Yamato Kebari

The water level is still high on the streams I usually fish in the early season, a little bit of patience is needed for the trout season really starts. The spring seems to be starting very slowly, the temperatures are still pretty low and with the hard rains we had last month it is not surprising that trout are not active on food at all. But when they are hungry again the fishing will be good.

Meanwhile I tie enough kebari to cover the entire season as I intend to live this new tenkara fishing season to the fullest as soon as the conditions will be good. I recreated last year while preparing my journey to Japan an old wet fly that was very often used by the anglers who taught fly fishing several decades ago. I have always seen this pattern tied with a hen chicken feather as hackle but tying these a few days before leaving to Japan and out of time to get supplied I decided to switch to something I had available: cock saddle. 

If my peers favorite hooks for tying trout flies were "Tortue" hooks I replaced them by what I had on hand ie Tiemco 3769SP-BL size 12.

I tried, and I think I have succeeded, to interpret this old wet fly pattern and make a modern version. I intentionally  do not use the term "invent" because I think that in the universe of fly tying  inventions are extremely rare and I do not pretend to compare myself to Skues.

Tied on a hook considered "for wet flies and nymphs" this very light tie does not really enter into such limited categories because if one practices tenkara as it has always been practiced in Japan, with the line off water,  he can easily control the diving of the kebari.

This kebari who until then had no name is now called "Yamato kebari" because during my stay in Japan is knotted with it to my bottom line that I was capturing several specimen of this variety of char.

In many ways the Yamato Iwana reminded me of the brown trout of my small streams, they are not very mobile, preferring to wait that the current brings them food. They are very subtle and difficult to spot on sight. Fortunately I have been lucky in my fishing experience in the Japanese mountains to get advices from some of the best connoisseurs of these magnificent fish.

The yamato iwana above was caught thanks to the advices of Masami Sakakibara in a very tiny spot. I also got a beautiful yamato iwana on the Sho-gawa with the help of my friend Kazumi Saigo.

If you want to try this pattern on your favorite streams, you may like this tying video I have made.