Funny that others know and use the Thingamabobber. I randomly ran into them in a fly shop in BC last summer and picked a couple up. I love them... and I've tried a lot of commercial and homemade indicators.

I have yet to fish the bead but I can attest to their ability to catch fish. Pretty f'ing cool actually. And Coley has made me a firm believer on the importance of different beads. Put them in the water when you get them and compare different ones. Then do it again in different water conditions. It is an interesting experiment.

I think nymph fishing with indicators is a lot of fun. The feeling of sticking a fish hard when the indicator goes under (or goes ballistic!) is so exciting. I think one of my favorite fishing memories of 2008 is watching my mom's thingamabobber rip diaganally through the water as a big rainbox slide over in a fast-moving slot and engulfed a large stonefly nymph. Reel screamer!