ADVANCED TENKARA > Draft Layout - 1 by Maggie Bieger

LIMITED HARDCOVER EDITION

Tenkara A D V A N C E D

FLY FISHING

STRATEGIES, TACTICS & FLIES Combines “Tenkara Fly-Fishing” and “Tenkara Kebari”

David E. Dirks Outdoor Writer & Editor

TENKARA FLY-FISHING Strategies, Tactics & Flies Special Limited Edition Combines 2 Books: “Tenkara Fly-Fishing” & “Tenkara Kebari” By

DAVID E. DIRKS

Copyright 2022 by David E. Dirks All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of David E. Dirks or his assignees. Requests to the Author for permission should be addressed to David E. Dirks, P.O. Box 87, Westtown, N.Y. 10998 or email at dirksoutdoors@gmail.com. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the Author has used his best efforts in preparing this book, he makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. The Author shall not be liable for any loss of profit or any other personal or commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. Published by The Dirks Group, Inc. For discounted quantity orders of this book, contact the author at: dirksoutdoors@gmail.com ISBN-13:

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “I truly believe that tenkara is a gift, given to us from ancient Japanese fishermen. It’s truly a gift from heaven.” Paul Vertrees

This combined work from two previously published books would not have been possible without the dedication of a small cadre of tenkara anglers who were willing to open up about what they have learned in their pursuit of tenkara. No book is ever written entirely in a vacuum and this book is no exception. I had lots of help from many excellent and dedicated tenkara anglers who freely shared their insights within these pages on their favorite tenkara kebari and kebari-inspired patterns. Many of those mentioned here were contributors to “Tenkara Fly-Fishing” which was published in 2013 and seven years later, with the publication of “Tenkara Kebari” – are still engrossed by the seamlessness of tenkara fly fishing itself. I have to note the work of Chris Kuhlow – who is an exceptional person and fly tyer who provided many of the patterns in the kebari section in addition to my own. His artful and accurate representations of traditional kebari are to be treasured and I am grateful for his generous contributions. I also thank Anthony Naples, Jason Sparks, Chris Stewart, Tom Sadler, Jason Klass, Rob Worthing, Daniel Galhardo, Paul Vertrees, Paul Gibson, Karel Lansky, ERiK Ostrander, John Vetterli, and Morgan Lyle for their excellent, insightful, and significant contributions to this book as well. These tenkara anglers gave a lot of their time to help those who want to learn tenkara and give them every chance to have a successful experience. Most of all, I thank my wife, Christine – who is becoming a fine fly angler in her own right now that our kids are establishing lives of their own. Chris has patience of a saint and the gift of a loving spirit that is always an inspiration to me as her husband. Thank you, my bride, for putting up with me while I pursue an outdoor writer’s life and all the work that comes with it. David Dirks

DAVID E. DIRKS

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements

Introduction

Tenkara Fly-Fishing: Strategies, Tactics & Flies The Origins of Tenkara

The Essence of Tenkara Fly-Fishing

Selecting Tenkara Fly Rods

Tenkara Lines and Tippets

Casting Techniques for Tenkara

Tenkara Flies: Traditional and Adaptations

Strategies and Tactics for Different Types of Water

Small Water Strategies for Tenkara

Large Water Strategies for Tenkara

Fighting Fish Tenkara-Style

Additional Thoughts on Tenkara

Tenkara Kebari Traditional & Kebari-Inspired Trout Patterns Introduction to Kebari

Insights on Kebari

Traditional Tenkara Kebari Patterns

107

Kebari-Inspired Trout Patterns

144

Mini-Streamers and Bucktails for Tenkara

166

Dave’s Basic Three

167

Fishing Minis with Tenkara

170

On Fishing Kebari

187

About Our Contributors

194

DAVID E. DIRKS

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

INTRODUCTION “Don’t expect tenkara to be magic. It is just fly-fishing. Fish are still fish, you need to be able to find them, get the fly to them, detect the strike, set the hook and land the fish – none of that changes.” Anthony Naples

After publishing “Tenkara Fly-Fishing: Strategies & Tactics” in 2013 and then following that on with “Tenkara Kebari: Traditional & KebariInspired Trout Patterns” in 2020, I decided to combine both books into one limited edition hardcover bound book. Anglers can still purchase one book or the other as they see fit but perhaps a few of you will appreciate this all-in-one approach to the subject of Tenkara fly-fishing and tying great Tenkara kebari trout patterns. How It All Started By any measure, I’ve been a very dedicated fly angler since I was about 14. That works out to 38 years (and counting) of enjoyment with the rod, reel and fly. Then, out of the blue a few years ago I was introduced to this thing called “tenkara.” That’s when my liberation from too much fly-fishing gear and my introduction to simplified fly-fishing began. Tenkara allowed me to travel lightly and fish effectively in just about any brook, stream or river that I found myself in here in the Catskills. I will tell you straight up, I’m not a purist or elitist. I welcome all to the art of fishing, in general. Everyone should find their niche and enjoy the time they have on the water. Anglers who will stand on the banks for hours waiting for a certain hatch can do that if they want. I just want to fish whether the fish are rising or not. It bothers me when anglers of one style or another put down another angler because he or she is not fishing the same way they are. So, it will come as no surprise to tell you that I still like to fish with

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traditional Western fly-fishing gear during the season. Although, I also find myself more often ditching my traditional Western fly-fishing gear and opting for the simplicity of the tenkara rod and a good kebari (meaning trout fly), or other traditional Japanese fly, pattern instead. I’ve already integrated tenkara into my guiding and have found many willing to learn the art, science and simplicity of tenkara. You will too if you give it a chance. One of the things I first noticed when I began getting into tenkara was the lack of written material available outside of some very good blogs from experienced tenkara anglers, many of whom participated in this project. Very little Japanese literature has been translated into English. There are still many Western-style fly anglers who still don’t know or hadn’t heard of tenkara. Now that I have experienced tenkara for myself, it’s hard for me to imagine other anglers missing out on an opportunity to add another dimension to their fishing pleasure. The Talent Searching around, I did find a small cadre of anglers who had discovered tenkara and were now on the path to serious dedication and understanding. More importantly, these guys were catching trout and lots of them in waters all around the United States. How could something this good be known to so few? We had to find ways to get the word out on tenkara as a method of fly-fishing here in the States. It seemed to me that the best way to do that was to find some of the best tenkara anglers in the U.S. and work with them to share their insights, strategies and tactics for tenkara. That’s just what I did in producing both tenkara books. There are some very dedicated tenkara anglers who provided input and content for this book project and I am indebted to their gracious sharing of time and insights with us. I have to note the work of Chris Kuhlow – who is an exception person and fly tyer who provided many of the patterns. His artful and accurate representations of traditional kebari are to be treasured and I am grateful for his generous contributions. I also thank Anthony Naples, Jason Sparks, Chris Stewart, Tom Sadler, Jason Klass, and Rob Worthing for their excellent and insightful contributions to this book as well. You the reader have the opportunity to consider a wider range of views 8

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

on tenkara, from the purist tenkara angler to what I call the “adaptive tenkara angler.” There’s room for everyone in the tenkara world. You can discern what appeals to you as you work your way through each chapter. I think you’ll enjoy the wit and often-sharp opinions that our group of tenkara anglers has openly shared. I know I have as I’ve worked through their interviews and constructed the manuscript for this book project. One other note I’ll leave you with involves the editing that went into both books, including this one. It was my intent to retain the “voice” of the tenkara anglers and allow them some freedom to roam on occasion. The editing we did was intentionally light. The only times we deleted copy was when it really didn’t aid the reader in gaining insights and when we found ourselves repeating common themes too much. But, I don’t mind a bit of repetition in terms of advice and guidance and we’ve allowed for it. Perhaps it will reinforce some key principles and ideas about tenkara. Most of all, I thank my wife, Christine – who is becoming a fine fly angler in her own right now that our kids are establishing lives of their own. Chris has the patience of a saint and the gift of a loving spirit that is always an inspiration to me as her husband. Thank you, my bride, for putting up with me while I pursue an outdoor writer’s life and all the work that comes with it. I want you to enjoy the passages contained in this book and remember they are never a substitute for your own practical application on the water. Fair winds and tight lines, David E. Dirks

DAVID E. DIRKS

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

DAVID E. DIRKS

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

THE ORIGINS OF TENKARA “It is very liberating … to not have to rely on anything but the essential.” Daniel Galhardo

Like the ancient art of tenkara fly-fishing, Daniel Galhardo might not be a household name in fishing circles, but that’s changing fast. Few would dispute that Galhardo has almost single-handedly introduced many of us to tenkara. And fewer still have invested as much time and effort into understanding the tenkara art than Galhardo. I first heard of Galhardo when he visited the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum a few years back with his mentor and one of the most renowned tenkara masters, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki. In the summer of 2010, Galhardo, who had already launched his Tenkara USA business, spent a few months in Japan fishing with Dr. Ishigaki and meeting other tenkara masters along the way. Galhardo has probably spent more time researching the ancient origins of tenkara both in and out of Japan. So it made all the sense to interview him and get his insights on the history and background of Japanese tenkara fly-fishing. Galhardo: The early origins of tenkara were not documented, and most tackle used a long time ago – bamboo rods, silk lines and flies – has since disintegrated. So, it is difficult to know for certain everything about the origins of tenkara. But, it is generally accepted that tenkara originated independently in the mountain streams of Japan and was the domain of people trying to catch trout for a living. Tenkara was the practice of commercial anglers. Seventy percent of Japan is mountain terrain. That landscape translates into an abundance of mountain streams, but perhaps a shortage of arable land or pastures. The main protein source for the folks who settled in the mountains was the fish that lived in the streams and rivers

DAVID E. DIRKS

crisscrossing their villages. People there had to learn how to “harvest” that food source, and they soon became tenkara anglers. There would be many kinds of tenkara anglers at that time. Some of them would spend most of their fishing season in huts situated near rivers, catching as many fish as they could, drying them out and then carrying them to local markets or villages to sell. Other tenkara anglers would spend less time and would travel to different areas. Yet, another group of those original tenkara anglers would focus on catching fish in nearby streams and thus sell their fresh catch to local villagers. It is easy to imagine a person living by a mountain stream observing trout feeding on bugs. Then, that person would try to catch the feeding trout – first with live bait and then, when he grew tired of losing the live bait, he would try to make an artificial imitation. The artificial imitation of a fly would be much more durable, and not have to be replaced often, so it was much more effective. Thus, I believe tenkara originated independently from any other methods of fishing. It was not until 1878 that the first record of tenkara emerged. And, interestingly, it took a British diplomat, Mr. Ernest Satow, to observe and record tenkara taking place. In his diary Mr. Satow wrote: July 24, 1878: “Last night we had for dinner capital fish called iwana [a native Japanese trout], caught in the Kurobe-gawa with a fly made of cock‘s feathers, weighing about 3/4 lbs.” [Note: the Kurobe river is not far from Tateyama, which is mentioned later in the same entry.] There are other theories for which the initial roots of tenkara came. Was the inspiration for making artificial flies brought from somewhere else? The fact of the matter is that tenkara as we know it today was always the domain of commercial anglers trying to catch fish for a living.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

The Essence of Tenkara Fly-fishing “When I’m on the stream a childlike enthusiasm takes over. I’m catching fish with a rod, a line and a fly, with almost the bare minimum. It’s just cool.” Anthony Naples

Tenkara fly-fishing might be steeped in ancient Japanese history but it’s not mystical in any manner. It was designed to be practical and efficient – to put food on the table, if you will, in ancient Japan. Although the tenkara rod is made with modern, high-tech materials today, the rod, lines and flies of tenkara have changed little over time. Here in the United States as tenkara continues to grow in popularity, there are those who remain decidedly woven to the very ancient and traditional means of tenkara. Then there are those who love tenkara for its simplicity and effectiveness on the stream but are willing to widen the experience by blending in some Western fly patterns that tenkara purists will shun. Of course, I believe each to his own and all should get along merrily since we are all after the same thing: The solitude of fishing cold, clear water and catching trout on a fly. Galhardo: I believe the essence of tenkara lies in keeping it simple, and only using the essentials, while coupling the basic tools with experience and technique. One of the easiest ways to understand tenkara is to look at the original tenkara angler. The original tenkara angler was very poor and didn’t have access to a tackle shop or accessories. He only used what was absolutely necessary and he was effective at using tenkara techniques to catch a lot of fish. We can realize that in tenkara we only need a rod, line (plus tippet) and fly – nothing else. After all, for a long time tenkara anglers have been successful without using much else. 15

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For example, rather than buying and carrying split-shot, I know I can sink my fly by using a couple of techniques: Either cast upstream from a small plunge and sink my fly and line by using the currents or work my fly slowly into deeper water by bringing it back and letting it sink on its way downstream. Or, rather than using floatant I can either false-cast my fly to keep it on the surface, impart some drag or simply know that I can also catch fish with a dry fly that has become submerged. This reasoning can be applied to all other accessories most people think are “essential.“ It also helps to accept the limitations in tenkara – for example, I can’t sink my fly deep and fast with tenkara if I don’t use split shot; and I can’t cast 100 feet away. But it is important to know that most of these limitations can be overcome with experience and practice or by working around situations. It is very liberating, I think, to not have to rely on anything but the essential. And, to me personally, that is one of the essences of tenkara. Understanding that my technique is more important than gear and accessories goes a long way in making fly-fishing simpler and adds a new and fascinating dimension to my fishing experience. Vertrees: I’ve taken tenkara to a wide variety of water in Colorado. I’ve fished everything where trout live, from old irrigation ditches no more than a foot across, to remote alpine streams and high lakes, to one of Colorado’s biggest rivers, the Arkansas River, and everything inbetween. I most enjoy shouldering my backpack and heading up into the backcountry for up to a week at a time, visiting places anglers seldom venture to … high, wild, lonely places where the trees are short and the water is fast and bone cold. This is really where tenkara shines. The deep, dry, remote canyons near my home in south-central Colorado hold a special place in my heart. Naples: There are some “philosophical” or intellectual things that appeal to me about tenkara and drew me to it initially. Some of my initial interest in tenkara was related to the idea that it was out of the mainstream, not many folks were doing it. Some of the appeal of tenkara was reactionary to the current trends in fly-fishing, which were toward more complicated techniques and flies and more expensive, more hightech gear. I first heard of tenkara at the same general time that Sharkskin 16

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

lines and Orvis Helios rods were coming out and being marketed heavily. Not to mention all the machined aircraft aluminum trout reels with drags that could stop a tuna. And when I read a recipe for a fly in one of the magazines, I didn’t recognize half of the materials or know where I could even get them. Much of this seemed pretty unnecessary for the fishing that I wanted to do (i.e., small stream trout fishing). I wasn’t naïve and I understood that it (fly-fishing) is an industry and that’s how it goes. Nonetheless, I was being turned off. So, along came tenkara with the notion of simplicity. A rod, a line, a fly – simple. It came at just the time that I was looking, maybe subconsciously, for something simpler. Simplicity is a big part of it.

Anthony Naples and Jason Klass with their tenkara game faces on .

There’s also an aesthetic or creative appeal to it that I enjoy. Creativity often comes from imposing limitations on you and not from indulging in complete freedom. Limitations make you exercise your creativity in a way that freedom doesn’t. Tenkara with its fixed-line is a limitation. Sure the long rod offsets some of that with a great reach, and tenkara offers some things that Western fishing doesn’t. But on the whole I feel that it

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is reductive and more limiting than Western-style fly-fishing. Some will argue that tenkara is not limiting, but that’s how I feel about it. By limiting what the gear can do, I am now made to think about fly-fishing differently. I look at the stream differently, I consider it in smaller pieces, because I can’t cast all over the place. I take in my surroundings differently; the extra long rod makes me consider the overhead trees with much more scrutiny. If I’m fishing traditional tenkara with unweighted flies, and no added weight, I need to consider the stream’s hydrodynamics more carefully in order to sink my fly. Lacking a reel I need to be more careful about having a conscious plan to land a fish. With tenkara I feel like I need to be more creative and intentional. I’m more in touch with my surroundings, a little more at their mercy, more on their terms, rather than making it on my terms. From a completely practical fly-fishing viewpoint I think the thing about tenkara that appeals to me most is stealth. The extremely flexible rod with its supple tip allows you to fish these ultralight lines – really more akin to normal fly-fishing leaders than to fly lines. So you have absolutely no heavy fly line slapping the water spooking fish. Fish, even eager, hungry brookies in an infertile mountain stream can be extremely spooky. I think many fly anglers don’t realize how many fish they’re never going to catch because they’ve spooked them. My eyes were opened to this fact when I started catching fish in skinny water on my tenkara rod – fish that I wasn’t picking up on my Western gear. You’re definitely much more likely to catch fish when they don’t know you’re there, and the light tenkara line and long reach of the rod make this easier. I see this as tenkara’s single most important practical aspect. I was attracted to tenkara initially for some intellectual reasons, but stayed with it because I found it to be an effective and aesthetically pleasing way to fish. When I’m on the stream a childlike enthusiasm takes over. I’m catching fish with a rod, a line and a fly, with almost the bare minimum. It’s just cool. Klass: At first, I basically used “tenkara as a tool,” as they say. That means using a tenkara rod and line, but with Western flies and terminal tackle, like strike indicators, split shot for nymphing, etc…. But my tenkara style has evolved and I’ve made a commitment to practicing tenkara in the more traditional sense. The stock answer for why people enjoy tenkara seems to be “simplicity,” but I think there’s more to it. For me, it’s not mere simplicity but the 18

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

challenge. Throughout the course of my 20-plus years of fly-fishing, I’ve tried just about every piece of gear, technique and fly you could imagine. After a while, there was nothing new under the sun. But tenkara offered the opportunity to give me a new challenge. Something different. Some very experienced hunters I know late in their hunting careers traded in their high-tech rifles for muzzle loaders, or compound bows for more traditional flatbows, because they’ve already mastered the basics. They craved a new challenge and using simpler, more traditional gear offered that challenge. Tenkara is a chance to truly test my skills by stripping away my dependence on gear. Initially, the idea of fishing with such minimal gear was a little intimidating, but I truly believe it’s made me a better angler because now I believe in myself more than my gear. Kuhlow: I discovered tenkara back in 2009 during a random web search looking for compact fishing equipment. Back then, I was still using spin gear for all of my fishing. I came across a reference to tenkara and wondered what it was. I looked at Tenkara USA’s website and became intrigued. I had always wanted to fly-fish since I was a kid but the cost and complexity had kept me from taking the plunge. Tenkara was the perfect ticket to entering the fly fishing world. I purchased my first tenkara rod in March 2010 and I have never looked back. It has been nothing but a positive experience. For where and what I like to fish for, it’s perfect. I really enjoy hiking through the woods and finding those “thin blue lines” and fishing for wild brook trout. Every aspect of tenkara is perfect for this. Lansky: To me, it’s foremost just fun. I love how simple and easy fly fishing can be if you are willing to free yourself of preconceived notions, pounds of equipment and accessories. I love how I can do pinpoint casts into tiny pockets that I couldn’t have fished effectively with a Western fly rod. I am now a much more active fisherman, trying different presentations in each pool. I start out with a couple dead drifts and then a few more presentations manipulating the fly to make it look alive. Stewart: Back in 2007, no one sold tenkara rods in the U.S. and I had no idea how to import a rod myself. I decided the closest I could probably come would be to use a crappie pole, primarily because of the length. I bought several crappie poles, trying to find one that would cast 19

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a line and fly rather than a bobber, split shot and worm. Most weren’t very effective. I got my first real tenkara rod in January 2008 as a gift from a Japanese angler living in California. I had started a thread on a fly-fishing forum asking if anyone in the U.S. knew anything about tenkara. He replied and offered to send me a rod. He didn’t know me at all, but he said he had more rods than he needed and he wanted to help introduce tenkara to the U.S. For all of 2008 and into 2009 until Tenkara USA opened, I fished with that tenkara rod and with one of the panfish poles that was a bit shorter and allowed me to fish in tighter spots. Tenkara fishing was a revelation. I got great drifts. I caught lots of fish. I loved it. I haven’t fished with a fly rod since. I guess there are three main things I like about tenkara: 1.) I get great drifts and thus catch more fish than I did before; 2.) I really like the very direct connection you get with a fish that can’t take line; and 3.) I like the portability of tenkara rods compared to fly rods. Worthing: Not too long after I started fishing tenkara, I found out Daniel Galhardo, owner and founder of Tenkara USA, was coming to Salt Lake for a small event. Two members of the Tenkara USA forum, ERiK Ostrander and John Vetterli, had arranged the event. ERiK was a Salt Lake City local. John was a Park City native but had recently moved to California. The event was held at a local fly shop, right around the corner from my house. Daniel gave a quick evening talk about what tenkara was all about, followed by the usual milling about and exchange of ideas. The crowd gradually dispersed until the only ones left were myself, ERiK, John and Daniel. So we went for sushi. That sushi dinner was the first time ERiK, John and I met one another. It was also the first time the three of us met Daniel. The next morning, the fly shop group met up on the Provo River for an on-stream demo. At the time, I figured I had been doing pretty well fishing tenkara. Then I saw Daniel, and realized I hadn’t even scratched the surface. That day, Daniel taught me how to cast – I mean really cast tenkara – using a muscle memory technique. To this day, I continue to use a muscle memory technique when working with clients to refine their cast. 20

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

After the event, John headed back to California. ERiK and I stayed in Salt Lake. We realized we had a lot in common. Both of us were avid climbers and all-around outdoorsy types. And both of us had a propensity toward going full bore into anything we started. So we started hanging out. And by hanging out, I mean we embarked on an insane year of continuous fly-fishing so obsessive it bordered on religion. Honestly, I can’t believe either one of us still have wives. ERiK and I fished as a team, covering miles and miles of Western water, experimenting with every technique and fly variation we came across. The learning curve was steep. John moved back to Utah after a few months, two heads turned into three and the learning curve turned into a cliff. I fell into as much knowledge and skill in that one year as I had in a lifetime of fishing up to that point. There are a lot of aspects to tenkara that I enjoy. The solitude you find fishing waters that most Western fly-fishermen ignore. The simplicity of rod, line and fly. The emphasis on skillful presentation. But it’s that team approach to fishing that I discovered with ERiK and John that keeps me reaching for my tenkara rod day after day. Vetterli: There are many aspects of tenkara that I find interesting, mysterious and puzzling. One of the aspects I have come to truly appreciate is that because I am relying more on skill and technique, I feel more connected to the environment where I am fishing. With less whizbangs, doodads and fishing clutter to mess with, I am free to be an integral part of an environment that is totally alien to humans. I quietly stalk a wary adversary who lives in a place I cannot. I have to study his environment. Get low on my knees in the water and examine the slight currents, eddies, riffles and pools in order to attempt to predict where the elusive little buggers are in the water. I listen to the water, the wind, the birds. I observe the insects, the sky and cloud cover. I pay attention to where my shadows are on the water. I move with slow, cautious intent and try to be as quiet moving through the water as possible. It is then that I scan overhead and behind for obstructions and make the cast. After a short drift, WHAM! The fish strikes and the hook is set. It is that exact moment that I am one with my surroundings, both above and

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below the water. Everything is in sync and the moment is both fleeting and powerful. My heart always skips a beat when the moment of the strike happens. That moment between two heartbeats, everything in life is perfect. Ostrander: I enjoy the fish-slaying aspects of tenkara the most. Some people go fishing to be in nature, some people fish for time alone. I fish because I like tricking fish. I am the fish devil. I take something simple and pure, like feathers and steel, and use it to put fish under my power … and then I let them go. Gibson: In January of 2011, I was finally able to try tenkara on a local river that I had only ever had marginal success on. In the first three casts I had landed my first tenkara fish. On the fifth cast, my second. I was instantly hooked and in a matter of just a few hours I knew that I not only loved tenkara in style and function, but I also knew that just fishing with this style would never be enough. I knew that I would have to do more with tenkara than to simply fish with it. I wanted to share tenkara with as many people as I could. As the past couple of years have continued to develop I have found a true joy in helping others discover and appreciate tenkara. My own growth within the traditions, techniques and subtleties of tenkara has continued to develop into a full-blown passion.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

SELECTING TENKARA FLY RODS “I now own 10 tenkara rods. My name is Karel and I am a tenkaraholic.” Karel Lansky

Clearly one of the key advantages of tenkara over traditional fly-fishing equipment is simplicity. Simplicity with respect to tenkara means less moving parts. Tenkara doesn’t have a reel. It doesn’t require the purchase of fly lines and backing. And the light weight of the tenkara rod and the fact that it telescopes down in size makes it the ultimate portable rod. You could also argue that there is less cost involved with respect to tenkara equipment and that wouldn’t be wrong. Of course, there are many of us, myself included, who support the fishing industry regularly by making sure we have more than enough of everything. That would include probably having more than one tenkara rod over time. In any case, the best insights on buying tenkara equipment are from those who have had years of experience with it. Personally, I use only one tenkara rod regardless of where I fish, big river or small. My tenkara equipment consists of a 12-foot Iwana rod (www.tenkarausa.com), 13 feet of traditional tenkara soft braid line (furled) and a 5X leader between 3 to 4 feet in length. The Iwana rod collapses down to about 20½ inches and the line is easily rolled up on a plastic spool until I’m ready to fish again. Of course, the question of which types of rods are available and which ones might be best-suited to your fishing needs is a rather personal decision. I can ask, as I have in this book, any number of people and get any number of different answers. While there is no formula for deciding which rod to get or which line to use, the good news is that tenkara equipment choices are not as wide and expansive as those options you

DAVID E. DIRKS

can find with traditional fly-fishing equipment. Oftentimes, the traditional fly-fishing industry offers almost too many different kinds of rods and such varying configurations that even experienced fly anglers have difficulty figuring out what’s what. Tenkara is not like that. You have a few fairly standard rod choices and that’s all you really need to select from. So in the interest of helping you make your choices I give you the additional insights from our group of experienced tenkara anglers and guides to consider. Some have more to say about equipment than others but all of their insights are interesting, purposeful and sometimes funny. Galhardo: I think it is most important not to over-think the choice of a tenkara rod; the angler will have to get used to the rod no matter what rod it is. A quality tenkara rod will make it easy to adjust and be versatile enough to feel good in a range of conditions. When I created the lineup of rods we offer, currently six models, I never intended to make it a confusing or difficult task to select the rod. I simply wanted to offer some rods that would cater to different specific tastes, and a couple of rods that would be more specialized. If you’re always catching “large” fish (that is, 17 inches and over all the time) we have a couple of rods with more “backbone” that will make landing those fish easier. One suggestion I have is that you get the longest rod you can for the type of streams you fish. Twelve feet is about the average length for a tenkara rod, but if the streams you fish are more open or wide, a longer rod will always come in handy. If the streams are tight and small, then the shorter 11-foot rods will be a better fit. If you’re looking for a rod to use for the 8-to-16-inch fish, any tenkara rod will do the job well. If you have a more specific need in mind, then just read the rod description. But, in the end, don’t think about it too much. Vertrees: Buy a soft 5:5 rod. Those rods (i.e., the Tenkara USA Ayu or even the soft 6:4 Ito) are forgiving and easy to learn on. The main point to consider is ease of casting. A beginner should not have to push a stiff rod. Learning how to handle a stiffer rod can come later. Learning tenkara should be intuitive and easy. Soft rods make this possible. I’ve learned to let a tenkara rod do its job, and not to force it into doing so. Forcing a cast, or pushing too hard, will create lots of tangles and will not deliver the fly “from heaven” (the true meaning of tenkara 24

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

translated), as it should be done. Lyle: A 12-footer with a 6:4 (moderate) action is the ideal all-around tenkara rod, kind of like a 9-foot, 5-weight reeled rod. Catching small fish is great fun, and the rod is also capable of landing larger trout efficiently. If you’ll be fishing small streams with very low overhanging limbs and brush, you may prefer an 11-footer (or one of the shorter fixed-line rods that aren’t technically tenkara rods but work the same way.) If you expect good-sized trout and bass on a regular basis, or do most of your fishing on larger streams, consider a rod that is 13 feet or longer. Naples: My first reaction is – do it! Get a tenkara rod and mess around with it. It’s plain fun. I want everyone to try it. To be more practical, though, think about the kinds of places that you fish. Tenkara is being used on a wide variety of waters for lots of different kinds of fish here in the U.S., but for me it really has a sweet spot (or two). To me that sweet spot is small- to medium-sized, high gradient mountain streams, with lots of in-stream structure, lots of plunge-pools, pocket water, riffles, etc..., but not too deep. And without too much overhead cover. A nice, open small mountain stream full of eager, opportunistic trout. Basically the kind of stream where tenkara originated is what I call “tenkara-perfect.” So think of a continuum with that kind of tenkara-perfect stream in the middle and the small, brushy, rhododendron-choked streams on one end and big brawling trout rivers on the other. The further you get from the middle in either direction the less suited tenkara is – at least in its traditional form. By traditional, I mean single unweighted wet flies fished without added weight. Here in Pennsylvania we have plenty of really nice tenkara-perfect streams. We also have a bunch of small, really tough, rhododendron-choked streams. I can tell you that those small brushy streams can be a real challenge with a typical tenkara rod. I fish them from time to time and it can feel more like work than relaxation. Still, it can be rewarding if you’re up for the challenge, but I’d call it less than ideal. I wouldn’t want to send a beginner out on one of those streams with a tenkara rod. He/she may never want to fish again. On the other end of the continuum are the big rivers. I don’t have many big trout rivers in my neck of the woods – so they are definitely not my 25

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area of expertise. However, I’d say that if that is your primary type of fishing water, again tenkara is not ideal. You will be faced with the challenges of landing bigger fish in heavy water, getting your fly down deep, reaching fish with the fixed-line, etc…. Not that it can’t be done and I know people do it and have fun doing it – but I think it is stretching the tool and the method a bit. So the first consideration is the water that you fish. Second I’d say the type of fly-fishing that you prefer comes into play. Tenkara is traditionally a wet-fly method. Casting and fishing small unweighted wet flies with a tenkara rod is a joy. Casting large streamers and large, heavilyweighted nymphs isn't as much fun. You can do it but, again, you’re going outside of the ideal. Other really fun places for tenkara-perfect fishing are small lakes and ponds. I have a blast stalking the shoreline and fishing for panfish in some local ponds and the tenkara rod is very well suited for that. I haven’t taken advantage of canoes and kayaks for this but other folks do and it seems like a perfect match to me. Also, small stream warm-water fishing is a nice option. I have a local creek that I like to hit with the tenkara rod, where I catch sunfish, smallmouth bass, rock bass and even suckers. As far as what I’ve learned about the tenkara rod itself, the first thing is casting. The tenkara rod casts wonderfully. It’s a different timing and motion than with Western rods, but it is casting. I haven’t ever gone out to see how much line I can cast, but I’ve fished bigger rivers with up to about 25 feet of line plus tippet. The rod will cast that no problem. What’s the limit? I don’t know, but I do know that initially I was surprised at how well the rods cast. Do I generally fish that much line? No. I just don’t fish big water that much so I haven’t really explored that area very thoroughly. I’ve also learned some things for which the tenkara rod is not well suited – large streamers, large poppers and heavy nymphs. Basically the problem is the flexible tip. It is the extremely flexible tip that allows you to cast the extremely light tenkara lines, but it is the same flexible tip that causes problems with these types of flies. The soft tip makes it difficult to cast and strip large streamers. It can be done – but it is not elegant. Also, the soft tip makes hook-sets on heavy nymphs more difficult, not impossible by any means, just not ideal. Also, getting a good action on a popper is more difficult with the soft tip. 26

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

Wind is another consideration. Fly-fishing in the wind is not fun. But, tenkara fishing in the wind is much less fun. Even if you can cast your light tenkara line in the wind, your fly can be ripped right out of the water by the wind. There are things you can do to combat this, like laying your line on the water, or switching to heavier lines. But high wind is a real pain. Luckily, in Pennsylvania I don’t really bump up against this problem all that much. But it is something to consider for folks out west for sure. If I fished in areas that often have high wind, I’d leave the tenkara rod at home. I don’t want to discourage anybody from trying tenkara. There are people happily fishing tenkara in all these kinds of situations. But, people should be aware that there are some situations where tenkara shines and others where it is less than perfect. If you want to get a tenkara rod for fishing big streamers to big trout on big rivers, by all means give it a go. But just be warned that it may not be the best tool for that job. I think it can be damaging to tenkara, if tenkara practitioners say it will do everything Western-style fly-fishing can do, and do it just as well. People will get tenkara rods, try them in less than ideal situations and then be disappointed, and rightly so. That kind of thing isn’t good for anyone. Sadler: When you buy a tenkara rod, be sure to learn how to use it. I know that sounds obvious but tenkara is different than conventional flyfishing and takes some adjusting. The rods load differently; they are much slower. Like conventional fly rods there are advantages and disadvantages to length. You need to think about where you fish, brushy mountain streams, open spring creeks or big rivers. The biggest thing I have learned is that a long tenkara rod is not a disadvantage in small mountain streams. If you can fish a stream with 6-foot-6-inch, 3 weight you can fish the same water with a 12-foot tenkara rod and be more effective. That was what sold me on tenkara in the first place. Lansky: I think it all begins with where you want to use a tenkara rod and for what reason you are getting one. The first question you might have is what rod length you should pick. Well, my friend Chris Stewart (TenkaraBum.com) told me when I was pondering this question that I should pick the longest rod I think I could get away with on the type of water I want to fish (or the different types of waters I will be fishing). Where I live, I have well-accessible tailwaters with little to no trees, tumbling creeks in canyons that have some to pretty heavy cover and 27

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anything in-between. In my case, I was sort of looking for my first rod to be a jack-of-all-trades, so I settled on a 12-foot tenkara rod, the most popular length. The next question you face is what type of “action” do you want, 5:5, 6:4 or 7:3. Again, I also chose the middle thinking that would be the best compromise. And the last one is of course your budget. There are now rods available in the U.S. from just under $50 to over $400. In hindsight, I would recommend a visit to a shop or a friend that has a few rods and test them to see what length and softness, in combination with what line, suits your casting style best. Preferably, you would do so on the type of water where you will be spending most of your time fishing. But later, of course, you will notice that maybe a different rod would perform better under certain circumstances or in a different location and you will probably end up buying another rod or two. I now own 10 tenkara rods. My name is Karel and I am a tenkaraholic. Stewart: First and foremost, I would stress that the goal is not buying a tenkara rod. The goal is tenkara fishing. Unless you are a collector, the rod is just a tool. It is something that allows you to fish a certain way. It really is all about the fishing. I have evaluated dozens of rods from a number of different manufacturers. What I can tell someone is that what I call “the nature of the rod” – the combination of length, weight, balance point, bend profile and damping – all come together to make a rod that can cast a light line effectively and be a joy to fish. The nature of the rod is important. The name on the rod isn’t. Every rod is a compromise. Longer allows you to keep more line off the water, but longer is also heavier and less pleasant to fish with. Longer may also be too long for small streams, particularly in the East or Southeast where dense foliage and overhanging canopy is the norm. People in conifer country don’t seem to realize that not everyone can fish with an 11-foot, 12-foot or 13-foot rod. Choice of action, whether 5:5, 6:4 or 7:3, is largely based on personal preference. Do you prefer a full-flex rod or a tip-action rod? The 5:5 rods are better suited to light level lines, and the 7:3 rods do better with the heavier level lines or furled lines. Lighter lines are easier to keep off the water’s surface, minimizing the effects of drag, but heavier lines are better for fishing heavy or wind resistant flies. 28

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

Worthing: First, decide if tenkara is really what you want to do. Whether you intend to go full bore into traditional tenkara technique or just want to use it to employ hybrid techniques, a tenkara rod is a different tool. No matter how much fishing experience you may or may not have, if you want to take advantage of all the unique benefits a tenkara rod offers, you will need to learn to use this new tool. That will take some commitment. You can pick up a rod cold, use it once or twice, and you’ll probably catch a few fish. But you will certainly miss out on important aspects of fishing with a tenkara rod if you try to figure it out on your own, or only use it once in a blue moon. I highly recommend taking a short trip with an experienced, certified tenkara guide to start off right. If you can’t take a guided trip, do your best to seek out an experienced tenkara angler in your local area who can show you the ropes. Through TROutreach, Tenkara Guides LLC’s fly-fishing program program for impaired individuals, we’ve learned to pair certain rod characteristics with certain disabilities. For example, an angler with a cervical spinal cord injury who might have good bicep strength but absent wrist and grip strength tends to do better with a softer, low-action index rod. In contrast, an upper extremity amputee angler who lacks a wrist and relies on strong elbow flexion and extension to cast tends to do better with a stiffer, high-action index rod.

Rob Worthing has a good friend inspect his catch.

Here are some points to consider when buying your first tenkara rod: Pick a rod maker that is well established in tenkara. Avoid companies who concentrate on other forms of fishing and maybe developed a tenkara rod as a side project. Tenkara rods and Western rods are 29

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different in many ways. Your ability to build a good Western rod does not in any way mean you can build a good tenkara rod. Your first rod ought to be around 12 feet. Much shorter, and you start to lose the true benefits of a tenkara rod. Much longer, and you might have trouble getting the hang of casting, tight line off-water technique and landing using a tenkara rod. Go ahead and pick up a spare tip section for your rod while you’re at it. Tenkara rods are incredibly strong compared with how delicate they appear. They rarely, if ever, break under normal fishing conditions. They tend to break through user error when you’re first learning to handle and care for a tenkara rod. That’s another reason to hire a certified guide to show you the ropes. Heck, with all that money you saved buying a tenkara rod over another Western rod, you should be able to afford one no problem. I like things simple. Simple things tend not to break, tend to work very well for their intended purpose and tend not to distract from what is really important. Following the principle of simplicity, I tend to shy away from “zoom” rods. Zoom rods are rods that can be fished at different lengths, say, 11 feet and 13 feet, or 13 feet and 15 feet. There are some well-built zoom rods out there. Let’s skip over the fact that the structure of a zoom rod is more complex, therefore the risk of mechanical problems increases. The real problem with zoom rods is they try to do the job of two tools. And, no matter how good you are, anytime you try to do two things at once, you aren’t going to do as good of a job as someone or something that concentrates on completing just one task. I fish a 13-foot rod 80 percent of the time – on tight streams, where others are reaching for a 10-foot tenkara rod or 7-foot Western rod, and on midsize to large streams too. When the water gets really big – say, Utah’s Green River – I reach for a 15-foot rod. I could buy a zoom rod that goes from 13 feet to 15 feet and cover all the water I fish with one rod. But I would hate every minute of it. Instead, if I buy one rod that does a near perfect job of being 13 feet, and one rod that does a near perfect job of being 15 feet, I can accomplish near perfect precision, presentation, manipulation, strike detection, etc…all in a tool I can rely on, fish after fish, day after day. Vetterli: Buying your first tenkara rod is always a challenge. I feel that most people buy their first rod too short. You have to evaluate the areas 30

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

you fish most often and pick a rod that matches those conditions. My primary rod that I use 80 percent of the time is a 13-foot Tenkara USA Ayu with a 16-foot tapered furled fluorocarbon line and 3 to 4 feet of 5X tippet. I fish primarily high mountain streams with steep gradients, fast pocket water and varying degrees of overhead trees. I find that the longer rod gives me more control over my line and I get better drifts and fly manipulation. When conditions get tight, I use a shorter line. I believe that you are better off using a long rod with a short line for tight conditions than trying to use a short rod and a longer line to achieve reach and distance. With tenkara there is always a compromise. There is no magic rod for all conditions. In the end you will end up with at least three rods so just start in the middle with a 12-foot rod and a line about the same length of the rod plus 3 to 4 feet of tippet. That is a great setup for learning how to fish with tenkara gear. After a short while, your skill and confidence will improve and you will be ready to move on to another rod length. Ostrander: Look for a rod that can handle the largest fish you think you’ll catch. Many rods can handle fish into the mid-20-inch range, but many rods max out with fish in the upper teens. Know your quarry, and don’t come under gunned. Next, buy the longest rod you can. I use a 13-foot rod that can extend to 14-1/2 feet on waters where Western fly-fisherman are using 8-foot, 3 weights. Don’t look for a 9-foot rod just because that’s what you normally fish in that particular water. You’ll have better line control with a tenkara rod to avoid snags, so get the longest rod you can. Don’t be too picky about buying your first rod. You don’t really know what you want, and aren’t experienced enough to tell the difference. Just like your first Western rod, you didn’t go to the store and cast everything they had before making a purchase. You probably bought whatever the salesman suggested within your budget. Take the salesman’s advice, but buy the longest rod you can. Tenkara rods are remarkably strong. With that being said, you’ve got to treat your tenkara rod with respect. The tips are easy to break during handling, but once the rod is extended, it’s very robust. When you get a

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fish on, most of the flex is going to be in the middle of the rod, with the tip section staying straight. I’ve seen rods quite literally bend in half without breaking. On long trips I always carry a back-up rod and a spare tip section. If you don’t have a backup, just be very aware of handling the rod when it is collapsed and the rod plug is not in. Otherwise, flog it like you would a Western fly rod.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

TENKARA LINES AND TIPPETS “Tenkara is a hands-on sport, if anything, so that’s why it’s important to experiment a little to find out what works best for you.” Jason Klass

Tenkara fly line choices are happily few and if you’re like me, we can be thankful for that in many ways. I still love to fly-fish with rod and reel in the traditional Western way but try picking a fly line these days. There are just as many fly line combinations in every line weight as there are different available fly rods to choose. Then you have to cut away the marketing hype against the next greatest application technology in Western fly lines to determine if the advance is worth the price and promised performance. It’s the stuff that debates are made of and we enjoy debating what’s best. It’s just what we fly anglers sometimes do. Personally, I use a tapered, 13-foot braided tenkara fly line that comes with a monofilament 3X extender at the tip that allows me to attach my tippet material. Outside of the traditional braided material used for tenkara lines, high-visibility (or high-viz) monofilament is the next likely choice. Which is best? As always, what’s best is what works for you and the kinds of fishing you do. That said, the variety of insights you’ll see in this chapter on tenkara lines and tippets is based on anglers with real tenkara experience as a result of literally thousands of hours on the water.

DAVID E. DIRKS

Worthing: There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to tenkara lines. The two general categories are 1.) Furled lines, and 2.) Level lines. I summarized the difference in a table on our website, tenkaraguides.com, which is republished here:

TYPES OF LINE TO USE WITH TENKARA FURLED LINES

LEVEL LINES

Tapered multi-filament weave (nylon, fluoro, thread, Kevlar, etc)

PROS

• Excellent turnover • Delicate presentation • Suppleness allows easy-strike detection

• Zero memory • Some can be made to float • Some materials twist when

Single-polymer monofilament (fluorocarbon)

• • • • •

Can become water-logged Costs more Fixed length Will freeze, losing suppleness Larger silhouette/shadow

stretched (i.e., freeing a snag)

CONS

• • • • • •

Easier to cast in wind Repels water Cheaper Can be cut to any length Will not twist Durable

• More memory • Less supple • Harder turnover Source: tenkaraguides.com

Furled lines are made by twisting together small diameter filaments using any number of techniques to form a tapered line (one that changes diameter along its length). Not all furled lines are created equal. The formula makes a difference. Traditional furled lines were originally made of horsehair or silkgut. These lines cast like a dream, and are light enough to hold off the water at great distances. Unfortunately, they are relatively delicate, tend to break, require a bit more care and good horsehair is becoming hard to find. Modern furled lines are made out of a variety of materials, including nylon monofilament (mono), fluorocarbon monofilament (fluoro), polyester thread, spectra and Kevlar. The probl problem with most modern furled lines on the market is that they tend to be too heavy to hold off the water at a good distance. And a tight line held off the water is critical in tenkara. The exceptions are some lines made out of mono or fluoro. The original 34

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

Tenkara USA furled lines were made of mono. They were light, supple, casted like a dream and I loved them. The downside is they performed poorly in the wind. Fluoro lines tend to share the same characteristics as mono lines. Fluoro has greater density than mono, so a furled fluoro line can be made thinner, and cast better in the wind. To date, a well-built fluorocarbon tapered line is my favorite tenkara line. Level line made for tenkara is almost exclusively fluorocarbon. Again, the greater density of fluorocarbon means more casting bang for the diameter buck. Level line gets its name from the fact that it is one diameter throughout its length. The nice thing about level line is it tends to be cheap, you can cut it to any length you want and it wears hard. Don’t think you can go to your local fishing store and pick up any old fluorocarbon line. Level lines built for tenkara are formulated to have different characteristics than the fluorocarbon spin or bait casting line you’re likely to find on the shelves. For the beginning angler, I recommend a high-visibility level line in size 3.5. High-viz because being able to see where your line goes during a cast and what it does thereafter will make a massive difference in developing technique. Level line for all the reasons listed above. Size 3.5 because it is light enough to hold a tight line off the water in all but the longest lengths, yet it has the weight to punch through a breeze. For advanced tenkara anglers, don’t be afraid to start experimenting with homemade furled lines. Vertrees: I started out on a traditional, furled line and then progressed to level lines and hand-tied lines. A good overall line, and the one I use the most is a level line, matched to the rod. I really think the level line is the most versatile because it’s useful in a wide range of conditions, including wind. It’s also relatively inexpensive. Lyle: The traditional (furled) line casts very much like a regular Western fly line and will feel most familiar to experienced fly fishers who are new to tenkara fishing. They really have a sweet feel. Level lines (straight, usually high-viz fluorocarbon), on the other hand, are lighter and can be held entirely off the water, which is what gives you that great presentation. I started out with the traditional line but I mostly use level lines these days – although sometimes I’ll put on the furled line just to enjoy the way they cast. 35

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Naples: I have never been a real “gear-head” fly angler. I usually find something that works pretty well and stick with it. For me the short answer is get some fluorocarbon level line. To get specific, if I were outfitting somebody for tenkara and had to pick a line, I’d give them a #3.5 or #4 fluorocarbon level line in high-viz orange. The #4 will be a little easier to cast and I like the orange better than the yellow fluorocarbon that I’ve used. Orange is more visible against a wider variety of backgrounds, and being able to see your line is paramount. I started by using the more traditional furled lines. But the ones that I tried always seemed too heavy. I couldn’t fish at a distance very well. I’d cast and the line would drag the fly right back to me. They cast easily, but I didn’t like the way they fished. By no means did I do an exhaustive survey of all the available furled lines, I’m sure there are some furled lines that fish very nicely. Level lines cast easily enough once you get the hang of it, they are light and easy to keep off the water at a distance, I think they are less likely to spook fish, they are relatively cheap, they can be cut to length (and knotted back together if need be), a single spool of level line is enough to make multiple lines. There are different diameter level lines available. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve never been that particular. I tend to buy a spool of line usually #3, #3.5 or #4 and just use it on all my rods until it’s gone, regardless of the rod’s rating. I tend to keep it simple when it comes to lines. The rod seller should be able to recommend an appropriate weight line for your rod. Sadler: Interestingly lines seem to be as much personal preference as anything else. With new tenkara anglers I recommend the furled lines. They are easy to cast, lightweight and easy to set up. The level lines offer you the ability to change line length easily, which can be an advantage. I even fooled around with making my own tapered lines with different weights of mono and fluoro. Klass: Some people say that furled lines are easier to cast and make a more delicate presentation, while level lines cast better in the wind. Level lines also have the advantage of being able to be cut to different lengths while furled lines are a fixed length. There are a lot of variables. Tenkara is a hands-on sport, if anything, so that’s why it’s important to experiment a little to find out what works best for you. I’ve fished both extensively and now fish level lines almost exclusively mostly because I like the ability to adjust length. 36

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

One piece of advice: A pretty standard description of tenkara line usually dictates that the length of the line should be the same length as the rod. While that’s a pretty good all-around length and good rule of thumb, it isn’t dogma. Depending on the situation, it’s perfectly acceptable to fish a line that is much longer or shorter than the rod. Lansky: For a beginner, a traditional tapered furled or braided line will be the easiest to cast. The taper helps a lot with the turnover of the line, tippet and fly. That being said, they tend to be heavier than level lines and can be a bit more difficult to keep off the water, especially if the line material gets water logged. Level lines tend to be more difficult to cast but can be kept off the water better. Another very important aspect is the visibility of the line. If you fish traditional tenkara (subsurface flies) or with nymphs, you want a line you can see well so that you can detect movement of the line that would indicate that a fish took your fly. I started out with braided lines, then switched to hand-tied tapered highviz lines and now use almost exclusively level fluorocarbon highvisibility lines. I prefer fluorocarbon over mono since fluorocarbon is denser and therefore casts better in windy conditions. It is however more expensive but it tends to last longer than mono, which degrades if exposed to sunlight (ultraviolet rays) and it is also more abrasion resistant. Stewart: My advice would be to match the line to the rod. If you have chosen a 7:3 rod to get the quick casting stroke and precision in fly placement, you will probably want a tapered line or a slightly heavier level line (probably a size 4, possibly a size 5). A 5:5 rod will probably do very nicely with a size 3 line. When I was at the tenkara gathering in Itoshiro, Japan, in 2011, a survey of anglers in attendance indicated that every one of them fished with a level fluorocarbon line and most used size 3. In general, I’m not a fan of furled lines. If the tippet end of a furled line is heavy enough to overcome the wind resistance of the cast, the rod end of the line is probably heavy enough that it will fall straight down from the rod tip, making the overall line hard to hold off the water’s surface – which to me is the essence of tenkara fishing, at least on moving water. I much prefer level fluorocarbon line, which is not only denser than most of the materials used in furled lines, the lack of taper puts relatively more weight forward. That in turn helps to turn over the line and tippet. 37

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For guided trips and teaching, it’s level lines all the way. I use primarily 3.5 high-viz level line with a 6-inch red Amnesia section on the tippet end. These bi-color lines make teaching line control much easier and help detect strikes more effectively. They also allow me to adjust the length of the line to get the person casting efficiently and with control. Ostrander: For dry fly-fishing I prefer a furled line made of mono because you can do delicate presentations, treat the line to float and keep your line off the water. Furled lines made of anything else don’t stay off the water and sink. For Czech nymphing above freezing I use two short sections of brightly colored fly line backing. If it’s really cold I’ll use an indicator line made of two different colors of high-viz level line. The only nylon I ever use is a little indicator section of red Amnesia. For everything else I use high-viz fluorocarbon level line. Orange works best most of the time, but I’ll use a tennis ball green when I run out of orange or am casting to spooky fish. When you buy a line you’ll also need something to manage the line. Spools are nice for long-term storage but a hassle on the water. I like to use an attachable hook keeper at the top of the handle section, a rubber o-ring on the shaft of the handle section and a milk cap with a hole drilled into it screwed onto the base plug. Wrap the line around the hook keeper and milk cap until you get to the fly, and hold the hook down with the o-ring. Gibson: Generally speaking I only use 5X monofilament tippet. There is rarely an occasion when I feel the need to fish with anything lighter. In order to protect the rod from over-stress it is not recommended to use a tippet stronger than 5X. However, I have heard of some tenkara anglers who use a stronger tippet on occasion. Regarding length I will most often cut about an arm’s length from the spool, about 3-1/2 feet. I will fish this until I am down to about 1 foot remaining before I will cut and add back to full length again. In most mountain stream fishing situations I don’t feel that the length of tippet is extremely critical. With tenkara your goal is to drift the fly with minimal line on the water. If done correctly you should be able to effectively fish with only a foot or two worth of tippet ever used.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

CASTING TECHNIQUES FOR TENKARA “For all the complexity and all the over-analyzing we like to do with fly-fishing, it’s basically just a stick and some string.” ERiK Ostrander

If there is anything technical about the simplicity of tenkara fly-fishing, it’s mostly wrapped up in the art of casting a tenkara rod. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect and it really doesn’t take long to learn the art and science of casting. It also doesn’t take that long to really learn the basics of Western fly casting either, despite how complicated some make it. In my tenkara guiding I find that it takes usually no more than 30 minutes or less to get someone casting well enough to start fishing. Of course you can teach anyone to cast but that doesn’t mean that they understand how to catch fish. The key to any fly-casting is the ability to deliver a fly in the exact spot it is needed in as natural a way as possible. Smaller trout might be more forgiving of a botched cast but the bigger fish are usually not so gullible. Tenkara casting techniques are designed to ensure that your arm doesn’t fall off from constant motion halfway through your fishing day. The good news is that the length of the rod and the light weight of the tenkara fly lines don’t require a lot of movement to push the line to its intended target. The other key advantage is the ability to recast your line quickly, with little movement and far less arm stress than traditional Western flyfishing. There is no need for the muscular and line hauling double haul. The wispiness of the tenkara rod and line gives you the ability to deliver the fly of your choice in as natural a state as you can provide. It’s this advantage that I saw the first time I started tenkara fly-fishing. Little movement and absolutely minimal drag creates a fundamentally stealth

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way to fish almost any stream or river. Worthing: There are two primary problems that the beginner tenkara angler almost invariably experiences when learning to cast: “The Push.” The back cast is absolutely key. The majority of power you impart in the cast should be in the back cast. An abrupt stop is also key in the back cast. Most beginners tend to bring the rod back in far too delicate and gradual a manner. Then they “push” the rod forward to cast their line. As a result, the line either piles on the tip of the rod, or the line piles in the water. If your line is piling on the tip of your rod, the problem is your back cast. No doubt about it. If the line is piling in the water and not laying out full length, pushing harder won’t get your line farther. Again, the problem is in your back cast. “The Drop.” The majority of beginners, especially those with a Western background, drop their rod at the end of the cast to a position parallel with the water. This robs the cast of accuracy and distance, lands the fly sloppily and buries the line in the surface water. Drop your rod and you kill many of the fish-catching advantages tenkara offers. When casting tenkara, abruptly stop the rod high at about 10 or 11 o’clock. Let the line lay out above the water such that only a portion of your tippet and the fly hit the surface. Keep your rod held high, with all of that line held tight and off the water. A tight line held off the water is one of the primary elements that make tenkara so effective.

Jason Klass showing perfect tenkara casting form. 40

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Vertrees: A lot of beginners tend to false cast too much. I was guilty of this even when I had some experience. Just put the fly where you want it to go. Fish as often as you can, and when you can’t, get out in the yard and cast to targets. I’m convinced that the more accurate your casting is, the better you can deliver the fly to the fish. Start by casting in calm conditions. Later you can practice in the wind. Keep the fly in front of you and pick it up for the next cast before it gets to you. Let the rod do its job. Casting should be smooth and effortless. Don’t push the rod. Lyle: If you have experience casting a reeled rod, tenkara will take some getting used to. It’s a much shorter casting stroke – instead of “10 and 2,” the old instruction standard for fly-fishing, tenkara is more like “10:30 to 12.” Most of the movement is in the wrist, with a little movement in the elbow. If you don’t have experience with a rod-and-reel, you’re at an advantage – you don’t have to unlearn old habits. Tenkara casting is pretty intuitive. Cast hard enough to flex the rod, but keep your movements compact. The Japanese experts suggest you keep your elbow close to avoid fatigue over the course of the day. Naples: If you’re coming from Western fly-fishing you’re probably going to have to slow down, and put less power into the cast. One of the major mistakes that I see beginners making when fishing subsurface flies is that they deliver the fly too softly and then they don’t get the line up off of the water. As a result the fly doesn’t get very deep, and if it does it’s dragged to the top by the line. The water is moving faster at the surface than at depth so if the line is allowed to lie on the surface the fly will be dragged to the surface. Sometimes you’ll catch fish like this, with the fly just at the surface, but I think it’s generally not good. When casting you need to deliver the fly with some force into the water. You do this by abruptly stopping or “checking” your forward stroke when delivering the fly. When this is done right the fly will hit the water before the line and have some time to sink. After you cast the fly, then you want to get your line up off the water, keeping the rod-tip and the line downstream of the fly. Move the rod tip downstream as your fly drifts, trying to always keep it downstream of the fly. You don’t really want to drag the fly downstream, but you want a “tight” connection to the fly without slack. When you do this correctly you give your fly the

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maximum time in the fishes’ feeding zone, and you can detect strikes by watching the point where your line enters the water. When that line pauses or twitches or does anything “funny,” set the hook. The only way that you’ll master casting is to do it. You can practice in your backyard – but I’ve never been able to do this – I get bored pretty quickly. Plus you can’t practice the follow-up drift – which is pretty crucial. I always recommend getting out on the water to practice. Even if it’s less than ideal water. You may not have a trout stream near you, but you probably have a warm water stream nearby. Get out on that warm water stream and practice. The fish are different but the basics are all the same. Sadler: If you already can cast a fly rod you will find the action of a tenkara rod very slow. You have to be careful not to overpower your cast. The other thing is, on the forward cast, you will stop the rod and keep it there. You don’t follow the line to the water with the tip as you do with conventional fly rods. The other thing is that tenkara rods load easily so you don’t need a big back cast in order to make a forward cast. If you have not learned to fly cast then you will learn to cast a tenkara rod fairly quickly. Some of the common problems folks have with flycasting, such as using too much wrist or not following through on the forward cast, are not as big a deal with tenkara. Lansky: First off, try to learn to cast with a tapered line; it will be easier to turn over the line, tippet and fly. As far as the technique is concerned, I often see tenkara anglers lacking “authority” in their cast. What I mean is that the motion is not enough defined, as if you would try to be careful casting. The line ends up coming down in front of you in a pile and the fly will hit the water last in a spot where your line already may have spooked a fish. The cast should be executed with the wrist, elbow close to the body, with a very defined stop on the forward cast at no later than “10 o’clock.” This will propel the line where it needs to go, fly first. Stewart: The problems beginners have casting a tenkara rod are almost always a combination of extending the forward cast too far (rod tip too low) and not having an abrupt stop to the forward cast that causes the rod tip to spring forward. Both are critical. The best tenkara caster I know is Masami Sakakibara, also known as Tenkara no Oni (tenkara demon). If you watch his cast, he begins the back cast by raising his forearm slightly, and then smoothly transitions 42

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

to bending his wrist. The overall movement is slight, though, because it stops with the rod vertical or only just barely past vertical. The forward cast accelerates the rod, first with a return of the forearm to its starting position, and then with a quick straightening of the wrist. The forward cast must end with an abrupt stop. The acceleration into an abrupt stop is what causes the rod tip to spring forward, propelling the line. The forward cast also must stop with the rod tip fairly high – no lower than 10 o’clock. This does two things. First, it puts you in a “ready position” to react immediately if a fish takes your fly as soon as it hits the water, not to mention keeping the rod in a position where it can bend to take up the shock of the fish’s strike.

Jason Klass casting into a western creek.

Stop the cast at 10 or even 10:30 and the line will roll out and turn over just like it should. To help the tippet turn over, raise the rod tip very slightly as the line unrolls. Then there is the whole skill of landing a fish without a reel. That too is an important skill to learn that you just can’t get lawn casting or impressing your friends at the local fishing club casting pond. Ostrander: Learning to cast a tenkara rod is like learning to be a kid again. Forget the metronome, break all the rules and have fun. For all the complexity and all the over-analyzing we like to do with fly-fishing, it’s basically just a stick and some string. Go find an open area, swing your tenkara rod around your head, and watch the line. Watch how the line follows the tip and makes the rod flex. Did you swing the rod around like you would a Western fly rod? 43

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Then you’re doing it wrong. Swing the rod around like you are a little kid with a streamer on a stick. Let yourself become fascinated by how you can control the line and what that feels like. If you haven’t done this exercise, then here are some tips for you literary learners: •

Grip the rod with your finger pointed toward the rod.

•

Put your elbow somewhere and leave it there. It doesn’t matter whether your elbow is tight to your body or out, just put it in one spot and don’t move it. However, after a long day, keeping your elbow in tight will be less tiring.

•

While casting from 10 to noon, allow your wrist to break and your elbow to bend. Hit the stops with crispness and speed, forcing the light line to load the stiff rod.

•

Throw the fly out by pointing where you want it to go, making it land at the same time as your tippet.

Gibson: Tenkara rods are generally very light and very flexible, especially compared to Western fly rods and spin fishing rods of which many will be familiar. This high level of flexibility does a couple things for you. First off it makes casting almost effortless. The rod will flex on both the backward and forward casts helping to propel the line forward. This means that you don’t need to add a lot of force in your cast. The lines and flies are light in weight and don’t take a lot of effort to move through the air. Most new folks will feel like they should use speed and force to get the line to extend, but a cast that has energy – not force – will work best. Casting a tenkara rod is like a golf swing not a baseball swing. It’s a controlled application of energy, not force. You don’t need to muscle your way through. Compared with other styles of fishing, the casting stroke is shorter with solid stop points. You don’t need or want a bunch of follow-through but instead a crisp up-to-noon back cast. Stop with a slight pause at the top, then firmly come forward to about 10:00 (or close to 10:45) and stop firmly again. You should be feeling the need to apply energy to your cast but not to push it forward with your muscles. In this manner you can get the line to extend and land the fly either very delicately or firmly with only slight adjustments in the amount of force you apply. 44

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

Tenkara Flies: Traditional and Adaptations “Presentation and precision, once you have that skill down it really doesn’t matter what flies you choose to use.” John Vetterli

If there’s one area of fly-fishing – in general – that stirs the pot of emotions, it’s the flies that we use. Traditional tenkara flies are very simple to tie and are minimalist in the amount of material they consume. So you will not see an overdressed fly pattern used in traditional tenkara fly patterns. There isn’t a traditional Japanese pattern that hasn’t caught trout almost anywhere in the United States. If you focus just on the traditional Japanese patterns available, you’ll find that once again simplicity and minimalism have been applied. Compared to the seemingly endless number of Western fly patterns available (with “new” patterns introduced almost every day), the number of different Japanese patterns is a mere fraction of Western patterns. With minimal fly selection comes the notion from traditional Japanese tenkara anglers that you can and should fish with just one pattern at all times. Traditional tenkara anglers put more emphasis on the delivery and manipulation of the fly than agonizing over which pattern to use at any given time. It goes right against the Western fly-fishing grain of “matching-the-hatch,” for sure. So, with tenkara anglers there are basically two schools of thought. The first school of anglers uses traditional Japanese fly patterns. Of that, there is a group that will use only one Japanese pattern consistently and another that will change Japanese patterns as they see fit. The second school uses both Japanese patterns and Western patterns that have been re-designed in the minimalist kebari (trout fly) way. These Western-originated-but-tenkara-adapted fly patterns are fast becoming popular. 45

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With the tenkara rod you can use almost any Western fly pattern except the largest, bulkiest or heaviest patterns. Tenkara fly-fishing doesn’t really lend itself to heavy and bulky fly patterns. You could try them but chances are you’ll be disappointed because of the lack of stealth and accuracy you’ll have. In Western fly fishing, I harbor no ill will against dry-fly only anglers who will stand in water and wait for however long it takes to find a fish that is taking rising insects. Or, anglers who shun catching trout under 14 inches. So, you’ll find anglers who use the tenkara method of fishing but differ greatly in their selection of flies. Again, some tenkara anglers are very comfortable and seek out the challenge of fishing one type of pattern. Then there are those who will use both traditional kebari flies as well as Western adaptations and traditional Western flies. Who’s right? Everyone is. My feeling is if you want to stay with a very traditional interpretation of tenkara, fine. And, if you are somewhere in-between, that’s fine too. The one thing I think we can all agree on – at least to some degree – is that size still plays a role in fly selection regardless of what fly you decide to use. The important thing is that we all respect the different approaches we will inevitably take as we explore tenkara. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy the varied insights our tenkara anglers have shared with us in this section. Galhardo: Trout have to eat, and they have to take advantage of most feeding opportunities presented to them. If one were to watch trout feeding underwater they would notice trout taking leaves, rocks and twigs in their mouths in an attempt to extract food (for example, nymphs that are clung to leaves). The goal of a fly angler is to present the fish with something that will be mistaken for potential food and that at the same time will look natural or enticing enough that the trout will not reject it. I do not view matching-the-hatch (trying to match the artificial fly with the natural insects present in a stream) as essential. When I first heard of the concept that tenkara anglers tend to stick with their one fly pattern, rather than switching flies if something wasn’t working as I was taught to do, I was very skeptical. It was such a different way of thinking about fly-fishing. I had been taught to look at bugs in the water and try to imitate them. But now, I was suddenly being told that anglers in Japan – 46

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

tenkara anglers that is – have been catching trout for centuries without much concern for their fly. Furthermore, they were very successful. They had to be. These are just different philosophies. I think it is easy to believe that the fly has to match the food most commonly present in the stream; it’s an easy variable to see and change. However, like most tenkara anglers in Japan, I have taken the view that my technique is more important. For about two years now, I have been on this mission of learning how to manipulate my fly in different ways and perfecting technique. It took a while, but I can attest I have not felt that I am catching less fish. If anything, I feel that I have become a much more effective angler. Rather than switching flies, I keep my fly in the water and work on my presentation. I have fished alongside several anglers who said I had to match the hatch on a particular day or a particular stream. But, in the end, I caught at least as many fish as they did, if not more. So, at this point I really don’t believe in the need to match-the-hatch. I’ll never know whether one philosophy has more merit than the other; there are just too many variables to consider. What I can say is that taking a one-fly approach (which really means, “any fly is OK” within reasonable sizes) has been the most liberating aspect of tenkara for me. I can go to any stream, anywhere in the world for trout and carry one fly box with me. I do not have to consult books on hatches, or stop to ask what is hatching before hitting the stream. And, when I’m fishing, I just fish and do not concern myself with what the fish may be feeding on. Vertrees: I don’t believe that to be a “true” tenkara angler that you have to fish only one fly and rarely switch flies. I enjoy using a variety of patterns, including traditional tenkara, Western dries and streamers, and terrestrials. I do use traditional tenkara patterns a lot, and the one I use the most is a sakasa kebari pattern. Earlier this year I came up with my own sakasa kebari pattern, the Lite Brite Kebari, and it proved to be very effective. The Killer Bug and Killer Kebari patterns have both done very well for me too, although they’re not traditional Japanese patterns. I’ve learned a lot about how fish see, and the qualities of their vision from Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, the foremost expert of tenkara in Japan. He showed me how trout really don’t see all that well under water, or at least can’t see in minute detail. I really think the movement of a fly – and its 47

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position in the water column – has more to do with its effectiveness than the detail of the pattern. I have experienced time after time that in some cases it does matter quite a bit which pattern you use. Again, it really relates to movement and position in or on the water. A perfect example of this is late summer fishing with grass-lined water or big meadows. Quite often, trout will hit floating terrestrial patterns (hoppers, beetles and ants) more than any other pattern or technique. I’ve done a lot of experimentation, comparing a sakasa kebari to a terrestrial in those situations, and the terrestrial wins a lot of the time. There are many variables involved with choosing a good pattern, but I have discovered some overall strategies that work. One very valuable thing I learned from Daniel Galhardo is how to use hydraulics to manipulate a fly without adding weight. The ability to use currents and plunge pools to manipulate the fly is a very effective technique. A traditional sakasa kebari pattern is designed to be manipulated by the angler, and it does very well when fished that way. That’s a huge advantage! Other patterns, especially Western dry-fly patterns, are not designed that way and offer less advantage in terms of manipulation by the angler. Western dry-fly patterns that are dead drifted don’t offer the same advantage as sub-surface soft hackle patterns that can be manipulated under the surface of the water. I feel I’ve been more successful fishing Western dry-fly patterns with tenkara than I did previously. The tenkara long rod/short line system allows the angler to keep a lot of the line off the water and achieve a drag-free drift more easily than with a Western rod. There’s no line mending. Medium- to short-range casting means you can be more accurate delivering the fly as well. Lyle: The signature characteristic of tenkara flies is the “reverse hackle,” but except for the direction of the hackle fibers, they’re exactly like the wingless, soft-hackle wet flies used for centuries in the U.S. and Europe. I suspect the reversed hackle adds more action to the fly, by looking like helplessly waving limbs or antennae. In fact, an old mentor of mine used to tie some of his soft hackles this way so that the hackle fibers wouldn’t fold flat against the body of the fly and “disappear” when pulled through the water. There’s no question that sakasa kebari, as reverse hackle flies are known in Japan, are effective. Then again, some Japanese anglers fish tenkara with flies that have the hackle tips pointing rearward like 48

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Western flies. My go-to tenkara fly is actually an adaptation of a Western fly – the Killer Kebari, invented by the Tenkara Bum, Chris Stewart. It’s the Killer Bug, originated by Frank Sawyer (inventor of the Pheasant Tail nymph) on the Avon River in England in the 20th Century, with a hackle added. Chris ties his Killer Kebari with Western-style hackles; I like it reversed. It’s an awesome fly. I’ve caught a lot of trout on it. For dry-fly-fishing with tenkara, I only use American dry flies, everything from Comparaduns to Catskill-style dries to parachute patterns. They all work. In slow-flowing, calm water, I’ll use flush-floating flies like Comparaduns and parachutes, or Catskill flies with the bottom half of the hackle snipped off – the slim profile is great on some streams. ElkHair Caddis and variations such as the CDC Elk are great for tenkara rods, because they cast well and because they suit the ethos of one versatile fly that works well in many situations. Naples: Many folks picture the “reverse-hackle” sakasa kebari when you talk about tenkara flies. But if you check out Yoshikazu Fujioka’s website My Best Streams (www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/bstreams/index2.html) you’ll find pictures of tenkara kebari from all over Japan. Some of these are sakasa style but many (maybe most) aren’t. The style and materials of these flies is all over the spectrum. And these are just some that have been recorded by Fujioka San. Imagine all the variations that we’ll never know about, that are lost to history. Also, after seeing flies from some Japanese tenkara anglers in person recently, the notion of the traditional tenkara fly as a unified style seems pretty elusive. I do tie and fish some sakasa kebari-style flies and I like them mostly for high-gradient, less-fertile, tumbling mountain streams. My all-around, go-to fly is based on an old wet fly called a brown-hackle peacock. Basically it’s a peacock herl body and brown hen hackle collar. I tie it with a brown hackle tail, but I’m not sure the tail really matters. The traditional version has a red wool tag for a tail. I started tying and fishing this pattern prior to my introduction to tenkara, but it bears a close resemblance to traditional tenkara flies especially some that Yoshikazu Fujioka lists from the Banshu and Hida Shokawa regions. It’s fairly impressionistic, but also a pretty good imitation of a mayfly nymph. I do use dry flies. In my opinion, dry-fly-fishing with tenkara is a mixed 49

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bag. Technical dry-fly-fishing with small flies on big slow pools, smooth water, etc...and at a distance is not great. I think the long soft-nylon George Harvey-style leaders and Western gear are better for that kind of dry-fly-fishing. But fishing dries closer in, on small pools on small streams, and in faster water such as in small plunge pools, fast runs, pocket water, riffles, etc…are very effective and fun. You just can’t fish dries very far off with traditional tenkara techniques, you need to lay the line out on the water for that effectively. When you start doing that you are now essentially Western-style dry-fly-fishing with a tenkara rod. There’s nothing wrong with that. But often when I’m tenkara dry-flyfishing, I’m passing by those big slow pools in favor of other water. That is not a problem for me though – I love pocket water. My ideal trout stream would be pocket water for miles. And don’t overlook beadhead and other weighted nymphs. Small weighted nymphs and small bead-head flies will cast very easily with a tenkara rod. I think that there are a lot of tenkara anglers in the U.S. fishing weighted flies and beadhead flies. On bigger rivers with deep holes and deep runs, or even on deep sections of smaller streams, weighted flies can get your fly down where the fish are. This is not within the realm of traditional tenkara, and it is maybe a bit of a crutch. A traditional tenkara angler will cast upstream of his target to give his flies time to sink and use the stream structure to get his flies deeper such as by casting into the white water at the head of pool, etc… But these kinds of tactics have their limits, and weighted flies can be an answer to a problem. Many tenkara anglers choose to keep it traditional, and do not use weighted flies. Or, like Lee Wulff, you may want to give the fish the sanctuary of deep water. But these are philosophical, rather than practical considerations. Aspiring tenkara anglers just need to know that weighted flies can be fished, and fished with great success, with a tenkara rod. As the flies get heavier though, casting them with a tenkara rod gets less and less pleasant – until finally you’re pretty much just chucking the weight of the flies and no longer fly-casting at all. When I’m casting heavy nymphs, I use a shorter line. One way to cast heavy nymphs or even heavy streamers with a light line is to let the fly drift downstream of your location until the current is tugging on it. Then, using the tension of the water to load the rod, you can cast upstream. By doing this you avoid having to try and back cast, which can be tough with a light line 50

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and heavy flies. The soft, supple tip of the tenkara rod does make hooksetting with very heavy nymphs more difficult. If you’re interested in experimenting with different lines and rigging, there are a lot of possibilities that would make fishing heavier flies easier. Or, you can also just keep it simple and stick to the same level line. Lansky: I have been using traditional tenkara flies this year more than in the past. I typically only use the ones I tied because I tie them trying different colors, hackle and sizes. I don’t have a preference but I seem to get back to patterns that are dark colored and have some sort of a contrast built in, such as lighter hackle, hot spot, ribbing, etc…. I believe that the contrast ads another visual element to grab the fish’s attention – and you can’t catch a fish if the fish doesn’t notice or see your fly. I also like lighter colored hackle since I can track the fly in the water column better. I have come to fish traditional tenkara flies in many different ways and they have proved to be effective. That being said, I was a skeptic for a long time. But if you give them a chance and invest time to learn how to fish them they can be very effective. Their simplicity invites you to play with them, add movement and entice the fish for a strike. Worthing: Flies modeled after traditional tenkara patterns (aka kebari) are very, very effective. In fact, the list of places I don’t feel confident in catching fish using kebari seems to be getting smaller each season. That includes many Western rivers that are traditionally considered highpressure, bio-diverse, match-the-hatch-or-die kind of waters. The reason isn’t because the fly doesn’t matter. It is because kebari patterns are perfectly matched tools for use with tenkara rods and tenkara techniques. At Tenkara Guides, we’ve been experimenting with wool-bodied flies for some time now. The first was the Utah Killer Bug, a variation on Sawyer’s Killer Bug. Chris Stewart was the one who originally adopted Sawyer’s pattern to tenkara. We tweaked it a bit further. The long rod and tight line of a tenkara setup allows you to dance a dry like nothing else. There’s nothing like the casting accuracy and hook-set capabilities when fishing terrestrials with a tenkara rod. The control while dancing a caddis comes in a close second. At least once a month, I dream about a 30-plus-inch rainbow rising from the depths on a mouse

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pattern skirting on the end of a tenkara rod. I love dries. I’ve bounced back and forth between Western techniques, traditional tenkara and everything in between. This experimentation yielded two surprising developments. Both are based off the fact that tenkara shares many of the same elemental fish-catching principles as other effective techniques. First, tenkara is a remarkably effective tool for hybridizing Western techniques. Second, the practice of certain non-tenkara techniques can actually improve your traditional tenkara technique. Czech nymphing illustrates these two points well. Czech nymphing and tenkara are both tight-line techniques, where a goal is to establish and preserve a direct connection with the fly. Because tenkara rods evolved as tools for tight-line technique fishing traditional tenkara, they make excellent Czech nymphing tools. Czech nymphing takes tight-line technique to an extreme. The practice of Czech nymphing can actually improve your tight-line tenkara technique. For example, learning to feel the difference between the fly bouncing off a pebbled river bottom and a subtle strike. Vetterli: There are simply some anglers who are intrigued with the one fly pattern approach and have chosen that method and many tenkara anglers who use Western-style dry flies or weighted nymphs and the match-the-hatch method. One is not better or more correct than the other, they are just different approaches to the same goal. The simple fact is fish really don’t care about what type of fly you are using as long as it somewhat resembles the size or color of what critters are in the water that they are eating. What really matters is presentation and precision. I personally like the one-fly methodology because it forces me to work on presentation and precision. One fly pattern is a restriction I place on myself in order to improve on other aspects of my fishing skill set. Fly manipulation with Japanese-style kebari is a fun and challenging method to entice fish to strike and the sakasa-style kebari are designed with that in mind and do it better than any other fly design. With that said, I like the Takayama Sakasa Kebari pattern. It is fun to tie and fun to use fishing. My kebari box is loaded with size 12 sakasa kebari in a range of body colors. It’s the same fly pattern with a variety of colors. I rarely spend time digging through my fly box looking for the perfect color fly. I just grab one, tie it on and fish. If I lose a fly to the tree gods 52

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or rock snags, I just grab another one from the box, it may be a different color but I don’t care and neither do the fish, as long as I have good presentation and precision. I like fishing dry flies when the fish are surface feeding. Again, presentation and precision are what dry-fly-fishing is all about and tenkara rods make this much easier. Because I have no line in the water to manage, my presentation is remarkably better. I miss fewer strikes because I don’t have to drag a bunch of line off the water to set the hook. Ostrander: The people that started what we now call “tenkara” were poor, mountain people trying to catch-and-sell fish for a living. They had very limited resources – maybe only a sewing needle, a bit of thread and a feather from last night’s bird dinner. All they wanted to do was catch a ton of fish in the nutrient poor streams that flowed through Japan’s mountains. Kebari are very effective in fast flowing, nutrient poor water. It doesn’t matter which kind of kebari you use. They all work, they all trick fish. In faster water I prefer stiffer hackle and a bigger hook, while in slower water I prefer to use softer hackle and a smaller hook. When you stop to think about it, a kebari is just a traditional Western soft hackle for faster water. Kebari are effective because they imitate nothing and everything at the same time. The moving hackle of a kebari is what gives the fly life. The fish don’t know what it is, but it’s moving, so they’re going to put it in their mouth. A well-tied kebari gives you the ultimate advantage because it takes all the energy from a feather and transforms it into something alive. If you look at all the patterns developed throughout Japan you’ll realize that there is a lot of variety. Fly patterns change from area to area depending on local fishing styles and resources. Some are dry flies while some are wet flies. Some have hackle pointing forward, and some have hackle pointing out perpendicular. Is there some logic as to what kebari to use? How do you become a tenkara master when there are so many different kebari patterns to choose from? What is the one true path? Tenkara as we know it today is a sport, and not a way of subsistence

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living in Japan. The truth is that there is no one true kebari. The one fly philosophy of “kebari only” is simply another way to make fishing more restrictive for you. It doesn’t matter what one fly you choose as long as it is a general attractor, you know how to fish it, and you have confidence in it. The benefit of “one fly” is that you’ll be spending more time with your fly in the water. My favorite fly for fast mountain streams is a Purple Haze kebari made with a turn of partridge, a turn of grizzly wrapped Ishigaki style and purple thread from the fabric store all on a size 12 scud hook. Although, my favorite fly of all is the Utah Killer Bug. Tie on a Purple Haze kebari with a Utah Killer Bug, and those mountain trout won’t know what hit ’em. When I fish rivers swollen with runoff I use an E.R. Wool Body kebari tied on a size 4 circle hook with Jamison’s Shetland Spindrift wool in purple haze and moorit, paired with green fluorescent fly and a huge, brown partridge feather. On the other hand, when I fish big rivers in fast water with fish down deep I use a wire worm. It’s just a huge hook wrapped with wire and a thread egg sac. It’s deadly and it’s not a kebari. I use a split back mayfly during summer when I know PMDs (pale morning dun) or PEDs (pale evening dun) are out, and during winter, on frigid water, I use a CDC midge trailed by a size 20 kebari in black. My point is that the fly matters, but it doesn’t matter all at the same time. Recently, I was out fishing a familiar watershed. We came to a hole that I had fished many times before and where I caught many fish. I tied on a kebari that I knew would work in the right color and size. We caught fish, but we didn’t catch fish like I knew we could catch fish. I furiously tried patterns I knew would work with all sorts of combinations. After about a half-hour of experimentation I figured out the magical combination of a Purple Haze Parachute Adams with a bead head shop vac as a dropper, and you couldn’t use one without the other. It turned a 12-fish day into a 50-fish day. There was no match-the-hatch, nor was there a one-fly approach. However, there was one fly, and there was match the hatch. The takeaway from tenkara is that you should use flies that simply catch 54

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fish. The poor Japanese fishermen that started tenkara for subsistence living didn’t care what flies they used. They wanted food for the table and fish for the market. Experiment like crazy with flies and your tenkara rod. Sure, you can use the flies you’ve always used. Sure, you could use a kebari, but what if you used something else? I have had the unique privilege of fishing with my good friend Rob Worthing. Rob and I try all sorts of stupid stuff. We may have been the first people in the world dumb enough to use our tenkara rods with size 2 hooks wrapped in red wire or some of Kelly Gallup’s big sex-fetish named streamers. From all the European nymphing techniques to the West’s techniques to traditional Japanese techniques, tenkara works for them all. Some people get scared if you call it tenkara, so I call it “Ten Colors.”

THE TENKARA ADVANTAGE: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF MANIPULATING THE FLY “I really think the movement of a fly – and its position in the water column – has more to do with its effectiveness than the detail of the pattern.” Paul Vertrees

Besides offering a stealthy and natural presentation of a fly to trout, tenkara anglers can also learn to manipulate their fly in ways that impart action and draw strikes. The tenkara advantages of dead drifting are excellent and the skill of imparting enough action through fly manipulation is an artform. Many anglers find it hard to grasp that it’s the manipulation of the fly that gives the tenkara angler an advantage. No one captured that thought better than Morgan Lyle when he said, “Real insects wiggle and flail around in the water. More and more video is being shot showing them darting, hopping and scooting around, not just drifting along. Trout want to eat living things, and living things move.” So if you’re really interested in incorporating tenkara fly-fishing into your angling world, pay close attention to this section. Then go out and practice, practice and practice … on the stream of course! 55

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Naples: For me, I would say that fly manipulation is more related to the direct connection to the fly, without added weight on the leader (split shot), or fly line dragging on the water’s surface. That’s what I see as the fly manipulation advantage, the ability to fish at a distance and still maintain direct contact to the drifting fly. It’s very similar to what the Czech-nymphing guys are doing but at a greater distance, with a longer rod and with unweighted flies. I’ll do some active fly manipulation, especially at the end of the drift, but I’m mostly focused on a getting the fly down, keeping the rod tip downstream of the fly, keeping in contact with the fly and getting a good drift. Typically, my first approach is a dead-drift through the fish lie. Then, if I don’t get any takers, I’ll try some pulses during the drift and maybe a swing and lift at the end, with some twitches. Sometimes the fish are really triggered by that, but not always. Klass: I almost always move the fly and have found it to be extremely effective. I think there are two reasons for this. 1.) When pulsing a tenkara fly such as a sakasa kebari, the hackle opens and closes. This action is very attractive to fish because it looks like a swimming insect. 2.) Especially on pressured waters, the fish probably see the same Western flies over and over, everyday, with the same presentation. Since tenkara anglers are still a relatively small segment of people on the stream (and even fewer of those who use more traditional flies and techniques), I believe a completely different presentation can be more effective. I’ve fished rivers where if the fish could speak, they’d probably be able to list off the recipes of every fly they’ve seen that day. But if you show them something different (something they haven’t been caught on 10 times before), they’re more likely to take. Fish become selective because they learn. They get conditioned that every time they take that thing that looks like a #14 Adams, they get yanked out of the water. But if you present something completely different, I think you actually stand a better chance of convincing wary trout that your fly is food. Lansky: I think the concept of fly manipulation is harder to grasp for those who have a Western fly-fishing history where most of the time the mantra is that a fly has to be dead drifted to be most successful. A beginner though will understand that an insect is alive, wiggles, swims, tries to escape, etc…and that a trout, the predator, will react to movement. When I fish traditional tenkara flies, I first let the fly dead drift a few times through a run and if nothing is happening, I do a few more casts manipulating the fly. If I still haven’t caught a fish after a 56

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dozen casts I move on to the next spot. There is no sense to spend a lot of time fishing one spot if you are not catching any fish. Stewart: I think the biggest advantage is not manipulation but just getting better drifts. You’ll catch more fish with a long rod and light line even if all you do is fish dead drift. That said, I do believe that manipulation does occasionally draw strikes. If something moves on its own, not only is it alive (and therefore food), it is getting away. It can draw a predatory response. Worthing: I think manipulation is just one of many aspects that can give the tenkara angler an advantage. Tenkara allows for incredibly precise, delicate casting. By holding the line off the water, you can accomplish zero drag drifts. Combine those two points, and you can fish entire stretches of highly featured water that most anglers dismiss. Tenkara also allows for very subtle strike detection, by both feel and sight, through its tight-line technique. You can improve your hook-set rate with that tight line as well. False casting is unnecessary in tenkara, so the fly spends more time in front of a fish. These are just some of the advantages. My own fishing pattern illustrates this. Through all conditions, I catch 75 percent of fish utilizing precise casting, tight line off the water and the pure absence of manipulation – a zero drag drift. Add in “The Wiggle” and you account for 90 percent of fish. Eight manipulation techniques I employ account for only 10 percent of the fish I catch. Yes, fly manipulation can be deadly. But a vast majority of the success I enjoy has little to do with active fly manipulation. When I do actively manipulate the fly, I rarely need but one technique. In reality, success depends on the combination of many other advantages tenkara brings to the table. Vetterli: I like to believe that fly manipulation gives me a slight advantage as long as I am not jerking the fly away from the fish when they are about to take the fly. I have spent several hours being taught fly manipulation skills by Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, the recognized fly manipulation master. It is a set of skills of the highest order and takes considerable practice to become truly proficient at it. I have a methodology that I employ while fishing. I begin by systematically casting to a “fishy spot” in the water

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using a dead drift. If after a few casts and nothing produces, I will try manipulation techniques. I would honestly say that fly manipulation produces fish about 50 percent of the time. I know that I have many more years of practice before I can declare that for me, fly manipulation is a totally effective technique. Ostrander: For as long as lure fishing has been around, anglers have fished with a tight line, directly manipulating the fly. Only with recent technology has the connection between angler and fly been purposely broken. Indicator fishing gives control of the fly to a pink bubble and dry fly-fishing gives control of the fly to the river. Think of your fly in a river as your car on a highway with on-ramps, exit lanes and traffic. If you are awake behind the wheel then you can direct which overpass to drive on and which exit lane to take while navigating through traffic. Tenkara is like staying awake behind the wheel, behind the wheel of a sports car. Get back control of your fly and start deciding what the fly does for you. Gibson: Due to several things including the length of the rods, the lightness of the lines and the design of the flies you are able to add an incredible amount of action to the fly. This action can be a trigger to fish on a level that is, at best, very difficult to impart to a fly with a Westernstyle fishing set up. Using the reverse (sakasa) hackle-style flies, the tenkara angler is able to bring a fly, that is otherwise dead, to life by making the hackle of the fly pulse and twitch like the legs of a real living insect swimming through the currents. This lifelike motion of the fly can only add to the potential appeal to a fish. The movement of an insect is often what triggers a response from a fish that might otherwise write-off a potential meal as debris floating past. The same response can be triggered with the action of a fly being pulsated through the water.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

MATCHING-THE-HATCH VS. TRADITIONAL TENKARA: WE CAN LIVE IN BOTH WORLDS “Good skills with the ‘wrong’ fly will beat the ‘right’ fly and bad technique any day of the week.” Anthony Naples

Not long ago I was giving a seminar on tenkara basics and one gentleman raised his hand. He wanted to know how could a “one-fly” tenkara angler be successful in very bio-diverse waters that are rich with insects and other food items and where trout are notoriously picky about the insect they want? Good question. I went into an explanation that using one fly pattern or even just limiting yourself to just a handful of patterns for all of your angling hones your skill on presentation and fly manipulation. I knew by the look on his face and his body language that he was buying none of it. So I concluded with the idea that for those who want to limit themselves to the discipline of using one fly pattern for all situations have just as much right to do so as those who cram every pattern they can think of into their vests. Then there are those anglers who are between the two groups and bring just what they need based on seasonal selections. We live in a free country. So, you’re free to survey the wide range of opinions on the issue of match-the-hatch or settling on one kebari pattern for all occasions. Do what brings you the most enjoyment. Lyle: I don’t think “hatch-matching” is as important to fly-fishing as it was 20 years ago. “Attractor” flies that don’t imitate any specific insect or crustacean or baitfish are more popular than ever, and lots of people are catching fish on them. The exception may be dry flies, but even there, you see more people using things like snowshoe hare’s ear emergers instead of flies carefully designed to be replicas of particular insects. I think most American anglers find one fly too restrictive, but the idea of having a small selection of general-purpose flies is popular with many fly-fishers these days, and these folks are catching a lot of fish. Having said that, there have been times when despite my absolute best efforts, I 59

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could not get fish to take anything but flies that were very close in size, color and style to the naturals on the water. Most of the time, however, presentation and technique are more important than pattern, within reason. Naples: I wouldn’t say I’m a one-fly guy. I enjoy tying flies too much for that. Much of the fun in fly-fishing for me is tying flies. I’d get bored tying and fishing the same fly all of the time. But generally, I’m not taking very many patterns to the stream, and I’ll often stick with one all day – but it may vary from day to day. Sometimes when a fly is fishing effectively for me and catching fish, I’ll change it up just to try something else; just to see what else will work that day. I think a part of that one-fly idea is confidence. When you’re confident in your fly and techniques, you’ll fish hard. You’ll pay attention and be focused because you know that you may hook into a fish at any time. When you’re not confident, when you’re doubting your fly selection, it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You won’t fish with the same kind of focus if you doubt yourself. In a fly-tying video that I just watched (“Tying Tenkara Flies Volume 1,”, produced by learntenkara.com), Dr. Hisao Ishigaki says something like – When you realize that the fly doesn’t matter, you’ll start catching more fish. I think that the idea of confidence is part of what he means there. I may not be a one-fly purist, but I have discovered that one simple pattern, fished with good technique can be much more effective than I would have believed prior to my tenkara habit. One particular stream that I fish is hit very hard. It’s a limestone stream with plenty of wild brown trout. I’ve consciously stuck to the peacock and brown for my tenkara fishing there and I’m doing better than ever. So there’s something going for focusing less on switching flies and more on better presentation for sure. So I’d say that for me it is the idea of keeping fly selection simple and focusing on approach, stealth and good fly presentation. It’s liberating to spend more time fishing and less time thinking about switching flies. Tie on a fly, walk along the stream, look for takers – no takers – then move along to the next spot. I see the one-fly approach as a philosophy as much as a practical approach. For instance, when I come to that really deep hole, or deep run or a slow pool with midge-sippers, I may be “better” served by switching up the fly I’m using. Or, I can just move to the riffle above the hole, or to that nice stretch of pocket water around the bend. So is 60

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that particular “one-fly” best on every section of that stream? Probably not, but I can always move along to a stream section that is better for my kind of tenkara. And maybe this is pushing it a bit, but there’s a sort of built-in conservation inherent to this approach too. I’m leaving certain areas alone. I don’t need to try and catch every fish (not that there’s any danger of that), I’m letting some fish be. It’s something akin to Lee Wulff’s notion of not fishing deep with added weight on the line and allowing trout the “sanctuary of deep water.” Good skills with the “wrong” fly will beat the “right” fly and bad technique any day of the week. Fly selection is only one part of the equation. If fly-fishing were all about the “right” fly, then we should all be able to go to the fly shop and buy the “right” flies and then go catch all the fish. And this doesn’t happen. So, obviously there is much more to it than fly selection. Breaking it down to simple parts, catching a fish involves bringing the following things together: Locating the fish, not spooking the fish, getting the fish to notice and eat the fly, detecting the strike, setting the hook and landing the fish. In general, the successful fly angler needs to get proficient in all of these things. To be most successful, he/she needs to be able to read trout streams and understand daily and seasonal trout movement to find fish. You need to know how to be stealthy in wading and casting, you need to know how to cast accurately and how to use stream hydrodynamics to get the fly down to the fish. You need to be able to detect the strike (much overlooked), set the hook and land the fish. When I give my tenkara rod to my kids or to a new angler, and send them to a fishy spot, with a fly that I know will work, they very often come up empty handed. Then I, or another experienced angler, fishes the same spot and catches a fish. What’s going on? It’s all in presentation, strike-detection and hook-setting. I think that in some ways pitting “match-the-hatch” vs. “tenkara onefly” is a losing proposition. Folks have seen “match-the-hatch” work. I’ve seen it work. I’ve seen fish get pretty picky. I can’t in good conscience throw out all of Western fly-fishing’s tradition of matching natural bugs during a hatch. And let’s include matching predominant subsurface foods in rich streams, during non-hatch times. This is, of

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course, compounded in catch and release streams. For some guys tying exacting imitations of all stages of the mayfly cycle from nymph to spinner and fishing them to actively feeding fish is the whole appeal of fly-fishing. I don’t have a problem with that, if that’s what they like. I don’t have any desire to argue about it. Tenkara, especially traditional tenkara, is a different approach to fishing, not only practically but philosophically. I don’t feel the need to compare the two and come out with a “winner.” I guess my attitude is this: Matching-the-hatch doesn’t matter except when it does matter, and I’m willing to accept that. If that pool full of risers doesn’t like your sakasa kebari (and some usually will) you’ve got several choices. Change flies, or move along to another spot and look for some willing fish. Which is simpler? Which appeals to you more? The answer won’t be the same for everyone, and it won’t be the same for me all the time. If I’m going to Spring Creek in central Pennsylvania during the sulphur hatch, I’m taking some sulphur nymphs, emergers and dries with me. It’s just too much fun to pass up. Most of my time on the stream, however, is at those times when a hatch is not happening. At these times, the fish are going to be more opportunistic even on the richer streams. With tenkara I’ve caught fish on pretty generic fly patterns on some supposedly tough, bio-diverse and rich streams. Tenkara can really help with presentation and stealth – two important parts of the fish-catching equation. And let’s be honest, most tenkara flies are still based on an insect (or other aquatic invertebrate) form, they still represent something that looks like a food item. It’s not like tenkara anglers are all tying just any old thing, the flies for the most part are still using those buggy triggers; movement from soft hackle, larva or nymph-like silhouette, shimmer from peacock herl, etc…. Tenkara flies are still pretty good bug imitations. One last thought. Think about the origins of tenkara. Remember that tenkara developed as a commercial form of fishing on small mountain streams in Japan. These were catch and keep anglers fishing for eager, unschooled, fish in small, fast-flowing, infertile streams. This is where tenkara developed and it was optimized for these conditions. Under these conditions, the idea of “the fly doesn’t matter” is at its most valid. Many anglers in the United States are using tenkara under different conditions – conditions not within the original scope of the method. So it is only natural for different flies, methods and tactics to be used. If 62

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tenkara were developed to fish the big rivers of the West, or tail-waters or spring creeks – it may have developed a very different philosophy, and a different set of tactics and flies. Sadler: When someone tells me “you have to have the matching fly or you won’t catch anything,” I get pretty skeptical. There are too many other factors involved to keep you from catching fish to blame it all on the fly. In 50-plus years of fishing I have seen those statements proved wrong enough times to convince me that the minute you think that is the key then you are going to get surprised. Klass: I’d agree that there probably are some places where match-thehatch will be more effective than the impressionistic nature of tenkara flies but they’re in the minority. Each stream has its own culture and the fish behave differently. But I think the vast majority of trout are opportunistic and if presented with something that convincingly looks like food, most trout will take it. If they don’t, move on to a different fish that might be more cooperative. That’s probably a better use of your time than staying on one fish and tying on 10 different flies to see which one they’ll finally take (if any). Kuhlow: I do not use a large number of fly patterns, but over the last couple of years my list has dwindled to only a handful of regulars. Among them is always a sakasa kebari of my own creation, the Royal Sakasa Kebari. It’s a combination of a traditional sakasa kebari with a reverse hackle and the color scheme of a Royal Coachman. The great thing about these types of flies is their versatility. Depending on your technique you can fish it at various depths, dead-drift with it, twitch it to give life and make it more enticing and even fish it as a dry fly sometimes. Sakasa kebari are also great because they look like many things but nothing in particular; many of them are great to use in many situations. I have been coming to the conclusion over the last couple of years that the “one fly/any fly” concept is dead on in most situations. My fly box routinely has no more than three or four patterns and on many days one fly is all that I need. I think the best flies are the generalized ones like a Killer Bug or a sakasa kebari … ones that can resemble many bugs but none in particular. Lansky: I have been using traditional tenkara flies this year more than in the past. I typically only use the ones I tied because I tied them with 63

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a purpose such as trying different colors, hackle, size, etc…. I don’t have a preference but I seem to get back to patterns that are dark colored and have some sort of a contrast built in, such as lighter hackle, hot spot, ribbing, etc…. I believe that the contrast adds another visual element to grab the fish’s attention – and you can’t catch a fish if the fish doesn’t notice or see your fly. I also like lighter colored hackle since I can track the fly in the water column better. I have come to fish traditional flies in many different ways and they have proved to be effective. That being said, I was a skeptic for a long time. But if you give them a chance and invest time to learn how to fish them they can be very effective. Their simplicity invites you to play with them, add movement and entice the fish for a strike. Stewart: I occasionally use traditional tenkara flies, generally a Takayama Sakasa Kebari. I’ll also fish my Killer Kebari, which is an adaptation of one of the Hida Takayama patterns, changing only the color of the yarn and color of the hackle. What I have learned is that like any other fly, sometimes they’ll work and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes manipulation of the fly will draw strikes and sometimes it won’t. They’re good flies but they aren’t magic bullets. Worthing: I spent my summers in college doing formal entomologic research. I should probably be embarrassed by the amount of co-ed time I spent cataloguing, weighing, micro-dissecting and tending to insect colonies. My lab partner and I would fit in evening fishing any time we could. We even tried gluing various life stages of common moths from our colonies directly to the shaft of hooks. It didn’t work too well. If anybody should be into matching-the-hatch, it would be me. And, in fact, I do think it works. It is a tool that is very well suited to Western fly-fishing techniques. The match-the-hatch philosophy can be very effective in the hands of a skilled Western angler. But I grow cynical over anything that includes such an absolute statement as “have to.” The hair on the back of my scientific method bristles at such absolutes, to say nothing of the hair on the back of my American pride. The list of places I don’t feel confident in catching fish using kebari seems to be getting smaller each season. That includes many of those famous bio-diverse streams and rivers. The reason isn’t because the fly doesn’t matter. Nor is it because the one-fly philosophy is somehow 64

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superior to the match-the-hatch philosophy. It is because kebari patterns are perfectly matched tools for use with tenkara rods and tenkara techniques. I’ve been out-fished by skilled match-the-hatch anglers on a few days. I’ve also out-fished those same anglers using one-fly on a few days. To those who feel you “have to” match-the-hatch, please understand that tenkara lets you do things with a fly you just can’t do with Western gear. And kebari patterns allow you to take full advantage of the tenkara bag of tricks. So, you see, the fly does matter. Just not in the sense that most of us have been told. Vetterli: Presentation and precision is what matters. There are times when matching the hatch may increase the probability of catching fish but if your presentation and precision suck, you won’t catch anything. Gibson: It is true that some traditional tenkara anglers do use only a single fly pattern. Some go so far as to only use one color combination and or one size as well. But not all Japanese tenkara anglers adopt this practice. Some use many patterns, some even use common Western fly patterns. I find myself drawn someplace in the middle. I have three to four patterns that I fish with 98 percent of the time and primarily two to three variations of traditional tenkara patterns.

DAVID E. DIRKS

Strategies and Tactics for Different Types of Water “Don’t expect tenkara to be magic. It is just fly-fishing. Fish are still fish, you need to be able to find them, get the fly to them, detect the strike, set the hook and land the fish – none of that changes.” Anthony Naples

Regardless of the ease and simplicity of tenkara as a method to catch trout, it’s knowing where to put that fly and how to present it in the common water structure found in most rivers and streams that counts the most. Here are some tenkara angling insights on different but common types of trout water found in most rivers and streams.

FISHING RIFFLES Vertrees: I’ve done a lot productive fishing in riffles. Cast across and swing down. Keep a tight line and keep all but the tippet off the water. In very fast riffles keep even more tippet off the water. This is very important because riffles can carry the line downstream faster than the fly and can put an unnatural drift on the fly. Let the cast drift all the way down directly below your position. Lift the fly out and off the water – slowly. I’ve had a lot of fish take my fly as it rose on the uptake. Keeping tension on the line on the uptake on a downstream drift can actually result in a hook-set. Riffles attract trout at dusk and dawn when there are large numbers of larval insects drifting. Fishing a Killer Bug or larva pattern at these times is especially productive. During the middle of the day, deeper riffles may hold some trout too. Lyle: Riffles are great for tenkara fishing. The water’s flowing swiftly, so the fish don’t have the luxury of inspecting flies. If it might be food, they’d better grab it before it floats away. And riffles are full of food – it’s the kind of place that holds the most nymphs and pupae. The many rocks, nooks and crannies offer lots of safe places to hide from 66

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predators, and the broken surface obscures the fish’s view of the angler. Fishing in a 12-to-25-foot radius of your position, as you so often do in tenkara fishing, is no problem at all in riffles. Naples: Riffles are made for tenkara fishing. Because of the broken surface of the water, the careful wader can usually get pretty close to fish in the riffles, the water’s not too deep, making it great tenkara water. You can get your fly down pretty easily. Riffles and pools often go hand in hand. Usually you have that nice riffle leading into a big pool or deeper run. Fishing the head of pools below riffles is often very, very productive. My favorite place to fish is just where the riffle dumps into the pool. Staying back from the deeper water at the head of the pool, cast into the shallower riffle, keep your line off the water and lead the fly downstream into the head of the pool. The long tenkara rod and light line, allows you to keep the line off the water, get a good drift and avoid spooking fish that may be holding in the shallower water in the riffle. If you are careful to keep the line off the water and the rod tip and line downstream of the fly, the fly will get down along the stream bottom as it enters the head of the pool, just where fish may be waiting for food. After spending some time fishing the point where the riffle enters the pool I’ll then fish the riffle itself. The big tenkara advantage here is stealth and delicate presentation. With the long rod and light line the tenkara angler can more easily cast to fish in shallow water, like riffles, without spooking fish. My personal experience is that I am picking up many more fish in shallow water with tenkara. I have to believe that it is due mainly to the light line and delicate presentation not spooking fish like a heavy Western fly line. So, before wading up into the shallow edge of the riffle to get to the deeper parts, send some casts to that water – you may be pleasantly surprised. Also, if I have a larger or heavier fly on, I may change it for fishing the riffles. This is for practical reasons. Riffles, of course, are going to be shallow and rocky. A heavy fly is going to get hung up, resulting in either taking the loss and breaking the fly off, or trudging through productive water to get the fly. I may also do some more active fly manipulation through the riffle, pulsing the fly gently. This can help keep the fly from getting hung up in the shallower water.

DAVID E. DIRKS

FISHING POOLS Vertrees: I fish pools often by swinging streamers, and I adjust the weight of the streamer to the depth of the pool. The heavier the streamer, the heavier the level line and the stiffer the tenkara rod needs to be. I’ve cast #8 bead head buggers with a 7:3 rod very effectively, but these heavy streamers are not suited for the softer tenkara rods. When I fish pools, I swing the streamer through the closer water first. Once I’ve covered the close water I move forward with my feet (since I can’t pull more line out of a reel) and cover water farther out. I do this in a progression of casting until I’ve covered the pool. I’ve caught a lot of fish at the end of the swing with the streamer rising in the water. Raise the fly – slowly – on the uptake and get ready for fish to take it. My favorite patterns for deep pools are a bead head bugger (either olive or black) and a heavy Killer Bug. Naples: For small pools on fast-moving streams, I generally cast to the riffle above or to the white water at the head of a plunge pool in order to sink my fly. I’m thinking about those bathtub and smaller-sized pools. I don’t really think about picking those apart in sections, I go right for the most likely looking, fishiest spot. If the pool’s a little bigger, I’ll fish the tail end first and move up through to the head. The tenkara-specific thing is getting the fly to sink using the plunge or riffle above the pool. After a drift through the pool, let the fly swing across the tail of the pool. I’m not talking about ripping it across the pool but a gentle swing across, while it is still drifting downstream. Often you’ll get takers on that swing. If I’m going to fish a big pool tenkara-style with unweighted flies and no additional split shot, I have to admit that I often head right to my favorite spot – the head of the pool. I’ll cast up into the riffle to allow the fly to get deep into the head of the pool. Also, fish the edges of the pool. If I can reach it, I also like to cast to the far bank. Very often fish will lie over there in the shallows. That can be a tough place to drift a fly without drag, but if the pool isn’t too big, the long tenkara rod can sometimes allow you to get some nice drifts there. Again, don’t forget the swing. Swinging the fly across the head of the pool or tail of the pool, often brings up some fish. Finally, if the river I’m fishing is primarily made up of deep water, I’ll put on weighted flies. That can be a real life-saver on deep water when fish are sitting tight on the bottom. Maybe it’s “cheating,” and it’s not 68

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my favorite, but sometimes you do what you have to do. Lansky: As a rule, when fishing upstream you should start fishing at the bottom of the pool, targeting fish that “collect” food before it moves out of the pool. This way you will not spook the entire pool as if you had started on top. After the bottom, fish the areas close to you first and then the ones farther upstream. My prime targets are to the left and right of the current entering the pool, though, because that is where I catch most of the fish. There are many books and illustrations that explain how a pool works and where trout hang out. Make yourself familiar with it and just try to target the trout closest to you first before casting over the entire pool and putting fish down. Worthing: My favorite technique in a deep, calm pool is highsticking. Highsticking gets the fly deep, allows for a natural drift and gives you direct contact with the fly. Sneak up to the pool, cast straight up in the air, and drive your fly underwater. Raise your rod so that the line is running straight down from your rod, perpendicular to the surface. Trace the natural drift of the fly with your rod tip, keeping that line perfectly vertical. Fish will practically hook themselves. Gibson: Pools can often be much more productive for me, whether they are formed in the outside corners of an “S” curving stream or at the base of small falls. As you approach the pool take the time to watch for a couple seconds. See if you can spot fish holding or rising in the pool. Work from the tail (downstream) end forward to the head of the pool. Fish can be holding anyplace along the pool. Move slowly as fish may turn downstream to chase down a potential meal. Stealth is important around pools if the water is clean as it can be easy to spook fish that can see movement easily.

FISHING EDDIES Eddies are often one of the most overlooked places to fish on a stream or river mostly because the back currents seem to confound anglers. Tenkara was made for fishing eddies and I’ve found that the tenkara technique makes working those swirling back currents optimal for finding the fish that are holding there. Admittedly, I often paid little attention to any sized eddy and often succumbed to the “better water” ahead of me instead. Using tenkara, I don’t do that anymore. 69

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Vertrees: Trout are opportunists. They will lie and feed in spots where the current is slower and they can expend less energy to feed. Eddies come in all sizes. Eddies below points or sharp bends in a stream create slower water where a lot of trout will lie and feed. Cast above the eddy and let your fly come into it slowly and naturally. Even very small streams have tiny eddies and these can be very productive. I’ve fished traditional sakasa kebari patterns with great success in eddies, especially on smaller water. Lyle: Tenkara is especially good for eddies, because the long rod and very light line allow you to avoid the intervening current that’s flowing in the opposite direction. You can reach right over it. Stewart: Fish the eddies. Fish the seam between the eddy and the current. Be sure to fish the eddies on the far bank, assuming it is a small enough stream to reach them. If you can’t reach the far bank be sure to fish the eddies on the near bank. You would be surprised how many fish are tight up against the bank. Worthing: Put yourself in a position to cast anywhere from quartering upstream to directly cross current. Land your fly about halfway down the outside, or feeder, seam of the eddy. With a tight line off the water, allow your fly to drift downstream to the tail of the swirling eddy, turn upstream and into the head of the eddy. At the head of the eddy, your fly should be drifting back toward you and the main current. Extend the drift, allowing the fly to swirl completely around the eddy twice. Strikes will occur in one of three positions. First, as the fly moves upstream in the back of the eddy. Second, as the fly moves toward you and the main current (often, this is the biggest fish in the eddy). Third, as the fly turns back downstream for a second go around (because your fly is deep in that seam on that second pass). Gibson: Eddies can be areas that fish will sometimes seek. Water is pulled into new currents out of the main current bringing with it food. The force of the main current coming down stream is often also reduced, making for easier swimming while a buffet is brought right in front of the fish. Using a long tenkara rod to cast the fly right into the eddy and be able to hold it there with the light line being held off the water makes for a great presentation. Heavier lines cast with a shorter rod make it difficult to keep the line from being pulled by the current. This will drag the fly out of the eddy in an unnatural manner. But tenkara has the advantage, holding the line out of the current the fly is able to swirl 70

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around in the eddy without drag, making for a more natural drift. Add a little action to the fly and you more realistically create the illusion of an insect struggling in the water.

FISHING POCKET WATER Right next to eddies in the “most overlooked water” category is pocket water. A good stretch of pocket water is a real diamond in the rough for the angler’s who are willing to take their time and work it thoroughly. I grew up and learned to fly-fish for trout on one of the most prolific pocket water streams on the East Coast: Esopus Creek. Located in the heart of the famous Catskill Mountain region, the Esopus doesn’t fish as great as it did when I was a teenager cutting my fly-fishing teeth but that pocket water still harbors a good number of rainbows and browns. Japanese anglers who developed the tenkara method of fly-fishing fished a lot of mountain streams and creeks riddled with pocket water. I’ve fished large rivers that have pocket water and I am now convinced that tenkara provides the best combination of stealthy and realistic fly presentation, dry or wet. Worthing: The picture I am about to paint is so common here in Utah, I don’t know if a day of fishing on a popular river would be complete without it. You are fishing upstream in a Blue Ribbon tailwater, covering ground quickly in traditional tenkara style. You run into a Western flyfishermen above you, hucking an indicator nymph rig into a nice looking turn. You acknowledge one another from a distance. He’s had a bit of luck, but is ready to move on. Above him awaits a highly featured 100yard stretch, divided into small pockets like a checkerboard by fast moving currents. So you wait him out. Sure enough, he gets out of the river, skips 150 yards upstream and drops into the next slow turn. Choking back your drool, you proceed upstream to the first of many tasty pockets. You see a beautiful one, tucked against the shore under 5 feet of overhanging brush. You execute a three-dimensional cast, rolling the wrist so that your line lays out parallel to the water’s surface. Your fly hits first, right in the middle of the pool. One, two, SET! You bring a 16-inch brown to net. Many more follow. The Western guy looks perplexed. You agree to let him buy you a beer later in exchange for a barstool lesson in tenkara.

DAVID E. DIRKS

Vertrees: This is where tenkara really shines. I’ve had a lot of success by casting above plunge pools and letting the plunge pull line into the depth of the pool by lowering the rod. I’ve also had a great time casting to pocket water on the edges of streams where the water is slower. There are a lot of trout on these edges. The small streams in the Colorado Rockies are mostly covered with pocket water, and this is the water I fish the most. The downstream cast to pocket water has also worked very well for me, especially with dry flies. Lyle: Pocket water is the very best kind of water for tenkara fishing. As John Gierach said, you can pick the water apart, flicking casts effortlessly and accurately into every little hole. You will find more trout than you do with a rod and reel. Your line doesn’t lie on the water, it angles down from the rod tip so that only the fly and a little bit of tippet is in the water, giving you great dead drifts when you want them and unparalleled ability to jig the fly. Strikes are immediately obvious. You’ll be surprised how many fish you find, and some of them will be beauties. Naples: Pocket water is my favorite type of water. Give me a stream with miles of pocket water and I’m a happy man. Pocket water is pretty close to tenkara-perfect water. A section of stream broken up with boulders and large cobbles creating fishy lies all across the stream, what could be better? The tenkara advantage in pocket water, is again the way that you can fish at a distance while keeping the line off of the water. Instead of struggling with all of the swirling and conflicting crosscurrents, the tenkara angler can cast his fly into all of the seams and soft water, behind and in front of the rocks, and keep the line off the water. This allows your fly to sink and stay in the slower current seam or pocket without being dragged out. Think of the pockets almost as tiny pools, and cast upstream of the pocket to allow the fly to sink. Also, make sure your tippet is about a foot longer than the average depth. The thin tippet will sink faster than the thicker tenkara line, so you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got enough tippet to allow the fly to get near the bottom, without your line being below the surface. In addition to fishing subsurface flies, fishing large attractor dry flies can be fun and effective in pocket water. To effectively fish pocket water with tenkara gear, I make sure that my line isn’t too long. I want to keep my whole line off of the water, to avoid those cross-currents. Lansky: Pocket water is my favorite part of water to fish. Again, start 72

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by targeting the closest fishy looking spot, hit it a few times with different presentations and then move on to the next closest one. Dry flies will work well as will wet flies, tenkara flies or nymphs. Trout are hiding behind rocks, in depressions or any crevice that will give them shelter from the current but quick access to food. They will take willingly a fly that was well-presented. Vetterli: I live for pocket water. I live literally minutes away from three spectacular high mountain streams loaded with it in every size and shape possible. The thing I love about pocket water fishing is there are endless opportunities. You can move through a pocket water section quickly by just casting to the prime spots or you can spend an entire day in a 500foot section of stream by picking apart each and every pocket of water. It is a giant puzzle and I find fish in the strangest little tiny pockets of water and it is always surprising when one rises to the surface. Tenkara rods and methods were developed for pocket water and have had hundreds of years of evolution and refinement for it. It is the perfect tool for this challenging water. Ostrander: Pocket water is the attention-deficit disorder child of river society. Bouncing all around with too much energy, pocket water gets misdiagnosed as unproductive water and passed over for the calmness and reliability of pools. Gibson: Pocket water is one of my personal favorite types of water to fish tenkara. Often strewn with rocks that not only create many conflicting currents but also providing great areas for fish to hide. Casting to the slow water behind each rock will often produce a strike. Sometimes fish will also find a good place to hide at the front of rocks if there is a buffer of water being slowed by the rock. Again this is perfect water for tenkara as you’re able to keep the line up out of the swirling currents that are common in areas of pocket water. There can also be small pools formed below rocky areas that can be targeted first with the same techniques you would use for any pool. As you work forward through, you can cast into the white water of the water plunging into the pool to help sink the fly deeper into the pool, allowing the undertow of the current to drag the fly down. This can help you to work the depths of a pool more effectively. 73

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Small Water Strategies for Tenkara “Small streams are the essence of tenkara. They’re really the heart and soul of it.” Paul Vertrees

Tenkara originated in the small mountain streams in Japan and so it’s safe to say that it was built for small streams and brooks. That doesn’t mean that fishing small streams and brooks is easy. It takes strategy and stealth to fish small water effectively. Tenkara surely gives us plenty of advantages in terms of being able to place a fly so that it looks as natural as can be but that isn’t enough. Small water takes time and patience to fish but the rewards can often be great in terms of your enjoyment and fish-catching ability. Vertrees: Small streams are the essence of tenkara. They’re really the heart and soul of it. Fish a small stream slowly and patiently. There are so many opportunities presented by a small stream. Fish all of them! Never pass up a little piece of pocket water or a little plunge pool. It amazes me where trout will lie in a small stream. I’ve been very successful fishing the shallow edges of small streams or the little eddies along the edges. Always try to find the tiny spots where a trout could rest and feed. Don’t discount the downstream cast to pools below you. Tenkara on a small stream is much like spot-and-stalk hunting. Look for trout and move in carefully. Much of my casting on small streams (which is the majority of my fishing) is done from a kneeling position. Use stealth as much as possible. There’s a little stream in a wilderness area along the Front Range of Colorado that I call my stomping grounds. This creek is about 6 miles in length, from the headwaters at nearly 12,000 feet to the confluence with the next larger stream. It’s covered with what I call “nano-pools.” Tiny pocket water no bigger around than a skillet. I suspect that the mountain streams in Japan are much like this creek. Drifts are short and quick, the brook trout are eager to slam a fly, and you can catch fish all day long with a tenkara rod. The water is gin clear, and so you have to do much of your casting from either a kneeling or sitting position. This little creek is where I practice much of my 74

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tenkara technique. It’s a special place ideally suited for this ancient method. Lyle: When you’re still getting used to your rod, try to fish in spots where you have enough room to cast without hooking streamside trees or brush. Avoid the really tight spots until you have a feel for the tackle. Sneak up on your fish, approach from downstream when possible and keep a low profile. (If you do get snagged, don’t just pull with the rod – collapse the rod sections all the way down and pull the line with your hand.) Naples: Much of this has been covered in the above sections, but I can offer a few additional thoughts specific to small streams and tenkara. Obviously, because of the fixed-length fly line, tenkara is limited as far as how far you can cast. But the fixed-length line limits how close in you can fish too. For tenkara, you need to match the length of the fly line to the water that you’re fishing. So, on small streams you may need to shorten the line so that you can physically fish the stream. For beginners I’d err on the side of too short rather than too long. A line that is too long for the conditions is going to make your experience frustrating and miserable. This is where one of the advantages of level line is apparent – you can simply cut the line to length, test it out, go shorter or even knot some line back on to lengthen it again. On small tree-lined or brushy streams with a lot of overhanging trees or rhododendron, the bow-and-arrow cast can help get the fly onto the water when you have no room to cast. You hold the fly, carefully at the bend behind the point, then pull back, bending the rod and then let go. If you’re lucky the fly will land on the water. You’ll need to fish a pretty short line to do this type of cast. On some streams you’ll have a hard time raising the rod tip high enough to keep your line off the water, because of the low-hanging tree canopy. So you’re stuck fishing with your line on the water. In this condition a heavy furled line can be a real pain because it will sink, plus it spooks fish. Even the lighter fluorocarbon level lines tend to sink. In these situations, I like to fish a nylon mono-filament level line because it will float a bit. This is especially important if you’re trying to fish dry flies. Shorter rods can make fishing small brushy streams much easier; you lose the long rod advantage, but you can keep it out of the overhanging trees.

DAVID E. DIRKS

You can’t catch fish if you spook them – so on small streams be stealthy. Wade as little as possible, cast from as far away as you can and try to keep the line off the water if you can (level lines are stealthier than furled). Also, don’t forget that the long rod itself can spook fish, so be careful that you don’t go waving that thing over the top of the water that you’re trying to fish. Stewart: Be stealthy, move slowly, crouch. Fish every eddy, every seam, every riffle. Survival is everything, but in a small stream it is a case of “calories in, calories out” as well as predator avoidance. The fish will be where the food comes to them, where they don’t have to continually fight the current to get it, and where they have a rock or log to hide under that isn’t far away. Because the water in a small stream is generally shallower than in a larger river, predator avoidance becomes more important. Find a good place for a fish to hide and you’ve probably found one of the better fish in the stream. Worthing: Go with an experienced tenkara angler. Even better, hire a tenkara-certified guide. There are hundreds of facets and details to fishing a small stream to maximum efficacy. One day with a truly experienced tenkara angler will make a world of difference in your fishing. And as a beginner, the small stream environment is the place to invest your guided trip. Ostrander: Small streams are fast and furious. If a good pool doesn’t produce, then don’t flog it and move on. My philosophy is to find the fish that are feeding. Having said all this, many times it’s a matter of inches whether the fish is hungry enough to go for your fly. I’ve seen time and time again where a drift just 2 inches away catches a fish when the previous 10 drifts didn’t produce just because they were slightly off the mark. When fishing small streams it’s important to analyze everything: Sun, trees, shadows, wind, currents, bugs, water, casting, presentation, everything. It may sound like I’m putting too much emphasis on small streams, but I like catching fish. Sure there are many willing fish and you’ll catch a few even if you’re sloppy, but if you pay attention you’ll catch a ton of them. It’s the difference between a 15-fish day and a 30fish day, or the difference between a 30-fish day and a 90-fish day. Gibson: Regardless of the size stream that you are fishing my advice is to not rush the experience. Approach the water slowly, take time to look 76

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and see if you can observe any fish rising. Take the time to enjoy the surroundings and the nature around you. Only then extend your rod. Target the likely spots and those that are not as likely as well. Be thorough in dissecting the stream. In small streams that don’t have strong currents, fish are more likely to be almost any place. Use a fly that is mid-sized (12-14) and move as stealthily as possible. Splashing, stomping and moving quickly through the water will spook fish for a good distance above you ... often right to the range of your casting with tenkara equipment. Try your best to be slow and quiet as to not spook the fish.

DAVID E. DIRKS

Large Water Strategies for Tenkara “Large rivers are really just a conglomeration of small rivers that can be easily dissected into less intimidatingand more manageable pieces.” Karel Lansky

There are two myths about tenkara and big water. The first myth was born from those who see a long rod with a short line and say: “There’s no way to reach the spots you need to reach on a big river.” The second myth revolves around landing big fish on a tenkara rod: “There’s no way you’ll be able to net a big trout in a big river.” Tenkara might mean using a long rod with a short line but you have to change your perspective on how you fish big water and back away from your Western fly-fishing, double-hauling ways. Whether you choose to wade or drift through a big river, have no fear of bringing your tenkara rod along for a very productive and fun ride. Worthing: Look at the size of our trucks. Or the size of the sausage muffin breakfast I eat before a long day of fishing. Since when are Americans afraid of going big? No tenkara angler should be afraid of big water. Ever. Large rivers are simply a bunch of small streams having a dance party. As a tenkara angler, you already know how to dance with a small stream. So why not join the party? I remember the first time ERiK Ostrander, one of Tenkara Guides’ founding members, took me to Utah’s Green River. We had been having a lot of fun fishing together, catching fish at a rate I don’t think either of us was used to. Being the good friend ERiK always is, he prepared me for the not-so-traditional tenkara fishing ahead. He didn’t want me to get too discouraged if I didn’t catch a fish on my first tenkara trip to the Green. An hour into the trip, I had my first fish. A beautiful, big bow. We had a great couple of days, catching a bunch of big browns and bows in an already big river that was swollen with flows over the 90th percentile. And it was all on tenkara. I attribute our success to our ability to dissect 78

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that big river into digestible chunks after hours of fishing together on smaller streams. We learned two important lessons on that trip. First, tenkara kills on big rivers. Second, fly-fishing reports aren’t always based on much. For the next month or two, it seemed like there was an extraordinary amount of talk about the one or two patterns we used. Tenkara was not mentioned, however. Vertrees: Large rivers can be fished successfully with tenkara. The Arkansas River is in my backyard, and I fish it a lot. Since you can’t cast as far as you can with a Western fly rod, you have to break a big river up into sections, or “mini rivers” (many rivers). Fish the edges when the water is high and strong. But you can fish the edges all the time, even when the water is low. Fish below boulders, just like you would fish smaller pocket water in a stream. The pocket water is there, only on a larger scale. By approaching a big river as a collection of smaller water it’s much less intimidating and you can be very effective. Klass: Large rivers are really just a conglomeration of small rivers that can be easily dissected into less intimidating and more manageable pieces. Instead of looking at a big river and being intimidated by its size, the myriad of different runs, pools and riffles, focus in more closely on each piece of structure and on one at a time. A targeted, methodical approach to each small slice of a large river is going to be more effective than trying to tackle the whole thing at once. Lansky: A large river is really just many small streams combined. Break down the water you want to fish into small sections and pockets and fish them like a small creek. Start with the water closest to you and then work your way out and up. One lesson I learned many years ago is to first fish the water you would want to wade through to get into position. You would be surprised how many fish you will be able to pick up “on your way” to that spot you want. Stewart: The same rules still apply. Where can a fish get food without having to continually fight the current and still have a nearby hiding hole? If there isn’t a hatch to get the fish looking up, this is a place where you might want a non-traditional rod capable of effectively fishing a non-traditional bead head nymph.

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Vetterli: Big rivers are an entirely different ecosystem than the mountain streams where tenkara was developed. Large rivers mean deep water and long reaches. I like to use rods 13-to15-feet in length with long lines 20-to-32-feet and sink those flies deep. Euronymphing techniques work extremely well in these large deep waters. Dry flies are also fun if there is a hatch going off while you are fishing. Odds are that the fish will be rising on the opposite side of the river from where you are standing (at least that is always how it seems to me). You need to be able to get your flies over there with long rods and long lines. Again, don’t be afraid to experiment with weighted nymphs or other methods. The only wrong way to fish with a tenkara rod is to not try to fish something with the tenkara rod.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

Fighting Fish Tenkara-style “Fighting a fish with tenkara equipment will be more fun than any fight you have ever had before.” Paul Gibson

There is the common myth that you can’t land good-sized trout on a tenkara rod. The truth is you can if you know how. The existence of this myth is understandable when you think of the pounding that a big Western rod takes when a big trout takes the fly … and the trout is lost anyway. The Western rod has the advantage of a strong reel, plenty of line with backing and a fish wearing backbone. So how can a tenkara angler compete? A bit of perspective here will go along way. Any angler using any trout equipment can lose a fish. It happens daily on rivers, lakes and streams. There is a growing base of anglers from coast to coast who don’t spend all their time on small creeks and brooks. A good portion of the anglers interviewed for this book is from the West and regularly fish big western rivers and … hold on to your hats … land big fish too. To prove it, I’ve sprinkled this book with photos of big river trout caught and landed on a tenkara rod. Although the tenkara rod was not originally designed to catch big fish, it doesn’t mean that it can’t. When you’ve landed a big rainbow or brown that tips past 18 inches or more on a tenkara rod, you’ll know the difference between fact and myth. Worthing: Landing a fish with tenkara is pretty darn intuitive. Simply raise your rod behind you, grab the line, pull the fish in and you’re done. Land a couple of 8-14-inch trout on smaller streams, and you’ve got it down. Until you hook into a 20-inch trout in a fast current. Here are five crucial tips for the tenkara angler: Plan ahead. Make a mental note of all the soft water around you. Those are the places you really want to end up with a fish on the end of your line.

DAVID E. DIRKS

Tuck your elbow in. The power position for tenkara is with your elbow tucked tight at your side. This is true for almost all casting and fly manipulation. It is especially true for fighting fish. Keep your elbow tucked. Extending your arm straight above your head is a common mistake. The second you extend your arm, you are no longer in control of that fish.

Tenkara rods can handle large fish. Just ask Rob.

Use the rod to your advantage. Tenkara rods are exceptionally good at protecting tippet and working the fight out of a fish. Tenkara rods have a sweet spot, a gradual bend at which you can take full advantage of their strength. If a fish runs and straightens out the bend, then the risk of breaking off the rod increases. Tuck the rod handle down and forward, re-establishing that perfect bend. Closing the bend, say, by grabbing the line too high when hand-lining, also increases the risk of breaking the rod. Learn to steer the fish. Yes, it can be done. You can learn to steer a fish in the direction you want it to go. Away from that fast current, and toward that soft water you scoped out. On the fixed line of a tenkara rod, fish tend to run in a direction perpendicular to the direction of pull. By angling your rod to one side or another, you can change the direction 82

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of pull, thus changing the direction of the fish. Hand-lining is not a sin. Sure, it might be as fun as sinning. But it is not a sin. It is a very effective way of landing big fish in fast water. There’s only one thing you really need to know. When your opponent is strong, give ground. When your opponent is weak, take ground. Vertrees: You really need to do two things when fighting a fish with a tenkara rod. Keep a tight line and turn the fish before you have to work against the current. To aid in turning a fish, you can put the rod at a lower angle to the surface of the water. Turning the fish quickly greatly increases your chances of bringing it to the net or your hand. One time I was fishing the Uncompahgre River below Ridgway, Colo. This stretch of water is famous for big rainbows. I had a sizeable rainbow slam a Killer Bug at the tail of a plunge pool. Turning this 20-inch fish before it got back into the main current of the river was the key to a successful catch. If that fish had gotten back into the main current, he would have broken off. The sooner you can get good, solid tension on the rod and line and get the fish out of strong current, the better. Sadler: You wonder can the tippet hold? Will the rod break? How will I land a big fish? Will I need to chase after the fish to land it? The fact is if you set up your outfit correctly and think about what you will do when you catch a large fish, then tenkara is not a lot different than conventional fly fishing. There are a few things to things to keep in mind here. The tenkara rod is very flexible, much more so than a conventional fly rod. That means it acts as a big shock absorber and can protect light tippet. If you stand your ground and keep the rod bent you can control the fish. You should plan on where you will land a fish in advance. If you can find an eddy or a calmer section of water that is where you want to land the fish. A net is a big help for big fish. Lyle: With large fish, keep the rod high and deeply bent. The rod will absorb the fish’s pulls and lunges, protecting the tippet. With any fish, expect it to struggle briefly, then pause as if the struggle feels futile. When this pause occurs, raise your rod all the way and swing the fish to your position. If your line is longer than your rod, you may have to pull in the last few feet by hand, but it’s easy. Take your time, have a light touch and if the fish freaks out, let it pull against the rod again for a few 83

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minutes until it settles down. Scoop your fish up with your net and victory is yours. Naples: I recommend that the beginner use a combined line/tippet length that is about the same length as the rod or just a little longer. In the beginning you should probably avoid the need to hand-line the fish in, which is what you do with longer lines. Also, using a net is going to make landing and releasing easier, especially on bigger water. I generally don’t use a net on small streams, but I do on larger streams and rivers. Small-to-medium-sized fish upwards of 16 inches or so, especially on smaller streams, are going to come in pretty easily. Don’t mess around. Set the hook and then pull the fish in. The breaking strength of 5X is around 4.7-pounds. It’s hard for most fish to break. That long flexible rod is like a big shock absorber. If you keep the rod angled so that the rod’s got a bend in it, keep the “spring” in the rod, then the fish just can’t exert much force on the tippet. If you let the rod get low, and let the fish take the line straight from the end of the rod, so that rod is no longer bent, then yes, without a reel and a drag, the tippet can break pretty easily. Whether the rod is held vertical or parallel to the water, make sure the line is always at an angle to the rod tip and the rod is acting like a big shock absorbing spring. When fighting a bigger fish, maybe you can’t just drag it in right away. So you’ll need to tire it a bit. I always try to keep the fish “off-balance.” Turn its head by pulling in the opposite way that it’s heading. Preferably, I’m fishing upstream so I’m hooking and fighting a fish from behind. That way, when you set the hook and put pressure on the fish, you’re pulling the hook into it and not out of it. So, try to stay downstream of the fish and guide it into shallow water where you can land it. You don’t want to fight the fish and the current. Most fish that I lose because they slip the hook are fish that I hooked downstream and that I’m pulling against the current. Sometimes, you’re fishing downstream, or the fish is hooked above but gets downstream of you. If you had a reel, you could let him take some line as you work downstream to him. But, in tenkara you don’t, obviously. So, you need to be ready to move. If a big fish gets into current below you then your best bet is to move downstream with it while trying to guide it to slower water to land it. This is where some pre-planning can be a great help. Try to fish upstream, have an idea where you want to land the fish and put yourself in a position that allows you to move downstream to land a 84

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fish that gets below you. Klass: Always keep tension on the line. If you lower your rod too much or allow too much slack in the line, the fish can shake off. Keep the rod tip up and a taut connection to the fish. If you’ve hooked a big fish that wants to run, you’ll either have to run with it, or lower your rod tip to give the fish some line to take out so they don’t break off. This is one of the fun challenges of tenkara because rather than relying on a reel, it can force you to get your whole body involved in landing a fish, which to me, is an exciting and more direct experience. Luckily, since tenkara rods tend to be fairly limber, they offer excellent tippet protection so landing big fish on a light tippet is definitely doable. When it comes to actually landing the fish without a reel, you have to basically grab the line and pull the fish in with your hands. This is pretty straightforward when you’re catching small fish. But when you’re landing a large fish, it can get a little tricky. You’ll need to mimic the drag system on a reel with your fingers. If you start pulling the fish in and it wants to run, keep the line firmly in your grasp but let up a little to allow the fish to take some line out, but with some tension. When they begin to tire or stop running, try pulling them again. If they want to make another run, let some line out again. It’s a balancing act to know how much tension to keep but it’s pretty intuitive. Let the fish tell you when to pull in and when to let them take some line out. Don’t rush them or you might break them off. Lansky: I try to apply constant pressure on the fish, trying to tire it as quickly as possible. If the fish heads left, I apply pressure pulling it to the right. I also noticed that if I can get the fish’s head out of the water it tires quicker. Land the fish quickly with a net and hand-line the fish where necessary. Don’t try to land the fish with a stretched rod arm, keep the arm close to the body and angle the rod to the back. A stretched arm will make you lose pressure and leverage on the fish. Stewart: Just because you don’t have a reel doesn’t mean you have to fight a fish to exhaustion (and possible death depending on water temperature). If the fish is hooked well, you can put quite a bit of pressure on it even with 5X tippet. Try to get the fish into quiet water so you aren’t fighting both the fish and the current. Don’t chase a fish downstream. Break your tippet. Break your rod if you must. But don’t

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break your leg. If you hiked in and are fishing alone, you could be in very serious trouble. Even if you aren’t alone, didn’t hike in and are fishing across the road from a trauma center, it’s just not worth it. Vetterli: Don’t spend too much time fighting a fish. Tenkara rods bring fish in to the net much quicker than Western fly rods. Get them in and get them back in the water as soon as possible. Remember these are living creatures that deserve our respect and they should be treated accordingly. Don’t waste time taking the stupid hero photos of you holding your fish out of the water. This ego trip kills these beautiful animals. You may think that the fish is fine because it swam away when you put it back in the water after 1 to 2 minutes but you’d be sorely mistaken. Most fish that are over-played on the line and over-handled by humans, die a few minutes after being released. Ostrander: When fighting a big fish on a tenkara rod, be prepared to run. When the fish goes, you should too. Don’t let the rod go under 45 degrees, and if you do … then throw your rod in the water. Seriously. The fish will come to a rest and you can go pick up your rod and finish the fight. Just make sure you do it somewhere that you can get to your rod, and don’t complain if something doesn’t go as planned. Also, when a fish runs and you can’t, don’t give it the tip of your rod. Give the fish the butt of your rod. You’re still giving up ground, but not losing the angle of your rod. No matter what your technique, you will lose fish. You’ll lose big fish, you’ll lose small fish. Don’t worry about it. Everyone does it.

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Additional Thoughts On Tenkara “If you don’t spend some time exploring traditional tenkara, then you’ll never see the full potential of tenkara. You may have your eyes opened to what is really ‘necessary’ for trout fishing.” Anthony Naples

Tenkara probably isn’t for everybody but it has potential to enrich the fishing experience for somebody. Is that you? Perhaps by now you’ve seen the range insights that are threaded throughout this book and have a new perspective on the possibilities of the tenkara experience. Maybe you’ve even seen some light on the subject of simplifying your fishing down to the most common denominators of line, rod and fly. The simplicity and ease that it takes to get started in tenkara (not withstanding the far lower cost of entry versus traditional Western fly fishing) make it adaptable to anyone at any level of experience at any time. Have fun with it and enjoy the simplicity and fish-catching effectiveness that will naturally come with it. Kuhlow: When practicing tenkara take advantage of all of the information that’s out there pertaining to casting, techniques, etc…. There is more helpful information out there today than there was a couple of years ago. Participate in many of the tenkara forums that have sprung up. Many of them are still devoid of the hostile garbage talk that is present in more traditional Western fly-fishing forums. There is traditional tenkara (methods and equipment) and there is tenkara that is evolving in the U.S. and other countries outside of Japan. Find what works best for you and you alone and enjoy it. Others have their opinion of what it’s supposed to be. Make it what you want it to be. Vertrees: Tenkara is simple and fun. It’s also a learning process and one that will teach you many things about the environment in and around a trout stream. Tenkara is a gift. The word “tenkara” means “from

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heaven.” I truly believe that tenkara is a gift, given to us from ancient Japanese fishermen. It’s truly a gift from heaven. It brings you into an intimate relationship with the water and the fish living in it. It will definitely make you a better fly angler. Lastly, tenkara is all about simplifying and streamlining your fly-fishing. It’s minimalism applied to fly-fishing. It strips fly-fishing down to its essential elements, which are an angler, a rod, a line and a fly. Nothing more. Tenkara is enlightened fly-fishing. Naples: Don’t expect tenkara to be magic. It is just fly-fishing. Fish are still fish, you need to be able to find them, get the fly to them, detect the strike, set the hook and land the fish – none of that changes. If you’re coming to tenkara as a new fly angler – read about tenkara. There are not many English-language tenkara books available, but there are a seeming limitless number of Western fly-fishing books and magazines out there. Like I said, fish are fish, streams are streams. They don’t know that you’re a tenkara angler. As a new fly angler you need to learn how to read trout streams, how to find the fish, how to present flies and detect strikes. These things don’t change much from Western to tenkara. There are plenty of good books and magazine articles that can help teach you these things. Czech-nymphing techniques and strategies, wet-fly techniques – these things translate to tenkara very well, without too much change. You can learn a lot from exploring these things. Don’t ignore all of the collected wisdom of Western angling. There is also a lot of good info online. Check out the tenkara forums and ask questions. If you’re coming to tenkara from Western-style fly-fishing there’s nothing wrong with jumping in with both feet. But, there’s also nothing wrong with a gradual approach. I know that’s how I came to it. What I mean is something like this. If you have Western-style flies that you know catch fish on certain streams – then by all means use them. That way you’re coming to it with confidence. There is going to be some learning curve with the tenkara gear, just getting used to that long rod and landing fish on a fixed line. If you’re fishing flies that you’re confident in then you can take that out of the learning equation. You can then work tenkara flies and techniques into your fishing as you get more adept at the purely practical use of the gear. What I started doing was this – I’d fish with unweighted tenkara flies in traditional tenkara style for a while. Then, if I wasn’t having too 88

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much luck I’d put on a fly that I knew worked well and fish that, catch some fish and maybe try the tenkara flies again later. The goal is to have fun, after all. There are two basic ways to approach tenkara – tenkara as a technique and tenkara as a tool. There are the traditional tenkara techniques using unweighted wet-flies, on mountain streams. Then there’s tenkara as a tool, using the tenkara rod to fish Western-style flies and techniques. I’m of the mind that there is not a “right” way. There are different strokes for different folks. The tenkara rod can be a great tool for Western-style fishing. For those that are coming to tenkara primarily as a tool, and view it just as a way to fish Western-style flies and techniques, spend some time with the traditional tenkara too. You may be very surprised by what you can do when you stick to a one-fly, traditional approach. If you don’t spend some time exploring traditional tenkara, then you’ll never see the full potential of tenkara. You may have your eyes opened to what is really “necessary” for trout fishing. Or, maybe not, and that’s OK too. I started out viewing the tenkara rod more as a tool and have since been swayed by the effectiveness of traditional tenkara. That doesn’t mean I can’t still throw a big hopper dry fly, bead-head or Czech nymph on. I’ll do that too. For me fly-fishing and fly tying are inseparable. Tenkara flies are becoming more available online, but chances are you won’t find them locally. Tenkara flies are generally pretty simple. So, you can get some tying tools and a few materials and be tying fishable flies in no time. Catching fish on flies that you tie, and maybe even patterns that you “invent,” is just so much fun. It really enriches the experience for me. Lastly, and this is the most important, get out and fish. You’ll only get better by doing it. Maybe you prefer trout fishing on streams, and there aren’t many close by. Go to the local warm water stream or pond and practice on those fish. The more you do it the better you’ll get and the more you’ll have your eyes opened to the potential. Klass: Tenkara came to the West with a long tradition behind it and ever since then, people have been trying to “innovate” and change it. Today, there is a growing movement to push the boundaries of tenkara far beyond how it is practiced in Japan. I think it’s up to the individual angler to decide where the fine line between innovation and bastardization lies,

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but I think anyone interested in tenkara owes it to themselves to learn the traditional techniques first. Then, you can decide if you want to explore the alternative “innovative” methods that are developing in the West. For me, part of the richness of tenkara is trying to practice it the way it’s been done in Japan for a millennia. Not the way it’s been done in the U.S. for three years. Lansky: Just keep it simple and have fun. Don’t get frustrated, enjoy being on the water. The rest will come by itself. And don’t let anybody tell you what is right or wrong or what you can or cannot do. To me tenkara is about having fun fishing – and being a better fisherman. Stewart: It’s just fishing. It isn’t a religion. The only hard-and-fast rules are your state’s fishing regulations. That said, keep your rod tip high and your line off the water. Use the longest rod you can get away with and the lightest line you can get away with and they will probably produce the most fish. Worthing: Don’t take yourself, your fishing or anybody else’s fishing too seriously. In fact, forget everything I said in this book. Put this book down. Close your laptop. Turn off your cell phone. Go outside, and go fishing. Vetterli: Relax, have fun, go fish. Ostrander: My advice to anyone interested in tenkara is to experiment as much as you can. Remember when you were (or are) a teenager? You did all sorts of crazy stuff. Tenkara is an American teenager. Stay out way past curfew and break a few rules. Gibson: Because tenkara fishing equipment is so sensitive you are able to experience subtleties of fishing like you likely have not before. The feel of the rod bending in the air as the line loads the rod. The delicacy of the fly gently settling on the waters surface. The feel of the fly resisting your pull through the water. And the sight of a fish rising mere yards away to snap at your fly. All of these things connect you to the experience unlike any other form of fishing can. So many parts of our modern lives are rushed. Tenkara should be the opposite. Take time to enjoy nature around you. Take time to enjoy the act of fishing. If you rush, you will not only miss more fish but also the experience. 90

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TENKARA KEBARI Traditional & Kebari-Inspired Trout Patterns

DAVID E. DIRKS

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

INTRODUCTION TO KEBARI “We exist to tell people that fly-fishing is much simpler than it seems. We exist because we believe that with more people taking up fly-fishing, they will more closely connect with their environment and help take care of it. We live because we want to share the fun of tenkara. The tenkara story tells us we can leave many things behind. And, after we know that we can leave stuff behind, what we then do is simply a matter of choice.” - www.tenkarausa.com

Making his way along a small foot trail, a 16th-century Japanese commercial angler - armed with a long rod and a short line - is focused on the small mountain stream that makes itself known with the sound of rushing, cold water. The water is cold and clear – ideal for thriving populations of Yamame - which are known for their scrappy fighting habits. The trail runs alongside this stream, and this angler is looking for those deeper pools that have been carved out from the continuous flows of water fed by both deep mountain snows in the spring and the steady rains of summer and fall. As he crouches low to keep his profile out of sight, he casts his sparsely tied kebari pattern into the air and allows it to drop and sink into the seam of water to the left of a large, gray boulder. Here, a 12-inch Iwana, consider a large fish in this mountain stream, sits near the bottom and watches closely for what meager amounts of insects might flow past the boulder. This anglers kebari – with its reverse hackle undulating and pulsing as the fly dead drifts in this seam of water – catches the Iwana' eye, and the fish moves quickly to make it a meal before it’s gone downstream. Our ancient Japanese angler raises his rod and immediately feels the fish's tension as he darts in and around the soft water behind the boulder – desperate to get the fly out of its mouth. Lifting the rod a little higher, the angler raises the fish out of the water and gently onto some moss93

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covered ground. The battle is short-lived but typical of the mountain fishing that happened hundreds of years ago in many mountainous regions of Japan that continues to this day. My journey with tenkara began in 2009 when I saw a demonstration of this age-old Japanese fly-fishing technique at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum. It was there that I briefly met Daniel Galhardo – the person who almost single-handedly brought tenkara to the United States at that time. Until that time, very few had even heard about it or knew could what tenkara was, let alone explain how it could co-exist in the traditional, western-style, fly fishing world. Most of the traditional fly-fishing industry at that time (and still in some cases) wrote tenkara off as some short-lived "fad," but that was not so. In fact, from 2009 to date – it remains a growing option for those who love to fish and enjoy the easy-going simplicity and effectiveness of tenkara. In May of 2009, Galhardo had brought along one of the world's most noted authority on tenkara, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki to the Catskills region. The combination of Dr. Ishigaki's presentation of the history of tenkara in Japan and his on-stream demonstration of the technique, provided all I needed to hear and see about this simple but effective fly-fishing technique. Since that day, my use of western-style traditional fly fishing gear dropped to about 50% of my time on the water versus 100% before my introduction to tenkara. I was hooked. Galhardo started his own company specializing in tenkara gear, Tenkara USA, and from that point onward – tenkara became one of the fastest growing techniques in western fly fishing. I bought my first of many tenkara rods from Daniel, and I tested them on my favorite local Catskill waters to significant effect. Without a reel or heavy fly line, the traditional tenkara technique provides an angler with an opportunity to present a fly pattern naturally to almost confound you because of its simplicity. You can offer a fly pattern to a trout naturally with traditional western fly-fishing gear. That's not the point. The point is simplicity: a rod, a short line, and the fly. That's all that stands between you and the trout with any fly fishing, but the connection you get with tenkara allows you to feel closer to the water as it flows and the fish that lie in it. Motivated by my fascination with tenkara – I decided in 2013 to publish "Tenkara Fly Fishing: Insights & Strategies." At that time, it was only one of two books available in the English language on tenkara fly fishing in the U.S. (Galhardo has since published his own excellent and highly 94

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recommended book on the subject, "tenkara," 2017, Tenkara Press). I was able to recruit several of the best tenkara anglers in the U.S., including Galhardo himself, to share their strategies and tactics using the tenkara method for successfully catching trout. Soon after publishing "Tenkara Fly Fishing," I started to put together another book on traditional and tenkara-inspired trout fly patterns. This book has been a continuation of my journey with tenkara and, during the last few years I've learned more about tenkara and the "kebari" patterns associated with it than I ever imagined. Although I wanted to publish this book a year or two after the first, I realized I had more work to do in researching kebari patterns and then tying and fishing them. Several years and lots of tying and fishing practice later – what you have in your hands or on your tablet is the result of hundreds of hours of effort and output. Tenkara continues to be a wonderfully simple journey for me as an angler. I consider it yet another highly effective way to fish for the wary trout I have continually sought out for much of my life. Hopefully, this book adds additional value and pleasure to your own tenkara journey, leading you to many productive and fun days on the water.

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INSIGHTS ON KEBARI If I were to narrow the chief differences between traditional kebari patterns and those tied by conventional western fly anglers, I'd say it was the choice of materials and the common reverse hackle technique. A note about the reverse hackle tying technique: first, many kebari patterns do not utilize the reverse hackle – and I'd say from the research I did for this book – the majority do not have it. Often because it's such a distinguishing feature found on Japanese pattern’s; the reverse hackle technique often gets attention out of proportion to the actual number of kebari designs that use it. That said, nothing can take away the pulsating effectiveness of the patterns that deploy the reverse hackle technique. Outside of a few traditional kebari fly patterns (I would call some of them a bit flashy), most kebari are designed to look and act like a range of insects instead of an exact imitation. Traditional western fly tyers, for the most part, look to tie to "match the hatch," and so our fly boxes are packed with all kinds of different imitation patterns for almost any situation and time of year we find ourselves fishing. Many western anglers are confounded that some tenkara anglers carry only a few patterns within a narrow band of hook sizes. It’s hard for some westernstyle anglers to wrap their heads around the fact that simplicity has its own type of effectiveness. Even more puzzling for some western-style anglers is the discipline of few tenkara anglers who prefer to fish with only one specific kebari pattern – at all times during the season. Oh, the audacity! However, if you look at the choices those anglers make when they decide to commit to fishing just one design – you'll often note how remarkably effective those patterns are based on the material and colors selected when tying them. I am most justified in saying that if any angler decided to fish with just 96

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one pattern, it’s fairly certain they would pick the one pattern that doesn't imitate any specific insect but has the look and feel of many types of insects to give them the maximum advantage on the water. Like everything else in the angling world, it often boils down to our personal preferences, in which there are infinite combinations to consider – which makes fly fishing such a worthy pursuit for many of us. For this book – I don't argue for one preference or the other, and I care less about how you fish or with what kebari patterns. It's about what designs work best for you. It's also important to consider that in the high mountain streams of Japan, trout are like their brethren in the high mountain streams we have here in the U.S. - faster running, less fertile, and trout perhaps a little less fussy. Their desire to eat and do it with speed provides the backdrop of why traditional tenkara anglers in Japan had little reason to carry multiple patterns when fishing. Another consideration is that many of the conventional kebari designs have stayed at the forefront of tenkara fly fishing primarily because they had hundreds of years of experience catching trout. In the end, the consideration and selection of what kebari patterns to use is your responsibility, right based on your preferences and opinions. Don’t be bluffed or bothered with purists who argue that their method is the “true” way to fly fish. I know plenty of purist dry fly anglers who'd rather stand in the middle of a river – not fishing, mind you – but waiting for the "hatch." Many of us just want to fish. Use the patterns you have confidence in and have proved themselves over time to provide you with more productive angling days. My goal with this book was to organize and showcase those traditional and kebari-inspired patterns that have survived the test of time and are worthy of consideration. Indeed, you may find a few patterns of interest that you'll add to your fly box. After some use on the water, you can determine if they are worth keeping and stocking in it.

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KEBARI MATERIALS Japanese tenkara anglers from hundreds of years ago were no different from today's anglers in that they used the materials at hand to craft their kebari patterns. Silk and sewing type threads were the most common early kebari materials used – not much different from today's materials except for the varied thickness of modern tying silks and threads. Another material commonly found in areas of Japan is called zenmai. According to Daniel Galhardo of TenkaraUSA “The zenmai is a type of fern that, in early spring, has a cottonlike material on its body. This cotton-like material makes for excellent dubbing material. It is relatively waterproof and can be easily made into a tight thread. Depending on the time it is picked or the plant it is picked from, the zenmai will vary slightly in color, with some being darker, and more commonly found in a light tan color.” Peacock herl is another traditional material – widely found just about anywhere – and commonly used on many traditional kebari patterns. In Japan, early tenkara anglers most likely appreciated the color and flashy virtues provided by peacock herl like we continue to do today. Whether used in the thorax or body of a kebari pattern, peacock herl offers the right amount of color to catch trout's attention. It has made it a favorite for so many patterns, whether eastern or western in origin. Traditional hackle selection varies based on what area of Japan and the types of birds available. For this book's purposes, we are not endeavoring to uncover what the ancients used in Japan. Some kebari patterns, whether traditional or not, using either a soft or stiffer hackle depending on the type of water they were fishing. Stiffer hackles on some traditional kebari provide the distinct advantage of staying higher on the water surface but can still become subsurface when needed. You have to remember that many of the early Japanese tenkara anglers where fishing commercially – not in the recreational context many of us fish today. Of the types of trout foods available in many Japanese streams, included are small fish. For example, the Japanese Dace called "Ugii" (also known as Tribolodon hakonensis) is widely distributed throughout Japan. While Dace and other small fish exist in Japan's mountain streams, my research did not uncover much in the way of traditional kebari patterns that 98

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mimic Dace and different minnow types. Even today, few would consider using a traditional western streamer pattern for tenkara fishing. They would be wrong about that. Streamers and bucktails can be fished effectively using traditional tenkara rods. It seems that most of the traditional mountain fishing focused on creating patterns that mimicked the almost endless number of insects found there. According to The Entomological Society of Japan, which has researched the diversity of insects available there: “Japan is considered a global hot spot of biodiversity. With regard to species diversity, insects are no exception. To date, more than 32,000 insect species have been identified in Japan, while around 100,000 species of insects are estimated to inhabit this country. In this paper, we outline background factors having contributed to diversification of Japanese insects. Of course, the high degree of Japanese insect diversity is the result of many complex factors. In addition to the humid Asian monsoon climate and the extensive latitudinal gradient of habitats, the extremely complex geological history has contributed as an important factor to generate and maintain the high species diversity and endemism. In particular, the independent origins of northeastern and southwestern Japan from the Eurasian continent have greatly contributed to the diverse composition of Japanese insect fauna.” To the extent that gives you some idea of the origins of the traditional kebari patterns is what we are trying to accomplish here. Today we use the materials – natural or synthetic – that meet the demands we set for the patterns we want to tie. Traditional Japanese hooks are another story. In the Japanese kebari tradition, there were none of the eyed hooks we all take for granted today. Instead, Japanese anglers had to generally use silk thread to create the "eye" of the hook. If you are so moved to engage and purchase eyeless hooks and create your hook eyes, we salute you. Those who do prefer to tie their favorite kebari patterns using a threaded hook eye have felt that the threaded loop provides a more realistic movement to the fly when it is in the water. This is very similar to the arguments you'll hear about using a loop knot when attaching a streamer pattern to a fly leader.

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The technique used to create a hook eye is not the subject of this book, and in most cases, many of us will use the eyed hooks available today. For any pattern in this book – traditional or kebari-inspired, please feel free to substitute with the material you have on hand or can obtain.

ADDITIONAL KEBARI INSIGHTS ROB WORTHING, MD “Fly fishing is a game. The object of the game is to trick fish with your fly. Tenkara is one method for achieving this objective. The tenkara method emphasizes the dynamic fly presentation. In this method, the fly's water behavior is more important than the static image of the fly resting in the vice. To be successful at tricking fish, the tenkara angler must learn to manipulate the fly's behavior; when the tenkara angler's fly manipulation is right, the fish bites. The behavior of the fish follows the action of the fly. There's a lot that goes into getting it right. It takes a lifetime to master fly manipulation. Like most things worth doing in life, there is no short cut, no guaranteed path, no flawless algorithm, and no absolute truths. Ultimately, that's a good thing. The game would get pretty dull pretty quick if success were so easy. We at least need a starting point, and the kebari provides as good a starting point as any. Tenkara kebari were designed with the tenkara method in mind. They are pretty effective at what they were intended, but not all kebari are equal in all circumstances. To get fly manipulation right, to successfully present the fly, the tenkara angler must match the right kebari to the correct manipulation technique under the right conditions. Luckily, there isn't one right solution. This is a lock that can be opened with multiple combinations. Finding a successful combination starts at the vise. A kebari's construct influences its behavior. The hackle may have the most significant influence on a kebari's behavior. Hackle tied long and thick provides a larger surface area to catch water. This may be useful as a sea anchor for maintaining contact at long distances, holding long rigs off the water, grabbing attention in low visibility conditions, or riding currents to alternatively sink the fly deep and float it on the surface. It may catch so much attention that fish spook in calmer waters or prevent a fly from 100

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sinking where little current is available. In windy conditions, it can prove hard to cast. A sparsely tied hackle might be preferred. Soft hackle moves readily, adding life-like motion to the fly in the slightest current. Soft hackle may also collapse against the body in the heavier current. This may be desired, say, when the fly is meant to behave more like an emerging pupa or move the fly rapidly through the water as a baitfish might move. If not desired, a stiff hackle is resistant to collapsing against the body of the fly. Stiff hackle can prove useful for maintaining the illusion of movement in heavier currents. Some anglers rely on stiff hackle to float a fly on the surface as well. There are other means of achieving the same behaviors in kebari. Tying hackle fibers upright also presents a larger surface area. Sweeping the hackle forward toward the hook eye is another strategy to prevent the fibers' collapse against the fly body. Alternatively, the addition of a collar pushed up behind the hackle can be used to avoid collapse. The combination of a sparse, soft hackle about the hook shaft's length tied in facing toward the hook bend with a collar behind is a powerful combo in most caddis waters. Master tenkara angler, Masami Sakakibara, can alternatively sink or float his large Oni kebari without drying. How he ties the Oni kebari helps in achieving this. A soft hackle hen pheasant is used. The fibers about the shoulders of the bird are often chosen for their webbing. The feather is tied in first, the body second. To finish, the thread is carefully woven forward through the hackle to the eye. Some describe the same method in the construct of classic English wet flies. Some authors say it improves the durability of the finished fly. It may also splay the soft webbed hackle apart, increasing the surface area available for a skilled tenkara angler. Bodies tied sparsely or with a low profile sink faster. The use of dense material can further aid in descending kebari. Contrasting the buoyancy of a thick and long hackle near the eye with a dense material near the bend may allow a kebari to ride upright in the water column. Contrast a buoyant tail with a thick collar, and the hook rides nose down. These are just a few examples of strategies relating to kebari construction to kebari behavior. With experience, each tenkara angler develops preferences among these strategies. With more experience, recognizing the construct

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that makes for a winning combination becomes second nature. The choice of the right kebari becomes nearly automatic.” JASON SPARKS "The first Japanese pattern that most see when introduced to tenkara is the sakasa kebari. The unique forward-swept hackle has become an iconic image that is recognizable as a tenkara fly. My kebari story started with these. I tied the soft feather sakasa flies for the first two seasons I worked my local waters with a tenkara rod. There is a lot to be learned, and re-learned, when using a particular fly pattern over and over again. I spent a great deal of time learning how to dance this fly in different situations. How do you learn to control other presentation styles and manipulations? That takes attentive thinking when you are on the water and lots of practice. Soon I started tying them in ways that suited different conditions. You can add weight with more bulk of body material. There is a controlling sink rate with the sparseness of the fullness of the hackle itself. How about where you place the fly at the end of your cast? Learning how to use the water to help you drift to a location or pull your fly deeper underwater can be significant. Characteristics of the fly materials and design can help or hinder your use of currents. The soft hen feather is excellent at providing exceptional movement in the water. The soft hackle sakasa kebari comes to life right before the fish's eyes. What a great fly to have in your box. Now flip through these pages and look at all the fly patterns here. These are traditional Japanese patterns derived from decades and, in some cases, centuries of design. Some of these are "inspired" patterns. When I started learning about the multitude of traditional patterns beyond the sakasa fly, it was enlightening. This drove me to understand how characteristics and the quantity of the materials combined for a smart pattern. Once I learned how to tie many of these patterns, I then focused on when and why to use them. Much of the practical application of these fly patterns overlap with each other on the water. It may be essential to understand the roots of kebari even if you don't incorporate all of it into your tying. Once you have that knowledge, you can apply it however you like. I tend to tie most of my flies with stiff barbs with what I know now, and the size of the Indian rooster feather is pretty good for this. The feather's stiffness holds form in the water 102

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and will provide movement to the fly body itself as a current push against the hackle. In moving waters, that can also offer a more extensive profile for the fish to target. One thing I genuinely love about the kebari patterns is the concept of "bug inspired" flies. I've never been interested in studying aquatic or terrestrial insects in water bodies that I fish. The revelation of "scratch the hatch" really spoke to me. I took on this idea of presenting flies and kebari that resemble a food source as a challenge to my angling skill. A developmental program if you will. Can I take any non-descript buggy looking fly in my box and present it in a way that the fish will take it, especially when they are feeding on something specific. Indeed, some days I don't succeed with this method, but I always learn something along the way. I like to think that my angling skill is more reliable than a hatch chart. Having a resource like this book at your fingertips will help you understand established patterns' design features. You will also begin to see how different materials are combined to change the presentation dynamics of them. Understanding these things as a fly tier is excellent. As a fly fisher, though, there is as much or more value from the experience of the water. Choose a pattern and commit to fishing it until you understand it. Once I began paying attention to the nuances of kebari action and how best to control presentations, I started catching more fish. I've used my tenkara rods and kebari patterns chasing trout and char through the Appalachian range. I enjoy the simplicity of design in these bugs." JASON KLASS “I remember when glass beads came onto the fly tying scene. People were mostly using them for midge patterns, but some people got creative and used them for bodies on caddis larvae or even steelhead patterns. They were great because they added weight, sparkle, and translucence that you couldn't match with the day's popular brass beads. At the time, fly tying companies didn't offer very many colors. Luckily, a bead shop was right down the street from our shop that sold hundreds of different sizes and colors for making jewelry. The possibilities for fly tying were endless! And we took advantage of it! We were the pioneers of the glassbead trend in tying and paved the way for the use of them that most

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people employ today. That was a long time ago, but like everything in life, things tend to circle back around and meet again eventually. When I first got into tenkara, the sakasa kebari immediately appealed to me, particularly the Takayama Sakasa Kebari. It's one of the most iconic flies in tenkara, and I immediately recognized the characteristics that would make it a good fly. So I started tying them and fishing them with success. But as a consummate fly tyer, you always want (maybe need) to add your signature to even the most venerable pattern. I knew there was something I could add to this ancient pattern that would make it even more effective. Then it finally occurred to me: glass beads!

At first, I experimented with just one glass bead at the front. It looked ok, but glass beads are light compared to brass or tungsten. So it wasn't quite as heavy as I wanted. Also, most sakasa kebari start the hackle about 1/3 down the hook shank from the eye, and the single bead was too small to achieve that look. So, I decided to add a second bead. That accomplished three things: 1. It pushed the hackle back further, creating a more traditional looking silhouette. 104

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2. Added more weight and sparkle 3. I butted the forward-facing hackle up against the bead, so it flared more perpendicular to the hook giving it better action when employing a sasoi presentation. It was a gamble (as all experiments in fly tying are), but the first day on the water with them was stellar! I caught so many fish that I immediately sat down at my tying desk as soon as I came home and stocked my box in a prolific session. Today, I will not set foot in any stream without an ample selection of this fly. What makes it so good?

The beads. I think the two glass beads are the perfect weight for this fly, as I've already mentioned. Not too heavy, not too light. I can get it exactly where I want in the water column. I believe most subsurface flies are overweighted. Tungsten has become so prevalent, but if you've ever watched trout feeding videos, they're not looking down. They're usually looking up or to the side. Therefore, I think the two glass beads' density is more aligned with how trout mostly feed since it doesn't dredge the bottom like tungsten. Plus, the sparkle and flash get their attention.

Color. The traditional Takayama Sakasa Kebari was black, but it became

popular in modern times to tie it in red. That's how I tie it. The reason is that trout can see the colors red and blue the best. I've tried blue but favor red because I think it's not only more visible, but red is a predatory trigger for most animals. And trout, after all, are predators when it comes right down to it.

Movement. I tie this fly with reversed soft hackle such as pheasant or

partridge. This gives it a lot of motion in the water, making it look like a living insect (also a predatory trigger). Most western patterns are static and lifeless—like a wallflower at a party. But the soft hackle makes the fly come alive whether you're dead drifting it or manipulating it (more on that below).

Versatility. This fly (like most sakasa kebari) can be fished in a multitude of ways. You can fish it shallow, deep, upstream in a dead drift, downstream with a pulse, side stream, a wet fly swing, or a Leisenring Lift. All without changing flies. There's an expression in Japan that the 105

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fly that catches the fish is the one in the water. The sakasa kebari allows you to spend more time fishing and less time clipping off flies and tying new ones on—all the while out of the water. I made a T-shirt with the phrase "I don't change flies, I change fishes' minds." And that's one of the things I love about the overall tenkara philosophy.

Expendability. For years, I've been a proponent of using flies that were

fast and simple ties. Why? Because it's an advantage to you over other anglers. You might see a great lie where you know there's a fish, but you also know that $5 hopper or complicated fly that took you 20 minutes to tie is going to get snagged and lost on the log jam. So you're probably going to be reluctant to throw it in there. That's a missed opportunity. Now, what if you had a pattern that you knew you could cast in there and replace it in two minutes at the vise for almost no cost if it were lost? Expendability is a considerable advantage, especially on highly pressured streams where other anglers have trepidation about losing their overpriced and over-tied flies.

Size. I almost exclusively tie my flies now in size #12. The distinguished

tenkara angler Hisao Ishigaki did a stomach pump of some trout and char and found that most of the insects consumed corresponded to what we call a size #12. This makes sense. Trout want the most protein for the least amount of energy expenditure. It takes more energy to gulp up 200 size #22 midges or chase after a size #4 sculpin than it does to nab a few #12 caddis or stoneflies. #12 seems to be the “Goldilocks” size. It’s the right amount of protein for the right amount of effort. So what does all this mean? In my fly tying over 30 years, I've gone from imitation to impressionism and have turned to appeal to the trout's triggers. Think less about the number of tails on your fly or the color of the wings. As fly anglers, we overthink about what books tell us and what conventional wisdom says. I was laughed at by locals on the San Juan for fishing a #12 sakasa kebari during a midge hatch. But I caught more than 60 fish. I think the key is more about confidence than a pattern—Dial-in yours.

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TRADITIONAL TENKARA KEBARI PATTERNS ISHIGAKI KEBARI

Hook: Barbless dry fly hook in sizes 14 -18 Thread: Black sewing thread Hackle: Brown partridge hackle tied 1/3 down from the eye of the hook – tied with hackle forward to the eye Body: Build up a slim layer of black sewing thread with a slight rise progression to the front of the hook. Notes (Dirks): The Ishigaki Kebari originated by Dr. Hisao Ishigaki of Japan. With the black sewing thread, tie a tapered body with only a very slight taper to the eye of the fly. You can use a plain brown partridge hackle or other variations of bird that have some speckles (speckled hen) in them. I like to tie this pattern using both brown, mottled brown and grizzly hackle. The sakasa kebari is the iconic tenkara fly pattern. This is the classic reverse hackle tenkara fly and a favorite among many tenkara anglers. Like most tenkara patterns, this fly can be fished dry or wet and is generally the easiest of patterns to tie as well. 107

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Expert Insight: Chris Stewart “The Ishigaki Kebari is a bit of a hybrid. It is a sakasa kebari, in that the hackle slants forward slightly. However, it is tied with rooster hackle. I doubt the hackle pulses much in the water, but it does effectively resist the pull of the line. Plus, it is a dead simple fly to tie, needing only black thread and brown hackle. When tying it, and all other sakasa kebari, please keep in mind that the forward slant is very slight. I see photos of sakasa kebari that Westerners have tied showing the hackle with an extreme forward slant. Don’t do it. Tying it that way dramatically reduces its effectiveness. It won’t pulse open and it won’t provide much resistance. If tying a sakasa kebari with a soft hackle such as hen pheasant or partridge, the natural cup shape of the feather provides all the forward slant you need, don’t force a more extreme slant with thread wraps.”

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TAKYAMA SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: Gamataksu Amago hook, size 7.5 or Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook or Daiichi 1150 or 1160 – sizes 12, 14. Shown in photo: Eyeless Owner hook. Body: Silk thread of your choice, red, black, or primrose yellow Hackle: Partridge feather – from breast or you can use hen pheasant; then a few wraps of peacock herl. Notes: My favorite and one that I will choose more than 90 percent of the time when selecting a fly is my take on the Takyama Sakasa Kebari. I tie it with red or black (more often red) silk thread, pheasant hackle and a few wraps of peacock herl. I tie it on a size 3 or 4 (Japanese sizing) owner mainstream tenkara hook. This hook is very light slowing the fly to float for a dead drift dry presentation or to be sunk below the surface to present it as a wet fly as it traditionally would be. I find that it is an extremely effective fly everywhere I have had the chance to use it. I also fish with a few variations of some of the traditional tenkara dry flies from time to time. Who does not like to watch a fish slam a dry fly? Expert Insights: Chris Stewart “The sakasa kebari’s forward slanting hackle was said to open wider as a tenkara angler gently pulsed the fly, returning to its original shape 109

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between pulses. That would give the impression of life, which is completely absent in a dead-drifting fly. Try to picture a jellyfish swimming in reverse (which it can’t do, but you can reverse a video of a swimming jellyfish). That is what a pulsing sakasa kebari hackle looks like. It doesn’t look like anything that lives in a trout stream, but it does look alive. That made sense, but for years I resisted pulsing my flies. Even though the Killer Bug represents a scud, and scuds can swim, so pulsing would actually make sense, many times when a trout took a Killer Bug the take was so subtle that if my line was bouncing around from pulsing, I wouldn’t be able to tell if the bounce was me or if the bounce was a take. At least, that was what I thought at the time. It took being roundly out fished by a good friend of mine on the Neversink River to make me reconsider. By lunchtime, I’d been skunked, and he’d caught a number of nice fish. I asked him his secret. He’d been pulsing a sakasa kebari, I’d been dead drifting a Killer Bug. After lunch I switched flies and tactics, and immediately started catching fish. Over the next few years, I gradually came to the conclusion that the sakasa kebari had another benefit, which to my mind greatly overshadowed the pulsing hackle. Rather than a jellyfish doing the backstroke, picture a parachute underwater, resisting the pull on the line. That resistance to being pulled through the water allows you to keep your line a little tighter, and a tighter line is easier to keep off the surface.”

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SAKAKIBARA KEBARI (AKA KEEPER KEBARI)

Hook: Daiichi 1560 #6 or equivalent Thread: Black 6/0 Hackle: Pheasant hen feather – from the back Body: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift wool yarn or Black Killer Bugger yarn or equivalent Notes (Dirks): This is one of the larger of the tenkara kebari trout patterns and is a favorite of many tenkara anglers. This recipe is from Chris Stewart (https://www.tenkarabum.com/) and this pattern is also featured in the excellent video “Tying Tenkara Flies Volume 1.” As Chris notes from his website: “ I like this pattern especially on larger streams but also on days when the water is slightly off color. Just something about a big, juicy fly pattern fished in the minimalist tenkara fashion that can turn on the bite.

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OKI KEBARI

Hook: Sizes 8-12, barbless dry fly hook Thread: Black sewing thread Body: Black sewing thread, peacock herl Hackle: Mottle hen or partridge tied reverse hackle style Notes (Dirks): Build up the body with the black sewing thread with a slim but slight taper to it. Dan Galhardo, who rightly gets credited for introducing tenkara into the U.S. in 2009, only offers a few basic but highly effective kebari patterns and this is one of them.

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AMANO KEBARI

Hook: Orvis 1877 or equivalent in sizes 12, 14 and 16 Thread: Cream 6/0 Body: Cream 6/0 thread Hackle: Mottled brown hackle – partridge works fine Notes (Dirks): Taper the body slightly with the cream 6/0 thread. Hackle is tied about 2/3 up from the bend of the hook. Fill the space between the hackle and the hook eye with built up cream thread. Traditional Japanese kebari tyers prefer to use silk thread but you can substitute with no harm done.

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BLACK SAKASA GUJO KEBARI

Hook: Orvis 1639 or equivalent in sizes 12, 14 and 16 Thread: Black 6/0 Body: Black rabbit dubbing – natural or Orvis Spectrablend Hackle: Brown Notes (Dirks): For the body, make sure it’s a relatively level body when dubbing. Another effective variation of this fly is to use tightly wrapped round ribbing material (medium) for the body instead of the black fur.

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AKIYAMAGO HAYASHI KEBARI

Hook: Owner Main Stream, size 3 or Gamakatsu C13U or equivalent in sizes 12,14, 16 Thread: Black, green, olive or red thread- 6/0 Body: Black, green or red thread - 6/0 thread, one strand of peacock herl tied in at the abdomen just before the hackle Hackle: Black Notes (Dirks): As a dry fly, this could be tied in several other colors including tan, olive and brown. I tied this using an Orvis tactical barbless hook in size 14 – which is a Czech nymphing hook.

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YAMAGATA SENDAI KEBARI

Hook: Orvis 1639 or equivalent in sizes 12, 14 and 16 Thread: Black 6/0 Body: Black rabbit or Orvis Black Spectrablen Hackle: Grizzly Antennae: Single strands of pheasant tail Tail: Single strands of pheasant tail Notes (Dirks): I believe this recipe is true to traditional tenkara kebari standards, but the variations are many in the context of colors. While traditional tenkara emphasizes less on variety of patterns and more on varying size and fly manipulation, for those of you inclined for a bit more variety – it’s hard if not completely impossible to go cold turkey from dozens of patterns in the box to just a few.

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FUJIOKA KEBARI

Hook: Orvis 1639 or equivalent hook sizes 12, 14, 16 Thread: Tan 6/0 Body: Tan Rabbit dubbing or Orvis Tan Spectrablend Hackle: Brown Notes (Dirks): This fly is accredited to Yoshikazu Fujioka. This fly – and the color variations that can be made from it – is much like the Western soft-hackled fly to the point where I don’t really see much difference. As a soft hackle wet fly pattern, it is deadly when used with the tenkara method of fly-fishing.

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KUROBE KEBARI

Hook: Owner Keiryu Hook, size 8 or Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 10, 12, 14 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color black Notes: Traditional Kebari recipe calls for an “Owner hook”, which is eyeless. Natural silk bead cord, size 2 and yellow, was used to make the eye.

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KYOTO KEBARI

Hook: Owner Keiryu Hook, size 8 or Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, sizes 10, 12 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color brown Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color dun Body: Peacock herl Tail: brown hackle fibers Notes: Owner hook is eyeless. Natural silk bead cord, size 2 and brown, was used to make the eye.

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OKUSHINANO AKIYAMAGO KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Nymph Hook No. 1524, size 12 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color black. Tied along the entire shank of the hook. Body: Same as above except that the posterior 2/3 of the hackle has been trimmed to form the body. Tail: Small piece of white yarn Notes: The Okushinano floats really well and I also like to tie this pattern in brown and olive with same white tail from yarn.

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HIDA SHOKAWA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S scud hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Hen Pheasant Body: Peacock Herl Tag: Green mylar tinsel Notes (Dirks): One of my favorite Kebari patterns that catches trout consistently – especially when not much is happening on the surface. One of those patterns looks like nothing but looks like everything tasty to a trout. The hackle undulates in the water well and a slight twitch as it travels through the current often creates an opportunity for a take. Reminds of the western Leadwing Coachman.

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AWA NAKAGAWA KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 12, 14 Thread: Black Uni-thread 6/0 Hackle: Brown hen hackle Tail: Spectrablend Nymph, Grey Notes (Dirks): This kebari pattern is tied as in photo with full hackle wrap and can also be tied with the hackle on the underside of the kebari cut. Either way, a highly effective kebari pattern that represents a lot of different insects in most parts of any season. I’ve found it especially effective in May and June time frames on the east coast and June and July in western USA streams.

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OZE KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S scud hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color white. Notes (Dirks): Some inspired variations of this pattern that are also effective: Brown hackle w/ olive thread; Grey hackle with grizzly or badger hackle. Simple to tie and fish in the spirit of Tenkara!

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OKUSHINANO ZAKOGAWA KEBARI

Hook: Owner Yamame Hook, size 7 or Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 10, 12 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color classic chestnut Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color white. Rib: Peacock Herl Notes: Owner hook is eyeless. Natural silk bead cord, size 2 and white, was used to make the eye.

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ASAHI KEBARI

Hook: Mustad Streamer hook, size 12 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Wing: Pheasant tail feather fibers Body: Shetland’s sprindrift wool yarn, color sand Rib: Peacock Herl Notes (Dirks): Small but effective streamer that I like to use in fast water pocket fishing in particular. I prefer to impart a bit of movement on this pattern as it sweeps through pocket water and riffles although a dead-drift also works well.

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OKUSHINANO UNOGAWA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad Nymph Hook #S80-3906, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle/Wing: Eurasian Jay Body: Peacock Herl Notes: Chris Kuhlow gets the credit for tying this beautiful kebari pattern. While I have not yet fished the Okushinano, my fishing guess is that it would have every chance of testing appetite of any trout on the right day. Think of it in terms of one of those patterns that is not an imitation as much as it represents something edible to the fish. 126

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NIKKO KEBARI

Hook: Mustad Nymph Hook #S80-3906, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color brown Hackle/Wing: Hen Pheasant Body: Shetland’s Spindrift Wool Yarn, color sand…further colored with Prismacolor marker, color sand (this is similar to how Chris Stewart ties his Killer Bug.) Notes (Dirks): I also like this on a longer streamer hook as well – fishes very well. For some Kebari-inspiration you can also tie this in different body that are a bit darker shades from sand right up to brown. While dead-drifting this pattern through seams and pools is very effective, I often will impart some action into this fly when dead-drifting doesn’t bring strikes.

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KOSHU KUROMORI KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S scud hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Whiting Hen Saddle Hackle, color black Body: Shetland’s Spindrift Wool Yarn, color blue (obtained from Chris Stewart) Notes (Dirks): On first pass, this blue bodied fly would not necessarily attract a western-style fly angler who is used to naturally colored patterns to imitate what’s in the water. However, this is one of those “changeup” patterns to try when nothing else seems to be working. I also like to tie this pattern with a purple body. 128

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OKUMIKAWA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S Scud Hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color lemon yellow Hackle: Hen Pheasant Rib: Peacock Herl Tail: Peacock Herl Notes (Kuhlow): The peacock herl used in this fly is wound down the shank of the hook, almost like a rib. I left a little extra herl hanging off the end of the hook and tied it off to create the tail. I also used a #10 C49S for convenience.

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OKUYOSHINO TOTSUKAWA KEBARI

Hook: Owner Mainstream Tenkara Hook, size 4 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Whiting Dry Fly Hackle, size 12, color brown. Body: Peacock Herl Notes (Dirks): Another Leadwing Coachmen look-alike but effective as such in catching trout.

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JOSHU TSUMAGOI

Hook: Mustad R7-7957 Nymph or Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 12, 14 Thread: Copper wire, brassie Hackle: Soft hackled hen saddle, brown Body: Peacock Herl with copper wire rib Notes (Kuhlow): The bodies of these flies have been tied with peacock herl or yellow embroidery thread. I tied this one with a Mustad nymph hook (size 12) and used copper wire (brassie) to tie the whole fly (similar to what I would do when tying a Killer Bug).

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HIDA TAKAYAMA

Hook: Gamakatsu eyeless, size 7.5 or Tiemco 206BL Thread: Pearsall’s gossamer silk, red Hackle: Hen Pheasant Body: Pearsall’s gossamer silk, red Collar: Peacock Herl

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MINO GUJO

Hook: Owner eyeless, size 8 Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 12, 14 Thread: Uni-Yarn, 2x regular, cream Hackle: Cream saddle hackle Body: Uni-Yarn, 2x regular, cream Notes (Dirks): I have also found this pattern effective when tied in brown, black, and grey with matching hackle & body color.

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AJARI’S DARK KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S, size 12 Thread: Uni-Thread, Black and Pearsall’s Gossmer silk, red for the head Hackle: Black saddle hackle Body: Jamison’s Shetland Spindrift wool, Oxford Notes (Dirks): Like any pattern in this book, feel free to substitute materials as necessary – not everyone has Jamison’s Shetland Sprindrift wool hanging around. I prefer a bugger black body on most of my patterns but that’s a personal preference.

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AJARI’S LIGHT KEBARI

Hook: Mustad R70-7957 nymph, size 12 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, Red Hackle: Soft Hackle Hen saddle, brown Body: Uni-Yarn 2x regular, cream

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SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S, size 12 Thread: Uni-Thread, black Hackle: Soft Hackled Hen saddle, brown Body: Uni-Thread, black Notes (Dirks): Classic tenkara kebari pattern – simple and deadly in its ability to catch fish consistently. I will start by dead-drifting and then imparting a slight bit of movement if the dead-drift doesn’t do the trick. I also find this effective in sizes 14 and 16 as well.

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BLACK AND SILVER LOOP-EYE SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: Size 7 Owner Super Yamame eyeless hooks – sizes are different from Western convention. I’d say it is similar in size to a size 10 hook or so. The only place I know to get them is www.tenkarabum.com. Hook “eye”: No. 2 Red Griffin Perlseide Silk Bead Cord. This can be tough to find locally. Some specialty bead shops have it but I haven’t found any locally, but a search on Google will turn up some. Thread: 8/0 Black Hackle: Hen ringneck pheasant. Tie the feather in by the tip. Body: Black thread. Rib: Fine silver wire. Notes (Naples): Some tenkara anglers in Japan use eyeless hooks for their flies so I’ve been trying these too. This pattern is based on a silver ribbed black thread midge pattern. It’s pretty basic and I know other tenkara anglers in the U.S. have tied very similar flies – I certainly wouldn’t make any proprietary claim to this style of fly. You could tie it in many combinations of thread and ribbing color, but I have always had good luck with black and silver. I chose red for the loop-eye just because I thought it might act as a bit of an attractor for the trout. I don’t have a good name for it, so it’s just the “black and silver loop-eye sakasa kebari.” The Owner Super Yamame hooks are thin wire hooks and seem to be extremely sharp. Loop-eye flies are also nice because the eye can be made pretty big for those of us that are getting older and have a hard 137

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time seeing those tiny hook eyes.

JOSHU TSUMAGOI KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 14 Thread: Black or brown 6/0 Hackle: Brown hen hackle Body: Spectrablend, cream or similar substitute; Rib: X-small silver wire woven over the cream body to the hackle. Notes (Dirks): Finish off the head with x-small copper wire.

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SANADA KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Curved Nymph Hook – 1510, size 14, 3x Thread: Black 6/0 Hackle: Brown hen back Body: Spectrablend, Nymph, Tan or equivalent; for abdomen – Orvis Spectrablend Caddis, caddis green – follows the tan body but before the brown hen is tied in near the head Rib: Red floss – wrapped on the tan body only

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NAKASHINANO SHIOJIRI KEBARI

Hook: Mustad 3906B, size 10 or equivalent Thread: Black 6/0 Hackle: Brown hen back or brown hen hackle Body: Peacock herl Notes (Dirks): I prefer brown hen back for the webby, buggier look than what the traditional pattern might call for. The two hackles on this kebari provides a buggy, undulating opportunity for trout to consider. I use this when no hatches appear and the action below the surface is slow. 140

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BANSHU KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 14 Thread: Black or brown 6/0 Hackle: Badger hen hackle Body: Spectrablend Nymph, Cream; Brown Uni-floss for ribbing Tail: Red hackle Notes: If you lighten to a dry fly hook - like a Daiichi 1110 or 1180 – this is effective as a dry fly too.

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SHOKAWA KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 14, 16 Thread: Yellow Uni-thread 6/0 Hackle: Badger hen hackle Body: One strand of peacock herl; Hareline Micro Fine Dry Fly Dub – Sulfur Yellow Notes (Dirks): Another one of those patterns that doesn’t specifically represent one insect but provides coverage for all kinds of buggy looking trout morsels. I keep these stocked in my kebari box in both sizes 14 and 16 and I recommend you do the same.

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SHOWKAWA KEBARI – RED

Hook: Orvis Tactical Czech Nymph hook, size 14 Thread: Uni-thread Red, 6/0 Hackle: White or cream hen hackle Body: Uni-Thread Red, 6/0 Notes (Dirks): I like to tie this kebari pattern with a slightly larger hackle than you would normally size for a size 14 hook. There’s a lot of speculation about flies that have red tied into them – often at the head or butt section of various fly patterns. While I cannot scientifically point to anything that validates the effectiveness (or lack of) of tying in red in any fly pattern – I still like it as an option in my box. This simple pattern has red covered on all bases and I have found it to be effective when nothing else subsurface seems to trigger a response from trout.

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KEBARI-INSPIRED TROUT PATTERNS ROYAL SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: C49s Mustad Scud Hook – size 12 (or equivalent) Body: 6/0 Uni-Thread with peacock herl and Pearsall’s Gossamer silk thread band in red. Hackle: Hungarian Partridge – grey feather Notes (Kuhlow): Chris Kuhlow is a dedicated tenkara angler and has a growing reputation for tying some excellent kebari adaptations, and, of course, traditional kebari as well. He says of his favorite kebari patterns: The Royal Sakasa Kebari is by far my most productive sakasa kebari 144

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pattern. The Bubble Kebari is a fly I took 2 nd place with in a competition sponsored by the Montana Fly Company and the Outdoor Bloggers Network several years ago. The Ausable Kebari came from the inspiration of the Ausable flies tied by Fran Betters who used many of these materials in his own flies. I have always had a fondness for classic wet flies from years ago. Sometimes these patterns are referred to as heritage flies. One heritage fly that stands out among the rest is the Royal Coachman. It was first tied in 1878 by John Haily, a fly dresser working in New York City. It is perhaps one of the few classic flies that are still in use today. It has been so successful that it has spawned a number of other flies based on its color scheme. Among these are the Royal Trude, Royal Streamer, Royal Humpy and the most famous of all the Royal Wulff. Several years ago when I first began fly tying, I thought a sakasa kebari using the color scheme form of a Royal Coachman would also make an excellent addition to the “Royal Family.” The Royal Sakasa Kebari is my go-to kebari and I never leave home without a half-dozen of them in my box.

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OLIVE BUBBLE KEBARI

Hook: C49s Mustad Scud Hook – size 12 (or equivalent) Body: 6/0 Olive Uni-Thread with midge-sized silver-lined glass tyer’s bead. Hackle: Hungarian Partridge – grey feather Collar: Peacock herl Notes (Kuhlow): The Olive Bubble Kebari is another sakasa kebari I created after being inspired by another well-known fly tyer, the late Gary LaFontaine. After reading his book on caddis flies, I became intrigued by the idea of “trigger points.” Trigger points are characteristics in a fly, which induce a fish to strike. These could be anyone of a number of things. Mr. LaFontaine discussed at length the idea of air bubbles trapped by aquatic insects and used to rise to the surface of the water that could act as a trigger point. I thought the simplest way to simulate an air bubble would be to tie in a small collar of Mylar into the body. Later I switched to a glass tyer’s bead because I thought it would be easier to tie. The thought was that a small flash from a distance would get the fish’s attention and then the fluid motion of a reverse tied soft 146

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hackle would seal the deal. To date this fly has helped me to land some rather large brown trout and is another fly that can be found in my fly box.

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KLASS SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: #12 Firehole Sticks #315 but any short-shank, heavy-gauge hook will do Thread: Red UNI 8/0 Beads: 2 small pearl crystal glass Hackle: Pheasant or Partridge Thorax: Peacock Herl

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AUSABLE KEBARI

Hook: C49s Mustad Scud Hook – size 12 (or equivalent) Thread: 6/0 Uni-Thread – hot or fire orange Body: Australian possum dubbing – dyed a rust color Hackle: Hungarian Partridge – brown feather Tail: Woodchuck guard hairs Notes (Kuhlow): My all-time favorite fly tyer is the late Fran Betters. Mr. Betters hailed from one of my favorite regions of my home state of New York in the Adirondack Mountains. His flies are durable and tied with simple materials. They have stood the test of time not only on his home waters of the West Branch of the Ausable River but around the world. His innovative patterns and unique use of materials has led to the creation of a number of other patterns that regularly fill anglers’ fly boxes today. It is with this inspiration in mind that I decided to apply a number of materials Fran frequently used in his flies to tie a unique sakasa kebari. The Ausable Sakasa Kebari utilizes woodchuck guard hairs in the tail and a body dubbed with rust-colored Australian possum. In addition, I used hot orange thread to tie the whole fly together. In a way, this fly is

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a tribute to Mr. Betters and all that he has contributed to the sport of fly-fishing and will always be one of my favorites.

ADK KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S, size 12 Thread: Uni-Thread, hot orange Hackle: Grizzly saddle hackle Body: Possum dubbing, dyed rusty orange

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GREEN HORNET

Hook: C49s Mustad Scud Hook – size 12 (or equivalent) Hackle: Hungarian Partridge – grey feather plus two strands of pearl colored Krystal Flash. Body: 6/0 Uni-Thread - Olive Notes (Kuhlow): The great thing about sakasa kebari is that they lend themselves to all sorts of experimentation. The Green Hornet is the result of staring at some Krystal Flash and wondering just how it could be incorporated into a kebari. Krystal Flash has always given me the impression of the material that makes up the wings of many insects. Even if the fish doesn’t think so the flash of the waving strands of Krystal flash will get their attention and act as a trigger point. Though I have not personally fished this particular fly very often it seems to have struck a chord with several other tenkara anglers. The name “Green Hornet” even comes from fellow tenkara angler Karel Lansky who

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knows how to tie some outstanding sakasa kebari himself.

GOLD RIBBED HARE’S SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad Signature C49S size 12 (Straight eye, 1X short shank, curved) Thread: 8/0 Brown Dubbing: Natural hare’s mask dubbing. Pick out some guard hairs with a dubbing needle after winding the ribbing. Rib: Small size gold oval French tinsel Hackle: Gray Hungarian Partridge breast feather – the brown back feathers can be used too for a slightly different look. Notes: Anthony Naples shared this fly recipe and I have to say it’s as effective as it looks. Of course, it has deeply engrained and highly effective fish-catching heritage of every Western version of the goldribbed hare’s ear pattern. This is a great translation of a pattern into the kebari form.

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BROWN HACKLE PEACOCK

Hook: Mustad Signature S80-3906 3XH/STD, nymph sproat bend or an equivalent heavy nymph hook. Thread: 8/0 Camel Brown Hackle: Brown rooster hackle fibers Body: Peacock herl, two fibers Rib: Small gold wire Notes (Naples): I like to use peacock herl taken from eyed sticks because it is usually much better quality than the packaged strung herl and it usually makes nicer looking flies. But I suspect that the fish don’t 153

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care much one way or the other. The ribbing is essentially there to help reinforce the fragile peacock herl. Also I build up a bit of a tapered thread under-body before winding the herl – I just like the look of a slightly tapered body. This is my go-to fly. It’s an old wet-fly pattern, although often you’ll see it tied with a red yarn tag or red hackle tail. I usually tie it on a heavy nymph hook, but I’ll also tie some on light wire dry-fly hooks to be fished at the surface. I like this fly because it looks like nothing in particular but yet like everything, it has a buggy silhouette and trout just seem to love peacock herl. I most often tie it in size 12, but I like to have some smaller and some bigger. If I had to pick my tenkara one fly this would be it. I’d be confident fishing this fly all season most anywhere for trout, especially with a range of sizes from 8 to 18. Although not a Japanese pattern, I’ve seen pictures of Japanese tenkara flies that are very similar such as some from the Hida Shokawa and Banshu areas as pictured at Yoshikazu Fujioka’s website “My Best Streams”.

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PARTRIDGE CADDIS EMERGER

Hook: Size 12 Mustad Signature C49S straight eye curved caddis hook or similar. Thread: 8/0 Camel brown UNI-Thread Hackle: Brown Hungarian partridge back feather. Tie the feather in by the tip. Body: Hareline Dubbin Tan Krystal Dub. This is rabbit dubbing with some fine strands of flash mixed in. Head: Dark brown rabbit dubbing with fox squirrel guard hairs mixed in. Rib: One strand of dark brown DMC embroidery floss. This cotton floss is available at craft stores and comes in a bunch of colors. It can be easily divided into six strands. Use one for the rib. Notes (Naples): This is a simplified version of a caddis emerger that I have been tying and fishing for many years. Although I do agree that fly selection can be kept much simpler than many anglers realize, I still like 155

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to have this caddis emerger. I have days when this fly seems to catch fish when others aren’t doing it. I like it in tan, but of course you could tie it in a variety of colors. I just try to make sure that the ribbing and the head are in colors that contrast with the body.

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STARLING BLACK ANT WET FLY

Hook: Size 12 Mustad Signature C49S straight eye curved caddis hook or similar. Thread: 6/0 Black UNI-Thread Hackle: Starling hackle, ribbed with black tying thread to reinforce. Body: Black tying thread Notes (Naples): I tie this fly in two steps. I make up a bunch of thread bodies, lacquer them with head cement then set them aside to dry. I go back and add the hackle after the cement has dried. The starling hackle is quite fragile, so I always make sure to reinforce it by winding the tying thread through it while carefully avoiding trapping any barbs under the thread. Long before becoming a tenkara angler I discovered the magic of ant flies. I especially like fishing them subsurface. Fish really seem to dig ants. So even though the tenkara mantra is sometimes “the fly doesn’t matter,” I think ants can be especially killer at times. The development of terrestrial fishing is associated with Pennsylvania anglers such as Ed Shenk, Charlie Fox and Vince Marinaro and I like to pay homage to my Pennsylvania roots by fishing terrestrials with the tenkara rod.

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UTAH KILLER BUG

Hook: Tiemco 2459 caddis/scud size 14 Thread: Uni Thread 6.0 Black Yarn: Shetland Spindrift Oyster Wire: Ultra Wire Medium Red Notes (Worthing): The Utah Killer Bug was featured in “Tying Tenkara Flies, Volume 1.” Below is the recipe that has produced best for me in Utah. But this fly works with a variety of thread and wire combinations. UV pink with pink wire is a popular combo. Try a red hooked version for fishing in late fall through early spring runoff. You can also try substituting Shetland Spindrift Mist in spring creeks with a heavy sowbug population. Placing the wire in the middle of the hook shank will help create a nice tapered body. Twisting the yarn six full turns or so can make wrapping easier and it creates a hint of segmentation.

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E.R. WOOL BODY “GRAVE DIGGER”

Hook: Tiemco 2487 emerger/nymph size 10 Thread: Ultra Thread 140 FL Chartreuse Yarn: Shetland Spindrift Purple Haze Dubbing: Baloo* Hackle: Partridge Notes (Worthing): The Grave Digger is responsible for one of the largest fish I have caught on Utah’s Provo River to date. The key yarn color is Purple Haze. The Grave Digger name came from the combo of purple yarn and chartreuse thread. Many colors of thread work, but fish

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frequently prefer the UV varieties with this fly. Get a Grave Digger wet and you’ll see why. The UV thread color really shines through the yarn. Try white and blue as well. We use this fly in a variety of sizes, ranging from 16 to 6. But it seems sizes 10 or 12 end up on the line with regularity. *Many of you might be asking, “What is ‘Baloo’ dubbing”? Baloo is, well, a dog. A Chesapeake Bay Retriever, to be exact. Turns out the natural oils and double fiber layering of Chessie fur makes incredible dubbing. No worries if you don’t happen to have a Chessie lying around the house. Rabbit dubbing in any similar color makes a great substitute. So does a collar of peacock herl. Or, experiment with sheddings from your own canine companion.

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E.R. WOOL BODY “RED-ASSED MONKEY”

Hook: Owner Mosquito Hook size 6 Thread: Uni Thread 6.0 Iron Grey Yarn: Shetland Spindrift Sunset Dubbing: Baloo Hackle: Partridge Notes (Worthing): Red is a great color for flies. Flemming beat us to the punch with red variations of Shetland Spindrift. He used a red colored yarn to tie massive flies on size 2 hooks with good results. Our own version uses Shetland Spindrift Sunset. The Red-Assed Monkey was the fly of choice this past fall and has continued to produce pounds of fish flesh this winter. 161

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My single favorite fly-tying material is wool-based yarn. Shetland Spindrift is a two-ply, 100 percent wool yarn whose fibers impart universal fish-catching properties like translucency, movement and air pocketing to flies. These flies are not designed to imitate any one insect. Instead, they’re designed to tickle a trout’s predatory senses. And they’ve caught a lot of fish. To my knowledge, the first tenkara angler to use Shetland Spindrift in fly tying was Chris Stewart. Chris wanted to create his own version (insanely rare and expensive) Chadwick’s 477 yarn used in Frank Sawyer’s classic Grayling Killer Bug. He settled on Shetland Spindrift Sand, further colored with a Prismacolor Sand pen. The results of Chris’s experiment were so fishy that I decided to invest some time off the water hanging out in our local yarn shop. The earliest profit from this investment was the Utah Killer Bug, tied in Shetland Spindrift Oyster. The Utah Killer Bug has brought a lot of fish to net and remains one of our go-to flies. Those of you with stonefly heavy water will love this one. As stonefly larvae pass through instars toward adulthood, they molt. With each molt, there is a period in which the abdomen turns translucent blood red. Trout really key in on those red abdomens. One of our favorite variations of this fly uses an Umpqua Competition Jig Hook with a black tungsten bead. When positioned far enough forward on the jig hook, the bead ensures the jig hook rides bend up every time. This is a great fly for dredging bottom, whether alone or on a Czech rig. Try burying the bead between hackle and dubbing, creating the effect of a large thorax rather than a big head.

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LITE BRITE SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: #12 Daiichi 1250 Hook Threads: 6/0 Uni Thread Dark Brown, 6/0 MFC Thread Yellow Body: Wabbit Dubbing Yellow Hackle: Brahma Hen Soft Hackle Notes (Vertrees): I originally created this pattern in early summer 2012, in an effort to create a semi-takayama-style kebari that had a soft brahma hen hackle that would provide a lot of movement and also a fly that had what I felt were “summer colors.” When I think of “summer colors” on my favorite little spring creek I think of hopper colors. This fly has some rusty brown up front, a yellow dubbing thorax/collar and a yellow thread body. I’ve tied this fly on both #12 Daiichi 1250 hooks and also more recently on #4 Owner Amano tenkara hooks. The Daiichi is a little bigger hook, and so between the two I have a couple of different sized flies. I really had fun with this fly during the summer, fishing it on mostly upstream casts in the riffles and laser pointing it into pockets. Its usefulness wasn’t just limited to the summer months though, as I continued to use it into September and October in local canyons. Simple to tie, highly effective and easy on the eye. It’s one of my favorite sakasa 163

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kebari patterns!

KILLER KEBARI

Hook: #14 Daiichi 1190 Hook Thread: Ultra Copper Wire-SM Body: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift Yarn (#290 Oyster colored with a Sand Prismacolor Marker) single ply Hackle: Hen Pheasant Soft Hackle Notes (Vertrees): This is an established Western hybrid pattern but has its roots in the Hida Takayama patterns from Japan. The body of the Killer Kebari is very similar to the Killer Bug but differs in that it’s tied on a lighter weight wet fly hook and I only use one strand of yarn for the body, instead of two twisted strands as with the Killer Bug. Some tyers use a partridge hackle, but I have continued to use hen pheasant hackle and it’s worked great. I’ve even used cock pheasant hackle, but the stiffer shafts on the male bird’s feathers make it a bit more difficult to tie. At first glance, you’d think the Killer Kebari is nothing but a Killer Bug with a soft hackle, but this would be incorrect. It’s lighter weight, keeping it higher in the water column, and the pulsating hackle gives it much different movement than the Killer Bug. I like to fish this pattern during caddis hatches, as I think it imitates the movement of the pupa as they drift in the water column just prior to the hatch. However, it’s not limited just to caddis hatches. This fly is very versatile, second only to the Killer Bug. I’ve fished the Killer Kebari on tiny alpine streams, 164

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small spring creeks in arid canyons, and on winter tailwaters with equal success. I dead drift this pattern with a direct upstream cast, but I will also cast it across and swing it down. I’ve even been successful using a long tippet with a downstream cast, casting it short of a pocket, letting it drift down to the pocket and then lifting the rod tip to raise it in the water column.

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Mini-Streamers and Bucktails for Tenkara Mini-streamers are small-sized streamers tied in hook sizes from 8 to 10. I’ve fished them for a long time but found them particularly effective and sized for tenkara fly-fishing. Smaller sometimes is better, especially when you’re mimicking small baitfish and other foods with these minis. I let the trout decide and more often than not, they decide on these tasty patterns when nothing else is working.

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Dave’s Basic Three MINI-BROWN TROUT

Hook: Orvis 1524 2X or equivalent in sizes 10, 12, 14 Thread: Black 8/0 Tail: Brown hackle tips Rib: Narrow gold tinsel Body: Orvis Cream Spectrablend dubbing Wing: Cream bucktail, Olive bucktail and dark brown squirrel tail

MINI-RAINBOW TROUT Hook: Orvis 1524 2X or equivalent in sizes 10, 12, 14 Thread: Black 8/0 Tail: Light green hackle tips Rib: Narrow silver tinsel Body: Cream Orvis Spectrablend dubbing Wing: White bucktail, pink bucktail, green bucktail

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MINI-BROOK TROUT Hook: Orvis 1524 2X or equivalent in sizes 10, 12, 14 Thread: Black 8/0 Tail: Light green hackle tips Rib: Narrow silver tinsel Body: Cream Orvis Spectrablend Throat: Orange hackle tips Wing: White bucktail, orange bucktail, green bucktail Notes for all three flies (Dirks): Start the thread at the rear of the hook shank. Tie on a piece of narrow silver or gold tinsel (depending on pattern). Wrap the tinsel up the shank of the hook. Tie it off and clip off excess thread. Then tie a sparse bunch of the recipe bucktail on top of the hook. Do this for each individual color of bucktail, stacking each on top of the other. Trim the excess bucktail and make a clean and neat thread head. Coat the head with cement. Fishing Notes for mini-streamers (Dirks): The thought of throwing big heavy streamers into the water with a tenkara rod is neither pleasant nor practical. It’s not that you can’t do it but tenkara wasn’t designed to lug heavy bugs and streamers forward. That doesn’t mean that streamers have no role in tenkara fishing. On the contrary, it’s the size and weight of the streamer in my book that makes the difference. I don’t lug big heavy streamers with a tenkara rod but I’ll gladly use mini-streamers to do the job. Mini-streamers and bucktails can be fished all year round and through all kinds of water – high, low, clear or murky. These patterns are tied on 3X and 4X long streamer hooks in sizes 12-14 and on standard wet-fly hooks in sizes 10 through 14. Before tying these patterns, I’d recommend determining what types of minnows inhabit the waters you are going to fish. This data will help you determine which patterns will be most effective for you. Identify your forage fish and you’re ready to tie. Like tenkara itself, mini-streamers and bucktails are tied sparsely. That’s because most forage fish are streamlined and trim. Regardless of water 168

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conditions, a good streamer/bucktail pattern has some type of flash to attract fish, so I invariably will wrap the body with gold or silver tinsel. My experience has shown that the shape, flash and action of a fly are the most critical to the tenkara angler. Durability is another consideration and tying these patterns so they can stand up to multiple beatings from trout is important as well. In terms of colors, less is more. Some basic color combinations work very effectively on most waters including the following color combinations: red and white, red and yellow, brown and yellow, black and white, and brown and white. If you want a pattern with a bit more color elaboration, you can add a third color in the mix. Some three-tiered combinations are yellow, brown and white as well as black, brown and white.

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FISHING MINIS WITH TENKARA WINTER/EARLY SPRING The cold waters of winter and early spring make for slow-moving trout. Since they won’t expend much energy on a meal unless it looks large and tasty enough for the effort, mini-streamers and bucktails are ideal. Deaddrift these flies through pools and riffles. Keep your tenkara rod tip high – taking advantage tenkara’s ability to avoid drag and keep the fly moving as naturally as possible through the water column.

SPRING/EARLY SUMMER We know hatches really come into their own during this time of year in most parts of the U.S. That said, hatches are not happening 24/7. With fish more active, it’s best to impart some action into the fly by simply twitching the fly lightly as it goes downstream. That’s the great thing about a tenkara rod in that it gives you the ability to impart action into a fly pattern and driving fish to strike.

FALL In the fall I like to vary my tactics a bit more. The change up from dead drifting to letting the fly swing through the current. Best is to add a bit of a twitch to the action of the fly just by using the tip of your tenkara rod. That seems to draw the most strikes during this time of year.

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ORIGAMI WINGED DRY FLY

Hook: Orvis Dry Fly #1877, sizes 12 – 18 Thread: Olive, yellow, or brown – (your choice color) - 3/0 Body: Olive, yellow or brown (your choice color) - 3/0 Wing: One hackle feather – Olive, yellow or brown Notes (Dirks): Many years ago at a fly-fishing show, I ran into a flytyer from Denmark named Jens Pilgaard (www.flytying.dk). Pilgaard was working on a sparsely tied fly when I noticed how he was tying the wing. When he was done, Pilgaard created one of the easiest and most natural looking wings I had ever seen … from one simple hackle feather. He called it the Origami wing, which is aptly named after the ancient Japanese art of folding paper. When he was done tying his version of a sulfur Origami-winged fly, he stuck it through his business card and gave it to me. For years it sat on my tying desk more for decoration than tying many flies in that pattern. That all changed when I picked up tenkara fly-fishing and slowly started to understand the value and pleasure of fishing in a more minimalist way. Tying at my bench one day, I picked up that fly, which had sat there for more than a decade. I looked at it again carefully, and I finally realized that this style of tying was not much different from the traditional tenkara kebari but yet with the origami wing, it was much different – minimalist but different.

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So, I set about to tie up a few patterns in a number of basic colors, controlling the urge to go too crazy and add more colors than was really practical or needed. Using Pilgaard’s method of tying an origami wing and in keeping with the kebari tradition, I kept these dry flies as sparse as I dared. The result has been some excellent dry fly patterns that when tied in two or three basic colors, cover a wide range of trout needs from the very picky to the downright gullible. This group of flies has now become my “go-to” mayfly pattern of choice. You can change up the origami-wing colors and body thread colors as you see fit. I generally will tie these in three basic colors for both wing and body: olive, brown and yellow. These flies were made for tenkara fly-fishing and are very effective and easy to tie.

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NORTH RIVER KILLER (DARK VERSION)

Hook: Mustad C49S scud hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color brown Hackle: Hungarian partridge, color brown Body: Shetland’s Spindrift Wool Yarn, color moorit/sheala Notes (Kuhlow): 4 strands of Krystal Flash (2 on top. 2 on the bottom) are tied in just prior to tying the hackle. This is a variant of Chris Stewart’s Killer Kebari, which is a variant of the Nikko Kebari.

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TROUT FIN SAKASA KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S scud hook, size 10 Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color black Hackle: Hungarian partridge, color grey Body: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk Thread, color hot orange, white and black Notes (Kuhlow): This pattern was one of the first sakasa kebari variants I ever tied. I based it on the classic wet fly known as the Trout Fin. That fly was originally tied to simulate a brook trout fin which was intended to produce an aggressive territorial strike from another brookie. The contrasting colors also increase the visibility of the fly.

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THE BARK EATER

Hook: Orvis Nymph Hook No. 1524, size 12 or Mustad R75-7957, nymph size 12 Thread: 6/0 Uni-Thread, color hot orange Hackle: Dry Fly Hackle (two strands), size 12, color brown and grizzly tied along the entire shank of the hook. Body: Same as above except that the posterior 2/3 of the hackle has been trimmed to form the body Tail: Woodchuck guard hairs Notes (Kuhlow): This fly is a variant of the Okushinano Akiyamago Kebari that I tied with Adirondack fly tying legend Fran Betters in mind. It incorporates several materials such as woodchuck and bright orange 175

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tying thread that are used in many of his patterns. Fran was the creator of many outstanding flies such as the Haystack and Ausable Wulff. However, the Bark Eater is similar to another of Fran’s patterns known as the Ausable Bomber, which is a very effective fly in its own right. I tie this fly with an eyed hook as opposed to the eyeless hook used in Japan. I tie on hackle each of Brown and Grizzly at the tail of the fly and wind them one at a time to just before the eye of the hook. As I wind the second hackle, I make sure to wind it between the first hackle. When the hackles are tied off, I trim the back 2/3 of the hackle to create the “body” of the fly.

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GLOWING SPECTOR KEBARI

Hook: Mustad C49S, size 12 Thread: Veevus iridescent thread Hackle: Hungarian Partridge, grey Body: Veevus iridescent thread

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RED SPECIAL KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Red 6/0 (8/0 for smaller sizes) or equivalent Hackle: Light ginger hackle Body: X-small Ultra wire – copper for ribbing; from bend of hook to abdomen – Uni-thread Red 6/0; Yellow Uni-Thread 6/0 for abdomen to hackle. Notes (Dirks): You can run the x-small copper wire up through the yellow abdomen. Some versions only add copper wire in red lower section of the fly. This pattern provides the effectiveness with the body combination of red and yellow. I will often fish this as a part of a two fly dropper – it just seems to provide a range of options on a tenkara set up that is often hard to beat.

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YELLOW SPECIAL

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Yellow 6/0 (8/0 for smaller sizes) or equivalent Hackle: Hen Cape – brown grizzly or brown partridge hackle- hackle tied forward Body: Yellow Uni-Thread Yellow 6/0 from bend of hook to abdomen; peacock herl from abdomen to hackle. Notes (Dirks): Perhaps because the yellow in this kebari pattern mimic any other sulfur pattern you can tie is the reason it works so well. My personal opinion is that the combination of yellow body with the undulating hackle tied forward offers a meal option that trout can’t pass up. Seems to work best in the latter part of the season from July through mid-September in my waters here in the Northeast. Another effective alternative is to tie this in olive and tan using badger hackle tied forward.

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GREEN CADDIS SPECIAL

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 & 16 or equivalent hook Thread: Olive Uni-Thread 6/0 Hackle: Hen cape – dyed olive grizzly – hackle tied forward Body: X-small copper wire; Orvis Spectrablend Nymph, Olive; short segment of peacock herl at the abdomen. Notes (Dirks): Copper X-small wire tied up to abdomen. Like any other kebari-inspired pattern, the green caddis has the advantage of the tied forward hackle which gives it the action that makes it highly effective. I use this often as a dropper to a high-floating dry fly pattern with deadly effectiveness.

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PEACOCK ORANGE KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Orange, 6/0 Hackle: Hen cape – dyed grizzly olive – hackle tied forward Body: Short segment of orange at the bend of the hook; peacock herl to hackle Notes (Dirks): The combination of both tied forward grizzly hackle, peacock herl body and a bit of orange at the butt of the fly makes this one of my favorite patterns in my box almost any part of the season. I’ve fished this pattern from eastern to western rivers and find it to be consistent “guide fly” – the kind of fly that works when nothing else is producing consistently. I also tie the same pattern but the green and red butts at the bend of the hook.

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PURPLE SPECIAL KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 or equivalent Thread: Purple Uni-Thread 6/0 Hackle: Grizzly hen hackle – tied forward Body: UV2 Seal-X dubbing - purple Notes (Dirks): Feel free to substitute Seal-X for any purple dubbing material you have or can obtain. Purple bodied flies have a talent almost anywhere in USA waters to stir up reactions from trout.

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BLACK RENEGADE KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14 or equivalent Thread: Black Uni-Thread 6/0 Hackle: Brown partridge hackle – hackle tied forward Body: X-small copper wire at bend of hook; black hackle; Black UniThread with copper x-small wire Notes (Dirks): This kebari-inspired pattern looks visually like a mess but I believe that’s exactly what makes it an effective pattern to consider. Just a lot of movement and visually appealing as a buggy meal for trout just about anywhere and anytime.

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ZEBRA KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 18 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Black 8/0 Hackle: Grizzly hen hackle Body: Uni-Thread White 8/0 ribbed with black 8/0 thread with small segment of peacock herl at the abdomen Notes (Dirks): Also effective in olive (with olive or brown hackle) and red (with grizzly hackle). This is clearly in the midge zebra family for both moving and still water effectiveness.

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BUSHWAKER KEBARI

Hook: Mustad 94840, size 14 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Black, 6/0 Hackle: Brown Hen neck hackle Body: Spectrablend Nymph, Light Hares Ear, small silver tinsel ribbing Notes (Dirks): Of course, you can use gold ribbing too!

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SHIGERU KEBARI

Hook: Orvis Tactical Hook (Czech nymph) size 14, 16, 18 or equivalent Thread: Uni-Thread Black, 6/0 Hackle: Grizzly hackle Body: Purple Notes (Dirks): I’m not too particular about the what material I use for the body – purple anything will work fine.

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ON FISHING KEBARI “The short version is to be creative and try different things until you find out what the fish want. It's not rocket science.” Anthony Naples

ROB WORTHING, MD "Skill in choosing kebari means little without the skill to employ it on the water. Remember the Oni kebari? Alternatively, sinking or floating a fly takes a certain skill level regardless of how the fly is tied. Masami Sakakibara has spent decades developing that skill. Manipulation technique is highly prized among tenkara anglers. Developing technique is more valuable than any choice of gear. The manipulation technique involves how the water acts on your kebari and how you influence those actions. Like a puppet on a string, like two dance partners learning to tango, whatever analogy is applied, the bottom line is the same. A winning combo comes easiest to those tenkara anglers who know how to play with small currents, large currents, no current, and everything in between. Begin with the dead drift. The dead drift involves allowing a fly to move naturally within a current absent of any evidence it is tied to a rod. But it is connected to a rod. The rig that attaches it, no matter how ultralight, is an object with mass and surface area. That object is subject to the forces of wind, water, and gravity. The forces acting on that rig will invariably influence the drift of the fly that's tied to it. Therefore, to achieve a perfect dead drift, a drift that is absent of any perceivable outside influence, you have to counteract the force of your rig on the fly. You have to use manipulation to apply an equal but opposite pressure. These forces change from moment to moment, and so must your manipulation. A perfect dead drift may very well be the hardest thing to accomplish in fly manipulation. The process of striving to achieve it may very well be the most powerful tool for building fly manipulation techniques. When you feel ready, try pausing the fly in the current. Don't allow it to drift downstream; don't pull it upstream. Just let it sit there. See how the

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current animates the fly at the end of your line. Be ready. In addition to a great lesson in fly manipulation, the pause also happens to be quite effective at eliciting the desired response from the fish. Finally, add regular pulses to the fly. Pulse the fly when drifting and pulse the fly when paused. Favor pulsing upstream or cross current. Pulsing downstream may be useful, but a downstream pulse applies to a narrower set of circumstances. Start with a tempo of about 60 Hz, or once every second. Move your fly 2-6 inches with each pulse. Adjust from there based on results. When you are ready to put it all together on the water, try to hit each likely lie with each technique in your skillset. Upstream, downstream, shallow, deep, drift, pause, with and without a pulse. Start with the least aggressive (least "spooky") technique, say, a shallow dead drift presented upstream. Progressively up your presentation's aggression, invading deeper and with more active movement, until you achieve the objective. Once again, with experience, each tenkara angler develops preferences for different manipulation techniques in other circumstances. With more experience, choosing the right technique for the conditions becomes second nature. Covering all the necessary lessons and all the possible scenarios in any collection of pages is undoubtedly impossible. That's a good thing, too. How could we justify all that time on the water otherwise? We started to explore the relationship between the kebari, technique, and conditions. Now it's time to go fishing. Take these thoughts on tying and fishing kebari, hit the water, and start collecting experience." CHRIS STEWART "Controlling the movement is critical. If a fly is pulled through the water at a steady speed, trout will see it as fake. Nothing in the stream swims in a straight line at a constant speed. Granted, the trout see nothing that rhythmically pulses either, but somehow their pea-brain perceives that as dinner bell rather than a warning bell. A kebari that resists being pulled through the water also allows you to fish a longer line. Beginners are often told to fish a line equal to the rod's length, to which they would then add perhaps 3 or 4 feet of tippet. With a fly that resists being pulled through the water, though (along with a bit of experience), you will be able to fish a line more than a yard longer than the rod, plus five or six feet of tippet. That yields three definite benefits: 1). It allows you to fish further away, significantly reducing the 188

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chance of spooking the fish you are trying to catch. 2). It gives you a much better chance of reaching the bank eddies on the far side of the stream, where you will find a surprising number of fish. 3). The longer line has more sag. While greater line sag may seem to be a disadvantage, it is a very positive attribute. The greater sag puts some slack in the system, which allows the fish to take the fly and turn before the sag is gone, the line tightens, and the fish feels the line's tension. I believe line tension is a greater danger signal to the fish than the hard hook. One of my customers told me of a test he had run over a month's fishing in Norway. He reported that his catch rate with a soft rod was four times greater than with a stiff rod. He was doing tight line nymphing, and with the tight line, the fish immediately felt the stiff rod. The soft rod bent easily, reducing the tension. The flies were identical. Fishing the stiff rod, he felt the take, but by the time he tried to set the hook often, the fish was gone. Fishing the soft rod, he didn't feel nearly as many takes, but he saw the line move and could set the hook before the fish spit out the fly. The greater sag you get with a longer line will allow you to see the line move before the fish feels any tension. You'll know the fish is there before it knows you're there." ANTHONY NAPLES Traditional tenkara is wet fly fishing in the sense that traditional tenkara kebari are fished "wet" or subsurface. But most tenkara flies that you see do not have wings (or tails either). So when I speak here about fishing wet flies with a tenkara rod - I'm talking about fishing the classic winged patterns from the western fly-fishing tradition. It may all be in my head (so much of what fly anglers think matters is all in our heads after all). Still, I can't help thinking that the wing of a wet fly sometimes gives it extra appeal. Whether that is a little extra fly movement and wiggle caused by the wing, or a bit of color to add contrast or call attention to the fly, maybe the wing acts a visual trigger when emerging flies and drowned adult duns are present. Who knows? Not me. All that I do know is that winged wet flies work and can be great fun to use. There are more ways to fish a wet fly swinging it, but I want to focus primarily on that technique. You may have heard that swinging wet flies isn't that effective, or that you'll only catch small fish. I've listened to

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authorities on fly fishing say that. But in my personal experience, this is not true. I've caught plenty of fish, and some nice sized ones (my personal best on a swinging wet fly is a 20-inch brown trout). To be clear about it, though, swinging wet flies isn't always going to be the best way to fish. There is no fly fishing technique that is always effective. Every new technique that you learn is simply one more tool in your toolbox. I don't want to oversell it; swinging wet flies is not always going to work well. But when it does work, it is great fun. Why Try Swinging Wet Flies with a Tenkara Rod? It's pretty easy to get started, but it can be a rich experience. The beginner can get the idea pretty quickly and start catching fish. But like anything, the more you do it, the more you'll learn, and then through repeated practice, the real subtlety and skill of it will be revealed. It's easy to get started, but don't be fooled into thinking that it's easy to master. Swinging flies can be a very relaxing way to fish. Nymphing and other upstream dead drift methods can be very effective – but can get tiresome with all that staring at the end of your line looking for twitches. The wet fly swing, on the contrary, can offer a pretty casual way to fish when you want it to. You can cover lots of water quickly. This can be helpful when exploring new water or when attempting to figure out where trout are presently holding. Strike detection is not an issue. Strikes will be very apparent – you’ll see them and feel them. It is EXCITING! When a fish comes up out of nowhere to slam a swinging wet fly – it can be explosive and be some of the most exciting trout fishing you'll do. It is a blast. Last but very important: Long tenkara rods and light tenkara line excel at this type of fishing. I never had much success swinging wet flies until I did it with tenkara gear. And that is no coincidence. Tenkara gear allows a direct connection to your fly, without all of that heavy fly line in the way, causing slack and creating friction. As a result, setting the hook is much quicker and more effective. Also, side-pressure can be applied when setting hooks (even fishing when down-stream), making for more effective hook sets and fish landing. If you've tried swinging wet flies with western rod and reel without too much success, you might want to 190

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try again with tenkara gear. GEAR AND RIGGING I keep it simple for lines only a fluorocarbon tenkara level line. The length will depend on the length of the rod and fishing conditions. But starting with a line about the length of the rod is a good starting point. To that, add about 4 feet of tippet. For wet fly fishing, I usually go with a 5X nylon tippet. When it comes to rods, I am not too picky. If you're fishing open water without too much overhead cover, I recommend a 13-foot rod. A 12foot rod will work fine also - but the extra reach of 13 feet is nice. For maximum benefit, I hate to go much shorter, though. But if you don't have a 12 or 13-foot rod, you can use what you have. My personal preference is for rods with a little stiffness - I feel that they are better at working a fly with a down and across presentation. Luckily many readily available inexpensive tenkara rods are suitable for wet fly fishing. I avoid very soft 5:5 rods for this. But again, if that's what you have, don't sweat it too much. My favorite wet fly is the size 12 Pass Lake Special. I use it almost exclusively for wet fly fishing. I like to tie a variation with a peacock herl body instead of the original black chenille. I think that the white wing of the Pass Lake is a fish attractor. But other wet flies will, of course, work just as well. I choose to keep it simple, though. TENKARA SWING TECHNIQUE The basic idea is to have the fly float downstream and occasionally swing across current near likely looking fish lies. I typically cast across the stream to start a drift and follow the drift with the rod tip. Generally, the line is held off of the water for this. As the fly approaches a likely lie such as the head of a pool, a current seam, a rock, an undercut bank, midstream log-jam, etc., then I'll pause the rod, which will cause the line to tighten and the fly to swing around and rise in the water column. This motion can trigger fish strikes. You can keep the rod stopped for more swing motion or start following the drift quickly and allow the fly to drift downstream again. At the end of the drift, allow the fly to swing completely below you and hang in the current for a moment. You can vary the speed of the cross-current swing by how you move the 191

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rod tip. Of course, you can also pull it back upstream, or even twitch and jig it as it drifts or pulses it upstream and let it fall back and repeat this. All of these things can work. And you never know for sure what will trigger the fish. Often, I find that If I let the fly drift downstream and slowly across the current, then pause the rod to cause the fly to rise to the surface – then fish will hit just as the fly begins to rise. Sometimes more vigorous motion can trigger strikes too, and I've used quick strips back upstream to trigger fish strikes. KEYS TO SUCCESS A big key to increasing your success is to focus on reading the water. The better you are at identifying fish-holding lies and targeting these areas, the more success you will have. Blindly fishing all of the water will yield fish, but focused casting and swinging will deliver better results. Vary your swing. Try faster and slower swings, shorter and longer swings. Sometimes allow the fly to sink deeper before engaging the swing. Be creative. Try different types of water. Fish aren’t always in the same places throughout the season or day. And, very importantly, pay attention to your successes. When you manage to entice a fish, try to remember what you were doing with the fly and what type of water you were fishing. The more closely you pay attention to what works, then the more likely you can repeat it. A FEW TECHNICAL DETAILS When using western rods and lines to swing wet flies, the line is generally on the water. This makes it more difficult to control the fly's drift, more challenging to detect strikes, more challenging to hook and land fish. It also spooks fish. With tenkara, the long rod and a light line will allow you to keep all or most of the line off of the water. When a fish strikes, you will have an instant connection to the fly for quick and positive hook sets. Setting the hook will mostly involve tilting the rod tip up (and maybe to the side). A dramatic and energetic hook set is not necessary. If the fish is primarily downstream when it strikes, move the rod tip in a way (to the left or right) so that you're setting the hook with side pressure rather 192

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than merely straight back upstream. This is an excellent time to mention that you should avoid having the line straight downstream from the rod tip (in line with the rod) with the rod in a low position (tip close to the water). You should attempt to keep the line at an angle to the rod at all times. This will allow you to strike and fight fish with the flex of the rod. A helpful tip that I've learned from doing this over the years is that if a fish strikes during the swing but is not hooked, let the fly linger at the end of the drift. Quite often, the fish is following and will strike again at the end of the swing. If it doesn't, repeat the same drift, and often, you'll get it to strike again. Depending on water conditions and season, etc. swinging flies will be more or less productive. On less fertile mountain streams, fish may be willing to move to a fly through much of the late spring, summer, and fall season. But on more fertile spring creeks and tailwaters, this is not the case. Swinging wet flies will generally be most successful when fish are engaged with hatching insects in the water column's various depths. So if you see bugs hatching, it is likely an excellent time to give it a try. Generally, I've had my best success in May in early June, where I fish in Pennsylvania and on the small spring creeks of the Wisconsin Driftless - this is a period with a lot of bug activity. The timing of the peak of bug activity may be different where you live and fish. But anytime bugs are hatching will be a good time to expect some success. Tenkara gear makes swinging wet flies a very effective method. And although the technique seems simple at first glance and is easy to get started in, there is plenty of nuance and subtlety to keep you busy for seasons to come if you choose to explore it with focus and attention.

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ABOUT OUR CONTRIBUTORS CHRIS KUHLOW Chris has enjoyed every aspect of being outdoors since he was a child. Hiking, camping, kayaking and the study of the natural world have always been part of how he spent his free time growing up in the Hudson Valley of New York. He has practiced tenkara in the traditional manner as it was developed in Japan hundreds of years ago as well as non-traditional ways such as using a tenkara rod to catch juvenile bluefish in the tidal saltwater marshes of Long Island Sound. Tying flies has slowly evolved into a very enjoyable and mildly obsessive past time for Chris. As a commercial fly tyer, Chris has developed the greater sense of satisfaction in knowing that many of his flies have been successfully fished in waters across the country. He lives on Long Island with his wife Claudia and their two little girls who are the greatest joys in their lives. Check out Chris on his blogs: www.americansakasakebari.blogspot.com www.thenorthriver.blogspot.com JASON SPARKS Jason Sparks is a leading ambassador for tenkara fly-fishing and is a current Editor for Tenkara Angler (www.tenkaraangler.com) He founded the social media community “Appalachian Tenkara Anglers” and established “Tenkara Jam” as the first multi-vendor tenkara educational exposition in North America. Previously contributed articles to “Blue Ridge Outdoors”, “Southern Trout” and “Tenkara Talk”. Jason is a Navy Veteran that has fished the world in waters from the Azores to the Appalachians. He carries a tenkara rod with him everywhere he goes.

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

TOM SADLER Tom Sadler is the deputy director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network. He has an extensive history of promoting conservation through advocacy and communication. He is an award-winning journalist with awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association. He has served on the boards of numerous fly-fishing, conservation and journalism organizations. A lifelong fly fisherman; in his free time, he guides and teaches for Mossy Creek Fly Fishing in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He lives with his wife Beth in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. JASON KLASS Jason Klass has over 30 years of fly fishing experience and has worked in the outdoor industry as a fly tying instructor, casting instructor, commercial fly tyer, and professional guide throughout his life. He converted to tenkara in 2009 and has produced hundreds of articles and videos on tenkara techniques, gear, and philosophy. Jason has worked for Orvis in Denver, CO and was previously the Fly Fishing Team Lead at Bass Pro Shops. He has a deep passion for tying and is often quoted as saying, “even if every river and lake in the world dried up, I would still tie flies”. ROB WORTHING, MD Rob has had a rod in hand for over 20 years. An avid angler, world traveler, backpacker, and wilderness medical professional, he enjoys going off the beaten path to find the beset fishing Utah and other places have to offer. Rob is passionate about fishing traditional tenkara in remote mountain streams. In addition, Rob takes great pride in combining techniques learned while fishing six continents and four oceans to create hybrid styles that simply catch fish. You can check out his website at www.tenkaraguides.com

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CHRIS STEWART “Hi. My name is Chris and I’m a Tenkara Bum. I didn't want to be a Tenkara Bum when I grew up. It just happened. I love tenkara. It's not that it is a traditional Japanese art, I am not drawn to the exotic. I am, however, drawn to the effective and the efficient. I love the light rod, unencumbered by a reel; the light line, uncaptured by a conflicting current. I love the direct connection you can only get if the fish can't take line. I learned about tenkara by accident. I had seen a photo of a North Country soft hackle fly on the internet and was struck by its simplicity and it's almost austere beauty. I tried to find out all I could about soft hackle flies and how to fish them. Through reading both early and contemporary accounts, I decided that a rod much longer than my 8' Phillipson Premium was needed to get the most out of them. I have been to Japan. I have fished with and learned from Dr. Hisao Ishigaki and Meijin Masami Sakakibara, the "Tenkara King" and "Tenkara Demon." Their flies are different, their rods are different, and their methods are different.” Check out Chris’s website: www.tenkarabum.com ANTHONY NAPLES Anthony Naples has fished as long he can remember. He took up fly fishing in the early 1990s while attending Penn State University in the area of some of Pennsylvania’s finest trout fishing. In 2009 he began to explore the world of tenkara angling and fishing with tenkara gear has become his main mode of trout fishing on the mountain streams and spring creeks that he loves. For a few years he operated Three Rivers Tenkara selling tenkara gear and flies. You can read about his exploits at his blog Casting Around: Check out Anthony’s website: www.castingaround.com Daniel Galhardo Daniel Galhardo is the first person to introduce tenkara outside of Japan and is the former owner of Tenkara USA, a company he founded in early 2009 with the aim to introduce this simple style of fly-fishing to the world. Daniel has made it his mission to learn all he can about tenkara, 196

TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies

a method of fishing that is very simple on the surface but, as we see, can reveal a lot of fascinating layers below it. Daniel was “adopted” by the most prominent tenkara anglers in Japan as their student, most notably Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, who has taught him the nuances of the method. In several trips to Japan since discovering tenkara, Daniel has shared with the world the fascinating technical, philosophical and cultural layers of tenkara through his company’s blog (www.tenkarausa.com/blog). Paul Vertrees A fifth-generation native Coloradoan, Paul grew up in the shadow of the Mount Evans Wilderness, in Colorado’s Front Range. From an early age, he started exploring remote backcountry and chasing trout. Paul has been fly-fishing for more than 20 years. A few years ago, he embraced tenkara. He has extensive experience in lightweight backpacking and backcountry angling on remote streams and high lakes. In 2012, Paul became one of only a handful of certified professional tenkara guides in the state of Colorado. Paul lives with his wife and three daughters in the rugged hills northwest of Cañon City, Colo., within a stone’s throw of the Arkansas River. His writing and photographs have appeared online on his personal blog, Tenkara Tracks (http://tenkaratracks.blogspot.com), on the Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers website, and in Backcountry Journal. Paul Gibson “I have been fishing all my life. It started at a very young age and has been a continually developing progression to my current passion for tenkara. As a child I fished alongside my father in the mountain streams and rivers throughout Idaho often with a spinning bait rig. As a teenager in high school I was introduced to fly tying. I began to grow interested in putting use to the flies I had been tying. I acquired my first fly rod and reel from my grandfather and with less than 10 minutes of instruction set out to learn to cast. But, with no real training, my interest soon waned. “Several years later a friend that had been working at a camping equipment/fly-fishing store encouraged me to take a backpacking trip to an alpine lake to do some fly-fishing. With my hand-me-down rod in hand I hooked into a large cutthroat – my first fish on the fly. It was an amazing sight to witness the fish come up and take the dry fly off the 197

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surface, something I had never witnessed before bait fishing. It was a moment that would change the way I looked at fishing. “As I continued to refine my backpacking fishing equipment I began to hear of tenkara. I immediately felt that tenkara would be very well suited to my style of fishing both on the lakes where I was very intrigued to see how it would perform and on the rivers and streams where I grew up. With countless hours of research I finally made my first tenkara rod purchase. On a cold and grey January day I rigged up the rod and set the fly on the water. With ice on every rock and temperatures hovering in the upper teens I hooked my first fish with tenkara on my third cast. Needless to say the euphoric feeling of that cutthroat out of the lake rushed back and I was hooked on tenkara more so than I had been on traditional fly-fishing. It was on that very day I decided that I wanted to share tenkara with more people and immediately set about working on www.Tenkara-Fishing.com.” Karel Lansky Karel started fishing with bobbers and worms as a kid back in Switzerland and rediscovered his passion for fishing and fly-fishing in particular in the mid-’90s in the Austrian Alps. After moving to the U.S. in 2000, he spent a lot of time fly-fishing in the Catskills and the New York City Tri-State Area. In 2008, he moved to the Denver area where he enjoys the many opportunities the Rocky Mountains offer. In 2010, Karel discovered tenkara by accident and has been hooked on the simplicity of ultralight fly-fishing without a reel. He is the guy behind a tenkara fly-fishing blog at www.tenkaraonthefly.net. ERiK Ostrander ERiK loves to fish, and if he weren’t married he’d fish seven days a week. He began using Western fly-fishing techniques but fell in love with the simplicity and effectiveness of tenkara. ERiK enjoys exploring new waters and applying fishing techniques from around the world to tenkara and the waters of Utah. He is passionate about tenkara and wants to share tenkara with you – all for the chance to catch big, beautiful, wild trout. You can check out his website at www.tenkaraguides.com

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John Vetterli John grew up in the high mountains of Park City, Utah, and has been fishing the mountain streams of Utah since early childhood. He has been developing a new form of fly-fishing he calls “Urban Fly-fishing.” There are waterways in almost every urban environment that hold healthy thriving fish. John is using tenkara techniques to discover unknown fisheries in the most unlikely places. He believes you can fish in almost any city in North America within a few minutes of travel from where you live or work. You can check out his website at www.tenkaraguides.com. Morgan Lyle Morgan Lyle has written about fly-fishing for The Daily Gazette of Schenectady, N.Y., since 1996 and for the New York Outdoor News since 2004. His work has appeared in Trout, American Angler, Fly Tyer, Fly Fisherman and other magazines. He is an assistant director of public relations for Long Island University. Morgan fishes an 8-weight switch rod for striped bass in the Long Island Sound and a 5-weight fly rod for rising trout on the Delaware River, but he most enjoys fishing the small streams of the Catskills with a tenkara rod. His blog, The Fly Line, is at www.theflyline.wordpress.com.

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Books: Tenkara Fly Fishing: Insights & Strategies By David E. Dirks tenkara by Daniel Galhardo Simple Fly Fishing By Yvon Chouinard, Craig Matthews and Mauro Mazzo Simple Flies By Morgan Lyle Tenkara Today By Morgan Lyle Tenkara, Radically simple, Ultralight Fly Fishing By Kevin C. Kelleher, MD with Misako Ishimura

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ABOUT DAVID E. DIRKS David Dirks was the weekly outdoor columnist for The Times HeraldRecord (www.recordonline.com), which is based in Middletown, N.Y., from 1999 to 2013. He is the host and producer of the DirksOutdoors radio show on WTBQ in the Hudson Valley (www.WTBQ.com) – one of the only outdoor radio shows of its kind in New York State. His outdoor videos are produced for the DirksOutdoors YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/dirksoutdoors). Dirks is a long-time member of the New York State Outdoor Writers Association. “I’ve been fishing and hunting for over 35 years,” he says. “During those years, I’ve had the opportunity to teach and take many friends into the fields and streams throughout New York State. I’ve also taught the skills of angling and hunting to each of my four growing children, who are now my best outdoor partners.” Dirks is a lifelong resident of the Hudson Valley and fishes all over the United States. When taking a break from his work, Dirks can be found in the fields, streams or hiking paths with one of his children and other great friends. Web: www.dirksoutdoors.com Email: dirksoutdoors@gmail.com YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/dirksoutdoors

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Learn tenkara fly fishing from the insights and experiences of some of America’s best tenkara anglers

The Complete Tenkara Experience Cae dolessi nullest que nis voluptatium hilliquias dolenditiur seque dolupta quiandi psant, vel es exerehent remossimet facid quaes quas remporem resciet et ut eosapie nimolectur sum et quam nis ditiumquia conse sunto volupitatio blaut quos acepra vendebit expernat lantet laboruptat illorem ut volorehento imi, simus quid enis doloribusdam evelign imusand aepudicium fugiatibus, nosantur, nem re dolupitatum nobis inia sitatio excest, im quat es doluptas rerumquae net occuptae reris dolupid uciatas peruptatium id eiuria doloreped ut vendanditi. AUTHOR David E. Dirks Omnenimus, nes haedeatandum andaceporum ausque nonsit. An diena, utusque ex nos, nos C. Mulicae ta, se aut consulisque pares iam iusce publibus, sima, sentrac ervis, Cat fatastam demporei in dicemum diervirmili im tum depsesimus, nostiu mandessus faci tem deatilin re, serfec ta rem fur. Sp. Habus cem se, patique ad con vernicus, ad in tus eortuam, nossi.

ADVANCED TENKARA > Draft Layout - 1

Articles inside

On Fishing Kebari

About Our Contributors

Fishing Minis with Tenkara

Dave’s Basic Three

Mini-Streamers and Bucktails for Tenkara

Insights on Kebari

Kebari-Inspired Trout Patterns

Additional Thoughts on Tenkara

Traditional Tenkara Kebari Patterns

Introduction to Kebari

Large Water Strategies for Tenkara

Fighting Fish Tenkara-Style

Small Water Strategies for Tenkara

The Origins of Tenkara

Casting Techniques for Tenkara

Strategies and Tactics for Different Types of Water

Introduction

Selecting Tenkara Fly Rods

Tenkara Lines and Tippets

Tenkara Flies: Traditional and Adaptations

The Essence of Tenkara Fly-Fishing