Tenkara dry fly fishing query

[knacker]

Hi all, new to tenkara but mainly been fishing with dry flies and nymphs, haven't tried traditional kebari flies yet.

When fishing with dries I'm tending to land my tippet on the water and then I pick up the level line for the drift, trouble is that I know that my tippet is on the surface and I'm conscious that its affecting my presentation.

Am I better off trying to land the fly with no tippet on the water?

Any tips or info appreciated.

Rich

[Paul G]

If and when at all possible - yes; this is a major advantage of tenkara and other related styles of presentation. Myself and my partner in crime (JP) concentrate a lot on teaching people how to deliver good "fly first casts". We have noted around an 8-fold difference in catch rates between landing some line and tippet on the water (then picking it up) compared to landing just the fly on the water in good fishing position and holding the casting line aloft. The 8 x difference is in favour of the latter approach by the way.

Learning to do this without dragging the fly unintentionally is another area that we spend a lot of time teaching and enjoying.

[chriscreeler]

How is this done? The weight of even a metre of .15mm nylon held off the water at an angle of about 40 degrees will pull a dry fly along the surface a little bit as it settles.

Chris.

[Paul G]

In a vacuum, yes. But not so much on flowing water and with any breeze.

[JP]

Jun 14, 2015 13:31:45 GMT chriscreeler said:

The weight of even a metre of .15mm nylon held off the water at an angle of about 40 degrees will pull a dry fly along the surface a little bit as it settles.

Chris.

This is absolutely true... as Paul says, in a completely static environment i.e. where the water (and air) are not moving.

In a typical on stream scenario the current speed will often cancel out the pull of the line; the aim is to balance the density of line (length and weight) with the speed of flow AND the design of fly/kebari being used.

When it all goes to plan the result is great presentation producing many, many more fish than most other presentation styles.

There are numerous factors which can complicate things, both for better and worse. To give yourself a head start at this I'd recommend the following;
- A fly/kebari pattern that has a good anchoring effect in the water
- As light a line as possible e.g. #2.5 or #3.0 level fluorocarbon
- A rod with good recovery (i.e. no wobble after the casting stroke)
- Plenty of practice casting accurately and landing only the fly
- Plenty of practice managing your drifts so as not to pull the fly along

Try to make your casts finish in the fishing position so you're not having to pick up line when you start the drift after each cast. You miss out on more fish at this point than any other.

Here's a quick video of this type of presentation in action.



For anyone interested the tackle is as follows;
Rod - Oni Type III 3.4m
Line - #3.0 Japanese fluorocarbon
Tippet - 3.8lb Drennan Supplex
Fly - #12 Ishigaki kebari

[knacker]

Thanks for the replies so far. What would you recommend as a starting point for an overall leader and tippet length for a 12' 7:3 rod?

I currently use an 11' level fluorocarbon line #3.5 but will purchase a lighter one too. I'm using the 3.5 with around 6' of tippet material, a length of 6lb mono and 4lb mono joined with a figure eight loop knot to form a taper.

Cheers

Rich

[Paul G]

Hi Rich, you don't need to taper your sections of mono in the 'tippet' section. 3.5 line of the length you mention is fine for getting the party started.

I would suggest going from the end of your casting line to a 3 foot 6 inch or four foot of level tippet of around 4lb. You could go a bit lighter if necessary perhaps 3lb as long as you use modified Palomar knot to attach tippet to casting line and Palomar knot to attach fly.

Knots demo here



and proof Palomar is simple to tie with a little practice

[dbl]

Hhmm! Some of us feel a major sense of achievement getting a 3lb line through a size 14 eye once!

[knacker]

Jun 14, 2015 18:47:17 GMT Paul G said:

Hi Rich, you don't need to taper your sections of mono in the 'tippet' section. 3.5 line of the length you mention is fine for getting the party started.

I would suggest going from the end of your casting line to a 3 foot 6 inch or four foot of level tippet of around 4lb. You could go a bit lighter if necessary perhaps 3lb as long as you use modified Palomar knot to attach tippet to casting line and Palomar knot to attach fly.

Knots demo here



and proof Palomar is simple to tie with a little practice

Hi Paul appreciate the info thank you. Would you recommend the same length tippet for sub surface work also?

[Paul G]

Yes it is a good working length for a lot of conditions.

[springerman]

Paul, JP, Thank you for all those tips.  Good to have a reminder of what I should/could be achieving.  Many others will benefit from your experience.

[chriscreeler]

Thank you John, I'll give it another more extended try and see how I get on. I follow most of your recommendations now but had given up trying to seek perfection!

Chris.

[Paul G]

For the trout - "good enough" is good enough

You can go a long way just by avoiding a few pitfalls.

On the clip below that I've posted before, you can see that the weight of the line (without me moving the rod to "track" the drift appreciably) is enough to take up the slack produced by this particular current flowing towards me without really dragging the fly unnaturally. You can play with this tension by changing where you cast to and how it relates to any breeze - as well as by how you track the movement with the rod tip.