Exhausted now, it's stuck in the film, lacking the strength to lift off again, and the fly's struggles to get airborne send little concentric ripples radiating out across the water. The fly is dead centre now of a bulls eye of its own making, and as we watch, a trout hurtles up from the depths to snatch it down. In one last Herculean effort the fly manages to rise from the water, but the trout propels upwards like a little torpedo and intercepts the fly in mid air, a few inches above the water, turning with its prize in a flash of bronze and butter. But all is not quite as it seems, for the fly is a kebari and it's attached, tippet to line to tenkara rod, and after a spirited fight the trout comes quickly to hand. In this little stream it's a good fish too and probably king of the pool. I'm dead chuffed.
His first hat is worn as casting coach. John is helping me iron out some self-taught bad habits, and heaven alone knows that's a big enough job in itself, but I receive some valuable insights which instantly improve my technique. John is a phenomenal caster and has fished alongside some of the great Japanese masters. It's priceless to have his tuition and my accuracy, control and catch rate is already increasing.
John's second hat is worn as tenkara guide and he's brought me to a series of runs and pools that are just mouth watering - this is exactly what tenkara is made for and well worth the effort of my long drive north.
The lively upstream breeze this morning is a gift from the gods. And though some anglers may think that the blustery conditions would wreck tenkara, we just can't believe our luck. It's a chance to fish aerial presentations to the trout - a whole added dimension to surface fishing. It's magical to watch and exciting to perform, an act of fly-puppetry that is both totally absorbing and an incredibly effective taker of trout.
I'm casting upstream and my fly, tippet and casting line are all sailing in the air like a kite. It takes some practice but by constantly changing the angle and height of the rod tip I'm harnessing the wind to allow the fly to.. well fly above the water, dance even, a foot or so above the surface. Occasionally the fly touches down and lifts off again, powered by the breeze eddying around the pool. When the wind lulls and goes flat I keep the fly hopping about on the surface film with delicate movements of the rod tip. It's all about animation, imparting an illusion of life to the kebari on the water and in the air itself. It's also a great way of getting the fly into otherwise difficult to reach little lies like micro pockets on the blind side of rocks and undercuts. On one presentation my fly lands down on a dry rock at the stream's edge. A little lift of the rod tip drops the fly into the water with a gentle plop and it's instantly taken by a feisty little brown trout.
The trout here are habitualised to taking terrestrial bugs from the water's surface - being a freestone stream, most of their prey items are blown in off the surrounding hills. By sailing my kebari around about a foot above the water's surface I'm letting the fish get sight of it, and I'd say my fly is airborne as much as 50% of the time during each presentation. This is important to advertise the presence of the fly across the pool, and its a great way of letting the trout know a feeding opportunity exists. Though it doesn't quite happen today, it's not unheard of for a fish to leap high into the air to take the fly before it's touched down. Certainly some of the trout caught today come out almost a body length to reach the airborne kebari.
When the kebari does land, the subtle vibrations imparted to the fly by moving the rod tip are persuasive to a hungry fish. To be consistently successful with this one needs a steady hand and the ability to make very tiny adjustments to the rod tip to keep the kebari just on top of the surface film. A tenkara rod with good tip recovery is important, so too is a well balanced rod to allow those constant micro adjustments while avoiding arm and wrist fatigue. I'm using the Karasu 360 which is just perfect for this.
As regards fly choice, there are no special design considerations I don't think, except for a stiff hackle which is supreme for creating those little surface vibrations as you animate your kebari. Choose a hackle colour that's visible to you in the given light conditions, as you'll need to keep a good visual track of your fly. Sometimes when the breeze becomes strong I momentarily submerge my kebari to saturate the hackle before pulling it up again to the surface. This lends just a little temporary extra weight to the kebari which can help to anchor the fly. You can also fish a small beadhead pattern for this same reason. Casting line is a standard number 3 level fluorocarbon and about 4 ft of tippet, all set to be just a few feet longer than the rod. I would avoid bright hi-viz lines.
A dozen or so fish come to hand across various locations over the next few hours, and several more are missed on the strike. The temperature is on the cool side so I think for today these are good results. On more than one occasion I'm pretty sure too that the fish just captured is the biggest in that particular pool.
It's the most fun I've had with a tenkara rod in a long time.
As we fish our way up the valley, the day shapes up into one of those that will become a fond memory and favourite in my mind-movie archive of notable fishing trips. Good company, expert guiding and tuition and a rare opportunity to practise one of my favourite approaches to wild trout - aerial presentation, or line sailing as the Discover Tenkara boys call it.
Respect.
Respect.
Excellent report. Thank you. To say that I am jealous is very much an understatement.
ReplyDeleteDavid
Thank you David!
Delete