The Ferris Indicator System

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    Posted: 26 May 2016 at 12:24am
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There is someone in NZ claiming to have invented this indicator system and which is known as the NZ indicator.
This is clearly not true as this indicator system was invented by my good friend Rudi Ferris who incidentally is an American from California and who comes to NZ regularly to fish.    I wrote this article about it in 2005.
 
 

21 February 2005

 

The Editor

NZ Fishing News

PO Box 12965

Penrose

Auckland

 

The Ferris Indicator

By Herb Spannagl

 

Every now and then a new idea extends the evolutionary path of flyfishing.    In between many come and go without making any lasting impact.    The winners like the globug, the shooting head, the luminous fly, single foot rod guides, whip-finish tools, large arbour reels, PVC line coatings to name but a few have become part of the stock in trade of every serious fly fisher.   

 

Strike indicators, which are a standard accessory of nymph fishing, have similarly undergone their own evolutionary radiation.    Although the idea was originally borrowed from float fishing, innovative anglers have adapted this concept to meet the diverse practical or legal needs of fly fishers wherever the sport is practiced.   

 

In New Zealand by far the most common indicator material has been yarn.    It is also the only material that is permitted for this purpose in the Taupo fishery.    Over the years numerous writers, including myself have covered this subject in such detail that it is unnecessary to repeat what has become common knowledge.

 

Since I fish waters outside the Taupo region during the summer season I have experimented with different materials and attachments for my indicators.    I have used putty, plugs of high-density foam, dry fly, short pieces of Hi Vis fly line and of course the good old yarn ranging from ordinary wool to polypropylene and polyester fiber.   

 

How to attach the yarn has been a story of its own.    On the Tongariro two kinds of clips have become standard although I have used a small nylon loop instead.    This allows the long leader to be pulled through single food guides for landing fish or at the end of the day to wind the whole leader onto the reel.     However practical these methods are, none of them are useful for attaching summer indicators, which are by necessity much smaller and less conspicuous than their canary sized Tongariro counterparts.

 

In the South Island fly fishers have been using small orthodontic quality rubber bands to wrap around the leader and a piece of yarn to create a small yarn cone that can be moved up or down the leader.    It works fine but eventually the nylon cuts through the rubber.   The other hassle is to find a dentist who will sell you the rubber bands.    Most don’t have them as they are only used for orthodontic work.     Best to forget all about it since below I shall introduce you to a much better idea to achieve the same end.

 

On my recent trip to Murupara my old mate Rudi Ferris showed me this simpler version of achieving the same sliding yarn cone.     He uses small (1-2mm) rings cut from the empty ink tube of a “Biro” ballpoint pen.    Quite frankly, when I first saw its application I was stunned by its effectiveness and by the ingenuity of thinking that gave birth to this neat little wonder.     This ingenuity not only applies to the choice of ring but to the crafty way to put it on and to take it off.

 

I guess after you have read this article you will be digging around your writing desk or rubbish bins for empty Biros or other ballpoint pens.     Most you will have to crack open in order to get at the goods.    After you have demolished a few you will discover that they generally have tubes of two sizes.    Your standard Biro has a thinner tube which is just right for small summer indicators.    The larger tubes are tailor made for Tongariro sized indicators if you want to experiment with this technique this coming winter.   (For that I use a 1.5m stub of 10kg nylon nail knotted to the end of my fly line).

 

You will see that one empty Biro tube will provide enough rings for your and all your mate's fishing for years, so there is no need to destroy the pen supply of your whole office.    Use a sharp knife to cut the rings like slicing Salami.    Experiment with 1,2 and 3mm rings as these will give you more or less friction on the leader.

 

The next important step is to select the right thickness of yarn for any given ring opening.

Too much will not allow the ring to slip over it while too little does not provide enough friction to hold the indicator in place.     You will soon see what I mean when you try it.

 

As with my standard Tongariro indicators my yarn of choice is polyester rovings from Spotlight stores.    As this comes in quite thick strands you will have to tease out a thin piece.    Remember this will be doubled to make up the final density (size) of your indicator. 

 

Most of us use a tapered leader to which we attach a few level lengths of stepped down nylon.    I usually start with a level one-meter length of 4-5 kg.    This is where I attach the indicator, as this will give me a one-meter option to increase or decrease the depth my nymphs can sink.    If you want to have the indicator closer to the nymph, just select a further forward section of nylon.

 

Attaching the yarn is a piece of cake.   

 

  • Double the nylon and feed on a ring.
  • Slide the ring down to open a large loop above it.
  • Feed the yarn into the loop and slide the ring hard up against it.
  • Now (and that is the moment when the monkey jumps into the water) pull both ends of the nylon in opposite directions.
  • If the correct thickness of yarn has been selected the ring will be jump up and hold fast under tension.   
  • Try pulling the indicator up and down to see if it will stay put while you are casting.
  • If not wrap the nylon one more time over the yarn before you pull the ring in place.   It will hold really well.

 

An equally useful application of the Biro indicator is its ease of removal.    Grab the yarn and pull the ring down, open the nylon loop and take out the yarn.    This comes handy when you are nymphing up a stream and suddenly spot that big brownie rising in a foam line.    You just take the indicator off and change over to a nice dry for a classic presentation.     When you have landed the beast you only need five seconds to put your little beauty back on your leader.

 

Now that you have got the general idea try rings from Popsicle sticks, Johnson cotton buds in fact anything that might work.    You never know your name could go down in fly-fishing history like my mate’s, who will henceforth be known as Biro Ferris.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote o Neill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2016 at 6:31am
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I guess the new system has the mounting tool included although this works the same way as a tool available to coarse anglers for some time now, and uses a different plastic for the tubing.
but as with most "inventions" its a modification of an idea already out there.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote TheBadger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2016 at 7:58am
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I think there's sufficient novelty in the new system to avoid any conflict. It's not as if they're cutting biro tubes on mass and reselling them... They've found what I think is probably a better material, in the plastic tubing, and a very good system of storing and applying the sections of tubing. 

Yes, the concept is similar, but it's an advancement on what went before it. That's how developments and improvements are made.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote MarkE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2016 at 8:20am
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^ Totally agree, similar but far superior system. Even the originators ideas are usually born from anothers.
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Yea agreed.... there is very little new in flyfishing despite some spruking things as new Wink  usually just their naivety.  I could be wrong here with what your saying Herb but my guess is that your mate, copied it of someone else, who copied of someone else and so on and so on. 

Id suggest that the producers of the NZ strike indicator tool have just refined the system to make it super convenient.   A good system for sure. 

I reckon too many people put all their eggs in one basket when it comes to indicators.  Each system has its advantages and disadvantages to suit different situations and conditions. You have to stay flexible with your ideologies if you want to succeed Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rainbow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2016 at 11:15am
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There is no question the needle storage and application system is super convenient and for some an improvement (albeit an expensive one) on the original.    However, that does not justify claiming the principle idea behind this indicator as someone else's invention. 
My post is solely to give credit where it belongs.
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As far as I can see (unless I missed it) theyre not actually claiming to have invented it?
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When you look at their ad it is the tool system that they are promoting as "innovative" not so much how the plastic tube is used to mount the wool for the indicator.
The plastic used now is different also as is the dyed NZ wool so it probably has enough in the product to say it is innovative as opposed to a new invention.
And that is where people tend to place design now, an innovative product using a new design feature/s and components. Fly lines are typical of this in terms of tapers and chemical make up of the line.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote southernwanderer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 May 2016 at 8:10pm
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Can someone please explain, why are you only allowed to use yarn indicators on taupo waters? What's the issue?
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... and someone probably was doing it long before "Ferris".... Jeez, fly fisherman can be as bad as photography enthusiasts sometimes!

Barry's (NZ Strike Indicator) system is very polished and works well, have been using the new (knurled alloy head) tool lately and the whole system is excellent. Who cares who invented it?
https://www.youtube.com/user/troutboynz
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Quite apart from the longstanding argument by  fly fishers that indicators come close to bobber/bait fishing the real reason is far more down to earth.    When all sorts of indicators were allowed in Taupo waters some threaded on several large polystyrene balls that were so buoyant that fish actually hooked themselves against the drag set up by the balls as well as the line belly.     I once saw one local meat hunter fishing with 4 balls on his line and the only explanation I got was :"I can see them better".     Unfortunately some of the antics one occasionally sees on those waters really stretches one's imagination of fly fishing.     But then again if you live there on a benefit and fish to feed your kids I for one am quite relaxed to look the other way.
 
Rainbow
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Originally posted by Rainbow Rainbow wrote:

Quite apart from the longstanding argument by  fly fishers that indicators come close to bobber/bait fishing the real reason is far more down to earth.    When all sorts of indicators were allowed in Taupo waters some threaded on several large polystyrene balls that were so buoyant that fish actually hooked themselves against the drag set up by the balls as well as the line belly.     I once saw one local meat hunter fishing with 4 balls on his line and the only explanation I got was :"I can see them better".     Unfortunately some of the antics one occasionally sees on those waters really stretches one's imagination of fly fishing.     But then again if you live there on a benefit and fish to feed your kids I for one am quite relaxed to look the other way.
 
Rainbow
ok thanks, another one of those funny rules you get when people try to define what is fishing, and what is not.
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I'll take the "bait" Herb, which is the natural extension of your charitable "look the other way" argument.

Regulations by definition don't enable discretion to be ignored in order accommodate ones personal circumstances .

Would be be relaxed by non licenced fishing, spinning the Tongariro (you will have seen snagged lures on the Red Hutt bridge wires from midnight assaults) , netting the Waimarino or, as in my opening metaphor, bait fishing the lake in the name of putting a feed on the table?

Anyway hope all is well with you and I like your latest Roll Cast video .
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Slab I don't condone the illegal part of the Taupo fishing spectrum but have come to accept some of the things I see that are not in the spirit of fly fishing nor contribute anything to the advancement of the sport.    The perpetrators are not entirely to blame as they only take advantage of loop holes in the fishing regulations ; ie the new practice of "Advanced Czech Nymphing" as a member of the Taupo Fishery Advisory Committee called it.
 
Anyway the Taupo trout need some culling the reasons for this is best explained here:
 

The dilemma of a “Wild Fishery” is that it is subject to interacting factors, which can vary widely from year to year.     Lake Taupo is largely a rainbow fishery that depends almost entirely on smelt as its major food source.      Each of the two components has its own dynamics that frequently work against each other to the detriment of both.      One of the variables is the recruitment of trout the numbers of which can change from one spawning season to the next.     The other is the abundance of smelt in the lake, which is governed by its own set of limitations; the most significant is the availability of nutrients to produce the microorganisms the smelt feed on.     As we have seen in recent years smelt numbers can fluctuate widely.      The dynamics of these two components of the fishery operate to a large extent independently; trout recruitment takes place in the feeder streams and smelt generally reproduce and grow in the lake.      Thus the relationship between trout and smelt is infinitely variable and only occasionally are “all the ducks in line” with optimal numbers of smelt supporting the concurrently living population of trout.      Last year Dr.Michel Duadal, who is DOC’s fishery scientist commented to me that in his opinion the trout in Lake Taupo are starving most of the time.     This simply means that their size and condition is a reflection of the limited food supply and if that were to improve the trout would respond accordingly.       However, the reality is that because of this limitation the Lake Taupo rainbows only grow to a fraction of the size this species is genetically capable of.

The vagary of such variability brings up the question of why the Taupo trout fisheries is allowed to remains so dependent on a single and often fickle food supply?      Surely no business model would allow any business to fluctuate so widely between success and failure without any attempt of mitigation.     As it currently stands the only available means are to regulate the fish size and the daily bag but such regulation changes are too inflexible, too broad based and too politically marooned  to affectively respond to the annual changes in the dynamics between trout and smelt.      I believe there is enough research carried out by DOC to reasonably predict the annual recruitment of rainbow trout and the level of nutrients in the lake that is available to support the food chain that feeds the smelt.      What is needed is to allow the management team the freedom to quickly respond to these figures with flexible management measures to attempt to keep trout and smelt in some king of optimal balance.    As I have said on a number of occasions it may also be a smart move to try to find some additional food sources that do not compete with smelt to try to even out the highs and lows.   

One often hears statements that because this is a “Wild Fishery”, anglers have to accept that the quality of this fishery will fluctuate.     While the latter is true it is by no means a license for doing nothing about it.       In fact the very opposite should be the case and the challenge for the management team is to use their limited tools for the smartest intervention.       With the Taupo fishery reputedly contributing some $70mill to the local economy the management of this prime asset is big business, which can no longer be constrained by often poorly informed philosophical debates.

Rainbow 

PS The most recent example of such a miss match can be seen in the aftermath of the 2005 smelt collapse.    Not only did post spawners  not recover the young fish entering the lake also did not thrive.    Clearly there were too many hungry trout in the lake for the low level of smelt.    Yet the daily bag limit remained at three fish!!.    Worse still the misapplication of C&R either for ethical reasons or in the erroneous belief that these under nourished fish needed a chance to recover put even more pressure on the remaining smelt population and slowed down the rebuild by a number of years.     Killing fish at Lake Taupo is not some return to a caveman mentality but an essential tool to manage this fishery.          
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote old timer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2016 at 6:32pm
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Does Mr Ferris have a patient on this indicator system?
If not I don't think there is much he can do about it.
 
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Originally posted by old timer old timer wrote:

Does Mr Ferris have a patient on this indicator system?


Holy crap, this must be an amazing product.

Firstly fishing related and now a medical deviceLOL
"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught,will we realize that we cannot eat money" - 19th Century Indian Creed
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LOL
You cant eat my toast fish
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Originally posted by flyfisher flyfisher wrote:

Barry's (NZ Strike Indicator) system is very polished and works well, have been using the new (knurled alloy head) tool lately and the whole system is excellent. Who cares who invented it?

Good to see they have swapped to a knurled top piece.  Iv lost 2 of the older ones due to the red ball coming off the pin.  Love the tool, so no issues buying another one when the first couple died, but good to see they are improving it  Wink
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Yip, real nice to hold onto Fraser, did a clip for them recently with tying on etc. (aka testing the new camera!) below.

Some differing colour wools as well. I know Dore mixes black with white to good effect, might have to try this two-tone variety myself.




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AHHaa I though that was you in the vids I saw today on their website, but didn't want to say.  Nice work bro! 

Yea never though of mixing the wool?  might have to give it a go.  That been said i have to admit most often im just grabbing a bit of wool out of some barbwire and using that.   Seems that you guys must breed some odd sheep on the NI? Fluorescent green... orange?  I mean really, what you buggers been doing to the poor livestock?? LOL  

PS.  Awesome footage as always !!!  Cool
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