Lessons Learned in the Rockies

I love reading books and watching videos on fishing techniques, but I have never been one to learn well from them. I have always been much more successful in learning from someone skilled who has the patience and the interest to show me and help me succeed. Those people are called mentors, and I seek them out for my tenkara education.

I was fortunate in early August to join a group of tenkara enthusiasts organized by Adam Klagsbrun in Rocky Mountain National Park to fish with Go Ishii. We were a group of 9-10 who fished, camped, and shared so much knowledge and skill with each other from our various backgrounds and parts of the world.

This was a group focused on the strict definition of tenkara and the culture around genryu fishing. This meant fishing for trout and char in mountain streams with a fixed line rod and Japanese kebari patterns. We were going to hike up streams (often in the water) and try to get to places where very few anglers venture. We were going to do some foraging, some fish harvesting, and some drinking, spending time bonding in the mountains.

The streams we visited in the park were still experiencing subsiding meltout; the headwaters still had high flows, but most had dropped significantly in volume that there were now edges of runs or pools that could be fished with unweighted kebari patterns. The key to fishing without weight was to find these slow or quiet spots and get the fly there and “lure” the fly in some fashion to get the fish to notice before the fly got swept out. Easier said than done!

I was fortunate to get some counseling from my first mentor in tenkara, Adam Klagsbrun, as well as a nice chunk of time on-stream with Go Ishii. Not only to have Go coach me, but also to watch him do what he does in person. In addition, I was able to observe the others in the group fish, all being serious tenkara anglers with extensive time spent studying and practicing the craft.

While in Colorado, I picked up a few key learnings that I think may help any tenkara angler looking to improve their technique and productivity. I will try to describe them in the following sections.

LINE LENGTH

With a decent number of trees and brush on the banks and roaring currents in the streams, the quiet spots you needed to cast to were often on the opposite bank. This was not always far, but most of the time it required one to cast a line longer than your rod. In deciding on a rig, I learned that there is an optimal line length for most tenkara rods, and that length is about a meter or so longer than the rod.

I primarily fished my Shimano Pack Tenkara which has a long length of about 330 cm, so my line length was somewhere around 430 cm. I did not measure it exactly, simply eyeballed it. If I went much longer than that, once adding tippet (we will get to that in a minute), then it would become too difficult to hold the line off the water and get the fly to stay long in the quiet pockets. If I went much shorter, then my casting options would be limited.

Go Ishii fished his favorite rod, the Daiwa Rinfu 45SR at 450 cm. Yet he still chose a line longer than his rod, fishing approximately 550 cm of line. Why still longer? More reach. The longer rod did mean in some places there was not an opening large enough for him to cast, but they were the same types of locations I struggled with a shorter rod. We both had to move to the same open areas to cast. If you have trouble casting this line to rod length ratio, I suggest you practice as it will open up more fishing opportunities. If location and situation require a shorter line, making that adjustment will be much easier.

TIPPET LENGTH

On the East Coast I usually fish about an arm’s length of tippet which is probably about 2-3 feet. In Colorado I added an additional foot or two. Why? The tippet length was critical in the drape or Otsuri equation. My usual length of tippet did not allow me to keep the fly in the quiet zone long enough before the current moved it out. It also did not give me enough time to let the fly sink allowing me to pulse it once or twice before leaving the quiet water. That extra foot or two left more tippet slack in the spot I was casting to, and that slack was critical for adding a few extra moments for the fly to stay and be seen and taken by a fish.

SASOI OR "LURING" THE FLY

As the water was fast and we were fishing unweighted flies, we were targeting tiny quiet pockets of water and our flies were staying near the surface. The fish were resting near the bottom, so the fly had to both stay in the zone long enough, but also had to grab their attention. Often the dead drift did not cut it and we had to “tell” the fish our fly was there. This is where pulsing the fly was important. This was often the difference between catching a fish or not.

DOWNSTREAM PRESENTATIONS

Sometimes, due to the geography of the quiet spot, downstream presentations were necessary. As I did them, I started to notice I was enticing more fish. It was explained that being able to keep the fly in the quiet zone longer was the key, and another effective way to do that is to cast downstream on a tight line and let the fly drift slower than the current. This makes “noise” in the water and animates the fly similar to pulsing. It also makes the fly seem like something the fish can easily get. One issue with this technique is slack and ability to get hook sets. It is very hard, but you must resist the urge to set the hook and try to instead push your hand and wrist forward a touch. A tiny move by your hands translates to much larger movement down the rod. That slack allows the fish to not feel tension and turn with the fly, hooking themselves. This is hard but keep it in mind when doing this type of presentation.

FALSE DOWNSTREAM PRESENTATIONS

Go Ishii introduced me to this concept during one of our times fishing together. You can cast across, or even slightly upstream and then position your rod tip upstream of the spot you casted to, thus angling the line like it is a downstream presentation. This becomes similar to casting below your position and keeps the fly in the zone for a bit longer. That tiny bit of extra time can be the difference between catching a fish or coming up empty.

STIFF HACKLED WETS

These flies were the ticket. While I used soft hackled flies with much success, they tended to be shorter stiffer style soft hackles. The stiffer hackles helped you “grip” the water in the quiet places and hold the fly there longer. A nymph or fly without hackle would never have stayed long enough in the quiet spots or allowed you to keep all the line off the water. I also think stiff hackles make more “noise” in the water, creating vibrations like an insect would that fish can detect.

Tenkara “hangouts” like this are just amazing ways to learn from others and to learn from doing. My fishing skills were impacted greatly from these few days. I hope more of these types of things pop up in and around the country for serious tenkara anglers to meet and learn from each other. I know many of us fish for solace, but the occasional social outing with potential mentors is priceless. Online chats, books and even videos can only do so much, there is simply no substitute for time on the water with those more experienced and skilled than yourself.