BACK TO BERENCE CREEK

After several days without fishing I have been back this morning on a local stream: the Bérence creek.
I did the season opening there and I was sure to be the only angler there; I am not going to the Sienne stream yet because it is full of anglers who only want to catch all the trouts stocked there before the new season.

Despite a shiny sun and a clear sky temperature is still low in this early spring but  my motivation is unspoiled, I am not going to take back a reeled rod at the first difficulties! Fishing small streams or creeks is challenging, each trout has to be deserved and errors are immediately sanctioned.

It was pretty hard this morning and it ended as I had foreseen: under the rain. While the weather was still not too bad it was good...

THAR CREEK TENKARA

A few days ago I did decide that my next tenkara outing would be on a stream I did not know and with the number os streams and creeks in my area I have a lot of choice.
I went on the Thar creek that flow around twelve miles from home, I only know this creek based on what some of my workmates who are anglers have told me about it; for some it is a good place with interesting fishing and for others it is only a waste of time.
I have chosen the area of La Lucerne d'Outremer because cards show the stream flowing through a forest and that is the kind of place I like most.

When I arrived on the bank of the stream that is about three feet wide I have seen that the water is gin clear and that the trees on the banks are very many. 

The depth is low and I estimate it is around 8 inches; there are many branches not higher than six feet above the water and also a lot of submerged wood; it is not going to be easy but it is surely going to very interesting. After a moment of observation to avoid fishing too many trees and to guess some of the potential trout caches I decided to put my gear into action...

Tuesday I had forgotten my sunglasses and today it is the camera's battery!

That is the reason why I have only pictures to share with you today.

It did not take too long to me before I realized that there were a lot of trouts in this creek but that it was not easy at all to find the places with enough room for good casting and efficient hook setting. But I was not there this morning to catch dozen of fishes I just wanted to check how precise I could be and how many trouts would rush to my kebari. I really like to see those little grey and yellow ghosts rushing like torpedoes when my fly enter their field of vision. 

To be more discret and gain room I decided to fish and move squatting and it was a wise decision.

Thanks goodness for this extended position is definitively uncomfortable!

These trouts are trouts from a creek, not huge but beautiful and not easy to reach. That is probably the reason why I love fishing in small streams: every fish caught has been deserved.

Not only these trouts are beautiful but I had the chance to spend a very nice moment in a small forest where the only sound to be heard is the water flowing. The last spot of this tenkara matinee was a beautiful waterfall.

I got this trout on my first cast and lost a bigger one after she made a very nice jump out of the water.

Then it was time to go to work and I have left this creek with the insurance to keep a good memory of it...Until coming back. 

NORMAN CREEK TENKRA

After several windy days I had an opportunity to go back to the stream where I did the season opening.
A short summary in motion picture...

This outing was very nice, even though I had forgotten my sunglasses, and I think that I made progress since last year on two key points:

-Accuracy: I have been so precise in my casting, even when I was fishing with a western fly rod. Tenkara is, according to me, a fly fishing technique that consists in teasing the trouts where they are and not in waiting for them to betray their presence. If they do, good. Otherwise I take a little bit of time to observe the stream and try my luck.

-Enticing: When I released the first trout in the pool and saw another one rising about 7 feet from me I thought it was a good opportunity to test my discretion and my ability to make my kebari interesting in the eyes of a trout. There is a little more than one year that I fish Tenkara only and I think that my perseverance to fish only in the traditional style is beginning to pay. Fly animation combined with a good drift can really make a difference.

I will go soon fishing tenkara on streams I have never fished yet. That is, I think, the best way to improve my tenkara.

OPENING OF THE 2014 TROUT SEASON

Today is the trout season opening in France and like each year I submitted myself, of my own accord, to the ritual of the first stream fishing of the year. Like each year my gear was ready several days before, like each year I did hardly sleep and like each year this ritual really made me feel good!

As I have been doing for many years now I have fished the Bérence creek because it is only one mile from home and one of the very last wild creek in the area. The sun was very shiny when I arrived at 10 am but the wind was strong and cold. I like this creek because it is challenging. I quitely tie my fly to my tippet and then I soak it in the water which is very cold. 

I want it to dive from the first cast because I know that in this creek the trouts spend their whole life behind the rocks, in the trees roots, in the bank holes and will never rise to the surface in this  gelid water. It is up to me to make this kebari pass to their reach if I want to be able to fool some of them.

After two hours I had caught around twenty of these tiny trouts that are voracious enough to bite frankly a fly tied on an Owner Kuwahara size 3! It is now 12 o'clock and I am also hungry which means it is time to go back home.

I leave following the bank and making a few "last cast" but it is not the good technique, trouts are really harder to fool when fished downstream especially in such a tight and shallow creek. I manage anyway to catch one that is a bit bigger than the twenty others.

I could have insisted and perhaps catch a few more fishes but these two hours were enough for today.

I have until Sept. 21st to satiate my passion fo trout fishing so there is no use to darken as a crackpot.

After six long months of wait, the trout season is open!!!