MidCurrent Tested and Trusted: Jamstop Thingamabobber

No matter how much we all like dry fly fishing and casting streamers, when it comes to catching a mess of trout nothing beats nymphing. The reasons should be obvious. Instead of trying to tempt trout to rise to the surface and expose themselves or triggering them to expend a bunch of energy chasing down a stripped fly, nymphing allows you to sink a fly down to right where trout live. You can catch trout on nymphs on hot days or cold days, when the water is clear or cloudy, and during high and low flows. In short, nymphing is true anytime/anywhere/anyplace type of fly fishing. And while you can do it with a tightline, it’s usually more effective to nymph with a bobber…*cough*… I mean strike indicator.

Strike indicators come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and styles. Some are made of fur or miscellaneous fluff and designed to not spook fish, but after a few strikes they start to sink like a waterlogged Bunyan Bug. Others float like a cork (and are often made from it) but are complicated and difficult to attach to your leader. Worse still, are strike indicators that have delicate clip-on attachments that break away and send your indicator off into parts unknown after your third cast. As a fly fishing guide, I’ve gone through the whole menagerie, but it wasn’t until I came across the Jam-Stop Thingamabobber that I finally found a strike indicator that worked for me.

Float like a Butterfly, Cling Like a Bee?

The biggest thing I like about Thingamabobbers is that they always float. Designed by Western fly anglers and made of a thin yet unpoppable plastic, Thingamabobbers are small, round, air-filled bubbles that—whether you’re fishing in rough water, using a dozen split shot, or fishing with a couple of bugs the size of beer cans—will keep floating and keep your flies in the strike zone every single time.

Aside from being impossible to sink, Thingamabobbers are also incredibly easy to attach to your leader. There aren’t any little screw-on caps to drop and immediately lose, and you don’t have to find some microscopic crease on the float. Every Thingamabobber has a smaller, thicker loop of plastic and a small plug attached to the float that makes clipping the indicator to your leader a breeze. All you have to do is slide a loop of leader through the plastic attachment and then loop it back over the indicator. Slide the indicator up or down the leader until you get it to the desired depth, poke the plug into the hole, and you’re all set to go.

The easy-to-attach set up makes Thingamabobbers almost impossible to break and simple to adjust. You can drop down to deeper water or bring the flies up and fish the shallows with minimal eye-ball measurements. Trying to find the right depth is much less a guessing game.

A Bobber For It All

Jam-Stop Thingamabobbers are just the perfect indicator for… well, anything. They come in multiple sizes—from half to three-quarters to one inch in diameter. Best of all, you can buy them in a variety pack with every size, so you don’t have to buy six packs to ensure you’ll have the size you need.

The largest Thingamabobbers are great for fishing deep water with a lot of split shot or large, heavy nymphs. They’ll even work for dead drifting streamers. The medium size is perfect for your everyday nymphing—small to medium-sized nymphs, from slow-moving pools to fast riffles. The smallest size is great for those low-profile nymph jobs such as working shallow, gin-clear water with midges or for when you grow desperate trying to catch a trout that refuses to rise on a technical spring creek.

Thingamabobbers come in a variety of high-visibility colors that are easy to see in fast water or low light. They also come in white for when you need to disguise your bobber among the bubbles or lose it in the foam.

Bobbing Along

One of the most difficult aspects of fly fishing is finding a way to consistently catch fish. Trout can be real bastards when they want to be. Their feeding patterns constantly shift as water temperatures and weather fluctuates—the fish have caused many an angler to throw their fly fishing gear into the river and take up golf.

That’s why we have nymphing.

No matter how goofy we may feel trying to cast and drift with a giant fluorescent bobber that looks like it belongs in a child’s toy box attached to our lines, the fact is that nymphing stands out as a reliable and consistent way to catch fish. So instead of trying to unsuccessfully drift a dry fly or yank a streamer over fish that won’t eat, why not put on a couple nymphs and a Thingamabobber and get down on their level. Because in the end, life is short. Catch as many fish as you can.