Overlooked Gems #1

Many of the best fly-fishing products don’t come from companies with large marketing budgets. Some of them are too small, and in some cases, the manufacturer may not realize its product is being used for fly fishing.
Amnesia monofilament first entered fly fishing as an early shooting-head running line. With low memory for coils (or strong memory for being straight), it was a logical choice. Later, Amnesia’s bright red colored lineup started being used by many fly shops for terminal loop-to-loop knots on the end of fly line. The color made it easier for sports to avoid drawing the leader knots into the tip-top guide (a common cause of rod breakage). I’m never without a spool of 20# red Amnesia for repairing line-to-leader connections in the field, even though most lines now come with factory loops.
Another overlooked item is the simple child’s water balloon. Guides in Utah first began using barely-inflated water balloons as indicators–their technique has now trickled out nationwide, even spawning expensive corporate copies. At $1 for dozens of balloons, you can’t beat the original. Literally unsinkable, they are perfect for nymphing with a spey system, because the spey cast puts a lot of torque on traditional indicators and can swamp or break them.
Do you have fly-fishing’s equivalent of Duck Tape in your gear bag? Let people know your ingenious solutions in the Comments section!