Tenkara Fest 2018, part 1

After visiting the Ardèche, Lozère and Vercors in previous years we have this year at the invitation of Frédéric discovered the Ubaye Valley. It was a long time since I wanted to visit this area to fish there and it was the perfect opportunity. We were going to be five fishermen this year to spend this weekend dedicated to tenkara and the discovery of a beautiful mountain stream.

Arrived in the area on Friday evening Guilhem, Edouard and I were joined on saturday morning by Frederic "Tenkara Ubaye" and one of his friends named Jérôme and after a brief talk we left the village of Jausiers to go to the banks of the Ubaye stream.

Arrived near the area where we wanted to fish we realised that like the weather forecast announced the wind was present and the sky slightly overcast; the melting of the snow not being finished the Ubaye was still a little high and gray but Frédéric who knows this stream very well estimated that this situation was not insurmountable for experimented tenkara anglers.

The trail traced by the hikers and the sheep allowed us to admire the grandiose landscapes in which flows the Ubaye.

After a good walk that warmed us we arrived on a gentle slope through which we had an easy access  to the river. Jérôme, Guilhem and Edouard went upstream while Frédéric and I went downstream.

Frederic was the first of us to meet success by capturing a pretty nice trout that was in a hurry to go back to the stream after a few shots.

A few minutes laters I will catch a beautiful trout with a fly that I take everywhere with me; the Zenmai-dou.

What a pleasure to see the trout arise from their cache to take this kebari drifting a few inches below the surface!

The water was a little bit high and very cold but we did arrive in the right time and we will have about three hours of fishing during which the combination of our talents with the cooperation of trout did give excellent results.

After a well deserved lunch break we went fishing on a small plateau, somewhat strange scenery where the river has formed a kind of archipelago where between countless islands live trout. Frédéric and I will also have the opportunity to observe several of those trout waiting for insects to drift in their sight. 

We were above 6500 feet high and as we did see there were still very large piles of snow to melt which explained the extremely low temperature of the water on the plateau. At the end of the afternoon the sky was more overcast and the wind has risen again, bringing down the temperature very quickly; we were standing wearing our jackets without a problem. The trout being more and more discreet we decided to go back down to Jausiers.

Thus ended this first part of our discovery of the Ubaye stream with which we were all satisfied.

Spring tenkara

Since the opening of the trout season last month the weather has been so bad that I have not been able to go fishing once; most streams having seen their waters become strongly tainted. However, I have seen many fishermen strive on several streams throughout the month, surely those people who want to "profitable" their fishing licence by filling their freezer of these famous "farm" trout. Fortunately last week we finally saw spring conditions settle.

Finally blue in the sky and white, pink, yellow, purple on the banks! And the madness of the flying fauna of the undergrowth. Spring has finally begun!

I started fishing a little upstream from where I stopped at the opening. An interesting place, narrow and crowded where the discretion and the casting precision are imperative for the angler who does not want to spend his time to unhook his kebari from branches and brambles and who wants to make visit his tamo to a trout.

The casting accuracy is, any serious trout anglers knows this, one of the most important factors in the success of trout fishing. I take very few kebari with me and if I lose them in the trees or brambles I just have to turn around and go back home. My friend Adam Trahan has written an excellent article on the topic and let us not forget that our kebari will be seen in movement by animals which surely do not have the same view as human beings.

I fished with the same gear at the opening, ie a Nissin Kawashi 320 rod and a Oni-ryu 号2.5 level line. The conditions being ideal during the two mornings of this weekend the trout responded favorably to my requests.

I did take full advantage of it and I was always completely absorbed in my fishing and during these two mornings I made the same mistake and every morning around 10:30 I left this narrow and shadowed area to reach a place where the stream widens and it was the end of my fishing trip.

I took one last trout under the drooping branches of a boxwood, which formed a shelter against the bank, once this trout had returned to its element, I did collapse my rod and left. The temperature had risen and the trout were no longer as cooperative as those in the shaded areas.

But I did not regret leaving because I had spent two very beautiful spring mornings.

2018 Trout season opening

Like every year I did not miss the ritual of the trout season opening although this year I thought that for once I was going to miss it because the winter was particularly rainy and some days before the fateful date the state of many of the creeks in the area was really bad, all had high water level and a pretty disgusting dark stain. Fortunately we were like all the France affected by the cold wave which caused the stop of the rain and consequently a rather fast decrease of the level of the water as I noticed it a few days before the opening on the occasion of a walk on the banks of the stream on which I open the trout season every year.

I devoted a single evening to prepare the season opening because I had actually prepared everything several months ago ; it was more a kind of detailed review of my equipment. Knowing that I would fish only drowned in this period of opening I packed my box only a few kebari for this purpose.

The smallest is none other than a refined version of my faithful Yamato kebari that has been following me everywhere since my trip to Japan and I do not regret it, on the contrary because it made me catch trout everywhere. From Itoshiro to Vercors through Ardèche and Normandy. True to the job! The largest, only a little larger, is made of zenmai and a hen chicken feather.

I decided to skip the first mile of the stream to get close to the place where every year I have lunch on the season opening day, the area where the creek runs in the narrowest part of its valley where I hoped to be somewhat sheltered from the icy wind that had swept the region for several days.

As last year the fishing was not easy, I tried all the spots where I have already taken trout in the past without achieving the desired result and it is finally in a corner where I have never seen or caught a trout that I finally had success. 

This trout gone back in its element I did put my line back on a card and collapsed the rod, it was already noon, the hour of the traditional season opening lunch. The wind was still very present but the sky was clear, it was the good moment to enjoy some ramen and a tasty beer!

I went back down the stream without seeing anyone, or even hearing anything but the sound of the wind. Since this opening morning the weather has been constantly bad, the streams have returned to winter conditions and I did not go fishing.

Post thunderstorm tenkara

Since my last tenkara outing the area where I live has faced highly unstable weather and many thunderstorms and as I have seen last weekend the streams still wear their stained winter dress but yesterday by the end of the afternoon  I wanted to enjoy the little bit of free time I had so I decided to visit the stream close to my home with the hope that I could fish in.
The sky was slightly overcast, the wind was low but I did think that the conditions were better than the previous week and I made my Oni type 1 rod ready. 

It was my first fishing session on this stream this year and my first observation was the number of trees bent by the winter storms or outright fallen into the stream.

If the water was stained in the mainstream it was clear on the edges. There were lots of insects emerging among which tiny black sedges and mayflies. 

I had four meters of the new Nissin Oni-ryu level line size 2.5 on my spool as well as a meter of fluorocarbon tippet to which was tied a Yamato kebari.

I caught the first trout of the day after casting a few meters upstream its rising spot. I quickly released it, walked a few meters to catch a second one after seeing it rise to a large mayfly.

Trout were active, and did rise easily to the surface thanks to the regular hatching of mayflies, my stealth approach combined with accurate casts and controlled drifts were rewarded by several catches. None of the trout seem to make any difference between the natural mayflies and my Yamato kebari.

Time passing by the wind got stronger and trout less active so I decided to walk upstream to a more sheltered spot. I did hit a small fishing spot that I like because I always find several trout in the quiet raws of the stream. If you want to train fishing without using weighted patterns that is the typical spot you have to look for. 

Accurate casts and controlled drifts are the keys to success in tenkara fishing; there is no need to knot or stick accessories to your line or tippet. A minimum of concentration on what you are doing is much more useful than the last fashionable gadget advised by fishing forums "experts".

Despite stained water, cold and high water trout were still moving for food.

The wind was rising and I did feel that the temperature was dropping as it has been almost every evening for the last weeks. I did catch a last trout and as it was gone back into its habitat I did collapse my rod, disconnected the line and did take the way back home. 

It was a short and enjoyable tenkara outing, I did not have the opportunity of a typical June evening rise but I still enjoyed these moments on the stream. Maybe next time...