What is a Tenkara Fly?

[custheyder]

When people think of a traditional Tenkara fly I believe they think of Sakasa Kebari, the reverse hackle flies with a loop instead of an eye.

Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka, has collected and cataloged flies used for Tenkara fishing and there is a surprising variation.

Soft hackle, stiff hackle, long hackle and short hackle, thick body, thin body, forward facing hackle and reverse "normal" hackle.

They are all used in combination on hooks of many shapes and sizes. With eyes and without. However, in my research I've not seen any that incorporate weight into the tying,

From the pictures I've seen they remind me of many western patterns that we would classify as wet flies, dry flies and dibblers.

There is a distinct lack of nymphs and certainly no beads that I have come across so far. Has anyone else seen them appear?

With the similarities between patterns I again wonder if the fly is all that important to Tenkara and perhaps technique, stealth and river craft define what Tenkara actually is.

Fishing a single unweighted fly on a cast into the places we believe the fish to lie and manipulating the fly to induce a take.

Those are my thoughts, so what are yours on just what a Tenkara fly actually is?

[JP]

My research into tenkara for a forthcoming DVD with Dr Paul Gaskell (Paul G on this forum) has been quite extensive but probably far from exhaustive.

I have found information alluding to the use of weighted flies in Yamagata Prefecture where lead shot is placed on the bend of the hook behind the dressing. I would imagine this is quite versatile as it could be added or removed without the need to change fly.

Single flies have not always been the norm for every region either. In some of the northern regions of Japan as many as 5 flies have been used (with a float no less!)

Some historic techniques exemplify the commercial fishing heritage of tenkara. One regional technique involves using a bare hook on a dropper level with the fly to foul hook the fish if it misses the fly and additionally to double hook the fish and spread the load on the delicate silk tippet.

Paul and I are currently in the process of compiling our research into digestible bites for release on our (yet to be unveiled) website.

I'm still a little hesitant to give a definition as to what a tenkara fly is. I think the simplicity of the flies and the use of natural materials is more a product of tenkara's peasant origins than a conscious decision on the part of early tenkara practitioners to adhere to some self imposed aesthetic principle.

JP.

[custheyder]

Very interesting... so basically .. anything goes? Just goes to show there is so much more to learn out there. I know my research is far from extensive and here we have JP adding even more to the mix.

I'm sure that there is cross pollination between the different fishing styles in Japan as there has been here in the west. Some of what you are describing seems similar to the rigs I have come across for Ayu fishing where the use of floats and indicators is very common practice. The foul hooking of the attacking Ayu is the expected norm.

Commercial fishing will always stretch the "ethics" of any recreational angler I think.

[Paul G]

There certainly seem to be quite a variety- both of styles of presentation as well as fly designs - that appear to vary on a geographic basis.

The interesting thing for me is that we only have the surviving results of what was probably quite an ancient developmental tradition. Much of what JP and I have turned up has been written since the 1960s in an effort to document the various modern "endpoints" of different developmental strands - or to describe historic tackle and "known" traditional techniques.

The fascinating (and tantalising) situation is that the vast majority of the history of what is now called Tenkara would have been lived and passed on by people who lived in isolated communities and who could not read or write (nor had any need to do so). In that sense (as with all oral traditions), a lot of it will be a total black box and we will never know.

It turns out that there aren't many thousand year old blogs on Tenkara ;D

[cm_stewart]

Jul 8, 2012 12:27:54 GMT JP said:

I have found information alluding to the use of weighted flies...

Single flies have not always been the norm for every region either. In some of the northern regions of Japan as many as 5 flies have been used (with a float no less!)

I have seen references to the same techniques.

When I posed the question to a Japanese tenkara angler he said "Yes, but that wasn't tenkara."

[JP]

Hi Chris,

I’d agree that the multi fly setup doesn’t fit into the modern description of tenkara but in exploring the history of tenkara and its rural peasant origins we can’t overlook these related regional techniques; to do so would be to view tenkara in a vacuum.

I think you’ll always be able to find someone to tell you what something is not. Just think how many “big” names in fly fishing you could quote as saying “method X is not real fly fishing”.

I think tenkara as we’re seeing it now is a fairly recent recreational/sporting phenomenon evolved from a number of regional commercial fish harvesting practices. It’s amusing how anglers can be dogmatic about some aspects such as rod length and un-weighted flies but happily embrace carbon fibre rods and level fluorocarbon lines.

I often wonder what an ancient Japanese tenkara angler would have made of my local streams here in the UK (and indeed your streams in the USA). Those guys were all about fishing to survive. Maybe there’s a case to be argued for the “spirit of tenkara” where we use the most simple and effective method/fly for our own streams; after all that’s what the original tenkara masters were doing.

[cm_stewart]

jp,

I agree with you completely. I had posed the question to him suggesting that at one time tenkara had included multiple flies and weighted flies. His reply to me suggested that tenkara has been defined so rigidly in Japan that any fishing method that uses multiple flies or weighted flies BY DEFINITION cannot be tenkara (even if it is one of the various simlar methods from which modern tenkara eventually evolved).

In that sense, their definition of tenkara is analogous to anglers in the US and UK who claim that tenkara is not fly fishing because it doesn't use a reel, suggesting that what Dame Juliana and Charles Cotton did was a pregenitor of fly fishing, but was not fly fishing.

As you have said, there is little in the written record about what equipment and methods were used, and nothing at all about the mindset and motivations. I strongly suspect that the "spirit of tenkara" was very much the same spirit that motivated James Baillie or David Webster - using effective equipment that they could either make themselves or acquire cheaply and maintain themselves, and using efficient fishing methods that allowed them to catch as many fish as possible.

As you say, there is no written record explaining how or why multiple flies and weighted flies gave way to a single unweighted fly.

And while I can accept a rigid definition of what is and what is not tenkara, much of my fishing is not then tenkara. I see no reason to bind myself by such a narrow definition. For example, not long after getting a tenkara rod I stopped fishing heavy beadhead flies - because the rod wasn't well suited for it, not because it wasn't pure tenkara. I now have a rod that does it very nicely and I am back with my beadheads. It has nothing to do with the definition and everything to do with what works well.

[Paul G]

Something that seems quite a cool idea to me is to perhaps take a straw poll of what board members' "Individual Tenkara" is.

For me, my Tenkara is an attempt to concentrate on what manipulations with rod and line that I can apply to as small a collection of fly dressings as possible. In this way, I am trying to major on changing my manipulations to achieve a particular effect, rather than changing flies to the same end.

In other words, the flies are designed to respond to particular manipulations in ways that produce a broad range of "triggers to predation" (rather than dressing lots of different flies that separately incorporate these triggers in a wide range of individual patterns).

Where I find it possible to draw fish up to an unweighted fly I try to do that - rather than performing lots of changes of weighted patterns in order to fish at the same depth as the fish.

I do fish with weighted patterns when the situation requires it though! I only fish one fly on the leader.

At the moment I have got my trout fishing (spring through to autumn/fall) down to three patterns for my local rivers:
An olive quill sakasa and a cream sakasa with a dark brown thorax (very simple patterns of my design).

I also use a black sakasa (that can either be unweighted or incorporates a silver tungsten bead at the head) designed by JP that (annoyingly! I have not been able to improve upon!!

So - to stay roughly on topic; I guess some parts of my definition of "What a Tenkara fly?" are that it should be simple and it should respond well to a variety of manipulations so as to cover several imitative scenarios. As a consequence, your "Tenkara flies" ought to allow you to cover the functions of a number of existing flies with a smaller collection of patterns.

I'm really interested in other people's take on their own approaches...

[Deleted]

As a novice practitioner with a keen interest in all things tenkara, I think my endeavours could be classified as being within the "sprit of tenkara", as JP so aptly puts it. However, I like the simplicity and the principal of the one fly approach, focusing the mind to concentrate on developing and improving one's ability to control and manipulate a single kebari type in order to induce a take. For me this concept sits well with the whole philosophy of what I perceive as tenkara fishing and, I believe, with the Japanese philosophy that the way towards mastery is to work towards simplicity, replacing complexity with knowledge and skill. However, from my limited experiences so far, .......... easier said than done!

Reading through Yoshikazu Fujioka's website, "My Best Streams", it becomes clear that, given the topography of the areas involved in Japan, the commercial tenkara fishermen of the day were working completely autonomously in isolated pockets of the country, focusing their efforts on the most efficient working practices for them in relation to the conditions and circumstances of the streams they regularly fished within their area or prefecture. As a result of this we know now, thanks to Fujioka san, that many different and varied kebari patterns evolved, in most cases quite independently of each other, each being developed within the perspective of time served local tradition and knowledge in order to produce the best results for the user.

As already intimated, my objective is to work towards the classicist approach and its associated principals, however, at the risk of contradicting myself and having been weaned on the idea of 'matching the hatch', kick sampling and the two or three fly box approach etcetera etcetera, I see this initiative as quite a challenge and can't help thinking that if current day infrastructure, both in terms of transportation and telecommunications had been available to the tenkara fishermen of the day, cross-referencing may have produced a slightly more liberal approach towards the use of kebari patterns and the practice of tenkara fishing as we understand it today.

[gary]

An american seller on Ebay has quite a nice account of his experience on the listing:

6 Crimson Sulphur Partridge Reverse Hackle Sakasa Kebari Tenkara Wet Trout Flies #14

This lot includes 6 reverse hackle Crimson Sulphur Partridge trout flies. The hook size for these flies is 14. These reverse hackle flies are tied using the best hooks, thread, dubbing and feathers that are available. They are tied by trout fishermen right here in the mountains of western Montana and tested on some of the purest mountain streams in the country. Pictured along with the flies are a few trout caught with reverse hackle partridge flies, just recently, right here on Rock Creek or on the Clark Fork of the Columbia River.

I have fished for trout in these mountain streams with hundreds of different styles of dry and wet flies, some with better success than others. I swap up flies often, even when catching fish easily with a certain pattern, sometimes just to experiment or try something new. On a bad day, when it seems nothing I throw out onto the water causes any interest, the fly of my last resort is always the reverse hackle fly tied in this style. When fishing up on small side streams and channels where casting with a conventional fly rod would result in more tangles than successful casts, I use a 12 foot tenkara rod and almost exclusively the reverse hackle fly. These are usually my most enjoyable and successful days on the water.

The reverse hackle fly, when tied and presented correctly, is probably one of the most effective fishing wet flies ever devised to consistently catch trout. These are the flies of antiquity, with documented references to this type of fly dating back over 440 years in the Po Valley of northern Italy and over 130 years in the mountain regions of Japan. It is thought by many that this type of fishing may have been in widespread use in Europe and Asia for many hundreds of years or longer prior. Fishing with this type of fly is historically done with a long rod, horse hair line and no reel.

In modern times the flies are still fished in similar ways in Northern Italy and in Japan, but using these effective flies with modern conventional fly rods is a very easy step. The flies are not usually fished as one would fish with many wet flies, such as dragging the fly across the current or nymphing with split shot and an indicator. The most effective way to fish this type of fly is very similar to fishing North Country soft hackle flies. The flies are cast quartered upstream and allowed to drift with the current without drag until the end of the run. In mild current the fly can be manipulated and allowed to drag at the end of the drift. In swifter currents where the force of the water would merely pull the hackles back along the shank of the hook, the fly is simply is re-cast before it begins to drag, much in the same way as when a dry fly is on the end of the leader.

The difference between this type fly and the North Country cousin is that the hackle is tied curved forward instead of toward the rear of the hook. This provides an added degree of spring in the action of the hackle barbs. The fly can now be manipulated while in the drift by gently pulsing the tip of the rod. Think inches. This action brings the fly to life, becoming quite often irresistible to any trout within seeing distance.

The listing, if you want to see the photos:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Crimson-Sulphur-Partridge-Reverse-Hackle-Sakasa-Kebari-Tenkara-Wet-Flies-14-/140872224334?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20cca38e4e

Tight lines

Gary

[cm_stewart]

Jul 8, 2012 11:50:27 GMT custheyder said:

There is a distinct lack of nymphs and certainly no beads that I have come across so far. Has anyone else seen them appear?

I would highly recommend a daily look at the yoshidakebari.jugem.jp/ blog. Unfortunately only in Japanese, although Yoshida-san speaks English so I suppose you could make comments and ask questions. Google translate will mangle his comments, but you can get an idea of what he is writing about.

You will see an amazing variety of flies, many with beadheads. The purists will sniff that they aren't "traditional" but they are clearly tenkara flies in that he intends them for and uses them for tenkara fishing. He is also a tenkara instructor. The more you poke around Japanese sites the more you realize tenkara in Japan is not nearly as monolithic as many think.

[Deleted]

For me Tenkara is about presentation and simplicity.
As i am now fishing for grayling i am using hares ear types with beads as my single fly type with some success.
"Strictly Tenkara" does not allow for UK fishing seasons .....

[Deleted]

Perhaps they should just be simply "Japanese pattern flies". They do work fantastic with western fly rods and methods. They work on multiple species of fish, not just trout and the same is also true of western pattern flies, they work great with tenkara rods, they work on multiple species of fish.

Here in the USA, these circular discussions seem to just faction people into camps and ultimately lead nowhere. There are serious divisions happening here and it sucks. These divisions are driven by manufacturers worried about market share and overly zealous keyboard whackers that spend more time typing about tenkara than actually fishing, learning, and experimenting.

As a professional tenkara guide, I teach traditional tenkara methods and also hybrid methods to my clients. There is no wrong way to fish with tenkara rods, flies, or techniques. Just go fish.

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2012 19:08:09 GMT @johnnyv145 said:

There is no wrong way to fish with tenkara rods, flies, or techniques. Just go fish.

Totaly agree, especially about the keyboard wackers ...lol .... in St Neots this morning for a meeting ...managed an hour on the river ...under a road bridge, along side the Housing Assocation car park, then off to work ... makes it all worth while ....
Just Go Fish !
Says it all !!!!

[gary]

Oct 26, 2012 22:20:02 GMT @landsurfer said:

Oct 26, 2012 19:08:09 GMT @johnnyv145 said:

There is no wrong way to fish with tenkara rods, flies, or techniques. Just go fish.

in St Neots this morning for a meeting ...managed an hour on the river ...under a road bridge Just Go Fish !
Says it all !!!!

St Neots is only about half an hour away from me Landsurfer! Fancy a cast?