An "in a pinch" reversed zoom rod

Today I hit a small creek near the Tetons; Idaho side of course. It rained a little, hailed a little and then some sun. The water was clear and not all that high for this time of year -- it makes me worry about what stream levels will be in September! The willows were in their new, fresh leaves and the smell was incredible! I love that smell of willows, lodgepole pine, moss, water.

I started out with the Ebisu. I am really loving this rod. I love the soft action and delicate casting. I worked my way up through the narrow channel picking up a few fish as I went.  I then came to a spot in the stream where I had just came out of a willow tunnel and right in front of me was a great lie -- willow branches overhanging a pool.. There had to be a fish in there! But what to do? My 12 foot rod was just a little too long to make the perfect cast. I thought about steeple casting but I would still overshoot and likely snag. I could not back up because of the willow tunnel. A bow-and-arrow cast did not fit the situation either because I would still overshoot. I just needed the rod to be just a little shorter. I then remembered Daniel saying on one of the Tenkara USA videos that if you need the rod to be shorter , due to tight vegetation, just collapse the lower section back into the handle. The rod will cast just fine, and in the event you hook a fish, just extend that section to fight the fish. This makes your tenkara rod a "reversed zoom rod" in a pinch.

It doesn't look that tight but it really is!

So, that is what I did. That little bit of decreased length made all the difference. The flies hit perfectly up under the willow branches. The drift was controlled. A native cutthroat took the BH Prince Nymph and I brought him to hand. Priceless!

So what I learned from this trip is how versatile the tenkara rod is. I am sure that I shouldn't fish all the time with the lower section collapsed, but if I get into tight quarters again I know that the rod will answer.

Before the crowds

I hit the river today before the Memorial Day weekend onslaught.  Most of my favorite rivers in my part of Idaho are still closed until this weekend so I went back the the Blacksmith Fork in northern Utah. The water was still quite good, being only slightly off colored and modestly high and quick. There was some threat of showers at first but then the sky cleared into a gloriously sunny day.

The Iwana-12' ready for the game

Because I had good success with the larger Utah Killer Bug (UKB) and a #14 beadhead UV Prince Nymph the last time I was on the water I elected to start out with this combo this time. I used a Tenkara USA Iwana 12 foot and a Tenkara USA 3.5 HiVis line with 2 feet of 15lb red Amnesia at the end. To this I added 2.5 feet of 4x Fluorocarbon tippet and a 3 inch 4X fluoro dropper. The UKB was the dropper while the Prince was the end fly. This line (and slight variations thereof) has worked really well for me. It is easy to cast, keep off the water, and to see the take.

Some amazing pocket water

I waded out into the brisk current, targeting some pocket water tight against the opposite shore. I placed the flies upstream of the pocket and guided them down through the adjacent seam. On the third presentation I was into a fish -- 10 inch brown.

Work tight against the opposite bank and....

.... you get a nice 10" Brown!

Most of the rest of the day was similar to this. I'd target an obvious prime lie, cast upstream, and tight line the flies through. Generally I'd take a fish, but if not then two or three more casts and then move on. I caught over a dozen browns today and one cutthroat. I hooked three large Mountain White fish but each on of these got off before I could net them. The larger fish were more difficult to handle due to the fast current. I need to get better at not trying to horse them too much and guiding them into the slower water near the bank.

A greedy cutthroat; took the UKB

The browns seemed to like the Prince Nymph

It was another great day. I should be able to start fishing more near home now that Memorial Day weekend is here, and that means the Idaho opening. But, as I sit here typing it is snowing just half a mile up the mountain from me. That might swell the streams over the next few days.

Ah, spring in the Rockies!

Here is a short video of some of the fish that I took and some that I lost. The video gives you a better idea of how fast the water was moving.

The much maligned Mountain Whitefish

As I drove up Blacksmith Fork Canyon today it was raining. The tops of the mountains had a dusting of new fresh snow and the river was trying to rise to its usual spring levels. The water was modestly high and somewhat off colored, but by no means the usual spring torrent. This winter didn't pack much snow into the highlands so run-off has been lackluster so far.

My conveyance

I stopped along side the road pretty low in the canyon and decided to plunge in. The river is about 18-25 feet wide at this reach and strewn with rocks and boulders making pockets of excellent holding water. I waded with a wooden staff this trip as my Simms folding wading staff didn't handle the current last time. The wooden staff worked much better and offered a more solid support against the buffetings of the current.

I decided to use the Tenkara USA Ebisu. I'm sure that some would have selected a longer rod but I am still trying to control my casts and keep them out of the riparian foliage. My line was 4.5 Tenkara USA HiVis fluoro with 2.5 feet of 15lb red Amnesia on the end. The length was 10 feet, to which I added 2 feet of 4x fluorocarbon tippet.

Where I started on the river

Since the water was somewhat off colored I decided to go with a large Utah Killer Bug {UKB} (#8 TMC 2302) with a New Zealand-style dropper of a #14 beadhead Prince Nymph.

A much chewed UKB and BH Prince Nymph

I was into my first fish within minutes but I lost it because it caught me off guard. The is a common occurrence with me. It usually takes me a few minutes to get warmed up before I am on my game. Anyway, within five more minutes I had taken another. It was a little 10 inch Brown. He wanted the UKB.

Love that UKB. It's like trout candy.

Next was the Prince Nymph's turn. Two fish in a row. Another Brown and then a Cutthroat. The Cutthroat had beautiful slits and was getting into its spawning colors.

As I approached a nice hydraulic I thought I could see some large fish holding against the bottom. Maybe what I saw were just logs ready to snag me, but then again -- did they move?! First drift over them produced nothing. Send, third, forth, the same. Then on the fifth a sharp pull on the line and fish on! At first I thought I was into a really nice Brown, but then I noticed that the fish was more grey than yellow and although it did fight quite well it did not fight like a trout. As I pulled it to the surface I noticed it was a Mountain Whitefish! Ah bugger!

16 inch Mountain Whitefish. He didn't fit in the net.

What is it about Mountain Whitefish, called commonly just "whitefish"? I know many fisherman hate them. They curse them. They feel less of a sportsman for catching one and act like it does not "count".  I have seen other fisherman laugh and jeer at their buddy when he catches one. But why?

Mountain Whitefish are native to the northern Rocky Mountains. They are a member of the Salmonidea family, as are trout and salmon. They tend to feed lower in the water column than trout but will rise to dry flies on occasion. They have small mouths with overhanging snouts and they tend to be much more scaly than other salmonids. Most importantly however, they have been shown to be a indicator species and thrive only in healthy mountain river systems.  When the river losses its whitefish then the trout are soon to follow; it is a sure sign that the ecosystem is disturbed. Whitefish are the mountain streams version of the canary in the coal mine. Maybe I had better be more grateful for them when they take my fly.

I caught two whitefish today. Both were about 16 inches or so. And though they didn't fight like a trout of equal size, they did their best to entertain me. The Ebisu handled them easily. BTW, both took the Prince Nymph. I don't think my big UKB would have fit in their mouths anyway!

Another Brown

Another Cutthroat

Pretty water

All in all, it was a successful day, that ended up sunny; 13 trout to hand and 5 or 6 long line released. Also, two whitefish (do they really count?).  I lost the Prince Nymph twice but I ended up with my original UKB. I will definitely use it another day!

ZimmerBuilt Strap Pack

For many years I have been trying to carry less and less in the way of gear when I fish. I gave up vests about 10 years ago and went to a chest pack. Over the past 5 years I have changed to a small chest pack which can carry two small C&F fly boxes, a couple of spools of tippet and the assorted accoutrements such as floatant, nippers, and the like.

My trusty old chest pack

I love the freedom of a light chest pack. I have never felt the need to carry 4-5 large boxes of flies with each box holding hundreds of patterns. This is just not me. But recently, with tenkara, I have wanted to carry more than one rod, so I could feel the differences between rods or the change with the water conditions.

The other morning I visited one of the spring creeks on the Ft. Hall Indian Reservation. It is the largest spring creek in what is referred to as the "Ft. Hall bottoms". This is a region of the reservation with semi-wild horses, bison, deer, and other wildlife of an amazing variety. The bison are usual fenced but not always! The water was clear and moderately high and the suckers were in the river getting ready to spawn. This is the time of year in which throwing large heavy streamers works well. The trout can be 20-26 inches in length and hit your streamer with the force of a freight train.

Slow, smooth water means STEALTH!

I however wanted to try my hand at the fat rainbows that follow the spawning suckers upstream. A small pink egg pattern will usual yield a high spirited trout or two. You have to be extra stealthy though, as the trout are amazingly skittish. If you don't wade like a heron then they are gone!

One thing about the bottoms: one never knows what the wind will be like. The bottoms is situated in the Snake River plain and it is generally windy; if it is not when you arrive it will become windy, trust me. So, with that in mind I wanted to carry both my Tenkara USA Amago and my western rod/reel. That way if it got too windy for tenkara I could muscle my way through the wind with the western rod and throw streamers. You can walk miles in the bottoms, so going back to your car to switch gear can be a problem. But, how do I carry everything with just a chest pack? Well, you can't without adding another pack -- back, fanny or whatever. Remember what I said earlier? I usually like to carry two tenkara rods  -- using an Ebira Guide sling. I decided that instead of carrying everything in different packs I would modify my Ebira Guide so to carry all I needed -- Amago, 5wt, reel, tenkara lines, fly boxes, etc. The Ebira Guide is similar to, but has more capacity than, the Ebira Plus, which I have reviewed in the past.

The Ebira Guide is an excellent sling, but the pockets are on the back and a little hard to reach routinely. I needed a pocket on the front to put my main fly box in. So here we come to it.... introducing the ZimmerBuilt Strap Pack! This little pack clips perfectly onto the Ebira Guide's shoulder strap daisy chain giving you extra carrying capacity without overloading or overcoming the "minimalist" theme of tenkara. Now I can attach my nippers, floatant, etc to the shoulder strap along with this neat little pack and have ready access to them without having to always flip the sling around to get to the pockets. Pretty neat!

Strap Pack on Ebira Guide

Zimmerbuilt Strap Pack -- fly patch not included!

Back of Ebira Guide.  I'll soon replace the top pocket with another Strap Pack for better versatility.

ZimmerBuilt also makes other carrying options. They have a Guide Sling designed by the boys at Tenkara Guides LLC. It will carry just about everything you would need, including your lunch! That is too much for me, but very nice anyway. There is also the Chest Pack. I bought one of these as a large pocket accessory for the Ebira Guide. The Chest Pack will also attach to the daisy chain making a much larger pocket for even more carrying capacity. And finally, there is the Micro Pack. It is similar to the Strap Pack but smaller. All of these, Chest pack, Strap pack, Micro Pack, can be used by themselves or with the Ebira slings or Guide Sling. Very, very cleaver! ZimmerBuilt also sells a Lumbar pack for those of you who like fanny packs.

So, now I can carry everything I need, including more that one rod, in one light, convenient sling that does not get in the way of stalking, casting, or fighting fish. I like the Strap Pack so much that I just ordered another one to replace one of the rear pockets on the Ebira Guide, making the Guide even more versatile. I am glad that there are cleaver creative people into tenkara who can make this stuff!

Will this be my last item to carry my gear? Unlikely. I am ever looking for that "perfect" solution to my on-the-go fishing needs, but this solution works great for me right now.

Blacksmith Fork River, Utah 5-3-2012

I have not done much fishing over the past few weeks for a variety of reasons, one of which is that the rivers and creeks of my region are swelling with run-off. However, today I had to take my Rokon Scout down to Utah for some surgery and so I thought I'd see how was the water level and clarity of Blacksmith Fork near Hyrum, Utah. If it looked OK then I would try to fish a section for an hour or two. I had my daughter with me and so I didn't want to fish for hours, but she wanted to climb some of the canyon walls and do some photography. So off we went.

I have not fished Blacksmith Fork since about 1994 and that is enough time that some changes have occurred in the lower river. The main change is that the lower dam is gone. The river looked good however. The water clarity was slight off colored but really not too bad for this time of the year. I could tell that the river was up in flow but it was not until I actually entered the water that I could see that it was flowing faster and deeper than I was willing to wade in some spots! When the water is up to your crotch and moving that fast wading can become treacherous! My Simms wading staff was oscillating like crazy!

Still I started with two flies, a #10 Utah Killer Bug (UKB) and a #14 beadhead UV Prince nymph.

Utah Killer Bug

UV Prince nymph with Peacock dubbing

4x fluorocarbon tippet was in order for this water. I used the Tenkara USA Ito with a 12' fluorocarbon line which terminated in 2 feet of 15lb red Amnesia. This section acted as my sighter. I targeted the slower water behind rocks and snags and some of the slower water near the banks.

From my daughter's perspective

From my perspective

It started to rain lightly about 15 minutes into the wade and since we didn't have any rain gear I fished only for about 1 hour. I hooked three browns ranging from 10-12 inches. Two of the fish took the UKB and one took the UV Prince. Since the water was moving so fast the fish shot downstream in a hurry making the fight relatively exciting.

A nice Brown

I need to revisit this river in a month or two as it looks promising for tenkara. I just need to remember to bring a stouter wading staff!

My latest favorite line -- searching for the holy grail

Well, the spring run-off is starting. This is the time of year that I usually hit the regional lakes for some float tubing midge fishing. I have, however, been experimenting lately with tenkara lines. I have been persuing that holy grail of tenkara lines: castibility, visibility, and control in the wind.  I have various lines that I have tried: traditional furled, monofilament, fluorocarbon, and combinations of each. For the flourocarbon lines I have used Stewart Hi-Vis orange, Daiwa pink Plasma line, Stren 100% Clear Blue Fluorescent, Tenkara USA medium visiblility, and Tenkara USA high visibility. I have also tried various combinations of these trying to come up with a line that is very visible under my local conditions, and that casts well. I think I have found it!

I used a line today that answered my needs. I could see it under all light conditions, through the reflections off the water's surface, when the sun was out and when it was not, when it was raining, when it was snowing, etc (yes, it was quite the weather day). It cast well with two heavy nymphs tied on. It didn't get blown all over the river when the wind picked up. It didn't drag my dry fly under. In summary, it seem to do all that I currently want in a line.

SO...... what is this mystery line? It is a hybrid of Tenkara USA high visiblility flourocarbon #4.5 and 15lb Sunset red Amnesia monofilament shooting line.  The line I used today was 11 feet in length (before adding tippet), 8 ft of the Tenkara USA fluoro and 3 feet of the red Amnesia. I joined them with a Seaguar knot. I end the Amnesia with a mini tippet ring. I added 2.5 feet of 6X fluoro tippet; this finished the line.

Here is the line -- note the end spirals

On the water -- the line stands out even on camera 20 feet away

The contrast between the bright yellow of the Tenkara USA line and the glowing red of the Amnesia really makes this line easy for me to see under a myriad of conditions. Since Amnesia is monofilament it tends to float better than other hi-vis lines, like Stewart's Hi-Vis fluoro, and the line casts well because of the weight of the #4.5 Tenkara USA fluorocarbon. Also, since Amnesia is a "moldable" line I can put a couple of spiral turns in the end near the tippet ring by wrapping the line around my finger. These spirals make a built in strike indicator and is sensitive for light takes. It worked excellent today.

One of the fish

Another one -- it looks small but it was 12 inches.

I am sure that this hybrid line combination has been used before, but it is new to me and I like it a lot. It seems to be the best combination for my oldish eyes. I'll keep looking for a better combo though. After all, it is the holy grail!

Tenkara USA Ebisu review

When I was recently fishing with ERiK of Tenkara Guides, he let me try his Tenkara USA Ebisu. That was a mistake because as soon as I fished with it I knew that I wanted one! I had been fishing with my Ito all morning but when I first held his Ebisu I was amazed at how light it felt compared to the Ito. So, I bought one!

From the Tenkara USA website: "This rods feature a unique Red-Pine handle, a very high quality wood that is light-weight, durable and water resistant. This beautiful wood has very fine grain and rays that flows in the same direction as the rod, and contributes to its beautiful aesthetic quality.
We designed a very short handle, which makes it feel more "delicate" and great in the hands. The wood handle is a great addition to a fishing rod that you will feel proud of. "

I ordered my Ebisu off the Tenkara USA website and less than a week later I had it in my hands. It came in a cylindrical crush resistant mailing tube via the USPS. As with all the Tenkara USA rods that I have (Iwana-12, Amago, Ito) the Ebisu came in a synthetic material sleeve, which in turn was in a rod tube.

After taking it out of its tube and sleeve, I immediately noticed its unique wood handle. But something was amiss with my handle when I mentally compared it to ERiK's Ebisu. My handle was very rough and looked, and felt, unsanded and finished. I remember ERiK's Ebisu handle to be smooth and having a finished appearance. Could this be? All the other rods I have purchased from Tenkara USA have been visually near perfect. This was so out of my normal experience with Tenkara USA rods. My handle appeared to be sanded in some places but very course and unsanded in other others (as in near the knot grain).  It appeared to be raw, unprotected wood. I could not detect any signs of an application of a surface treatment. The wood was also much paler than ERiK's or what is seen on the Tenkara USA website.

Unfinished wood

Course texture on a portion of the handle

The rest of the rod appeared Tenkara USA perfect. The graphite is black with a glossy finish. I do not really like the glossy finish (although it is very pretty), I much more prefer the flat finish of the Amago or the satin finish of the Ito. No flaws could I detect elsewhere in the rod. The lilian is red and attached with glue and a small gold band.

Red lilian and connection

After some thought, I decided that instead of sending the rod back, I would finish the handle myself. I used 120 grit sand paper to knock down the courser stuff, follow by 220 and then finally 320 grit. This left the handle smooth, but with just a little texture. I vacuumed off the wood dust to open the pores and to get the wood ready to take the finish.

To finish the wood, I decided on light golden oak Danish oil treatment. Danish oil penetrates the wood and yet will not make the surface so glass-like smooth as to be slippery with wet hands. I applied three treatments of oil, each separated by twenty four hours. Between each treatment I used ultra fine steel wool to smooth and burnish the surface. After three days the volatile oils had evaporated completely leaving a perfect finish.

After finishing

As for fishing the rod, this rod casts like a dream. When compared to the Iwana (6:4), the Ebisu (5:5) is a slow dream. You can feel the rod load more definable than with the Iwana. You have to take it slower; your casting strokes have to be more deliberate. It has a nice, relaxed feel. The Eibsu does not play with the wind very well however, but boy does this rod lay out a #3 level line with barely a ripple on the water's surface. It delivers the ultimate in stealth casting.

As for fish, this rod makes any size feel like a Henry's Fork freight train. Any enthusiastic fish up to 10 inches really bends the Ebisu. If your fish start getting into the 14-16 inch range then you might be a little over whelmed with this rod. Not to say it can't be done, but there are better rods for those mid-size trout.

Left to Right: Iwana12, Ebisu, Amago, Ito

Conclusion: Needless to say, I was disappointed with the handle finish of this rod. I very much doubt that my handle is the norm for this rod -- I feel sure that I got a rod that slipped through Tenkara USA's quality control process. I love this rod's feel and how delicately it places a light level line onto the water. It is not a large water, wind friendly, big fish rod for sure, but for smaller water in tight quarters with fish of 6-10 inches it is wonderful.

Tenkara USA Ebisu Overview (* poor, ***** excellent)

Ease of purchase                       ***** 

Quality of materials                   ****

Fit and Finish                           **'

Physical Characteristics            ****

Fishability                                  ***'

Overall                                       ***" (3.8 out of 5 stars)