JARS
This is a new twist on an old favorite.
The old rubber legged stonefly nymph has been one of the staples for ages when fishing freestone streams and rivers in the Intermountain West and the Northern Rockies with stonefly populations. So why change a good thing? The design of JARS is intended to accomplish several things ? improved profile, more action, better texture, and a shorter hook shank to give the fish less leverage during the landing process.
Follow the link for some additional information on the background of the fly and the early results fishing it here in Western Montana and in Northern Idaho.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?48290-J.-A.-R.-S.-…
John
NOTE : [i]Since the original tying sequence, I’ve made a minor modification. Added a strand of .5mm StretchMagic to the FEB to give it a bit more body. The pattern as originally tied has continued to be very effective, but the FEB does occasionally wrap around the hook. The StretchMagic makes that less likely to happen.
[/i]John
P.S. JARS hit for the cycle yesterday on one of our Montana freestone cricks with a good stonefly population. All the fishies in the system, except for one of the very few bull trout, took it for a ride before it took them for a ride.
Brown
Rainbow
Westslope Cutthroat
Brookie
Cuttbow
Mountain Whitefish
And for a bonus pic, another cutthroat.
Fished for a little under four hours. Hooked about twenty fishies and landed around fifteen. Other than the two singles - the brookie and the mountain whitefish - the mix was predominantly cutthroat with about an even number of browns and bows and a couple cuttbows.
Wow man, you had quite the day. Good for you. I am hoping to get out this weekend.
… are not my favorite approach to weighting flies.
But since I had a few at the tying desk from several years ago, I decided to do a Conehead JARS …
… and hooked up with one of the largest rainbows I’ve caught since moving to Montana …
… at just under 20".
This was one of half a dozen trouts that ate the Conehead JARS when fished deep in a couple big pools on one of our Western Montana freestone cricks today. A crick that usually fishes well with big stonefly nymph patterns. Landed one nice brown and two other large rainbows, and lost two more rainbows which both looked the equal of the fishy above.
To tie this version, tie in the antenna first then whip finish and cut the tying thread. Slide the conehead up behind the eye, covering the tying thread. Wrap several turns of .035" lead or non-lead wire and push it up snugly behind the conehead, filling in some of the gap of the cone.
Start the tying thread, secure the wire in place, and then proceed to tie the JARS as usual.
John
Great fish, John. Wonder if the extra weight made it jig up and down?
I don’t think the conehead plus a few wraps of non-lead wire is any heavier than the weight provided by the 12-15 wraps of wire that I normally use. But I was thinking that the placement of the weight at the front of the fly would change the action, at least in some situations.
In very quiet water, and that is where I got several of the big fishies yesterday, it could cause a jigging action. And actually, I do sometimes intentionally move the fly in that kind of water to impart some action. But whether that accounted for the hook ups is something only the fishies know.
John
I figured you were on speaking terms with at least some of them.
Would you be on speaking terms with someone who insists on poking a sharp hook through your lib and hauling you around for several minutes before water boarding you? Trout are probably more like likely to talk to someone like me who just stands around waving a stick all day.
… is something of a pain in the rear end, even after tying quite a good number of them over the past few months.
So this morning I tied a couple without tails and took them out for a test drive on my home water.
They did just fine …
… hooking up and landing three fishies before I managed to lose both of them on one back cast while fishing them in tandem.
Something you might want to consider if you have been reluctant to tie JARS because of the incorporated tails.
John
Nice John, I need to try this one.
Good luck with it, Jeff.
JARS hit it out of the park today on my home water. Hooked 19 and landed 16. This guy was #1 on the day …
… and it did not go downhill from there.
The bigger guys are making their way up the system - lots of 14-16" fish in hand and a couple more fishies pushing 17" to go with this guy.
John