Tenkara on the Fly

Gear Review RIGS Tenkara Nymphing Hi-Vis Line

2013-05-13T16:30:00.000-06:00

This review has been more than overdue but I didn't want to just post a review of my first impressions (even though they have been confirmed having fished with this line now for last number of outings).

RIGS Fly Fishing is the first and only Colorado fly shop that officially carries Tenkara USA equipment and is also part of the Tenkara Guide Network. Tim and Matt have fully embraced Tenkara and it shows. RIGS has come up "own" tenkara lines, a Floating Line and a Nymph Line. I own both but have fished significantly more with the Nymph Line and this review will focus only on the Nymph Line.

The RIGS Tenkara Nymphing Line is, as per RIGS, a depth control indicator system designed for fishing sub-surface weighted nymphs on larger streams. The main line is a regular hi-vis level line and the hi-viz indicator sections, coupled with clear running line sections, allow for maximum depth control and added strike detection without sacrificing visibility. The line is hand-tied and constructed out of 100% fluorocarbon plus a tippet ring and a transition loop. It comes in one length only, 12.5ft., which should fit most needs and rods unless you want to fish with a rod that is significantly shorter.

product picture @ RIS Fly Fishing

I fished this line with a number of rods (TUSA Iwana 12ft, TUSA Ito, Daiwa 43MF, Suntech Suikei 39) and it it performs well on all of them. The main/running line is the yellow Tenkara USA hi-vis #4.5 which gives you more mass to cast heavier flies and will also punch better through wind than a light line. That being said, I personally have been fishing #3 or #3.5 level lines exclusively during last year and at times, the line felt a bit heavy. Others who only fish #4 or #4.5 lines will definitively like how this line casts. The hi-vis indicator sections are a great idea and make it easy to track how deep you are fishing. The clear line in between the hi-vis sections make it also a bit stealthier than a simple hi-vis level line.

As the description says, it is most suited for depth control. A lot of creeks that I am fishing are not very deep, however, if you have this line already rigged, it obviously fishes also very well those shallower creeks taking advantage of the "stealthy" clear line.

Should you feel that the line is too long, you can simple remove the transition loop that you would tie to the lilian, add any length of level line to it with simple loop-to-loop connection and add the transitional loop to the end.

This line has also been reviewed by Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk here.

Conclusion:
This line is designed to fish nymphs with "depth control" and that's what it does very well. I like and fish this line a lot (even in shallow creeks) and should remember to order the #3.5 level line.

Where to get it:
The RIGS Tenkara Nymphing Hi-Vis Indicator Level Line is available online through RIGS's website here for $18.95.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with RIGS Fly Fishing nor did I receive any compensation to review the Tenkara Nymphing Line. However, received it free of charge for testing & reviewing from RIGS Fly Fishing.

Waterton Canyon

2013-03-30T21:23:00.000-06:00

I haven't fished Waterton Canyon once last year after it reopened, so I thought I would check it out today and see if all the bad news of no fish, bad conditions etc. is true. Waterton Canyon is a part of the South Platte system, arguably the last stretch of this river that can sustain a year-round trout fishery (yes, there are trout caught occasionally below Chatfield Reservoir but I doubt the flow of 0cfs during summer is helping the few trout that escape Chatfield much).

Waterton Canyon is part of the Colorado Trail (end or beginning depending on your view) and access to it is either by foot or by bike. No motorized vehicles are allowed. It is apx. 6 miles from the parking lot in Kassler to the dam of Strontia Springs Reservoir (the 6th reservois of 7 before the river hits Denver). I am not much of a walker, especially if I want to start fishing below the dam and 6 miles would take me a while in my waders. With my "tenkara bike", this is much more manageable. And I get a good cardiac workout, too.

The Tenkara Mobile and Tenkara Bike

tube attached to frame to transport collapsed rod (MUCH easier than with a fly rod!)

The reason why I drive all 6 miles up to just below the dam is that the fishing - and fish stock - is significantly better. The flow is typically higher out of Strontia Springs than below the Marston Diversion Dam which is about halfway up. Regulations for the upper stretch are artificial and flies with a 2 bag limit of 16"+. Below the Marston Diversion, regular Colorado regulations and bag limit apply.

Strontia Springs Dam

The weather was nice, lower 60ies as a high, a bit chillier in the morning and the shade of course. At times a bit windy but nothing that would spoil your casting for long. Flow was 32cfs below Strontia Springs and 15cfs below Marston.

I thought this would be more of a scouting trip, not having heard really good news about the fishing last year. Luckily, I am happy to report that at least in the upper section trout are still around, spooky, yes, and typical South Platte residents - focused on the small stuff. I still managed to to land 5 nice browns, the biggest around 13" or so (longer than the handle of the Iwana 12' I was fishing with yet. A few more got away, as always.

looks almost like parr marks of a juvenile rainbow... never saw those on a brown before

spots....!

BWO's were coming off and fish were feeding on the emergers. All fish were caught on a gray RS2, fished as a trailer behind a beadhead little black stone fly sakasa kebari and a generic green sakasa kebari. Go figure.

Bamboo Tenkara Line Holder

2013-03-27T22:28:00.003-06:00

The other day I was fishing with Jason of Tenkara Talk and as always, we chatted about new tenkara "stuff" while gearing up. Often times, Jason brings some new cool gear he bought or received for review and this time he brought a bamboo tenkara line holder of the Tenkara Fly Shop.

The Tenkara Fly Shop is a pretty new website of Jim Wright in NY State who specializes in "simple tools for the tenkara angler". Jim has constructed some unique rustic tenkara fly boxes, line holders and his signature bamboo fly box (Jason posted reviews here and here). I understand Jim is also working on his own tamo design (sweet looking pictures on the the Tenkara Fly Shops facebook page!) and a bamboo tenkara rod.

Back to the bamboo line holder: I always loved the "old fashioned" line holders and what Jason showed me before hitting the water was just that. In the past, I always thought it would be nice to use this type of line holder but it found most of them too long and not really ideal "on-stream". While I was fishing that day, I just couldn't let go of pondering what attributes a line holder should have to be attractive to me. First, it should be fairly short. I don't worry about line kink since I made it a habit to straighten out every line before rigging it to the lilian. Second, holding two lines is not quite enough. What I was looking for was a system I could transport 4 or 5 lines, rigged with flies, that would not take as much space as 5 individual spools. Why not design a line holder that holds 4 or 5 lines instead of 2, right? Size matters so I thought that the ideal dimensions should be around 4.5" long and about 3" wide. This size fits any smaller bag like a chest pack or even my shirt pocket.

I reached out to Jim through the Tenkara Fly Shops facebook sitehttps://www.facebook.com/TenkaraFlyShop and started a conversation about such design. Jim was very open and within a day, he had a prototype developed which I received today in the mail. I have to say, I was blown away by the beauty and simplicity of this new accessory. Simple, easy, effective:

4.5" long, 3" wide, holds 5 lines

hook the fly to one of the cross bars, wedge the end of the line between the line compartments

fully loaded with, from the top, a TUSA Level Line, TUSA Traditional Line, RIGS Nymphing Line, Tenkarabum Level Line and RIGS Floating Line

compact and easy to transport

It is worthwhile to mention that I will be using the bamboo line holder to transport lines I intend or might be using that day. Once on the water, I store the line in use on the rod with a Fuji EZ Keeper system and will put the line back on the bamboo line holder once I am done fishing with the line.

I am very much looking forward using this new accessory on my next outing!!

Thank so much, Jim!!

Tight Lines y'all, -K

Spring Awakening

2013-03-18T20:27:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I ventured out to Bear Creek, hoping it would not be all iced-up and frozen. Last week was quite warm and it cooled down just enough on the weekend to remind you that Winter is not quite gone yet and trying to hold on.

It was nice and warm in the sun, but it was a chilly when the sun hid behind clouds and the wind blow down the canyon. Fishing was a bit slow but I was still able to fool two little brown trout into taking my kebari.

Spring is definitively on its way and nature is waking up. For those of you with allergies, get your antihistamine prescriptions filled.

Looking forward getting out soon again...

There is Hope!

2013-02-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

Finally!

The extra day off during the Presidents Day weekend allowed me to finally head out back on the water again. Yesterday, I teamed-up with my buddy Graham to harass some trout on the South Platte, on the only not frozen solid piece of water within a reasonable drive.

We initially wanted to hike into Cheesman Canyon since we heard that even the Deckers area had ice and slush. Driving up the river we saw a lot of ice and slush, even entire sections of the river completely covered by ice and snow. We even joked that we should have brought an auger to do some ice fishing, still hoping we would fine some water that's not "on the rocks".

When we got to Denver around 9.30am, the river was slush free and we decided that we probably should spend time fishing instead of hiking into the canyon.

We pulled all the way up to just below the cable, separating the public section from the private property of the Wigwam fishing club.

It was a beautiful but cold day, even my net froze to my waders. But it was a spectacular and beautiful day, there was just a bit of a snow blanket from the night before that covered the ground, rocks, hills, tress with a white sparkly blanket.

The water was extremely low and clear. I consider 150cfs a healthy flow but since the end of January, it was barely 40cfs. The fish of course were wary. We could see pods of a dozen and more fish not even a rod lengths from us. They could see us, too. The only chance to catch them was to present a fly from behind a obstacle where they could not see you prior to your presentation.

While walking upstream I was able to find some cover behind some brush and cast just forward of two feeding fish. The first fish ignored my offerings but the next fish up took the first drift of my Killer Bug1 I managed to finally hook and land one of the elusive winter trout, a chubby rainbow trout measuring 17". The moment I hooked the fish I also realized that my camera was still in the car. Too bad as this fish was a beauty.

I managed to hook 2 more fish, a 13" rainbow I was able to land and a bigger one that actually chased my fly, took it, and continued running downstream and broke off.

next time I need to remembe tohave the camera on me when I catch the big one!

Looks like I finally shook the winter skunk off...

Winter Tenkara or My Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

2012-12-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

I believe I have mentioned in the past that I typically don't have much luck catching fish in the Winter. I am not sure if it is a lack of technique, approach, knowledge or something else or everything combined. I guess that this lack of success also affects my confidence which doesn't help. After all, if you are not confident in what you do why would you have success with it, right? I think this sounds really familiar what folks say about the one/any fly approach.

Last Sunday I was out fishing on the South Platte with my buddies Phil and Graham (the guy behind this blog); it was a very cold and slightly overcast morning with freezing temperatures that gave slowly way to some sun and warmer temperatures that should have made trout more active.

Graham (left) and Phil goofing around while still trying to keep up appearance...

While Phil and Graham both got into fish, although not in huge numbers, I have to admit that I was completely skunked. I couldn't even entice a trout to a nibble. I understand I fished mostly the same flies as Phil and Graham but here is where the part about the self-fulfilling prophecy comes into play - if you think you might not catch fish because it's Winter you probably won't because you believe so. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy fishing and I have HOPE to catch a fish, even in Winter. It's just that my expectations are set very low.

That being said, it was still a great day out. The sun, once out, was warm. Good, no excellent, company. Big fish that were spotted but couldn't get enticed. And some annoying wind that made casting and presentation a challenge at times.

I will be out again this Winter I am sure, maybe after hitting the slopes first though. I hope we'll get some snow soon.

Stay warm & tight lines,
-K

Days on the Water: 31

Gear Review: Fishpond Piney Creek Tech Pack

2012-11-25T20:36:00.002-07:00

As a gear and particularly as a bag junkie I went through a lot of different packs during my fly fishing and tenkara career - side packs, over the shoulder packs, sling packs, chest packs, back packs etc. - you name it. I have two or three packs I like for fishing light, but I still have been looking for a pack for full day trips. The closest I was able to find that worked for me (other than just a plain backpack) was a sling pack but it was a bit too small; just by bringing my light weight rain jacket I would have used almost all space available.

the sling pack with my rain jacket outside (!!) so that I
actually could put into the sling pack: not a great solution

the "plain" backpack - worked but not quite...

So, when going on day hikes and fishing "away from the car", i.e. when hiking-in a few miles before fishing, I packed everything I might need in a plain backpack which left me wishing I had my essential stuff (i.e. fly box or two, nippers, extra line etc.) not "back there" but handy upfront so that I wouldn't have take off the backpack and try to find what I need. This was especially not convenient when I was in the middle of a creek or river and had to wade back ashore to retrieve what I needed.

This Fall I "rediscovered" Colorado based Fishpond (I own a very nice but not often used Fishpond fly fishing vest) and realized that some of their packs might be what I have been looking for - a combo of a fishing backpack and a chestpack. After a very nice email exchange inquiring what Fishpond would recommend for a tenkara angler, Fishpond was generous enough to send me their Piney Creek Tech Pack for review.

The Piney Creek Tech Pack is one of three Chestpack/Backpack combinations Fishpond offers (there is a bigger Tundra Tech Pack and a smaller Double Haul Chest/Backpack. As mentioned above, the pack is a combination of a technical fly fishing backpack and the Tumbleweed Chestpack. Both the backpack and the chestpack can be used on their own but what is really cool is that the chestpack attaches to the backpack's straps in the front OR to the back of the backpack. This way you can decide how you want to be setup during the hiking portion and fishing portion of your trip. To my, it's obvious that it is more comfortable to have the chestpack attached in the back while "en route" to the creek of fishing spot and once there, you switch and attach it to the straps upfront so that you have all your fishing accessories handy.

So, what are the spec's you ask? Here they are:

BACKPACK FEATURES (from Fishponds website)

Volume: 1,220 cu. inches
Dimensions: 10.5" x 7" x 19"
Lightweight, waterproof and breathable fabric
Padded, contoured shoulder straps for load control and carrying comfort
Modular design allows the chestpack to dock on the front and back of the pack
Two large backpack compartments
One small accessories pocket for quick access to the necessities
Two zip-out rod tube holders
Wading staff lash point attachment system
Net attachment D-ring
Holds up to 100 oz. hydration bladder (optional, not included)

CHESTPACK FEATURES (from Fishponds website)

Chestpack is the Tumbleweed Chest Pack
Dimensions: 5.5" x 3" x 9"
Lightweight, waterproof and breathable fabric
Modular design docks to the front and back of the larger backpack
One main storage compartment that can accommodate large fly boxes
Signature, zip-down fly bench with replaceable foam
Integrated floatant holder
Gear attachment tabs, and loops
Neck and waist straps included for use as a stand-alone chestpack

The volume of the backpack is plenty sufficient to hold anything I could need on a day-hike and probably even an overnighter (unless you camp out and need to pack a sleeping bag, tent, etc.) in a cabin and you need a change of undergarments after a hard day's fishing. On the few trips I took, I was able to pack my rain jacket, fleece jacket, first aid stuff, water bottle, extra fly boxes, fly lines, food/snacks etc. and still had room for more. There are many adjustment options and strap, almost too many for someone like me who never owned such a technical pack. It took a little time to figure out what the purpose of each strap is and how/when I should be using or adjusting it. But once I figured it out and overcame my own clumsiness, the backpack turned out to be very confortable and I barely noticed I wearing it, even after hours of fishing.

An interesting feature for tenkara anglers that I would like to highlight are the zip-out rod tube holders. Obviously, this pack wasn't developed for tenkara but this feature is extremely valuable to tenkara anglers carrying multiple rods. Most backpacks have side pockets where folks usually store their water bottle or a rod. The zip-out rod tube holders are basically an extension to that side pocket, you open the zip and gain a few more inches of room and allowing the storage of your rod to be more secure from accidentally sliding out. The picture below should give you an idea how this works. Each side pocket is big enough to carry a total of 4 to 6 tenkara rods (4 if all your rods have cork handles, 6 if some of your rods feature no cork handles, i.e. like the Daiway Sagiri, Soyokaze or Kyose rods).

CHESTPACK FEATURES (from Fishponds website)

Dimensions: 5.5" x 3" x 9"
Lightweight, waterproof and breathable fabric
Modular design docks to the front and back of the larger backpack
One main storage compartment that can accommodate large fly boxes
Signature, zip-down fly bench with replaceable foam
Integrated floatant holder
Gear attachment tabs, and loops
Neck and waist straps included for use as a stand-alone chestpack

Let's face it - the backpack will probably hold more stuff than you will ever need during a day's fishing. In the big compartment there is enough space for my rain jacket, a fleece, first aid kit, water, food, snacks, extra fly boxes, all my fly line spools, hat, glasses etc. The smaller compartment is still big enough for additional line spools, another fly box or two, a map etc. It holds everything you might need for a day trip into the back country and maybe even for an overnighter (well, that means a change of essential clothes if staying in a cabin, not a camp-out trip, the pack is obviously not big enough for a sleeping bag, tent etc.) There are a lot straps and adjustment options that make this a very comfortable backpack - once you figure out how what all those straps are for. Not having had much experience with technical packs and being a bit clumsy it took me a few dry runs at home before I figured it all out. One cool feature I would like to point out are to the tenkara angler are the zip-out rod tube holders. I know this pack was not designed for tenkara, but the tenkara angler will find those zip-out rod tube holders, one on each side at the bottom of the side pocket, are a great way to carry your tenkara rods. I was able to stuff them on each side with two traditional tenkara rods (with cork handles) and 3 "cork-less" tenkara rods (i.e. Daiwa Sagiri, Soyokaze, Kyose, etc.). That is a total of up to 6 rods!! Being able to carry that many rods size of the backpack would make this a suitable bag for a tenkara guide or for the tenkara angler who wants to be ready for changing stream conditions and stream sizes or field test new tenkara rod models.

that's three rods on one side, and three more on the other

the backpack also is great for air travel - it held all I needed for a long weekend

The chestpack is just the right size. The front pocket can hold for the minimalist some flies in Fishpond's removable "fly bench" (basically a sheet with rows of closed cell foam, attached with velcro) or while removed, my custom made tenkara fly box (which is what I do). The main pocket holds for me another medium sized fly box, pocket knife, snack bars, one or two line spools and my fishing license. Forceps, nippers and other accessories can by attached in various places on various gear attachment tabs and loops. Of course the chestpack comes with a comfortable neck and waist strap so that you can use it without the backpack.

front pocket of the chest pack with "fly bench"

front pocket of the chest pack without "fly bench" - this is where I keep my custom made tenkara fly box

Conclusion:

The versatility of this pack makes it one of my favorites for my fishing needs. If I go up to RMNP for a day trip, I pack the backpack with what I need (and probably some stuff I don't need) and being able to attach the chestpack in the back makes for easy and comfortable hiking. Having the option of carrying a few rod choices safely is a bonus, especially should you break one far away from your home or car. It also allows to adopt to changing conditions on-stream should you need to break out that super short or super long rod. The chestpack is just the right size for smaller trips close to your car or if you are have only a few hours to go fish. Leaving the chestpack in your car would allow you to be ready to fish whenever you are close to water holding fish. Both the backpack and the combination is comfortable to wear and the only gripe I had was to figure out the straps and adjustment options (I blame myself for most of this issue since I tend to be a bit clumsy).

Where to get it:
The Piney Creek Tech Pack is available online and through your local fly shop that carries Fishpond gear. The prices as listed on Fishpond's website is $179.95.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Fishpond nor did I receive any compensation to review the Piney Creek Tech Pack. However, received it free of charge for testing & reviewing from Fishpond.

Last but not least, I also would like to thank Kara who was very helpful in selecting the pack and coordinating the delivery of the pack.

South Platte 2012 10 27 or How much longer before I will go skiing instead of fishing

2012-10-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

Last week I spent on a road trip with my family, heading West to Utah and then South and back towards Denver. We enjoyed just hanging out, soaked in some hot springs, took walks and hikes, saw some spectacular scenery in our National Parks and visited a few small few towns along the way. But we had to cut the trip one stop short and headed straight home from Montrose, taking the scenic route on Highway 50 and then 285.

While I wasn't able to wet a line during the trip, coming home a day early allowed me to head up to the South Platte once more after a pretty good day two weeks earlier. Expectations were sort of "there" given last trips experience; I hoped to encounter another BWO hatch that would allow us to pluck some unsuspecting trout. Well, the weather was not really what BWOs like, the sun was out, warming us up a bit although it was still kind of chilly, especially when the wind came up.

We started fishing further upstream at one of the picnic pull-offs. While it seems that Phil hooked fairly quickly into some fish, it took me a while to hook one. The first action I encountered seems to have been a fish being foul hooked since all I was able to retrieve after a quick dart was a scale on the hook point. Soon though I was able to land my first rainbow of the day; not a big fish but nice and I was pleasantly surprised how my new Daiwa 43MF handled the fish without any problems.

The morning moved on with a few more hookups but fishing was less than hot. We decided to move to the Deckers section of the South Platte and were pleasantly surprised that we had the river to ourselves. This section is typically overrun with people and "combat" fishing is typically what you have to endure. And once we got settled in the river we saw some fish rising again to some small sailboats. I switched back to a small size 16 green thread kebari with some grizzly hackle and tried to present it afloat, knowing well that it was too big compared to the size 20 bluewinged olives coming downstream. The wind was once more challenging but I still managed to fool two nice rainbows that went for my fake bug.

We continued to fish for a few more hours and a few hookups but none to hand. Fish were continuing to rise but the BWOs were gone and I couldn't figure out what they were going for. I settled in watching one enormous rainbow, a true torpedo, at least 25" long taking something small off the surface, at times very delicately and sometimes like a true veracious predator.

I won't be fooled though, Fall is in full swing. Last week we had about 3" of snow while we were gone. Temperatures can dip any day into the 20ies at night and daytime highs can be anything between 40 and 70. Winter is coming for sure I think that I will likely be hitting the slopes instead of the river when its really cold.

But all being said, yet another good day on the South Platte in good company.

Tight Lines,

-K

Days on the water: 29

South Platte 2012 10 13

2012-10-14T21:14:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a BWO day if there ever was one. Not your usual Colorado weather (sunny) but cold, overcast, drizzly, windy and rain. The sun tried hard to get through the cloud cover but it never happened.

My new friend Phil Echelman and hit the river hoping, in vain, it would warm up at least a little bit. With the wind setting in early afternoon, windchill set in to make things worse.

Fishing began a bit slow, I started with a Copperbari and teased a fish to flash but that was it. I decided to add my a small purple something from a tenkara fly swap and promptly hooked up with a acrobatic rainbow that I lost to bad know. Since it looked like they were into the small stuff, I tied on my old friend the RS2 as a dropper and things got a bit more interesting, hooking another fish or two.

We moved downstream around the bend and started working some interesting looking runs and pockets I knew were holding fish. Remember I mentioned it was BWO kinda day? Bingo, around noon I started seeing noses of some nice fish come up and picking up little sailboat like BWO duns off the surface. I watched a few them floating through the seam just to be picked up leisurely by a trout. I cast my Copperbari into the seem, kept a tight line to drift the kebari as high as possible in the column and promptly hooked up and realized that those were not the same trout I was catching during the Summer in various creeks, those were trout with shoulders from a quality tailwater; well fed and strong.

Since the Copperbari was a bit too heavy, I tied on a green kebari tied with thread and some grizzly hackle that I found at the bottom of my fly box. This made it a bit easier to keep it riding on top and the trout surely approved. I hooked and landed a good number of feisty rainbows and brown trout and Phil joined into the action also. But as suddenly as the hatch started, it ended as quickly.

Phil in action...

... but unfortunately my camera finger was too slow to capture the fish before it slipped back into the river

The rest of the day left us in search of more trout further downstream, hooking up here and there before the wind and rain had us pack up.

I sure was glad having ventured back to the South Platte for some quality trout before "really" cold season.

Tight Lines, -K

PS: Jason - even you would have lost your South Platte skunk today.

Days on the water this yer: 28

Giveaway!

2012-09-26T19:56:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I have a bit of tenkara and fly fishing "swag" that I would like to give away to my blog followers as a "Thank You".

Up for grabs is the following:

a bunch of Tenkara on the Fly stickers

1 Universal Tenkara Rod Cap

1 Simplyfly sticker (Tenkara on the Fly design)

3 Tenkara Talk stickers by courtesy of Jason Klass

2 Tenkara Guides stickers
1 Custom Furled Tenkara "Eddie" Line (16ft) by courtesy of Tenkara Guides

3 Tenkara-Fishing stickers

3 Tenkara-Fishing foam line spools

2 Tenkara USA patches

2 Tenkara USA sticker (round & rectangular)

2 The Fiber Glass Manifesto stickers

1 Hook Fly Fishing sticker

Half a Dozen Kebaris (my confidence flies)

All of the stuff in the picture will be given away randomly to 15 lucky swag winners. Each entry will be assigned an entry a number and I will then use the online random number generator to pick the winners.

But most importantly, here is what you need to do to qualify to enter (all 3 steps):

1. Leave a comment on this blog below and

2. Like Tenkara on the Fly on Facebook and

3. Share the giveaway blog post on Facebook

Bonus: You will receive an additional entry for following the blog through Google Friend Connect (box on the lower right on the front page of the blog).

I will post the winners on this blog post as an update in the evening of October 5th. Please come back and check to see whether you have won. If you see your name, please email me (email will be published with the update of the winners) with your pick of 3 choices of which you will receive one - note that you will receive one square Tenkara on the Fly sticker in any case if you are a winner. The swag will be allocated on a first come/first serve basis, so whoever emails me back first will have dibs.

Any questions, please ask away in the "comments" below.

Tight Lines, -K

UPDATE OCTOBER 6:
Everybody who commented on this blog post is a winner! You will receive 1 Tenkara on the Fly sticker plus 1 item of the list above.

Winners: please email me at "giveaway at tenkaraonthefly dot net" with a few choices (prioritized) of what swag you are interested in plus your mailing address. I will fill requests on a "first come first serve" basis - whoever replies back first has dibs.

Thanks for participating and tight lines!

Boulder Creek 2012 09 22

2012-09-22T21:09:00.003-06:00

It has been a few weeks since I was able to get out and I feel like I missed already out on some great Fall fishing. Fall is by far my most favorite time of year to be on the water.

Today I got the opportunity to fish Boulder Creek for 3h in the morning and show the Vagabox some fine Colorado fishing. Arriving in the canyon, I started feeling that today would be tough; it was pretty chilly and the water was very low. Indeed, in the first hole, I spooked all the fish before I was even able to cast. Realizing that I needed a more stealthy approach, moved just a bit upstream and hooked a cute little brown on my very first cast.

As turned out, the fish were very cooperative if you didn't spook them. I fished all day with various kebaris from the Vagabox and hooked somewhere around 30 fish. I LOVE FALL FISHING! What surprised me most was not that the fish were taking the kebaris willingly but the number of fish and diversity - I landed 4 different species of trout: brown, rainbow, brook and a cuttbow. Not sure if that qualifies as a Colorado Grandslam but I think it is as close as you can get without catching an actual pure bred cuttie.

I also did today some gear testing, I received a very cool pack from fishpond, the Piney Creek Tech Pack. This was the first time out and it's a pretty cool pack, I will do some more testing (at least one day hike into RMNP is a must) before I will post a comprehensive review.

the Vagabox and diary

the Vagabox hanging out and enjoying Boulder Creek

look at those spots on this brown!

beautifully marked rainbow

surprise of the day: cuttbow

the gem of the creek, a brookie

looooow water...

... but they are still there and bunched up!

ahh Fall....

bow on a claret spot copper bar and Daiwa Sagiri, the tool of choice today

Get out and fish, Fall is short and Winter will be here soon!

Tight Lines, -K

Days on the water this yer: 27

Introducing my daughter to tenkara

2012-09-17T19:16:00.002-06:00

My daughter has always been enthusiastic about my tenkara endeavours but had yet to go out with me fishing. By that I don't mean our family trips to RMNP where I would wet a fly for half an hour while my daughter would play in the water. I mean my daughter actually picking up a rod and casting trying to catch a fish.

Yesterday was the big day she and I ventured out to a bluegill pond for some daddy/daughter fishing. An added incentive was that the pond was also located strategically close to a playground. When we got to the pond, I let her first unload some of her energy on the playground and sure enough, 20 minutes in she announced "Daddy, let's go fishing now!".

Well, let me tell you that the attention span of a 5yo is fairly short especially if there is so much more than "fishing" to explore at the pond. We got maybe a good 5 minutes of actual fishing when she announced that she rather watch me fishing while she is playing with sticks, mud and "allergies" (algae for us grown-ups).

She got very excited every time I hooked and landed a bluegill, she wanted to touch and hold them but got a big squeamish (or just excited?) once the fish started wiggling in her hands. More than once we had to "rescue" a bluegill from dry land and release it back into the pond.

I think our first real fishing outing went well, she already announced that she wants to go fishing again.

I also got to test a new furled line (16ft long) I made the day before. In short, it was too light, I had a hard time casting it and turning the fly over. Also, this was my first outing with the new Tenkara Universal Rod Cap that I got from TenkaraUSA this week. This gadget goes over the top end of the rod when the rod iscollapsed instead of the top plug. You can keep the rod rigged (i.e. with EZ keepers) while keeping it protected (I once broke a rod and lost a line while bushwhacking keep the top unprotected). It also is bigger (obviously) than a top plug and hence it is somewhat easier to keep track off when you drop it. There is a rubber patch on the inside and rubber band that secures the cover around the rod which makes it very unlikely to slip off. The only downside I can think of that the cover itself is clear plastic; I would have preferred some sort of a hi-vis color to make it even more easier to track when dropped.

Lastly, I also learned how NOT to attach traditional lines. Recently, I have been fishing almost uniquely level lines and hence did not need a knot in the lilian (see also an interesting post here). However, when attaching a traditiona line with a girth hitch, an overhand knot in the lilian is required or else you will loose your line - this happened to me twice within 20 minutes yesterday. I sure was lucky that there was no fish on the other end or otherwise the line would have been gone.

Tight Lines, Karel

Gear Review - DVD Tying Tenkara Flies, Volume 1

2012-09-01T08:56:00.001-06:00

I guess I am bit late with this review since I got a copy of this DVD at the Tenkara Summit a month ago (wow, already a month?!) and there is already a number of reviews out there. But that should not be a reason for me not to review it and not let you know what I think of it.

The DVD "Tying Tenkara Flies, Volume 1" was produced by Learn Tenkara's Brian Flemming (that's the guy who has been working on the feature-length documentary about tenkara in the US that is STILL not done yet) and co-produced by Ashley Valentine of LearnTenkara.com and inventor of the Punk Rock Sakasa Kebari which is also featured on the DVD, tied by Chris Stewart, the Tenkarabum.

The DVD is 2.5h long and features 17 patterns tied by no other than Dr. Hisao Ishigaki (Ishigaki Kebari), Daniel Galhard of TenkaraUSA (Amano Kebari) and Chris Stewart of Tenkarabum.com (Killer Bug, CDC & Elk, Sakakibara Sakasa Kebari and others). The content is very insight full and does not only show you in great detail and awesome quality how to tie the featured flies but also gives you an idea that each tenkara angler or tyer has a different approach and philosophy with which most of us can relate and learn from in one way or the other. A bonus is that this is not a fly tying only DVD but it also contains footage of the all 3 fishing with their flies as well as underwater impressions of the flies tied. There are also guest appearances of Rob Worthing and Erik Ostrander of TenkaraGuides.com and tenkara angler Dennis Galyardt.

The production value is very high, I don't think I have seen another fly fishing/tying DVD of similar quality. Whether you are a tenkara newbie or a seasoned pro, this DVD is a must have for your personal tenkara library. I am looking forward to see what Volume 2 will feature!

This DVD is a 'must have' for your personal tenkara and fly fishing/fly tying library. It is available for purchase for around $25 at LearnTenkara, Tenkarabum and TenkaraUSA.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with LeanTenkara or its staff (Brian Flemming and Ashley Valentine) nor did I receive any compensation to review the DVD Tying Tenkara Flies Volume 1. However, I received the DVD free of charge as part of a press kit for review.

RMNP North Inlet Creek 2012 08 26

2012-08-28T21:34:00.001-06:00

This last Sunday, I finally made it over to the West side of Rocky Mountain National Park. I set my eye on catching a few Colorado River Cutts and I read that North Inlet Creek above the Cascade Falls would be a good bet.

I headed up there with Jason Klass of TenkaraTalk and Joe Egry of Dragon Flyfishing early Sunday morning but it was a bit farther than anticipated, so we didn't get to the trailhead until after 8am. Thank god there was still space in the parking lot, I would hate to have to change fishing plans just because we got late to a full trailhead parking lot.

Cascade Falls are about 2.3miles from the trailhead and for some of us, it was torture not to start fishing when we first saw the creek down in the meadow. I was somehow able to talk everybody into continuing heading further up the trail and past Cascade Falls but wondered at times how long it will take us to see the creek again. Especially one of my fellow anglers was getting increasingly inpatient and frustrated.

That being said, once we got to the Cascade Falls I was pleasantly surprised of the awesome pocket water.

Jason (downstream) and Joe working their pools

Joe

keeping the profile low...

Jason with his signature hat and - shocker! - a fishing vest!

Once I started fishing, I quickly got into a number of brook trout that took my sakasa kebari. I even think that I probably had a Colorado Cutty on but lost it - a yellow instead of a white and orange belly is what I think I saw. The brook trout up there were just gorgeous, little jewels of white, orange, green, red and blue.

those colors are just stunning

Just a little upstream of Cascade Falls the valley widened and we found ourselves suddenly in a combo of meadow and forest with a low gradient and slow water.

You probably guessed it already, but the day yielded "only" brook trout, no Colorado Cutties. I guess next time, we will have to venture even further upstream, get up earlier and maybe even camp out overnight.

One of the highlights of the day was our hike out where we encountered 5 (!) moose, two of them only maybe 30ft off the trail. Those guys were sure impressive and we made sure not to disturb them.

Fall is approaching...

Days on the water: 26

Colorado Back Country, August 12, 2012

2012-08-19T17:12:00.000-06:00

I knew I was in for a treat. Paul Vertrees of Tenkara Tracks, and avid backpacker, tenkara fisher and tenkara guide for Rigs Fly Shop invited me to fish a little creek in the back country of Colorado. I knew Paul from online forums and Facebook's Colorado Tenkara Anglers and we finally met in person at the Tenkara Summit in Utah a few weeks ago (right, we both traveled all the way to Utah to meet even though we live only 2h away from each other). We hit it off pretty good and made plans to get out.

The creek starts off as just a muddy ditch, not a place you would expect trout to thrive.

the muddy ditch

But just about 100 yards down the trail, there are some springs that feed the creek and transform it into a small bubbling current, creating a little green oasis in the arid high country.

this is where the springs transform the ditch into a creek

as it tumbled down through the rocks, it creates pools with cold water and provides habitat for trout

We hike further downstream and the creek meets the valley and creates even more habitat for trout.

We continue to hike down the valley for another 2 miles or so, have a rest, snack and start fishing our way back up. The fish were pretty spooky due the crystal clear and low water, so we had to bring on our best game in sneaking up on them. I started fishing with a sakasa kebari and got immediately a few hits with a nice sized brown trout taking my fly as it drifted along the undercut bank. I lost track of how many trout I hooked or landed, but we had continuous action for the entire day.

one of the many fine brown trout

Paul in action

focus...

reward! this was the finest trout of the day with some gorgeous big black spots

Even though I started out with a sakasa kebari, I switched to a little hopper. It was just too much fun not to experience how those trout thrashed the hopper.

hopper victim

On our way out, we run into a herd of bighorn sheep that were completely unfazed by our presence. How cool is that?

This was an epic day of fishing, the trout were cooperative, the weather was perfect and the company was great. What a contrast to fishing RMNP the day before. I am truly blessed to live in this beautiful part of this country. Thank you Paul for sharing such a beautiful place with me.

Oh, I almost forgot. Don't ask me which creek it is or where it is, I can't tell.

Days on the water: 24

RMNP Wild Basin, August 11, 2012

2012-08-14T21:30:00.000-06:00

After a busy work week in NYC, I was looking forward to spend some fishing time in Rocky Mountain National Park with my buddy Graham Moran of Tenkara Grasshopper. We had initially plans to hit the West side of the park but my plane from NYC was delayed a few hours and I didn't get home until very late on Friday and had no time to do some research there. So Graham and I decided to hit Wild Basin since I know the area already fairly well.

I brought a new rod back home from NYC that I acquired from Chris Stewart, the TenkaraBum. A soft action zoom rod, the Daiwa Sagiri 39MC that zooms from 11.5" to 13" and weighs a whopping 2.0oz as per Chris' website. I fished this rod back in Utah before the Summit and knew I wanted one. Last week Chris got another shipment and I had one put aside for me. Although I thought that 11.5" might be a bit long in that section of the park, I had to fish it. And it worked remarkably well until we headed way further upstream where I had to get the Daiwa Soyokaze 27SR (9ft) out of my backpack.

Fishing (and catching was great) although it started a bit slow until it got a big warmer and fish became more active. As expected, most fish we caught were brookies with a few browns, a rainbow and a few greebacks in the mix. So we had a Colorado Grandslam combining our catch (I missed the rainbow and Graham missed a greenback).

The weather was a bit cool for the season, with a few showers in the morning but warming up to mid 70ies late afternoon.

first fish of the day - a typical brookie up there

a nice surprise, a good sized brown trout

Graham getting into position with tourists checking out the falls

nice water on the lower section

Graham sneaking up on some fish from behind a big rock

further upstream - perfect for the short 9' Daiwa Soyokaze

chunkie

it's getting tighter

nice greenback to close out the day

snowshoe rabbit

Days on the water: 23

Utah Trip 2012 - Part 1 - Before the Summit

2012-08-05T21:47:00.000-06:00

Wow, what a busy week that was! I got to fish quite a bit and met some cool peeps from the tenkara community. Let's start at the beginning:

Day 1 - Tuesday July 24th - Denver to Meeker
Take-off after work, drive half-way from Denver to Park City where I was staying. Half-way point: Meeker, Co. The drive was noteworthy, with temperature ranging from 95F in Denver to 55F just on the other side of the Continental Divide with a crazy downpour that made driving downhill from Eisenhower Tunnel more like sledding. Aquaplaning is the word. Crazy. The Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon looked still impressive but man it is low. A lot of water is being missed downstream. Driving from Rifle to Meeker made me feel like a lonesome cowboy. No traffic, the road to myself, impressive landscape. Oh, and some really bad Mexican food in Meeker. Bland would have been very tasty.

Day 2 - Wednesday July 25th - Meeker to Park City, fishing the Provo River (middle)
Highway 64 to 40, following the White River downstream. Surprised I am allowed to do 65mph on that type of road but hey... this way I will get there quicker. Dinosaurs! Yes, dinosaur status everywhere in the city of Dinosaur. Even at the intersection with 40 and the school playground. Guess the big attraction around is... Dinosaur National Monument. Cool landscape. Still feeling like a cowboy, maybe even more so than the day before. Now I am in Utah and feel like I am almost there. Well, just a few more hours. Passing some interesting water, including Strawberry Reservoir. Man, that looks fishy. One more hill and Heber Valley is in reach. The Provo flows through Heber... I think I will fish the Middle Provo before calling it a day. When I got to the Bunny Ranch, there were a few cars and a couple guys calling it a day saying the fishing is tough, one a fish or two to hand. One was complaining about the flows and saying he's heading up to the Weber. The other was actually handing me some flies that should work. Beaded San Juan Worms... I am polite and say thank you and put them in a box with "retired" flies. I gear up and head to the river and hes, it's flowing high. But hey, I fished it before with my 9ft 5wt before and the flows were even higher back then and did ok. Well, half an hour into it I had already 5 brown trout. Dinks, around 5" to 7", but all caught on a sakasa kebari. Knowing how to and where to fish high water is key, focus on the edge and slower water. Best trout was around 13" to 14", a bit longer than the handle on my Ito. 18 fish to hand when I was wrapping up around 4.30pm. I forgot how windy it gets on that river in the afternoons. Packing up and driving the remaining few miles to Park City and chill.

Middle Provo River around the "Bunny Farm"

First Utah trout of the trip

one of many dinks I caught on the Provo

nice Provo chunk - turns out to be the biggest trout of the trip

Day 3 - Thursday July 26th - Fishing with BC of Tenkara Elevated
I met up in the morning with BC in Provo and headed to some "undisclosed" creeks, a request of BC that I honor. The first two creeks yielded only one fish since they were running pretty "off-color". Then we headed a bit south and hit a tenkara perfect little creek with very willing rainbow trout. 'Nough said.

Chocolate Milk Trout

the harder they are to catch the prettier they are

BC of Tenkara Elevated

Small Creek Fishing

BC working it

Day 4 - Friday July 27th - Fishing with Anthony Naples of Casting Around and hiss friend Jeff, Paul Gibson of Tenkara-Fishing.com and Chris Stewart, the TenkaraBum.
Friday started out early and with an interesting drive from Park City to Spruce Campground in the Big Cottonwood Canyon over the mountain instead around it (via SLC). This road, which I knew was unpaved, turned out to be probably the worst road I personally drove a vehicle (there was one road that was even worse in New Zealand but I was a passenger only). Anyway, the highlight of this short drive that I spotted a mother moose next to the road and a calf right on the road. I never came so close to a moose before. Pretty cool. Anyway, at the campground we all met and decided to head over to the Little Cottonwood which was the bigger and supposedly easier water to fish. It turned out this was true, the water was rushing, gin clear and strewn with nice big boulders. Fishing was a bit challenging; I started out fishing downstream but I didn't start catching fish until I decided to fish upstream (gin clear water, remember?). I quickly got 2 brookies and a rainbow out of the same pocket water and was able to pick a fish here and here going forward. Fishing wasn't fast but very satisfactory.

Little Cottonwood - fast super clear water with lots of pocket water

One of the "more open" sections of Little Cottonwood

high gradient creek- tenkara!

Chris Stewart, the TenkaraBum

first fish on Little Cottonwood - a healthy brook trough with shoulders

nice rainbow trout on Little Cottonwood

another nice brookie

Anthony Naples of Casting Around

Anthony Naples

Chris working promising water

When we were sort of done and ready for a break, Chris and I were a bit in a pickle, we couldn't really move back or forward and the only way out was through some very thick brush (turned out that there was also some poison ivy...) and it took us a while and some sweat and strong words to get back to the trail. Anthony met us on the trail, he was smart enough to get off the river sooner that we did. The three of us hiked back to the cars on that trail which was closely guarded by a rattle snake that gave us a nice friendly rattle while we made our way past it (Anthony had the pleasure the walk by it for a third time and point it out to us ahead of time so that we were prepared). Back at the cars, Paul shared a funny story about cops, a sword yielding wanna be samurai and some Japanese tenkara anglers further upstream... some teasing was in order later that evening!

Since Jeff, Anthony's friend had a little accident and got his leg pretty bruised, he and Anthony decided to call it a day. Chris, Paul and I jumped in our cars and headed back to the Big Cottonwood and give it a try. The water was definitively smaller and brushier. Again, it took me a bit to adapt but soon I got into some smaller brown trout with a nice one to close out this day's fishing.

Big Cottonwood - looks nice, doesn't it?

still nice, but increasingly challenging

reward after some stealthy fishing

Friday evening I headed back to SLC for a small get-together with Daniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA, the TenkaraGuides, the Japanese guests and a few new friends for drinks and dinner.

Part 2 - The Summit will follow later this week, I am heading to NYC for business.

Tight Lines, -K

off to the Summit!

2012-07-24T09:55:00.003-06:00

I am off to the Tenkara Summit tonight, hope to see you there! I will be wearing a Tenkara on the Fly T-Shirt so say hello when you see me.

the Tenkara Summit is near ....

2012-07-21T00:00:00.001-06:00

I will be heading West next week, fishing some Utah creeks and attending the 2nd Tenkara Summit. In anticipation, I have spent some time at the vise, stocking-up my fly box to ensure I am not running out of sakasa kebaris.

I thought I would share some of my creations with you.

Are you coming to the Tenkara Summit? If so, I would love to meet you.

Cheers, -K

Boulder Creek on Bastille Day

2012-07-19T22:09:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday I finally had the opportunity to fish Bear Creek, a place I wanted to fish since moving here but always passed on the opportunity either fishing closer to home or driving for another half hour to RMNP.

I invited Jason Klass to join me and we hit the river first thing in the morning, driving up the canyon and up to the town of Netherland. There we fished the inlet, hoping for that some rumors I have heard were true - grayling above Barker. Well, I didn't catch any, didn't see any but the brook trout were pretty eager and made up for the lack of grayling.

Jason Klass with what I think was a rainbow

Both Jason and I did ok in the in-let and then moved back downstream toward Boulder, stopping here and there pulling over, fishing and moving on downstream. The water downstream of the dam was a bit off-color and the flow was good, almost a bit too much water for this high gradient section of creek. There was quite a bit of white water and our fishing was mainly focused on the area of water adjacent to the main current (see Jason's blog post here on trout hangouts). Yes, the trout hangout there and you can get them with traditional sakasa kebaris!

yours truly with a brookie

a brown trout fond of a sakasa kebari

Boulder Creek

I guess use any means to get into the right position...

... right?

Although the morning was nice and cool, it was one of those days that had a high in the 90ies so we called it a day around noon.

I am glad I finally paid Boulder Creek a visit. I know it will not be the last one.

Tight Lines, -K

River Statistics:
Weather: sunny, light breeze
Air Temp: 60ies in the morning, 80ies by noon

Water Temp: ok to wet wade for a bit
Flow: n/a
Day on the water in 2012: 15
Fish landed: 1 rainbow, 6 brook trout and 11 brown trout
Equipment: TenkaraUSA Ebisu, Tenkarabum hi-vis level no. 3, various sakasa kebaris

RMNP 2012 07 03

2012-07-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

This was the day I was finally able to get back to my favorite creek in RMNP's Wild Basin. I was waiting for this day more than 6 months... Don't get me wrong, the two previous Sunday's family trips to the Alluvial Falls were great and the 2nd time around, I was able to catch 8 or 9 greenback cutthroat and a brookie (!) in less than an hour, in the midst of tourists. My friend overheard a woman say "... there are no fish in that trickle..." just when I hooked one of those wild colorful jewels. But Wild Basin is my personal fly fishing heaven.

I hoped all day for a Colorado Grand Slam and the first fish of the day was a brown trout so I got all hopeful, but alas, I only got two shots at a rainbow trout and both times the strike was too short.

the first trout of the day, a brown trout...

... came from the the calm water on the far left.

Moving upstream, I hopped from pool to pool, trying to find water I could get into and fish - the water was a bit high at 80cfs and ripping particularly in the steeper sections. I sure was glad I had my wading staff with my that day. I caught brookies left and right, upstream and downstream. It felt like they were hitting anything that looked like food. I caught so many brookies (I really wanted to catch more greenback cutts) that anytime a brookie took the fly I was a bit disappointed. But by the end of the day I got two greenback cutts and I was a happy camper.

brookie - underwatershot (I need more practice!)

first greenback

brookie chunk

brookie with orange butt sakasa kebari

greenback no. 2

Overall a great day, lots of willing fish, no other fisherman on the river, what do you need more?

I got home tired but very happy! Can't wait to get back up there soon!

River Statistics:
Weather: sunny, very light breeze, afternoon thunderstorm
Air Temp: 58F @8.30am, high 79F, 67F@5pm

Water Temp: cold!
Flow: around 80cfs
Day on the water in 2012: 14
Fish landed: 1 brown trout, 2 greenback cutts and 52 brook trout
Equipment: Daiwa Soyakaze 31SR, TenkaraUSA old geen fc level #3.5 9.5" with 6" amnesia, various sakasa kebaris only (no nymphs or dry flies!)

Some shots of the creek:

I am still here..

2012-06-24T21:20:00.003-06:00

Life has been crazy with work and family schedules and I haven't been able to get out much (actually, not at all) since sometime in May. Hence the absence from the blog, but today I was only able to wet a line for about half an hour during a day trip to RMNP with my family.

We hit the Alluvial Fan area like most visitors, and while my daughter was delighted to be able to play a bit in the ice cold water, I was able to cast to some pocket water (for you concerned parents, my wife was watching our daughter while I was fishing) between the bridge and the falls.

I fished with a black Ishigaki Kebari that somewhat had the body shape of an ant and that was all the resident Greenback Cutthroats needed. I quickly got some hits, landed 4 and missed at least as many. The fly got chewed up badly, I tried to save it with a few hitch knots with the thread around the hook bend but the fish didn't seem to notice.

This was a much needed "quickie" and reinforcement of my plans to get back to RMNP as soon as my crazy work and family schedules will allow it.

Until then, tight lines.

ain't she pretty?

Days on water: 12

Switzerland!

2012-05-25T15:05:00.000-06:00

I will be heading home to the old country for 10 days to visit family but will of course bring my 12 ft Iwana with me. Who knows, maybe I can harrass some fish while I am there. Would be interesting to see my old fishing holes where I spent hours and days fishing as a kid.

Anybody out there in Switzerland who follows this blog and has some advice?

See you later, -K

A new rod, net and some old and new friends

2012-05-21T21:42:00.001-06:00

Anybody who knows me knows that I am not really fond of the city. New York City that is. I lived in and around New York City for 8 years and that was enough. There is a reason why we moved to Denver after all.

That being said, business trips bring me back to the city once every few months and one of the things I do without missing when I am in NYC is meeting up with Chris Stewart, the Tenkarabum, for drinks and burgers, sometimes even for some fishing time.

Last week was no exception I had a great time catching up with Chris and talk Tenkara. One of the fun things when hanging out with Chris is getting some inside as to what new stuff is to come, see it or borrow it for some testing. This time was no exception.

First, I picked-up my new Daiwa Soyokaze 31SR. This is one of the tanago rods Chris is selling, but at 10'2" it is the longest "tanago" rod and, to me, really a nifty and fun small stream tenkara rod. If you are a reader of this blog, you might remember I fished earlier this year the 9' long Daiwa Soyokaze 27SR. The 27SR at 9' left me wanting another foot back then, so I wanted to get the longer version. Funny how things go, yesterday, when fishing the 31SR, I at times wished I had the shorter rod. But the 31SR was really just the ticket yesterday, handling fish up to 11" or 12" just beautifully. While it has a soft tip, it also has quite some backbone that lets you handle fish of good size. This will become my small stream rod when the 12' or even 11' Iwana is too long and the 9'4" Iwana is too short.

Next, I was able to borrow a new net for testing, the Daiwa One Touch Keiru Damo 25. This is a collapsible that fits a pouch attached to your belt. I had a few blog posts complaining about forgetting my tamos at home and Chris suggested I try the One Touch that is small and can stay in the car, bag or attached to my wading belt. The One Touch 25 has a diameter of 25cm (apx. 10") and a very deep bag and will hold large fish without any issues. Some of the fish I caught sort of "disappeared" in the net which leaves me to think that a 16" trout or even bigger won't be a problem. There is also a bigger net, the One Touch 30 with a 30cm (apx. 12") diameter frame. When you are ready to land a fish, you simple get the net out of the pouch (secured with velcro), shake the handle and the net opens pops up. This is a net for the minimalist who wants to have the net out of the way and off his/her back.

Lastly, I got one of the new hand-tied bi-visible fc lines for the Daiwa Soyokaze 31SR. If you have been interested in level lines, you know that Chris had some outstanding and visible level lines in hi-vis orange. Well, those lines are being discontinued and Chris had to come up with something new filling the void. Chris found a new chartreuse hi-vis line and has begun thing lines using both the "old" orange and the "new" chartreuse lines. This way, you have a line that is visible in all conditions. If you have been using level lines, you might have noticed that in certain conditions hi-vis yellow is more visible and in some conditions hi-vis orange. This line is both and enables you to track it during any light conditions and backgrounds. I fished with this line yesterday and couldn't have been hap. pier.

And yes, I had a great time fishing yesterday on Bear Creek. I landed 18 trout, all bronws, one nice rainbow got away while I was about to net it. I started out fishing with a CDC & Elk and got my fill, later in the day I switched to an Ishigaki Kebari and continued to catch fish, twitching and pulsating it in pocket water. Caddis where out at first and were then later joined by some Mayflies. Oh, and I ran into another fellow tenkara angler and blogger, Kevin Fricke of Tenkara Rising. He seems to have been quite successful on his own yesterday. I only known about Kevin from Facebook's Colorado Tenkara Anglers and was glad to finally put a face to a name.

River Statistics:
Weather: nice & sunny, little wind
Air Temp: low 50ies @10.30am, high 60ies/low 70ies @ 4.30pm
Water Temp: n/a
Flow: 23cfs, a bit off color from heavy rains the prior day
Day on the water in 2012: 10
Fish: 20 hooked, landed 18
Equipment: Daiwa Soyakaze 31SR, Tenkarabum new bi-visible hand-tied line 10'2"

South Platte Ponds May 6, 2012

2012-05-06T17:12:00.002-06:00

Today I found a window a few hours to hit the water so headed for once to the South Platte Ponds off 470 for some warm water fishing. Still water is not really my cup of tea with tenkara, I prefer running water. But if you never try it or give it a chance, you never know what you'll miss.

I hoped to get into some panfish like blue gills, crappies etc. and maybe into a smallmouth bass (the ponds have supposedly a very healthy smallmouth bass population). I started with one of the small hidden ponds where I saw some largemouth bass cruising. I started casting to them but I guess they knew I was up to no good. I didn't give up and had one take, probably just being annoyed, my black wooly bugger. A few seconds into the fight one of the new knots I tried broke. Bye bye bugger. I retied and went with a small size 14 beadhead chain marabou damsel (purple) harassing the same bass. Sure enough, he took that bitty fly and the game was on. The Ito was bent and the line sang under the strain and pull of the fish but eventually I could tire the fish somewhat and land it. It was a nice fatty, 16" as per my measure net and my first "nice" bass caught with a tenkara rod:

The rest of the morning was less than spectacular. I had two good sized smallmouth bass flash on my bitty fly and then during the last half hour was I able to find some panfish and land those two guys:

Heading back to the car, I knew I would probably run into my friend Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk who let me know that he would probably head to the ponds about the time I was leaving. Sure enough I found him but I couldn't believe my eyes.

Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk...

what the heck?

I guess desperate times ask for desperate measures. Hope you had more luck than I did, buddy.

Statistics:
Weather: overcast with sun, some wind
Air Temp: 36F @8.30am, 58F @noon
Water Temp: n/a
Flow: n/a
Day on the water in 2012: 9
Fish: 4 hooked, landed 3
Equipment: TenkaraUSA Ito, yellow level line no. 3