Marginal Tenkara

According to the National Weather Service, water levels in the upper Mississippi drainage are at near-record winter highs.  I was surprised at how high the streams were when I went out on December 10.  A combination of a single major snowfall which rapidly melted (in November), saturating much of the pore space above the water table, and an unusual amount of winter rainfall is what’s responsible.  Essentially, a lot of the precipitation that would normally infiltrate and become groundwater is instead running off into streams.

I aimed to fish on winter solstice, which falls late on the 21st this year, just to say I had.  Academic responsibilities nixed that, but I headed out for a full day on the 22nd, somehow managing to get on the road on the right side of 7 am.  My initial plan was to spend the entire day at STSNBN, which I hadn’t fished in earnest since August.  I hoped the high water levels would actually help it, as it had been down to a trickle in the Fall.  As I proceeded, though, I began to have doubts.  Every trickle on the roadside had turned into a significant stream, far higher than I’d ever seen.  When I crossed the Wapsipinicon at Quasqueton, it was raging, the steps upstream from the highway bridge not visible in frothing whitewater (well, more brownwater).  I decided to stop at the closest potentially fishable water, which was the bridge over the Maquoketa I’d thought about fishing on the last trip.  The stream was very clear, gin clear, but very, very high.  I geared up and had a brief go.  I got one follow from a trout in the first downstream pool, but soon lost heart.  I don’t know the stream at all, and it felt like trying to box with a blindfold on.  The Maquoketa has a mostly sandy bottom and not very much structure.  The high water made a lot of marginal areas look like nice pools.  I feel like I need to get a handle on it under normal conditions before trying to wring something out of it when things are stressed.

After that I headed to STSNBN.  This stream has proven to be highly sensitive to increased runoff – it must have to do with the geometry of its upstream drainage and valley.  Sure enough, it was pounding pretty good, though mostly clear.  There was plenty of evidence that it had seen a major flood in the past week, with a lot of the dead streamside growth blasted out.

Continue reading Winter Solstice and High Water

James and I tried to go fishing last weekend, as the December weather is so far pretty cooperative.  We were oblivious to the fact that the Saturday we went was the first day of the first of two fairly brief Iowa shotgun deer hunting seasons.  It was interesting from a sociological perspective, I guess.  Actually, it was a pretty amazing spectacle, literally hundreds of white males with clashing full body camo and bright orange, little camo glorified golf carts, shotguns made to look like assault rifles, also in camo.  Apparently walking (or driving in your glorified golf cart with a name like Defender or Patriot slapped on it) along public roads and shooting volleys of what seemed like suppression fire into the woods is how you hunt deer.  I did not know that.  I used to hunt, briefly, when I was a teenager.  This isn’t what I remember.

ANYHOW, so we went to five separate streams but fishing did not feel like a wise decision.  Actually looking up the schedule, there was a recent two day break between the two short seasons, and the weather was advertised as cooperative again, so I dashed out.

Continue reading Winter Fishing and New Suntech GM Suikei Keiryu Special 39

2015 isn’t over, but eastern Iowa got 11 inches of snow last night.  The temperature will be back up to 51 on US Thanksgiving, so the snow won’t be on the ground too long for now.  But combined with course preparation and teaching pressures, if there are going to be more days on the stream this year, there aren’t going to be many.

At my age, time just whips by.  The annual routine of academic life somehow helps speed it along.  Returning to fly fishing might have helped slow it down a little.  Looking it up, James and I waddled forth to face the new world of tenkara fishing on Saturday, April 11.  We had shiny new rods, me a TUSA Rhodo, him a Nissin Fine Mode Kosansui 320 keiryu rod.  I was wearing a brand new Patagonia convertible vest.  The only flies we had were the three sakasa kebari that came with my TUSA all in one package and the three sent by TenkaraBum with James’s kids’ starter package.  We had no real idea what we were doing.  We caught three brook trout.

It does, now, seem like a long time ago.  We have half a clue what we’re doing now.  We fish almost exclusively on self-tied flies.  The rod collection is up to 8.  Here and in following posts is my year-end(ish) impression of some of the main bits of gear we used as we learned to fish this first year, starting with rods.

Tenkara USA Rhodo.  I’ve read all the head-shaking in favour of Japanese rods and I don’t doubt it’s basically correct.  In fact, I’ve bought or will soon buy the Japanese alternatives.  Maybe it’s just first love.  The Rhodo was the first rod I held in my hand, and at this point it feels like an extension of myself.  I fished it as my go-to rod all year long.  I know how it behaves.  I can cast it now without thinking and it does what I intend.  Pound for pound, especially at $215, maybe a Nissin Pro Spec ($165) would be a better starting point for a short zoom rod.  (At this writing, the Rhodo can be had for $150 in TUSA’s Thanksgiving sale).  Maybe next year I’ll move on.  But I wouldn’t trade it.  It’s bendy, with a penny rating of 15 and an RFI of 4.3 when fully extended, and it’s fairly light at 59g (all from Tom Davis’s reviews and measurements, http://tetontenkara.blogspot.com/p/rod-flex-index-chart.html).  I learned to cast massless wet flies with it (to the extent that I actually can, but they go where I want them to go, so…), starting with an amano kebari our first time on the water.  But toward the end of the year I increasingly fished tungsten bead nymphs and for all the talk about the unsuitability of soft full-flex tenkara rods for this, I’ve never experienced any issues with hook sets.  I almost always fished it fully extended at 320, shortening it only in rare situations with extreme tree canopy or other obstacles.  I was always fishing with too long a line in these situations (I fish it normally with a 10′ number 3 level line and about 4 feet of 5X Scientific Anglers tippet), and I never got around to fishing the shorter configurations with a line as long as the rod.  It’s quite possible the alternatives are even better (a Nissin Pro Spec 6:4 rates at 11 pennies and RFI 3.5 at the same weight, a Tenkara Times Watershed 330 at 11.5 pennies and RFI 4.3 and is lighter at 53g; I hope to try both in 2016).  But the Rhodo is plenty good, two years after its introduction.

Nissin Fine Mode Kosansui 320.  When he was temporarily out of the 270, Chris Stewart included this with his kids’ starter set.  I’m happy about that.  James has never had any issues with the length.  This is James’s rod.  I’ve fished it as my sole rod one full day solo, and rigged with weighted nymphs as an alternate rod on two days.  This is a superb rod at its price point ($110).  If you wanted to try tenkara on small streams, it would be a vastly better starting point than any of the similarly priced me-too Chinese rods.  It’s a different critter than the Rhodo.  It’s both considerably lighter (1.6 oz without tip plug, according to TenkaraBum) and far stiffer, with a pennies rating of 25.  Every time I take it from James to free a snag or whatever I marvel at its feel.  When you’re tossing around weighted buggers or nymphs like we do a lot of the time, the flex differences are all but moot.  I found it a strange experience casting kebari because I’m just not used to the stiffness.  It has a very bendy and sensitive tip and James certainly doesn’t have any trouble getting the kebaris where he wants them to go.  I think the stiffness and backbone helps him now that he’s started regularly catching trout.  He instinctively raises the rod with both hands and lets the fish have the flex.  He fishes it with either a 4 or a 3.5 level line.  I used a 3 level line the day I fished it exclusively and I had no trouble casting kebari once I got used to it, though I mostly just tossed around buggers.  The light weight and the backbone make it a great rod for a youngster (James was seven when he started with it, and cast it single-handed from the beginning with no issues).

Dragontail Tenkara Tatsu and Shadowfire.  I don’t know for sure, but I think these are probably in the category of rebranded alibaba.com rods mentioned by Jason Klass.  Certainly the “Moonlit Fly Fishing” vest I bought from the Dragontail site that James uses is – you can buy it on Amazon with a bunch of different monikers slapped on it.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing untoward about this.  I just didn’t realize that’s what a lot of these cheaper small-outfit brandings were.  James loves the vest.  On their merits, I’ve made what I think about the Dragontail branded rods pretty plain.  I fished with the Tatsu only once and didn’t warm up to it at all.  It’s stiff (29p, RFI 7.9) and heavy (3.1oz).  It’s cheap, I guess.  I fished two full days with the Shadowfire (19p, 5.2, 2.9oz) and while it’s also a bit heavier than most mid-to-high-end Japanese 360 rods, it’s also much cheaper.  I enjoyed using it and if you want to try tenkara while spending less than a hundred bucks (it’s currently selling for $79.99) for a twelve foot rod, there really isn’t much downside to it.  I managed to break the tip of both rods (lilian pulled off at its mount on an extended cross-stream snag where I couldn’t reach the tip of the rod; still don’t really know how the Tatsu broke) and replacements were cheap and shipped instantly.  I basically think there’s a lot of value at the Dragontail Tenkara site, and all my interactions with them have been top notch (I also bought my Shimano folding net from them).  I just think anyone who really gets into tenkara is pretty quickly going to want something more than cheap Chinese rods.

Nissin Zerosum 6:4 400.  This is the nicest rod I’ve cast so far.  I bought it while fixating a bit too much on the advice to fish a shorter line on the longest rod you can get away with.  On most of the streams I fish, a 400 cm rod is longer than you can get away with.  As a result, I fished it for part of one day (truncated when James filled his waders on an early trip) and for a full day when my other rods were all laid up and awaiting new tipsets.  If I’d started with a rod this long it might have been different.  But I knew the stream pretty well by the time I took it out, and I knew the stream from fishing a 320 cm rod.  It was hard to get used to working the pools with the longer rod and some water was much more difficult to access.  The flip side was that I had almost thrillingly longer range when I could exploit it.  I fished with an eleven foot number 3 level line.  Kebaris almost cast themselves.  I wish I could use it more, and plan to take it on western excursions next year to larger rivers and alpine lakes.

Just recently I got a Nissin Zerosum 7:3 360 for my birthday.  I also bought a Suntech Suikei GM 39 zoom rod.  And while the latter is supposed to be superior to the TUSA Sato, I’ve hankered for a Sato all year because I love the Rhodo so much.  The Sato is currently knocked down from $215 to $150 in the TUSA Thanksgiving sale, so I just ordered one.  I haven’t had a chance to fish any of these yet.  Other rods on the wish list that I expect will be purchased and fished in 2016 are a Tenkara Times Watershed 330, a Nissin Pro Spec, and a Suntech Kurenai.  And I suppose everyone pretty much has to buy a Suntech TenkaraBum 36.

New course preparation and conferences are killing the autumn, but James and I finally made it back out on a crisp November Saturday.  I’m going to stop naming the streams we fish after a lot of thought (probably completely self-absorbed thought, as I doubt anyone actually reads this, but there is just enough indication that it might possibly be having negative effects that I think it’s time to get in line with most other fishing blogs).  It was our first contact with reasonably cold weather fishing.  The high was 51, but there was a biting wind that just didn’t let up.  We had the stream to ourselves, but packed it in by mutual assent at 1 pm.  It was an excellent few hours while it lasted, though.

Continue reading Trip Report November 07, 2015 – Stoneflies and First Brookie

Time continues to be heavily pressured, and I’m better at using what little is left over to tie flies and go fishing than I am about writing up the trips.  The past three weeks saw two trips with James, one an overnighter, and one solo trip, and they each had some interesting stuff.

Continue reading Trip Report Omnibus – late September and early October

So I’m trying to throw myself into tying most of the trout-appropriate flies in Morgan Lyle’s “Simple Flies” book.  I started with some of the simplest, brassies and peacock herl nymphs.

Continue reading Trip Report – 2015 September – Bear Creek, Fayette County, IA

We finally made it out camping, and it was, well, pretty good.  I collected the Troutslayer from elementary school on the Friday at 3.45 and we made a beeline for Yellow River State Forest, two and a half hours to the north.  It’s a lovely drive, first standard Iowa farmland, then after Strawberry Point you’re into the hilly and striking driftless on the River Bluffs Scenic Byway.  You cross the Volga, the Turkey River with the trout rearing station, then as you near the Mississippi you cross the storied Bloody Run.  You hit the Mississippi at Marquette (across the bridge from the much larger Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin) and drive north right along its western bank for a short while, then bend inland and climb out of the valley to eventually turn north and descend into the Paint Creek valley.  Yellow River State Forest is usually crowded, but it’s about as close as Iowa gets to a reasonable facsimile of beauty, topography, something wild, and even decent hiking trails.  There are two stocked trout streams, Paint Creek and its extremely popular tributary Little Paint Creek, which is basically Richmond Springs except perhaps a smidgeon less crowded and more scenic (though Richmond Springs is plenty pretty itself).  We arrived in Little Paint Campground to find it ~80% full, which was the only real downside to things.  But I can’t really complain – we got a walkup site with no hassle (though not my favourite one, which was occupied), and while we had plenty of neighbours, the campground is set up with generous space between the sites and the neighbours were all decent and well behaved.  The weather was excellent, highs just around 70 and really crisp nights down in the 40s.  Two life-affirming nights by the campfire with James toasting marshmallows and me reading John Gierach by headlamp.  We had planned to fish both Saturday and Sunday, but ended up just spending Saturday at Hickory Creek.  We visited Bear Creek in Fayette County on Sunday, but there were cars in the parking area (leading me to suspect strongly that it has been stocked since my last visit), then we went to STSNBN, but the water level was down to a trickle and we decided not to abuse the poor thing.

Continue reading Trip Report 2015 September 12 – Hickory Creek, Allamakee County, IA

The weather this weekend cancelled yet another camping trip, as it’s 93 today and that’s not a good number to be trying to fish.  However I dashed out to Bear Creek on a solo run, mostly because I was desperate to try out my Plus Size Killer Buggers.

Continue reading Trip Report 2015 September – Bear Creek, Fayette County, IA

So the weather is finally looking good for camping on Labor Day weekend (too hot, probably, high 80s, but we’ll take it).  So I’m trying to replenish the fly box, and I’m going to try to give some things a really extended try.  Top of the list is killer buggers.  I tied some black ones, following exactly the TenkaraBum instructions.  These are smallish, tied on a Daiichi 1560, so more Killer Bug than Woolly Bugger.  Black Killer Bug with a marabou tail, basically, and with one or two layers of small Ultra wire for the only weight.  I’ve caught fish with them, and have used them enough that the original four I tied have been whittled down to one survivor.  I haven’t caught trout on them, but that’s mostly because I haven’t really tried, I think.  Anyway, I’m going to make an effort.  I wanted something a little closer in proportions to a Woolly Bugger, so I used a Daiichi 1720 size 12 (the same 3X long nymph hook I use for my regular Woolly Buggers).  I wanted more weight, so I used an extended lead wire underbody.  And I threw in a few strands of Krystal Flash.  The body is Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift Bracken [edit: actually, it’s not – what TenkaraBum sells as olive killer bugger yarn is distinct from Bracken, and I don’t know what exactly it is], from one of the samples sent out with orders by TenkaraBum (so I only had enough right now for four, because I made them portly).  Apart from an education in why it’s a good idea to superglue the wire to the shank (what the…the fly is spinning…THE FLY IS SPINNING!), they seem fishable.  I thought about adding more bells and whistles, but the idea is to make a Killer Bugger, not a Woolly Bugger with yarn substituted for the chenille.  However, I might try some with a hackle collar behind the eye.  I’m going to tie up a bunch of black ones as well, and make a concerted effort to give them their due this weekend.  It’d be great if they subbed directly for Woolly Buggers, as they’re far easier to make.

University life took a schizophrenic turn or two in the past two weeks.  First I was teaching two intermediate-advanced courses.  Then I was teaching nothing.  Then, on four days notice (literally) I found myself teaching our main introductory course, with no preparation and having never taught it before or developed any course materials.  It makes a kind of sense in the medium and long run given the current administrative environment, but it’s going to be a wild, time-draining ride.  So all of a sudden time on the water is precious again.  James and I have had our three previous camping trips in a row cancelled due to weather and this weekend’s plans made four, with 100% thunderstorms and 1-2 inches of rain forecast Friday and Friday night at Little Paint Creek.  Instead we headed out on Saturday to see what we could do at a rain-swollen Bear Creek.

Continue reading Trip Report 2015 August 29 – Bear Creek, Fayette County, IA