Bobbers, Indicators, Floats, Balloons, and Sindicators

All the recent talk about Idylwilde's new Sindicator has been both ridiculous and hilarious! Growing up I was taught the importance of learning to cast a fly rod, read water, and fishing dry flies. Hell, most people started fly fishing after seeing Brad Pitt/Jason Borger making beautiful casts and hooking fish on dry flies in a River Runs Through It. Years later, it seems as if this sport has become more about how many fish one can catch. Here's where the Indicator, Bobber, and Balloons come in.

It all started with ye old plastic red/white. Most of us started fishing ponds and lakes as kids with old red/white. Then some of us might have transitioned into a float, drifting marabou jigs for steelhead on a spinning rod. Now many fly fisherman seem to get into the sport with fly fishing's version of the bobber, i.e. yarn indicator, corkies, thingamabobbers, balloons, and more. The newest revelation being "trapped air technology" such as the Sindicator, Thingamabobber, and of all things Balloons.

With other blogs such as Blanco Honky and Moldy Chum calling the Sindicator "shameless" and "ripoffandduplicator," it makes me think of how many yarn indicators are on the market. My guess would be at least 5 or 6, but we don't hear much about how similar they are. Now there are multiple versions of a balloon, i.e. bobber using trapped air technology and the shit hits the fan. Get over it! I have no problem with people using a bobber, float, indicator, or balloon but it is just not for me. If I was to use one it would surely be on a spinnning rod floating down a seam with a jog underneath. While I would like to see more people swinging flies or casting dry flies to rising fish, most people just seem to get into the sport through indicator/bobber fishing. To me it has almost eliminated the essence of fly casting but for those who just care about catching fish, it does get the job done.

JH