Friday, June 8, 2018

A Tenkara Hit and Run

A Bit of Tenkara


And a short stop in the Valley




It was a hit-and-run.  No real time to fish, but just driving through the park wouldn't hurt anything.....Right? No sense driving around it just to avoid temptation. ...Right? Drive around Valley Forge without so much as seeing the creek?  Who does that?

Besides.....no time to rig up and don waders anyhow.  

Following the creek as I cut through I see it. A pool. A really nice  pool. Pulling over I sit and watch for a bit. The bank is open, with a foot or two of walking room. No need for waders!  When it hits me.....the Tenkara rod is in the wader bag!  Thunderstorms on the horizon....Need to beat the traffic....but the pool could be fished in 15 minutes. 




What happened next I will not say. But in 20 minutes 4 fish came to hand drifting a Valley Caddis. Three in the 7" range and one nice fish about 12".  All wild jewels. 

The Shurkill Expressway home would be much more tolerable now. 


Thought I would add a few notes of how I rig the Tenkara
(To show that I am an equal opportunity offender. )


The way I fish Tenkara, its more dapping rig than anything.  My rod is 12 foot. I use a 12' section of running line from a Cortland Sylk WF3F line and tie a perfection loop on either end. I add my Lilian loop of 30lb backing on one end, and 4' - 6' of 4lb Fluorocarbon to the other.  Both with simple overhand loops and a handshake connection. This setup allows me to fish classic Tenkara, light indicator/splitshot/nymph or standard dry flies.   I fish it no different than if I were to use a 12' Euro nymphing rod with only 12' of line past the eye.

In this manner I equally offend both the Fly Fishing and Tenkara purists.  :)

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