J. A. R. S.

[JohnScott]

( FAOL FOTW Archives 12-31-12 )

Three years ago today, just after noon, I hooked up and landed a Clearwater B run steelhead on the original version of JARS. It took about eight minutes to land that fishy. A few minutes later, I hooked up another such fish, and landed it in about the same length of time. Those were the first two steelhead I landed on my northern Idaho home water, the only river I've fished that holds steelhead, and only during the spawning run.

A few days ago, sitting at the fly tying desk, I wondered what a JARS would look like with vermile rather than chenile for the main body. Kind of liked the look, so I tied several and put them in the fly box.

Today, just after noon, in the same spot as three years ago, fishing the same indicator technique, with the new version, in conditions virtually identical to those in 2016, I hooked a monster B run steelhead. Twenty plus minutes later, after a goodly number of strong runs and constant pressure, it came to hand - all 36" of it.

P4220038 (2).jpg

Guess where I'm going to be and what I'm going to be doing on April 22, 2022.

John

P.S. Rig today was a TFO BVK 9' for 5wt fishing a Rio 4 wt nymph line on an Abel TR1 ( click and pall ) reel with a 5' furled flouro leader and 5' of Orvis Mirage 1X tippet under a thingamabobber indicator.

[okflyfisher]

Nice! When I lived in Michigan I used to get some of those beasties on a fly rod. the shorter shanked hook also gives those big ones less leverage on those head shakes . Congratulations

[FishnDave]

Wow, that's GREAT, John!! 36"! Does it make you wonder HOW MANY there might be in that stream right now??

[JohnScott]

Wow, that's GREAT, John!! 36"! Does it make you wonder HOW MANY there might be in that stream right now??

Dave -

NOT MANY.

This is part of a wild run up from the Pacific, somewhere around 650 miles. Along the way, a majority of the Clearwater B run survivors go off to tributaries further downstream to spawn, leaving a rather small number to make it as high in the system as I fish.

Over the past nine years, I've hooked four steelhead that I've seen or landed, and one very large fish that broke off that was most likely a steelhead. I've had two other monsters on, but those were likely chinook salmon, but I can't be sure. Both of those were in the first half of May, which is a bit late for the steelhead, and were right at the front of the chinook run in a place quite popular with the salmon fishermen. And both of those fishies reacted to being hooked quite differently than the steelhead, and broke off with their first run to faster water.

The fact there are NOT MANY makes it all the more exciting in that rare moment when it is so clear that you've hooked up with one. Yesterday was epic, for me - not something I expect or hope to repeat, just a memory to relish. It doesn't hurt that it was the third cast of a new version of my favorite original nymph.

Here's another view, another pic cropped from the original.

P4220040.jpg

John

P.S. If you click on the pic, you might get a full screen image instead of the small one included as an attachment.

[FishnDave]

Wow, yes, that IS extremely special! In those 650 miles, how many dams must they have navigated to get to that stream section? Actually...I just looked...but only looked downstream from the Dworshak branch (which is still a long way downstream from you)...and just to get to that stream junction they must navigate at least 8 large dam systems. Sheesh. Can we make it any tougher for them to spawn?

[Rick Z]

Very nice fish and a great memory to have.

Rick

[BadBug]

Good job John!

Dennis

[Ed_D]

Glad to see you are doing well.

[tedshuck]

Wow! I'm really impressed that you were able to land that fish on a 5wt rod with a click reel. Well done!

Thanks for sharing,
Ted

[JohnScott]

... I was fishing a 9' for 4 wt GLoomis Streamdance when I landed the two steelhead mentioned in the opening post, same reel, line, leader and similar tippet material.

I guess I have an "attitude" about fly reels with drag. I do have a couple, but it is extremely rare that I let a fish get on the reel, and then the drag is pretty much set to "break off" if some fish thinks he can beat the tippet ( and knot ) strength. I did get line burn several times Monday when the big B run fishy took off on a strong run, but other than that, palming the reel, holding him tight, and stripping in and managing line by hand, for the most part, worked just fine. I did take up line on the reel several times, but to get loose line out of the way, not to hold or play the fish.

Now, back to the flies, if I can get the system to post a pic of the original chenile version and the new slimmed down vernille version.

For whatever reason, the system will not download the pic. I'll try again later.

Not sure I like new version - a bit too slim in the forward body, although I do like the transition from the FEB. And I don't know if the new version will be as durable as the original. Only time will tell, and as little nymph fishing as I do, it could be a while before a fly gets through a valid durability test. Although there is one small river I've been thinking about fishing which I always nymph fish.

John