For deep nymphing I most often go the Euro route - multiple weighted flies down on the bottom with no indy (sighter instead) with casts fairly close-in to keep my line under control.

For nymphing at distance in heavy water with heavy flies and weights, a thingamabobber works best for me. It floats the rig, remains visible, and allow me to mend in the currents at a distance.

In smaller and shallow waters a dry/dropper rig often works when using smaller and/or lighter weight flies.

The disadvantage of a dry/dropper is the fact that it cannot be moved up and down to change for depth. That's where the NZ strike indy comes in. It is adjustable, very visible but without bulk so it lands softly on the water.

 

[AkDan76]

Well said!

the NZ worked great in the slower spooky water fish. Its just not a necessity on all water and I'm sure wont work well at all with super heavy flies. Though it did great for me, running tandems with added lead and a weighted point fly.

The thingy works great in fast deep water where that wet sock plop has no affect on fish. Or if you're up here and our fish are somewhere closer to the village idiot level LOL!!!!! The NZwool did do well on the savage for me at least and I didn't have to reapply floatant, running a Czech with a small dropper off the bend. I think the thingy would have done just as well in that situation. I was running a dropper off a larger heavier fly on most of the rivers when nymphing, so I don't know its limitations yet. TBT.

I'll be carrying both setups in my bag from here out. the thingy did extremely poor on the spooky fish in calmer/clear and slow water (the ditch in particular) where the wool worked great. So would a dry of some form as well.

Its like rods, not all rods are created equal. That's my excuses anyways for having too many

I'll have to dig up some poly afish. I think I have some stashed. If not even up here I should be able to find it...for now I have a number of years supply of wool, went a little hog wild while I was south LOL!

 

[AkDan76]

I was messing around in my cave and came across a bag I had stashed for a long time now. One year on a caribou float I picked up some shedded muskox wooll. I wonder how it might work, stuff is uber wooly lol. I'll have to report back on it.