Headwaters -- June 27, 2014

I love headwaters fishing. It is both fun and humbling at the same time. It's like my personal version of the WWF (wrestling, not wildlife)-- brief moments of satisfaction interspersed with long stretches of getting beat up! I visited one of my favorite headwaters for the first time this year and was not disappointed.

I parked at the trail head then walked a short ways to the water I wanted to fish. It's still early in the season and the water is flowing with energy. Even though the stream is only a few feet wide, it packs a punch! I almost got knocked over more times than I can count. This creek keeps me on my toes -- so to speak.

I used the TUSA Rhodo. I mainly fished it in its 270 cm configuration but occasionally got to extend it to a whopping 297 cm! Combined with 7 foot line it was just the ticket for this little water.

TUSA Rhodo

The day was beautiful; cloudy, rainy and very little breeze. I'll take the rain any day, at least over the wind. I've never seen another person of this water. I occasionally run across hikers and with out fail they are very amazed that there are fish in this creek, let alone that some one is crazy enough to fish it.

The creek is high gradient. It does not look like a stream that is fishable. But I get down into the water and carefully select my casts. Doing this I hook a surprisingly large number of fish. I don't net as many as I hook, as often there is no place to fight the fish. They get swept downstream and then off the hook. That's OK though. I let them go anyway.

Today was no different. I took rainbow after rainbow. Most are about 8 inches, but they are stoat, full bodied little trout. I guess they have to be living in this tumbly, tumultuous water.

The best of the day was a rainbow that was big, for this creek. It filled my hand with its girth and was almost 13 inches! That's huge! At first I thought I was going to loose him to the current, but I was able to ease off the pressure and let him swim and do all the work. Then into the net he came --  a very nice fish indeed.

The best fish.

As I stated above, I love headwaters fishing. It's not for everyone, but it has its own rewards. You have to use your short game in tight quarters, be prepared to loose a lot of flies and fish, and expect to have some sore muscles the next day!

Here is a video of some of the fish:

In-line Tenkara Line Holder -- review

For line control, I prefer spool cards since they are very thin and allow me to carry many lines in a small pocket. But sometimes I want to control the line when moving from place to place on a stream and I don't want to wrap the line onto a spool card. Here is where I use a In-line Tenkara Line Holder from The Tenkara Shop.

Here is what Jason says about this holder: "This is a very unique line holder that attaches to your tenkara rod blank or handle. It is light enough to be left on the rod without affecting casting; however, we recommend removing it to prevent accidental loss. It attaches to the rod easily with a velcro strap. On one side, there is a fish engraving and foam where you affix the fly. After hooking the fly in the foam, run the tippet through one of the notches at either end, wind, and then secure the end of the line in the other notch. On the opposite side, there are two foam cushions prevent the holder from sliding. There is also “tenkara” spelled out in katakana and an indented square that holds a small label to record line size and/or length. You can either write on the label with a pencil and erase it to change the information, or simply add a new label. Includes a cloth bag and spare labels."

This small wooden oval spool is 3.75″ x 0.5″ x 1″ (9.5 x 1.3 x 2.5 cm) in size and is 0.6 oz (17 g) in weight.  The face has a large black foam patch to where you stick your fly. The foam is thick enough to handle most flies smaller than a size 8 but larger flies don't hold as well. The foam has held up so far, but it will be interesting to see if the foam will hold up to many dozens of fly sticks over time. Also, if the foam wears out, or tears, can it be replaced easily?

The backside has two round foam patches that press against your rod and keep the holder from rotating or sliding off.  These work pretty well, but you have to make sure that you wrap the holder to the rod very tightly. If you don't, there isn't enough pressure to keep the holder from rotating off the rod shaft.

The hook and loop strap is attached to the holder with glue and a small brass brad. It appears to be fixed in place well. The strap is easily manipulated so to fix the holder to either the handle or the shaft of the rod. I prefer the rod shaft.

As far as aesthetics, this is a nice looking holder, but aesthetics is not what I like about the product -- it is its usefulness. Even if it didn't have the carved fish motif or the Japanese characters on it I'd like this holder. Pretty is as pretty does, but functionality is what wins the day.

I'm sure some people will buy a bunch of these on which to store their lines, but I only use mine on the stream. It seems to work about as well as any other method for winding up your line before moving from one place to another when you're out fishing.

Conclusion: I like this holder.  Its shape fits in your pocket well and takes up less room than a round spool. It appears well built and it is handsome in aesthetics.

Here is a video of me using the holder, as well as catching some fish:

Tenkara -- June 16, 2014

I recently fished a creek that comes out of the mountains and tracks down through a steep canyon, coursing its way through willows, Red twig dogwood and alder. The gradient is moderately high and right now the flow is quite high, but the water was clear.

This is a short rod stream. A 300 cm or longer rod just will not work here. I have tried and tried, but even with short line I can't get enough clearance with a longer rod to make the experience fun. So, I use a 240 cm rod and sometimes I'll stretch to a 270. In spots, I've used a 180 cm rod -- yeah, that short.

As far as lines, I use a 7' line plus 2 feet of 5X tippet. With this line and the short rods used, I fish tight and close. This is real commando fishing. You have to move slowly and stealthy since you are so close to the fish.  Your casts have to be spot on, although, I'm the first to admit that when using such a short rod my casts are not all perfect. Often my first cast is just a "dummy" cast, just to get the line out in front of the rod tip. The second cast is my "real" cast. The rod is loaded and the fly is sent towards the intended target.

Many of my casts were sling-shot or "bow and arrow" casts, but when I have enough room to overhead cast I still prefer to do so.

The fish are cutthroats. I hooked some really nice fish, in the 13-14 inch range I guess, but I had some issues keeping them on the hook -- very frustrating. Most of the ones I brought to hand were 9-11 inches; still nice but I won't turn up my nose at a larger one!

June is when this creek really shines. As the water level drops the trout move into the more harder to reach lies, like the pools right under heavily protected branches. So June is when I go. It's worth the trip and the sore the back! Some creeks I fish in the winter, some in the early spring, others summer and others autumn. I'm a migrant or circuit fisher. I've worked out where the fish are and when certain streams/creeks fish best for my style of tenkara. That's why I gather data. Where, when, how -- document. It's what I do!

Here is a POV video of some of the fish:

Oni Rod, Type III -- review

I have an original Oni rod that I really like. I bought it from Masami Sakakibara himself and it was shipped from Japan. That was nice, but since I don't speak Japanese, there was some difficulty in communication during the transaction. So when I saw that Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk was now the exclusive retail dealer for Oni rods I was pretty excited.  Jason offers three different rods: Oni, type I,II and III. I assume my original rod is a Type I Oni rod, but without the markings or the flash.

I decided to purchase a Type III Oni rod and test it out. Jason states: "With a shorter length and softer 5:5 action, the Type III is a fun rod that’s a great choice for beginners or those fishing small, brushy streams for smaller fish that need to load the rod at shorter distances. Like the Type II, it features a thicker tip section for added durability. It also features a unique camouflage EVA foam handle." Here is was I found.

The rod came from Jason in a standard triangular USPS Priority Mail mailing tube.  The rod was wrapped in bubble wrap for protection. No protective rod tube is provided.

Rod and sock

Designation

The rod is charcoal grey/black with a EVA foam handle. The handle is 30 cm long and is a pseudo-camo pattern that is sort of eclectic looking. I'm not sure why this pattern was chosen for the rod, but I must say, it is unique. The handle has a more shaped or contoured profile than my original Oni rod's, in that the Type III has a more double hump or "camel" profile. The handle is quite thick in diameter when compared to many of the other tenkara rods I have. This is not an issue for me, as I have extra-large palms, but for someone with small hands it might be an issue. The foam feels a little more compressible than the foam on my original Oni rod. Also, the Type III rod's foam has a slightly more course surface than the foam on my original Oni rod. I like both of these characteristics. I'm ambivalent regarding the "camo" pattern".

The winding check is purple anodized metal and fits tightly to the handle.

Winding check

Unique "camo" EVA foam handle

The segments have a fine gold ring accent on all but section 1, the tip section. The tip plug is black nylon plastic and fits securely. The butt cap is small, gold colored metal, is knurled and has a coin slot. A small drain hole is present. The small size of the butt cap is an issue. It is small enough that it is hard to grasp; the knurled edge does not help in any way. I suspect that this is the reason for the coin slot. Without it I'm not sure I'd be able to remove the butt cap.

Butt cap -- it is very small and difficult to grasp. Use the coin slot to facilitate removal.

Tip plug

The graphite weaver pattern

The lilian is dark red and is quite thick. It is thicker and stiffer than any lilian I have on any other rod. This makes it a little more difficult to double loop through the slip knot of a level line. I have not tried to tie a knot in this lilian, as I usually don't like lilian knots, but I suspect it could be difficult to do. The glue connection that holds the lilian to the tip of section 1 is perfect -- small, tight, and smooth. Section 1 will pass completely through section 2 when disassembling the rod.

Rod specifications: Collapsed it is 60.5 cm (with tip plug in place). Fully extended it is 344 cm. Weight is 56.3 g (without tip plug). Common Cents System measurement is 12 pennies. Rod Flex Index is 3.5.  This puts is on the slower end of the 5:5 rod range. For reference, my original Oni rod has a RFI of 3.9. That's still in the 5:5 rod range even though it bends as a 6:4 supposedly.

RFI comparison chart

As far as handling and balance, this rod feels nearly perfect. I don't think this should come as a surprise, as it comes from one a tenkara's casting masters. There is no tip heaviness and the in-hand balance causes the rod to rotate around a point in mid-handle. This is such a pleasant feel. The rod casts very similarly to my Daiwa Sagiri 39MC.

The rod flexes deeply into the mid-section when casting. The casting stroke is slow and smooth, and requires surprisingly little effort. The rod is designed to cast a very light level line and it achieves this flawlessly. It's a rod for smaller waters, so I don't think many will be casting 20 foot lines but I bet this rod could do it in the right hands. I did not use a furled line or a level line heavier than #3.5 so I can't comment on its performance in those situations.

I fished the Oni, Type III with a 9 foot #3.5 line on the upper sections of my home creek.  The water is only 4-5 feet wide, is quite shallow, and has the classic riffle-run-pool configuration of Rocky Mountain streams. The 3.4 m length of the Oni III fits this stream really well. Using a shorter line also works well in that it is easier to cast precisely into the narrow gaps in the willows.

I was able to hit some very small targets with the rod -- but bear in mind that there was no wind the times I used the rod. I think this fact makes all the difference. I like casting into 12-18 inch gaps in the overhanging willows to try to entice the lurking cutthroats. For this, I used a #14 parachute Adams. It's easy to see floating under the willows branches.  I took many 8-10 inch cutthroats with a couple coming in near 12 inches. The rod handles them well, but because of its soft, full flex action it is harder to keep the fish out of the snags when they run. A shorter line helps control the fish better on such small water.

Conclusion: I really like this rod. I'm not one for slow action, full flex rods in general, but I appreciate that they have their place. The Oni, type III is a wonderful rod for small trout in small streams/creeks, but coming in at over 11 feet fully extended it is not a rod for heavily canopied streams. Its balance is about as perfect as any rod I've ever used and it casts a lightweight level line effortlessly. It fishes very similarly to my Diawa Sagiri 39MC -- so closely, in fact, that they could be brothers. I'm not too smitten with the "camo" handle, but I don't hate it either. It's quirky. It gives the rod character. I'm sure I'll be using this rod a lot for certain streams that match its design. Thank you Jason, for bringing this, and the other Oni rods, to the USA!

Are there any downsides? Well, one is that the butt cap is too small for convenient removal. Also, it would be nice to get some sort of rod tube to protect this wonderful instrument. It doesn't have to be much, just a clear plastic tube, such as provided by Tenkara Times with their rods. I'd hate to see one of these rods destroyed during shipping.

Finally, I guess Jason emailed me regarding the sale but I didn't receive the communication. He is checking out why (for an update on this point, see Jason's comments below).

Here is a 3rd Person view video on me using the Oni, type III on my home creek: