Post by phil on Jun 20, 2012 17:57:18 GMT
Since joining the forum and having my first experience with Tenkara under the expert guidance of Stephen Cheetham of Fishing With Style on the River Wharfe, I have bought myself a 11' Iwana rod from TenkaraUSA, along with some of their Kebari flies and a 10' 6" furled lined.
Itching to get going I took a stroll to the fish pass and deep pools on the River Worth a mere 100m from my front door. The River Worth runs through Keighley and acts as a main tributary to the River Aire. It has cleaned up dramatically in the last decade and carries a healthy stock of wild brown trout and grayling. With a rod licence you can have a day of fantastic fishing for free albeit in an urban setting with plenty of man made detritus to add to the over hanging trees and shrubs with which to snag your line and fly.
However, the wild life is fantastic, with a prolific hatch of small Olives over the last couple of evenings, with an assortment of bird life to add to the incongruous environment.
I fish the deep pool above the weir and fish pass as well as the deep pool immediately below the cascade of the weir. It requires some deft foot work on the large rocks that can at times with the river in spate become treacherous to negotiate. This proves even harder when you factor in a lost right leg and a prosthetic limb instead. Here are a few pictures to give an idea:
The pool above the weir and fish pass.
The weir and deep pool below.
The fish pass and deep pool beyond.
The first evening out on Sunday 17th June, I admit I drew a blank, the shrubbery however, managed to take two flys. I learnt a lot in those short two hours and still enjoyed myself as my casting and presentation of the fly got better.
Out again in the evening on Monday 18th and this time I concentrated on the top pool above the weir. I caught four wild brownies in less than an hour, the largest about 10' the rest around the 6' mark. All lovely fish in great condition. I must apologise I forgot to take my camera along and so you will have to trust me on this report and the christening of my Iwana. Needless to say the 11' Iwana provides the ideal length under these constrained conditions, I only lost one fly this time, and that happened while I released one of the brownies back in the river. A great couple of hours and I feel as though I'm getting a hang of the cast and presenting the fly on the water.
Out today, Wednesday 20th, during the mid-afternoon, this time I fished both above the weir and also below. Three brownies this time, all from the lower pool, casting into the cascade to get the fly deep and then allowing the drift to follow the bubble lines to the tail, and this time I took my camera:
The first fish and a beauty.
Second fish, a very lively one this, hence holding on.
Final fish, a little beauty.
A tremendously satisfying couple of hours.
Now, as to my set up. I ordered some Hi-Vis Orange level line from EsotericTackle, received with thanks by the way and great service, and used a 4m length with 4' of 6X tippet. As to the fly, well, seeing as I had only three small kebari size 16 left, I decided to whip up an original one for myself on a TMC 2499 SPBL hook with grey Uni 6/0 thread and, hang on to your hats folks, in true punk britannia fashion I used what I considered would make a good nymph / caddis, so, a pinch of Berber wool carpet and a pinch of jute rug for the body. Professional fly dressers will no doubt sob at the following picture:
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I call it Jute and Berber.
Well it did the job admirably, but with the third and final fish caught I had to let it go to the river when it too got caught by an underwater snag. Call that a day then.
Tight lines folks.
Itching to get going I took a stroll to the fish pass and deep pools on the River Worth a mere 100m from my front door. The River Worth runs through Keighley and acts as a main tributary to the River Aire. It has cleaned up dramatically in the last decade and carries a healthy stock of wild brown trout and grayling. With a rod licence you can have a day of fantastic fishing for free albeit in an urban setting with plenty of man made detritus to add to the over hanging trees and shrubs with which to snag your line and fly.
However, the wild life is fantastic, with a prolific hatch of small Olives over the last couple of evenings, with an assortment of bird life to add to the incongruous environment.
I fish the deep pool above the weir and fish pass as well as the deep pool immediately below the cascade of the weir. It requires some deft foot work on the large rocks that can at times with the river in spate become treacherous to negotiate. This proves even harder when you factor in a lost right leg and a prosthetic limb instead. Here are a few pictures to give an idea:
The pool above the weir and fish pass.
The weir and deep pool below.
The fish pass and deep pool beyond.
The first evening out on Sunday 17th June, I admit I drew a blank, the shrubbery however, managed to take two flys. I learnt a lot in those short two hours and still enjoyed myself as my casting and presentation of the fly got better.
Out again in the evening on Monday 18th and this time I concentrated on the top pool above the weir. I caught four wild brownies in less than an hour, the largest about 10' the rest around the 6' mark. All lovely fish in great condition. I must apologise I forgot to take my camera along and so you will have to trust me on this report and the christening of my Iwana. Needless to say the 11' Iwana provides the ideal length under these constrained conditions, I only lost one fly this time, and that happened while I released one of the brownies back in the river. A great couple of hours and I feel as though I'm getting a hang of the cast and presenting the fly on the water.
Out today, Wednesday 20th, during the mid-afternoon, this time I fished both above the weir and also below. Three brownies this time, all from the lower pool, casting into the cascade to get the fly deep and then allowing the drift to follow the bubble lines to the tail, and this time I took my camera:
The first fish and a beauty.
Second fish, a very lively one this, hence holding on.
Final fish, a little beauty.
A tremendously satisfying couple of hours.
Now, as to my set up. I ordered some Hi-Vis Orange level line from EsotericTackle, received with thanks by the way and great service, and used a 4m length with 4' of 6X tippet. As to the fly, well, seeing as I had only three small kebari size 16 left, I decided to whip up an original one for myself on a TMC 2499 SPBL hook with grey Uni 6/0 thread and, hang on to your hats folks, in true punk britannia fashion I used what I considered would make a good nymph / caddis, so, a pinch of Berber wool carpet and a pinch of jute rug for the body. Professional fly dressers will no doubt sob at the following picture:
I call it Jute and Berber.
Well it did the job admirably, but with the third and final fish caught I had to let it go to the river when it too got caught by an underwater snag. Call that a day then.
Tight lines folks.
