Help! I'm being held captive!

OK, not really, but here I sit waiting for my fight back from Los Angeles. We have just been notified that our plane has hit a bird and therefore has to be taken in for repairs. My flight has been delayed 5 hours or more, and there are no other options other than just sitting here watching other fights come and go. So I guess, if you want to get technical, I am being held captive -- by a dead bird!

While sitting here, I did an Internet search for fly fishing near LA. Although not a fly fishing destination, I read where there are some reasonable streams within an hour or two of Beverly Hills, where I was this weekend for a conference. I wish I would have known that before I came, as I would have brought one of my tenkara rods. After the conference let out yesterday afternoon, I did go up into the local hills and did some hiking, but I would have loved to try my hand at catching some wild trout in Southern California.

Anyway, not to bore you too much, but I just wanted you to know that could have fished this weekend but didn't because I didn't do my homework. Bummer!

Not my plane, unfortunately.

Trail Lite Designs Ti Net

I have a couple of different nets that I use when fishing. One is a collapsible Handy Pak net, one is a beautiful wooden net with a replacement mesh, and one is the Trail Lite Designs Ti Net. I bought the later almost a year ago and use it frequently.

There are a couple of other reviews of this net, but I thought I'd add mine to the mix.

The Trail Lite Designs Ti Net is a very lightweight (3 oz) and ubber portable fishing net that has become my main net when I don't care to measure the  size of the fish. If I am likely to catch large fish I'll take my Handy Pak net since it has a Measure Net replacement in it and can instantly measure the size of the fish. I catch mostly small (less than 16 inches) fish so the Ti Net is perfect most days.

The Ti Net has a carbon fiber handle which is 12 inches long. The titanium hoop is 9.5 inches (24 cm) diameter and comes with a fine weave nylon mesh. I have landed fish up to 18 inches long in this net, but a fish that size is a tight fit!

A 12 incher in the Ti Net

I must confess that my current Ti Net is actually my second. My first Ti Net, which had a black mesh, floated peacefully down a river as I was removing a fly from a fish's mouth. I did not have the net secured with a leash and therefore gave some other fisherman a really nice gift! I liked the net so much that I absolutely had to order another. My current Ti Net has a leash (not included with the net); I'm not giving this one away!

I carry my Ti Net either in my belt, when I am wet wading or wearing my Hippies, or through my Smith Creek Net Holster when I am wearing my waders. Either way is convenient since this net is so lightweight.

My wooden net in the Smith Creek Net Holster

Trail Lite Designs offers this net in either an angled or straight version, and they even offer a larger version called the Ti Net Plus (I'd love to get one of these). It has a 10.5 inch (27 cm) diameter hoop and 14 inch handle. That means bigger fish and a better reach!

I like this net. It has gone with me on some hike-in adventures and works great! If you are looking for a net that is durable, very lightweight, and want it to have that classic tenkara "tamo" look (yet have ultra modern materials), then consider the Trail Lite Designs Ti Net. I don't think you will be disappointed!

Warming Up (a tiny little bit)

Here in southeast Idaho the grip of icy cold weather has finally, and slowly, began to release. The temperature on the river today was up to 14 degrees F. That of course is still pretty cold, but better than the 0-5 degree F daytime highs that we have been experiencing.

I only fished for 2 hours today. This cold air has really suppressed the fish activity. Usually this time of year has nice baetis and midge hatches around 1 pm, but I have not seen any on the water over the past few weeks. Also, where there are usually rising trout, there has been silence. Not a rising fish anywhere.

One good thing about the cold weather we've been having is that finally the heavy weed is dying back. This makes nymphing a bit easier because the flies are less likely to get fouled with weed.

Today I used a duo set up of heavy nymphs and worked some of the deeper holes trying to dredge up trout. After finding the right combination of flies and tippet length I brought in 3 fish out of one hole. I also hooked 3 others further upstream.

On the line

The largest of the day

After catching these trout I had to change to my new three fingered gloves because my hands got too cold. I should have started out with them but I wanted to compare the two different styles.

Hopefully it will continue to warm up and get into some reasonable temperatures like highs of 30-35 degrees F. We'll see; so far it's been a cold winter!

Ultimate Gloves for Really Cold Weather Tenkara?

Fortunately, here in Idaho, many of our streams and rivers remain open for fly fishing year round. In neighboring Utah this is the same. Unfortunately, both Utah and Idaho can get some really cold weather making fly fishing painful. I think tenkara is the best method for winter fly fishing since there are no guides to freeze up and the line, for the most part, remains off the water. This reduces line icing.

A different version of ice fishing!

I recently reported about tenkara fishing in 3 degree F weather. On that day I was quite warm because of my Simms Bulkley Jacket and the layers that I had on my head and lower extremities. Where I was cold was my hands. I am not about ready to give up fly fishing just because winter gets in the way, so I set out to once again try to find gloves that would be best for winter tenkara.

Over the years I have used many different types of gloves while winter fly fishing. I have used wool fingerless gloves, synthetic fingerless gloves, synthetic fingerless with over-mit glove (so called glovmits), and neoprene 3 mm - 5 fingered waterproof gloves (Glacier Gloves). All of these have worked better than no protection at all but they also all have a downside.

Some of the gloves worked well if the temps were not too bad (25-35 F) or if there was no wind. Some worked well if they did not get wet. Some kept my hands warm enough but my fingers, particularly my index finger and thumb on my right hand, would get painfully cold. Some gloves allowed for dexterity but others not unless you removed the glove temporally. And, when the air temperature dropped into the insane region of 10 degees F and below, none of these style of gloves worked as well as I would have liked. Finally, if the hand cover is a mitten-style, then it is very hard to hold my tenkara rod with the classic point or tripod grip and I'd have to hold the rod western style -- which I never have liked, even with western rods!

So recently I bought a new type of glove for tenkara fishing in extremely cold weather. It is waterproof neoprene so I can hold the fish or retrieve my fly stuck on a submerged log. It is 5mm thick so even really cold weather hasn't frozen my digits. It is three fingered, a so called shooting glove or lobster mit, so I can hold the tenkara rod as it should be held.

So what is this glove? It is the G1 5mm 3-Finger diving glove from Waterproof. Waterproof is a producer of award winning high quality diving suits and accessories. Waterproof was established in Göteborg, Sweden 1984. Those Swedes know their cold weather amphibious gear!

I am not a diver but this glove works for cold weather tenkara really well. The glove is designed for prolonged diving in cold water. Its 5 mm thickness takes a little getting used to when holding your rod, but that thickness keeps your hand nice and warm. The gloves goes on easily and is pre-curved towards the palm. The palm has a grip coating that works pretty well -- you won't drop your rod, but holding that 20 inch Brown may still be a challenge! I have found that this pseudo-mit, combined with an ultra-thin silk liner glove, keeps my hands the warmest on the coldest days. It also allows for a respectable amount of dexterity as well -- but it does make me look like a cartoon character or space alien!

Here is how it looks holding a tenkara rod:

If you live in a place that doesn't get that cold, then these gloves may not be for you. But if you are like me, and would rather wade a river (working your kebari among the rocks when the air temp is 5 degrees F) than watch television, then possibly these gloves would work for you too!

See you out there; rain, snow, wind or cold -- never say die!!

Suntech Field Master 39 -- review

I like zoom rods. I have quite a few, but all the ones I have zoom from just one length to another. When I got an email from Chris Stewart of Tenkara Bum that he had bi-zoom rod from Japan I knew that I just had to try it! Many of the streams that I fish are pretty heavily treed but can have more open areas as well as some tighter areas. I thought that this rod might answer in these varying situations.

A winters day fishing

Suntech Field Master 39

The river today

The temperature was nicer than it looks

The Suntech Field Master 39 is a very lightweight, carbon fiber keiryu rod that has three functional lengths: 320 cm, 360 cm, and 390 cm. It weighs an amazing 69 g, yet it can be classified as a 390 cm rod.  I don't know of any other rod in that category. Fully collapsed the rod is 53 cm.

The rod is dark charcoal or black with a beautiful, slightly metallic flecked finish. The handle is corkless but has an effective non-slip coating with the Suntech monogram 2/3rd the way through. This does not make the non-slip handle coating less effective; it works well both dry and wet.  The lilian is red and is attached with a micro-swivel. The rod comes with a Fuji universal tip protection cap.

The handle with the Suntech monogram

The tip cap

The designation

The zoom sections. You can see the friction tape where the sections meet.

The rods action is likely a 7:3. The Common Cents Scale for each of the three lengths is 320 cm = 24; 360 cm = 26, and 390 cm = 28 pennies. So it is a little stiffer than a Tenkara USA Iwana 360 cm. Chris Stewart did the flexion profiles for this rod and it matches some "true" tenkara rods (see Tenkara Bum.com for these). Throw some cork or a contoured foam handle on this rod, replace the "keiryu" with "tenkara" and this rod would be accepted by even the most ardent tenkara purist as a tenkara rod. It is even made in Japan, not China!

The bi-zoom feature works well. Today I mainly fished the rod at 360cm -- which is my preferred length. I did on a few occasions need to shorten up to the 320 cm, and also occasionally lengthen to 390 cm. I was nice to be able to do so easily. I mostly used the 390 cm length to bring a fish into the net, but still the rod casts well at 390 cm as well as the other lengths. The un-zoomed sections are held in place by a post with O-rings in the butt cap and some friction tape, where the sections meet, to keep them them tight. This is a similar mechanism (the butt cap post, not the tape) as with the Tenkara USA Ito, but different than my Daiwa zoom rods. The butt cap is black "plastic" and does not have a drainage hole, but I think it needs one -- not for drainage but for air to move in or out when the sections are being extended or collapsed. I will drill my own on my drill press.

O-rings on butt cap post

Casting a #3.5 12 foot line was no problem. Control was excellent. The rod would probably load better with a #4-4.5 level or furled line but the light #3.5 line was just fine. Hook ups are fast since the rod is a 7:3 and fighting the fish is no problem because this rod has backbone! My largest fish today's was an 18 inch Mountain Whitefish that was taken in a pretty quick current. The rod handled it without any complaint. My largest trout today was a 16 inch Brown and it too was no issue on this rod.

Here are some of the fish from today:

The 16 inch Brown

The 18 inch Whitefish

Conclusion: I really like this rod.  That said, I of course need to fish it more but it seems to have nice features of being lightweight yet with good fish fighting power, three very usable lengths without being too out of balance when casting (I think it is at its best when in the 360 cm length), a nice flex action, and a respectable collapsed length. I wish its action was just a little softer, but maybe that is nit picking.

I'll add it to my collection and see if it stands the test of time. I bet it will.

Thar be icebergs!

The Field Master in action

A Line for Wind

Tenkara has given me a lot of wonderful time on the water this past year and has reinvigorated my love of fly fishing. But tenkara still poses some challenges for me, especially when the wind blows. During the summer-autumn months I generally fish higher gradient streams with lots of brush and trees crowding the banks,  but during the winter I generally fish larger, more open waters. When the wind is blowing and I'm fishing closed in streams I don't have any trouble controlling the line, probably because with all the tree cover the wind can't reach me and affect my line, but that's not the case with wide open rivers.

Fishing wide open rivers during the winter is a different matter all together. One of the rivers I fish frequently during winter seems to make its own wind! Almost always a breeze is blowing. The wind frustrates me when I am trying to keep the line off the water because the wind bellies the line downwind and pulls the fly up the water column and sometimes even out of the water all together! It's like my line is kite and my fly is a surfer! When the line is flying like this I loose all control of it. I'm sure you've probably experienced this as well on windy days.



from Kitesurfing.com

To combat this "line kiting" I have tried using heavier flies (like beadheads, Czech nymphs), laying the line onto the water as if it were a long western leader (this however cancels the "tenkara effect" of having the line off the water), or just trying to "anchor" the last few feet of line in the water's suface and doing my best to control the fly. Up until recently I have not found a way to reasonably accomplish the later technique.

Lately, when the wind is blowing say 8-18 knots (10-20 mph), I have been using a modified tenkara line that seems to give me more control over the fly and still monitor the take or hit of the fish. This line uses 7-8 feet of #2 or 3 fluorocarbon tenkara line nail knotted to a 24 inch "anchor" or "sighter" of Rio Powerflex Shooting Line. This in turn is nail knotted to a 6 inch segment of 0-1X fluorocarbon line, then finally a 2.5 mm tippet ring. I then attach my terminal line, such a 24-32 inches of 4-5X fluorocarbon tippet. This combination makes a weight forward line that casts well into the wind, and more importantly, is easy to "anchor" into the water's surface. I fish this line with a 390 cm rod to give me some reach.

Rio Powerflex Shooting Lines are designed for use with Spey, Skagit, or Scandinavian shooting heads and have a monofilament core allowing for very small tubular diameters. I use the orange 0.024 inch coldwater floating shooting line for the sighting anchor in my wind line. This line is very lightweight, but heavier than the #2-3 tenkara line, making a very nice weight forward configuration that allows you, with a modestly stiff rod -- like a 6:4-7:3, to punch into a good wind. But because the shooting line also floats it is perfect for "anchoring" your line by allow the shooting line sighter to float on the water's surface and take advantage of its "grip". The rest of your line, the more proximal portion made of #2-3 fluorocarbon, is held off the water. Since the #2-3 tenkara line is so thin and light it is much less affected by wind than a heavier or thicker fluoro line or furled line.

#3 HiVis green fluorocarbon tenkara line, Rio Shooting Line sighter, 0X fluorocarbon with tippet ring

As the shooting line sighter floats with the current it has enough resistance and attachment to the water's surface tension that it is harder for the wind to adversely affect the line, and in turn affect your fly. Think of the shooting line sighter as a long, thin, floating strike indicator, but since the vast majority of your line is still off the water your fly is less adversely affected by those tricky currents as well. The storage curves or loops of the shooting line sighter are easily straightened with just a slight pull on either end and floatation can be augmented with a quick application of your favorite paste floatant (if you need to -- I generally don't).

Also, since the waters surface is disturbed by the wind you can wade closer to the targeted fish, thus allowing you to use a shorter segment of the #2 or #3 tenkara line. This shorter amount of tenkara line is less affected by wind than a long segment of the same line -- less line to "kite".

When the wind temporarily stops blowing, or when it decreases to only a slight breeze, there is no need to change lines. The shooting line sighter is light enough to be held off the water and fished as a more usual tenkara level line, especially if your fly is heavy, like a #10-14 beadhead. It is also highly visible making seeing strikes or "takes" really easy.

If there is no wind, or just a slight breath (5 knots or less), I still prefer to use a full level line with an Amnesia or bi-color sighter.

#3 green tenkara line with 24 inch Rio Shooting Line sighting anchor fished in "off the water" mode

Give this line a try in your local fishing environment and see if it works for you. It has helped me greatly combating that pesky old winter wind!