The NZ Strike Indicator Company Goes Bigger

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new-zealand-strike-indicator

The Strike Indicator Company, soon will be offering larger tubing. Photo Louis Cahill

A while back, I wrote a post that showcased The Strike Indicator System, invented by New Zealander, Barry Dombro. After testing it out for several days on the water and talking with friends of mine that also fished with it, I contacted Barry by email with my product feedback. First, I told him it was a great strike indicator system for fishing small to medium nymph rigs. Secondly, I liked how delicately I was able to make it land on the surface of the water during my presentations. Thirdly, the strike indicator system really shined when I used it as a sighter to keep track of tiny dry flies and emergers (My good friend, Ronnie Hall from The Fish Hawk showed me this). After all those positives, I ended my email to Barry with one tidbit of criticism, and that was I felt the system failed to outperform other strike indicators when I was nymphing really turbulent water or when I was fishing a big heavy tandem nymph rig. In those two situations, I had a tough time keeping the wool strike indicator from sinking below the surface.

nz-strikeindicator-instructions

Strike Indicator System

My suggestion to Barry Dumbro was that he look into providing larger tubing for his strike indicator system. I explained the larger tubing would dramatically increase the amount of wool you could insert into the system, and secondly, you could set it high up on the thick butt section of the leader when fishing deep water, and not have to worry about it filling up the majority of the tubing. Then I clicked the send email icon.

I was pleasantly surprised when Barry swiftly replied back to my email, saying he would look into my suggestion and get back to me. I give a lot of feedback to manufacturers about their products, but most of the time it doesn’t seem to be heard, and once in a blue moon I hear back from them. A month or so after our email communication, I received a package in the mail containing the larger tubing, and a note from Barry, that read, “Kent, your feedback was heard loud and clear. Try this out and let me know if it resolves the problem.” I instantly thought to myself, this company is going to be successful because this guy understands how important it is to listen to the people using his product. Too many companies spend a ton of money on R&D, developing a product, and once it hits the stores, they put on their blinders and ear plugs. I respected that he took the time to listen to a fly fisher from a small town in North Georgia. It was really cool. More anglers would probably go out of their way to provide valuable feedback to manufacturers if they knew they were going to be heard. You shouldn’t have to be a small company or a professional in the industry to have a two way conversation.

I went out the other day and tried the system with the larger tubing and it worked very well. With the ability to add twice as much wool with the larger tubing, I had no more problems keeping the wool indicator floating through fast choppy water or when I was fishing a heavy nymph rig. The other cool thing about his system that I like, is you can re-use the plastic tubing and the majority of the wool if you take the time to put it away. One package would last me easily one season on the water, and I fish over 200 days a year. I endorse this product and I feel confident if you give it a chance, you’ll find a place for it in your pack just like I have.

For more information about the New Zealand Strike Indicator System, please visit the link below. Also, just a heads up to everyone, when we do our giveaway in July, this will be one of the products we will be including in the basket of goodies.

www.strikeindicator.com

Keep it Reel,

Kent Klewein
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 
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13 thoughts on “The NZ Strike Indicator Company Goes Bigger

  1. This is really cool. I’ll be giving this a try for nymphing with lighter flies. That’s really cool that he took your input to heart and actually modified his product to better fit your needs. You definitely don’t see that with most manufacturers.

  2. Could you substitute Polypro yarn for the wool? Since PP yarn is completely waterproof it would make this system even better!

  3. My wife got me this for Christmas. I got to use it on a small stream yesterday, and I LOVE it! No kink in the line, easily adjusted for depth, and with a dab of floatant, it stayed high and dry for hours. I even managed to land a few fish with it.

  4. I’ve been using a similar system for years using a Korda baiting needle and silicon tubing. Both available on ebay for about £4 delivered

      • Kent,
        The baiting needle can also be used to rip a super fast super neat improved surgeons knot for leaders. Just form an unclosed overhand loop with the mainline and the leader, pass the needle through the loop, twist 6 times (wrapping the loop around the needle) and open the latch to capture then pull through the leader end. Smoothly pull tight and robert’s your mother’s half sisters occasional lover. Or something like that …

        Practice a few times and you’ll be attaching new tippers in under 20 seconds

  5. I have used it the last few timesI have been out. Took a while to get the right amount of wool for the plastic tubing. I like how it settles to the water and so delicate I can more subtle movements. Two thumbs up.

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