Re: Tenkara recommended flies

[TurbineBlade]

I don't use a tenkara rod, but I'd "de-reverse" the hackle on those soft hackles and just stick with the traditional ones ;).  I target bluegill (and trout) with those all the time and love 'em.  I copied David Hughes and I tie the bird and orange (bird because I use pheasant mostly, not partridge -- a lot of birds work fine), bird and yellow, bird and green, bird and herl, and some others with spiky dubbing, random bodies, flash, etc.  They all work.  I tend to like the ones with a thorax dubbed on, but I usually just dub the thorax using the "stripped" feathers that you normally remove in preparing the soft hackle feather -- just the little webby, soft suckers.  I just dub 'em on like regular dubbing and they work fine to prop the hackle out.  I'm not sure anyone else does this...?  

It was fun actually fishing for trout with them on a swing (weighted, unweighted, split shot, etc.), but I use them in still water too.  I'm 100% convinced they'd work just as well on a tenkara set up.  

Gene

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 10:51:58 PM UTC-4, Eric...@yahoo.com wrote:

I received a Tenkara rod for Christmas. I broke it out this weekend and had a blast catching small bass and bluegills. I had no luck on on the Japanese reverse hackle flies. However nymphs, small sliders, and San Juan worms were great.

What flies are you using on your Tenkara rods?

[Matt S.]

I have never used reverse hackle flies but I imagine as with other fishing the trick would be just getting the presentation right. Maybe I will try it this year. I have had great luck using conventional Western style flies with my Tekara rods in the park streams for brookies. They seem to be at their best presenting dry flies and the name of the game is whatever the fish are hitting, and although easily spooked, those fish are usually not picky. I have also used tekara there with a nymph tied as a dropper under a bushy dry fly with luck on both dry and dropper. As with a regular flyrod it makes casting a little more difficult but you can figure it out. I don't remember if I've ever used them with little poppers or wets but it might work.

My usual conundrum is not so much what fly to use but how long do I want to make my leader, Because that directly affects presentation, how I can cast, how many trees I'm going to catch, and how easily I can land the fish. I have tried various lengths of level lines but I just like the presentation of the furled lines better and I usually wind up using one of those about the length of the rod (11-14) and then adding anywhere between 2 and 6 feet of 5-6x tippet.

The disadvantage of a long rod in heavy cover is obvious to any flyfisherman but what you have probably figured out and some anglers don't understand is that with a tekara you are not long-distance casting. And because it collapses you can turn it very quickly into a short rod for a tricky spot or break it down to 2 feet as you're moving between pools or through heavy brush. I highly recommend you put some of those hook keepers around the shaft to wind your line when you collapse it, which works better for me than those spool things.

Good luck!

[r...@robsnowhite.com]

Reminder that the Tenkara summit is this weekend hosted by Mossy Creek shop.

Sent from my iPhone

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[Eric Y.]

I've been using a tenkara rod for trout for a few years now and I have never used a reverse hackle fly with it. I just use whatever the hatch is or go with small nymphs/san juans as you mentioned. I see no need to use tenakra flies just becuase I have a tenakra rod. It is really just a slightly different delivery method for flies to fish; no reason to overthink it.

 

On Monday, May 6, 2013 8:44:04 AM UTC-4, Rob Snowhite wrote:

Reminder that the Tenkara summit is this weekend hosted by Mossy Creek shop.

Sent from my iPhone

On May 6, 2013, at 8:41 AM, "Matt S." <mg...@verizon.net> wrote:

> I have never used reverse hackle flies but I imagine as with other fishing the trick would be just getting the presentation right. Maybe I will try it this year. I have had great luck using conventional Western style flies with my Tekara rods in the park streams for brookies. They seem to be at their best presenting dry flies and the name of the game is whatever the fish are hitting, and although easily spooked, those fish are usually not picky. I have also used tekara there with a nymph tied  as a dropper under a bushy dry fly with luck on both dry and dropper. As with a regular flyrod it makes casting a little more difficult but you can figure it out. I don't remember if I've ever used them with little poppers or wets but it might work.
>
> My usual conundrum is not so much what fly to use but how long do I want to make my leader, Because that directly affects presentation, how I can cast, how many trees I'm going to catch, and how easily I can land the fish. I have tried various lengths of level lines but I just like the presentation of the furled lines better and I usually wind up using one of those about the length of the rod (11-14) and then adding anywhere between 2 and 6 feet of 5-6x tippet.
>
> The disadvantage of a long rod in heavy cover is obvious to any flyfisherman but what you have probably figured out and some anglers don't understand is that with a tekara you are not long-distance casting. And because it collapses you can turn it very quickly into a short rod for a tricky spot or break it down to 2 feet as you're moving between pools or through heavy brush. I highly recommend you put some of those hook keepers  around the shaft to wind your line when you collapse it, which works better for me than those spool things.
>
> Good luck!
>
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[Vic Velasco]

I echo what Eric said - I use any and every fly while using a tenkara rod.  The weight of the line, the stiffness of the rod and the weight of the fly all are factors in dialing in a rod.  I have a few different rods that I cycle through and 2 or 3 different weight level lines for each rod (#2, #3 and #4 flurocarbon).  And depending on how the rod casts using a certain line, I will change out the type of fly (driven by its weight more than anything) until I get the loops I want.

I have thrown bluegill poppers, weighted nymphs, scuds, smaller wooly buggers, smaller gurglers, smaller (8-12) crayfish imitations, kebari, ants... anything that the bass/bluegill/crappie/perch are taking that day.  I wouldn't limit what you cast based on tradition (from another country).

What brand/model rod do you have?

[eric...@yahoo.com]

I have the Iwana.

I am glad to hear that others are enjoying their Tenkara rods too. I have never run across anyone else using theirs but I did hear Rob's podcast about Tenkara.

Does anybody know why the Japanese use reverse hackle flies? This is very uncommon in western flies.

Perhaps we should have a Tenkara day. Dan Davala confided that he is looking for a reason to vet a rod and sample more Japanese scotch.

[Eric Y.]

You'll see them more frequently on trout water than around these parts. The last time I was on the Jackson some crunchy granola bro was trying to talk down to me for fishing parachute adams with my tenkara rod instead of "real" tenkara flies, as he tried to squeeze into the tiny pocket I was fishing. So pretentious and self-righteous. Needless to say, I was tickled to see him get no love in that pocket while I was catching fish.