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Post by paul1966 on Jun 11, 2013 21:41:33 GMT
I'm hooked on dry fly fishing 90% of the trout I've caught this year have been on the dry.I'm still fairly new to tenkara. If fish are rising will a kebari held high in the water work as well as a dry? I have had some success with the kebari but I'm not as confident as I am with the dry. I'd like to simplify things and move towards a more traditional style.
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Post by Paul G on Jun 12, 2013 11:24:53 GMT
Dry fly is a great method on tenkara gear - so don't feel you have to shoehorn a different approach in. However, if you like a challenge, then yes it is often possible to make a wet kebari do things to take fish feeding close to the surface.
This is where the various manipulations can come in handy! Any manipulation across or slightly against the current will bring the fly up in the water. Any manipulation where your rod tip comes more directly above the position of the fly can be used to hold or pull the fly up close to the surface.
You can also look for "upwelling" areas of current that will naturally blow your fly close to the surface (these look like a soft rolling boil that you get in a saucepan). The best way to get to identify upwelling and downwelling (which you might need to get your unweighted fly deep) is by watching leaves and other small specks of debris that are roughly neutrally buoyant in the water.
You can, of course, dust your wet kebari with some "frogs fanny" without having to change flies and make it float that way if you wanted to do a "half way house" approach!
Both JP and myself have done this to tremendously exciting effect during mayfly hatches using cream-bodied sakasa kebari. You can actually throw little spiral mends down the line and make it hop along the water surface just like a dun trying to get airborne!
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Post by paul1966 on Jun 12, 2013 15:57:22 GMT
Thanks Paul that's a great reply thanks or taking the time. I do like a challenge and i'd like to trim my fly box down a bit, although a few dries will be staying. I'll try out your suggestions.
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Post by phil on Jun 12, 2013 21:04:43 GMT
I've used a smaller kebari than the usual #12 that seems the 'norm' for some tenkara anglers in the range of #16 or #18 with a cock or rooster hackle instead of a softer hackle which you can fish dry but also use the plunge technique by submerging it in a small fall or piece of white water which I have found very effective for fish holding in faster water below.
As Paul says above the beauty of tenkara lies in the direct contact and manipulation you can impart on the fly which can prove a real boon to inducing a take when the fish seem picky.
So far this year I have taken more fish on or just sub-surface with the kebari tied as described above than with the softer hackle kebari.
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Post by paul1966 on Jun 13, 2013 0:02:18 GMT
I'll give that a try Phil I'm not sure I'd be able to tie 18s my hands are too clumsy 16 is about my limit.
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Post by paul1966 on Jun 18, 2013 10:06:43 GMT
I've been persevering with the kebari a very simple pattern made from black sewing thread and a brown rooster hackle in size 14. I've been doing ok I'm not catching as many. I'm losing a lot, I'm not sure if I'm striking too quickly or too late. However I did catch this just as the light was fading last night which probably doesn't look that spectacular to most of you but for the Cleddau this is a very big trout well over a pound and totally wild there are no stockies in the river. I've have caught bigger but they have been accidental fishing for sea trout at night. The net does't help the picture but I always carry a big net incase I drop on a sea trout. It put a good bend in my new Next 360. Thanks for the advice Paul and phil.
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Post by phil on Jun 18, 2013 11:32:44 GMT
Cool! What a fab looking fish, just beautiful. Part of the beauty lies in recognising that we are all, if we admit it, learning and like landing a possible sea trout, we never know what might happen next. That's why I love fishing, you just never know.
Tight lines
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Post by Paul G on Jun 18, 2013 21:00:03 GMT
Stunningly marked and proportioned wild fish. I'd be jealous if I wasn't so stoked for you PS - on losing fish, make sure your hooks are as sharp as they can possibly be - take care to ensure that the gape is not obscured by the dressing/hackle; and on a lovely delicate rod - you may need to employ a "double strike" technique. This is something that myself and JP have talked quite a lot about; the first gentle strike to test if there is a fish there - followed by a slightly stronger lift if the rod does "come alive". Also, don't be afraid to keep a really good bend in the rod (and realise that we all lose fish - and I have certainly lost quite a few when I've switched to a more delicate rod after I have become accustomed to a stiffer model - several of those losses handily captured on film for the "techniques compilation" ).
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Post by paul1966 on Jun 19, 2013 12:11:08 GMT
Thanks for your comments; I think perhaps I'm being a bit tentative when it comes to striking. This happens to me when I start missing a few I will certainly try the double strike. I will also check my hooks for sharpness it's so obvious and I haven't checked.
I think with fishing once you stop learning it's time to try something else, that's the appeal for me there's so many variables it keeps me interested.
I've been fishing since I could walk virtually but started river fly fishing 20yrs ago after a posting to the Falklands with the RAF where I discovered sea trout and fly fishing. By luck after the Falklands I go posted to West Wales and carried on sea trout fishing in the rivers here and left the RAF in 95 but stayed in Wales. It’s only in the last couple of years with the demise of sea trout in our local rivers that I even considered the wild brown trout this then led me to Tenkara. I didn’t realise what I was missing there is absolutely fabulous wild brown trout fishing that no one bothers with here in west Wales. I find it far more enjoyable than sea trout fishing which is mainly confined to the pools in a river, Tenkara has opened up the whole river to me and I’m catching fish where I’d never thought to try before. I’m also still catching the odd sea trout, I caught one last year which was the biggest fly caught fish in the club last season fishing the T rod where no one would bother normally It’s a shame because our club has dropped from 300 members to 115 and I think if the members leaving discovered Tenkara and the fabulous wild trout fishing we’d stay afloat. At the moment most anglers I meet still think Tenkara is a joke. I won’t be selling my western gear just yet but I certainly don’t miss it and I haven’t picked it up yet this season.
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Post by Paul G on Jun 20, 2013 7:29:21 GMT
Perhaps myself and JP should arrange to come over and run a demo event for your club? Great effort on the ST by the way.
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Dry fly
Jun 20, 2013 9:53:26 GMT
via mobile
Post by marcouns on Jun 20, 2013 9:53:26 GMT
How far will you travel to give demo Mark Somerset
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Post by custheyder on Jun 20, 2013 10:59:42 GMT
The double strike is interesting because it is something that I do with Czech nymph techniques. A roll of the wrist when the line stops or twitches funny then if it is a fish I put a stronger bend into the rod to be sure it is properly hooked. Keeping a little tension between the tap and the strike is important or you do drop fish.
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Post by paul1966 on Jun 20, 2013 11:00:38 GMT
Paul,I'll run it by the committee of the Angling club. If you can show them how to cast a bunch of worms or a flying c on a tenkara rod you maybe onto a winner.
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