Ormskirk Lancashire

[Deleted]

I live in Ormskirk , Lancashire England.

Bought my first Tenkara rod two days ago!! The rod was from Tenkara Centre UK, a Hamon 13ft 7:3

Went to a local small stillwater immediately , landed 5 Rainbows using a furled leader 3 lb tippet and a Black Klinkhammer.

Fished the River Ribble today and caught a small Grayling   and a decent Brown trout on a CDC Olive pattern. Level leader.

Casting will need some tweaking but generally fantastic presentation for dry flies.

Have a place in the Eden valley in Cumbria, so up there this weekend. I will try the new rod with different setups , really looking forward to it.

[daves]

Congratulations on your early success with Tenkara. The Hamon is a very nice rod. I like to use it with a 0.38mm copolymer Ultima Red Ice level line of 10' to which I add 3' of tippet (if using tiny CdC flies I'll sometimes taper the tippet from 0.20 to 0.10mm in 3 steps.
As for casting, don't try to force the line out. A short 10 to 12 & 12 to 10 casting stroke helps, or a smooth Jump Roll. Let the rod do the work.
I'm not sure I'd want to fish Tenkara on the Eden, at least not for trout as there are some huge brownies there. It would be Ok on some of the smaller tributaries although even some of them hold 5lb plus trout.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the advice!
I went for the Hamon Rod rather than the lighter Seiryu to cope with bigger trout, there are big trout in the Eden but I fish the upper reaches, quite near the source above Kirkby Stephen. I will dream of that 5lb-er though!!!
The casting was coming by the of my session on the Ribble. I was able to land the fly 1st with a high "stop" , abit like a parachute downstream cast with a conventional rod. The rod roll casts really well. 
Any tips for nymph fishing?

[Paul G]

As a slight aside, I grew up in Orrell, which isn't a million miles from Ormskirk.

[daves]

For nymph fishing I like a level line of 0.35mm copolymer 5 to 6' shorter than the rod. To this I add 8" of bright yellow or orange carp marker braid & then 3 to 5' of tippet (tippet about 1.5x the water depth). Ideally I like to cast upstream at an angle of about 45 degrees & then track the rod downstream whilst holding the braid just above the surface of the river so that there is only the fine tippet subjected to the faster surface water flow. This helps in 2 ways, firstly it reduces drag ( the subsurface water flows a lot slower than the surface) & secondly it helps the fly sink to the right depth as surface drag doesn't pull the fly up in the water. I like to give occassional lifts to induce takes during the drift. Takes are usually very obvious, the braid stops moving downstream.
If I'm dry fly fishing & want to nymph fish for a short spell without putting on a new line I fish with my usual 0.35mm copolymer level line which is about 3' shorter than the rod & I attach 3 to 5' of tippet with a tiny pinch of bright pink Loon Biostrike floating putty on the knot joining tippet to line. Once again I try to hold the putty just above the water surface.
I hope this is of help.

[Deleted]

Thanks for that Daves.
I will give it all a try.
Did catch 2 small brownies on Sunday, off the top with a Deer Hair Caddis.

[daves]

The Deer Hair Caddis takes a lot of beating as a dry fly that will catch fish virtually everywhere on virtually all occasions.