A few days ago Tom Davis over at Teton Tenkara did a post on fishing a Tenkara fly. He was fishing a stream with a certain fly which he had photographed. Seeing the fly I said that has got to work here. So I asked Tom for a material list and he did plus he was gracious in providing me with a video of how the fly is tied. I do not fish Tenkara but I do fish Tenkara flies using conventional fly tackle. Many Tenkara flies are very similar to soft-hackles and spider patterns so why not tie and fish them.
This is the Takayama Sakasa Kebari. The fly is tied with a thread body, much like the spider patterns. It uses peacock for a thorax and a partridge feather for hackle. The hackle is tied in reverse, which counts for some incredible movement in the water.
This is the same fly only tied with a yellow body. This was done because I did not have white thread when I first tied the fly. I'm here to say both colors did exceptionally well.
Tom mentions in his video that this fly works well in clear streams. I don't think you could find a clearer stream.
The white body Takayama Sakasa Kebari. The wild brookies on this stream just could not leave this fly be....so beautiful.
Here is the yellow body fly. I want to add that the flies held up very well. No fraying of the peacock or the thread bodies.
Wonderful! I thought your brookies would love that fly! Your flies look perfect and your stream looks perfect too!
ReplyDeleteTom Davis
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Tom I could not believe the response to that fly. The second cast and I had a fish on. Now I'm the first to say that small stream fish are not selective, but I will say non-selective or not I will say it has been a long time since I've taken that many fish on just one pattern.
Alan, the backwards facing hackle fly (sakasa kebari) was designed to give more movement to the hackle (fish attraction) than the traditional north country soft hackle fly does. Whether this is actually true or not, all I know is that the fly catches trout and that works for me!
DeleteI fish small streams differently then most anglers Instead of casting upstream I cast downstream. So actually the reversed soft hackle would work better as I retrieve. I have confidence in the fly's ability to draw strikes.
DeleteNot for me Alan. To my eye that Tenkara pattern is homely. Compared to a partridge and orange classic North country spider it pales and at best looks awkward. I would not give up the joy of occasionally laying out a perfect cast to a rising trout some distance away. Anyway, we all fish for our own enjoyment. Suit yourself.
ReplyDeleteJohn Dornik
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John you are a man of conviction. True the P&O is a classic and does not take a backseat to any fly. I do like the change and the TSK is a good start. It's all in the mix.
Alan one more thought, if I may: Surely in the 200 plus years that Americans and Europeans have been tying flies, tying the hackle in reverse must have been tried and evidently rejected.
DeleteJohn there is a fellow over in the UK that ties a reversed parachute fly. Roy Christie has been tying these for a lot of years. They catch fish at a tremendous rate. Can't seem to find out much about this type of fly here.
DeleteAlan
ReplyDeleteTwo more flies that gets the attention of the colorful brookies---thanks for sharing
Bill Trussell
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Bill I like the initial trial of both of these. More time needed to test..."yippie".
It looks good and it fishes good. That works for me. Edible is the word.
ReplyDeleteregards, John
The Two Terriers
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John so true....simplicity is another word.
The colors on those brook trout are beautiful! They almost look like they came from a mountain stream in VA or TN
ReplyDeleteMark Wittman
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Mark I figured you would be the first to mention the absolute beauty of those brookies. The fine red dots are so pronounced as is the lighter "southern" style of the fish. I hear Shenandoah calling.
That surely is a very clear running little stream, Alan unlike our local streams here in Victoria, Australia. Most are running high and muddy after all the rain we've had recently. Lovely colours on those brook trout. I still think it a pity they never took hold here in Australia, except in a few isolated creeks. There's big brute hatchery escapees that turn up in a few rivers NE of where I live but they look more like lake brook trout not the bright coloured gems like the ones you show us here.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, nice looking flies. The reverse hackled Sekasa Kebari type flies do allow for a lot of movement when twitched up stream. When our trout streams reopen in about three weeks, I'm thinking of just using my tenkara gear for this season and trying your fishing downstream approach. No matter how stealthy and heron like my approach, I still spook fish when moving upstream! I'd like to try drifting and skating my flies downstream. I reckon it would involve a lot less potentially visible movement than actual casting. We'll see how I go.
Thanks for taking us out on your streams.
Kindest Regards,
Steve.
Steve Hynes
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Steve high water can be tolerated and fished, but I don't care to fish it and I'm thinking you don't either. But muddy water is the worse.
The lake dwelling brook trout here in NE are not as colorful as their stream cousins. I think it may be diet or water quality, the lake guys can attain some impressive sizes.
It just seems more practical in a small stream to fish a fly downstream. Banks filled with brush and narrow tree choked areas where a cast is almost impossible. Give it a try mate....
Alan, you know I can't enjoy this post any more. (Well maybe if we got a tenkara rod in you hands). Fantastic to see you giving a reverse hackle fly a go, with great success. No reason why just because it might look funny, it can't be a valuable pattern in any angler's fly box.
ReplyDeleteMichael Agneta
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Mike I had thoughts of picking up a Tenkara rod. I have always been a guy who prides himself as one who loves simplicity, and tenkara is that.
A long time ago I was involved in a fly swap. One of the flies I received was what was called a "crippled emerger" it had a wing that was tied straight ahead. That fly looked silly but it worked very well.
You might try one of the 8 1/2' rods for your mountain streams.
DeleteUnknown
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I'm not quite sure what you mean. I personally think an eight and a half foot rod is a bit to much for a small stream.
the colours are sublime simply stunning fish, nice flies that are a bit of a mouthful to say but they done the business.
ReplyDeleteGeorge
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George the flies do look to be somewhat large, but as you can see the fish handle them well.
Takayama SK's are great flies that will always bring some fish to hand. My fly box always have some in it. Try a red body in the future. I have done very well with them on small stream brookies.
ReplyDeleteChris "Kiwi" Kuhlow
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Chris I guess red is the standard body color. Pearsalls silk would work very nice.
Wow - I need to try that fly. It screams of fishiness! Thanks for sharing it Alan.
ReplyDeleteHibernation
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Will the fly is awesome. I'm going to try different body colors and see what happens.
Alan, I am still on the fence as far as actually fishin tenkara, but the flies are definitely some I am going to try. I really like the yellow one. I also going to try an olive one. Olive around here because of the blue winged olive which is rather formidable. I can imagine their is a lot of movement with that reverse hackle. Thankyou.
ReplyDeleteBrad Basehore
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Brad I'm not ready to pick up a tenkara rod, but the flies have a place in my box. You speak of an olive body tenkara fly. Not many flies feature an olive body and that's a shame. I fish a couple of them, one in particular is a olive body and partridge.
Love that fly, Alan. That would make for a great emerger pattern in my estimation and would produce nicely on the Farmington. The beautiful brook trout liked it.
ReplyDeleteParachute Adams
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Sam that fly looks like a helpless emerger struggling. There are quite a few patterns that also feature wings that don't line up the right way. Trout key in on struggling insects. I have to get back to the Farmington.
Alan, good going with the reverse hackle flies. There is a well known PNW guide & spey casting instructor named Mike Kinney who designed a reverse hackle spider for fishing coastal cutthroat. It is black and white.
ReplyDeleteMatt Harding
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Matt is black a common color on coastal cutthroat's?
The reversed hackles really move in the water creating lots of excitement.
Alan, that's a really good question. There seems to be much to learn about them still. As far as I can say from experience, I've hooked CC's on orange/black & chartreuse/black flys tied to sz.10 Mustad 36890 hooks that are also black, meant for smaller Coho. Like you, all I can do is continually experiment, which for me is a large part of the fun.
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I would love to see a photo of these flies. Brookies are notorious for taking flies with multiple colors. A Mickey Finn is a good example.
Perhaps you could email me a photo uppahdam@aol.com
The movement of contrasting colors may be the reason they go for it. I really like the flys you tied and will do some testing myself. It's about time I should practice tying reverse hackle. Any tips?
ReplyDeleteMatt Harding
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Matt here is link that illustrates the reversed hackle fly.
I use this method and use various feathers, partridge, hen pheasant, grouse.
http://tetontenkara.blogspot.com/2014/09/white-takayama-sakasa-kebari-variant.html