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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

GLOWING SPECTOR KEBARI

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.