Here we are! Our final installment of The East and The West series! We’ve now covered the types of water we like to fish, and talked about some of our tactics on the water. Now, we’re ready to get into our gear that we like to use to tackle those waters. Before all that, we would like to encourage anyone who hasn’t read the other posts to go back and do so, as all articles in this series are meant to build off of each other and shed some light on the differences in our styles, and what influences how we approach fishing based on our experiences. So, if you haven’t read them, you can find the previous two articles below…
Amanda's Gear
When it comes to favorite rods, the Snow Tanuki Ninja (350cm) is the one that gets the most use. When asked why that is, Amanda said “It’s my confidence rod. Out of all the rods I own, it gives me the best, most positive experience.” She goes on to say that she used to fish zoom rods when she started because she found it helped her to be able to place the fly more easily. As she has progressed and gotten better at casting, she has moved to single-length rods - and the 350cm / 11’ 5'' length rod is “A really good rod” for where she fishes.
As far as characteristics go, Amanda tends to lean toward rods with a little faster action. She finds that having a little snappier of a rod helps with hook sets in areas with overhead canopies. Fish size does play a role in this too. Due to the characteristics of the streams Amanda catches these brook trout in, not many of them grow to be large in the scheme of trout and char. An 8” brook trout on these streams is considered a good catch, and having a rod that offers more tip flex also allows for more subtle hook sets on these wild fish.
To pair with her Tanuki rod, Amanda prefers to use the tapered line that is also offered by Tenkara Tanuki. “I can see it really well, it casts really well...” she says before going on to say that she uses a length of line that is the same length as her rod, but sometimes goes shorter due to tree coverage. Regarding the tippet at the end of the line, Amanda primarily uses 5x tippet, and goes on to say “It doesn’t play a role in my stealth game.”
When it comes to flies, and what Amanda keeps in her fly box, it’s mostly filled with her favorite sakasa kebari pattern, with some other patterns including a “red-assed monkey” sakasa kebari, and a cutcliffe-style fly. These flies range from size 14 to size 12. She does stock a few weighted flies such as a “tail-tucker” and pink squirrel. The patterns she keeps stocked aren’t meant to match the hatch per se. Coming back to the characteristics and location of the waters Amanda fishes, these fish don’t have the luxury to be picky about the food they eat. So even though the little blue winged olive may be the first “big” hatch of the season in the area, Amanda doesn’t find a need to try to match her fly to that specific bug. Her fly selection doesn’t change much throughout the season, but will fish weighted flies more in the colder months.
Diving a little more into Amanda’s favorite kebari, her “go-to” is a simple black sakasa kebari, with brown hen soft hackle, in a size 14. She finds the soft hackle adds movement underwater and attracts fish well. She says “It may sound juvenile,” she chuckles, “But, to me, most bugs are black.” We, as anglers, become more familiar with the waters we frequent and learn more about the bugs that inhabit those areas. While some areas may host larger varieties of bugs, the ones that live near these mountain streams may be darker in color. There is a simple thought that tying flies in black and brown offers the coverage for most waterways. Regardless, this is what works for Amanda in her practices.
Martin's Gear
As far as rod selection for the river goes, Martin’s favorite rod to tackle the swift currents is the Nissin Zerosum Oni Honryu 395. He says, “It’s got enough flex and enough backbone to fight fish even if they move into the faster currents. I don’t think I’ve ever felt out of control trying to land a fish with it.” He feels that the length of the rod offers enough reach to cast different length lines to different lies.
Speaking of flex, Martin finds that rods with a little slower action fits his style a bit more - both in his casting, and in his hooksets. But, there is a point where the action is too slow. As opposed to the brook trout streams Amanda fishes, the river holds slightly bigger rainbows. But don’t think that these are “trophy-size” fish by any means, as the majority of them seem to be in the 8-10” range, with a chance to hook into something 12-16” in length. This is rare though, but all the same, having a rod with a bit more flex helps aid Martin in landing these fish among the swift currents.
When fishing the river, Martin utilizes both level line and tapered nylon line. “The level line works well when trying to suspend flies in a certain spot, and the tapered line is just easy to cast.” He goes on to say that the lengths he uses vary, with a line that’s the same length of the rod is the shortest he uses, and the longest line is about 4.5m long. At the end of these lines, Martin likes to use 5.5x because he felt it had a good advertised breaking strength for its diameter, but also felt it was able to cast both larger and smaller flies just as well.
In the past, Martin kept his fly box simple, but in the last year has added a few more patterns to the box. While he mostly fishes futsu kebari, he finds that keeping a few “specialty” patterns helps him out in certain situations. The flies in his box range from size 14 to size 10. While he doesn’t always match the hatch, Martin finds that there are times where he needs something a little more closely-resembling a certain bug, and that’s where these patterns come in. Much like the in the East, blue winged olives are the first major hatch on the river, but oftentimes, Martin finds matching the hatch becomes more important mid-way through summer.
As far as Martin’s favorite pattern goes, he likes to fish a futsu kebari with grizzly rooster hackle, a body made of reddish-purple dubbing, and a light olive head. This one he stocks in a size 12, and fishes it year round. He likes that the stiff hackle keeps its profile, even in the swift currents, and also finds the dubbing adds a bit of movement when fished beneath the surface. While this color combination does resemble a species of dragonfly in the area surrounding the river, these dragonflies are only around in late August and September. Yet, this pattern seems to perform consistently throughout the season.
That’s a wrap! We’ve now covered the differences in the waters we fish, the tactics we use, and the gear we choose to tackle those waters. We hope that our readers, whether new to fishing or tenkara, or even seasoned anglers, may gain something from us sharing our different styles and methods used on the water and apply it to their own fishing - whether exploring new waters, or building upon their existing skillset. If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out through the Heritage Tenkara Project social media accounts, or through the contact form on our site!
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