Every spring, new gear hits your neighborhood fly shop. It’s a good idea to ask questions to avoid doing something stupid once you’re on the water.
Case in point: I visited a favorite tailwater earlier this spring and did a little nymphing. It went well. I caught a few nice trout, though upon more careful examination of photos of a pair of 17-inch brown trout taken from the same hole on back-to-back days, I suspect these were the same fish. I’m not certain, but the leopard spotting on the brown’s back and gill plates look eerily similar.
I’d examine them more closely, but it seems little good could come from this.
As usual, I was fishing a variety of nymphs and a San Juan Worm, with split shot suspended under a strike indicator. Strike indicator is a fancy way of saying bobber, which I’ve used since I was a youngster, suspending meal worms under red-and-white trapped-air devices long enough for a 5-inch bluegill to come by and offer a tug.
Thingamabobbers have been my preferred trapped-air technology since I started nymphing, and they work reasonably well. The Thingamabobber’s primary drawback is that the loop used to attach it to your leader loosens over time, and eventually the bobber slides down to the first obstruction it hits — either your top fly or split shot.
I needed some new bobbers on my trip and decided to try the new center-axis strike indicators (bobbers) that are all the rage these days. I stopped in the shop where I used to work and since I’d read about these Oros bobbers online I wanted to give them a try. Besides, I didn’t see Thingamabobbers on the peg board where I once stocked them.
The new owner at a shop treated me like someone who knows what he’s doing. We’d once worked together in the shop. But I haven’t nymphed for trout all that much since I worked there. The shop, and river, are in Wyoming and I moved away eight years ago. There aren’t many places to nymph for wild trout in the winter where I’m living these days. Not knowing this, he didn’t give me the rundown on the new Oros bobbers since I was a “professional.”
And since I’m of the gender that sports a Y chromosome, I’m not inclined to read the instructions. If you’ve used an Oros you may know where this is going. I screwed the two foam halves together, tightly on the line, where it worked just fine for maybe a dozen casts. On cast No. 13, however, the Oros ended its relationship with my leader and floated off, around the bend.
I did this twice before I retrieved the Oros package from my vest and finally read the instructions. There’s a slot in the male half of the bobber and you’re supposed to place your leader in that slot before you screw the bobber together. This prevents it from disappearing around the bend when it inevitably loosens.
My story was good for a few laughs when I stopped by the shop the following morning to get a new pack of bobbers. Installed properly, they stay attached all day long, though an occasional tightening is advised.
When a new, well-designed product comes along everybody gets on board. AirLock has modified the Oros concept with two channels on the male side of the bobber. One channel fixes the leader in place, while the other, wider grove is designed to use as a sliding indicator for fishing deeper water in lakes.
I still have some Thingamabobbers and I won’t hesitate to use them, but these new-fangled center-axis bobbers are handy. I’m a convert, though my loyalty may still be won.
The first brand to sell its strike indicators in classic bobber colors of red-and-white or yellow-and-orange, will have a customer for life.