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

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

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

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

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

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

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.