Indicatorology 2.0

The Thingamabobber vs Air-Lock Indicator

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A few years ago I did a comprehensive comparison of strike indicators (Indicatorology). The Thingamabobber (with jam stop) proved to be one of the best indicators in that study, and over the last few years I have been using Thingamabobbers consistently when fishing nymphs. However, there is no such thing as the perfect strike indicator. The Thingmabobber can create a serious kink in your leader due to the loop you have to make to connect it.  Thingamabobbers also tend to slip when  connecting to thicker diameter leader or tippet. So when I found the Air-Lock indicator I thought hmm... I have to test it.

The Thingamambobber comes in four sizes: 1/2", 3/4", 1" and 1 1/4" balls, whereas the Air-Lock indicator comes in 3/4", 1" and 1 1/4" balls. I use mostly 1/2" and occasionally 3/4" balls. It is unfortunate that the AIr-Lock indicator does not come in 1/2" size because otherwise it would replace the Thingamabobber as my main indicator for nymphing. Hopefully the smaller size will be available soon.


Note: A few month after this review was published a 1/2" Air-Lock indicator was released.

After testing the Air-Lock indicator recently on the Nechako River I found that the Air-Lock indicator is easy to attached and that it avoids both issues that I have with the Thingamabobber. It also has the same  sensitivity as a similar sized Thingamabobber in detecting strikes.


Results

Considerations

1/2"

3/4"

3/4"