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.

Tenkara Fest 2017

This year it was in Isère, more precisely in Pont-en-Royans, that we had rendez vous for the third edition of the Tenkara Fest which was going to take place in the Vercors massif.

As every year I arrived first and took rather quickly the direction of a stream that we had planned to fish during these three days ie the Bourne.

But before fishing I took the time to prepare an excellent lunch on the bank of this beautiful stream bathed in sunshine and took advantage of it to relax after the almost ten hours of my night time drive. It was very hot this friday afternoon, 82 F  in the shade to be exact, and so I did not expect trout to be particularly active. The Bourne is a beautiful stream where you feel incredibly good to look for trout even if this afternoon the conditions were hardly favorable to trout fishing. So I spent a good time observing another tenant on the premises.

Joined by Guilhem we decided to climb further up the river. The atmosphere began to feel strongly stormy but we were confident and wanted to start this weekend devoted to fishing by simply tenkara fishing. In spite of the stormy atmosphere then the wind started blowing but our fishing met the success. Our simple approach to tenkara, faithful to the basic principle of this sport fishing: a rod, a line, a fly, once again demonstrated its effectiveness even in difficult conditions and in my case on streams of which I knew only the name a few hours ago. 

This first fishing session completed, we did hit the road in the opposite direction to join our friend Edouard, who had just arrived at the guest house. We did spend an excellent evening which was followed by a good night of sleep for the day that was awaiting for us the next day. This second day began with our first encounter with a tenkara angler whom we knew only through social networks and I must say that as we had expected, we had the pleasure of meeting a very nice fisherman and really passionate about tenkara. 

After we met, we observed the river where some trout had been stocked for the "fishing festival" and decided to go fishing on the Vercors plateau. As we were driving to the plateau the sky darkened very quickly, and once we reached our destination, we could only see that a storm had swollen the surrounding streams, and we decided to drive back to the gorges of the Bourne where we hopefully found clean and clear waters.

We arrived in the middle of the morning and even at the bottom of these deep gorges the temperature was already very high. Despite the warm weather our morning of tenkara fishing in this magnificent place was crowned with success. We will observe many mayflies but it must be said that during this day they did not seem to interest any fish because only small black kebari were taken by trout. 

The weather forecast was correct and the afternoon ended in a violent storm, it was almost 7 pm when we stopped fishing.

The next day the temperature had dropped sharply and as we found when we arrived on the banks of the Vernaison the water was slightly stained because of the night rain. If the beginning of the morning was rather difficult the fishing became good around noon as the sky uncovered and the temperature rose.

Once again simplicity was rewarded and all trout were taken with zenmai-dou pattern.

In the afternoon I resumed the north road where dantesque storms awaited me and compelled me to cancel the visits and tenkara fishing that I had planned to make in Savoie but I had just spent a weekend with friends passionate of tenkara and that's the main thing.

Since the tenkara season opening

It has been six weeks now that the trout season is open and I have not been fishing a lot because of the lack of time to dedicate and because the spring has not really settled in the area. If hawthorns and cherry trees whiten while anemones and daffodils flourish temperatures have remained really low.

 

Since the season opening the weather has been particularly dry and the small creeks have seen the water level significantly drop but low temperatures and strong winds do not encourage trout to activity. Fishing has been difficult but very interesting and very technical. 

A few weeks ago my friend and teacher Masami Sakakibara wrote this brief sentence which I think is a perfect summary of tenkara as a sport fishing: "The important thing is not the number of fish I take but how I catch them."

I have seen, as every year, gatherings of fishermen on the most easily accessible areas of certain rivers where the fishing associations put a large number of trout, salmo trutta stockus to be precise, and as every year they already evaporated leaving the field free for the better days to come.

If I have not been fishing a lot so far I have taken great pleasure and these few exits also offered me to harvest many feathers that will be very useful to me. But I will not deal with fly tying before the season ends.

I had been waiting for the long weekend of May 1st hoping for a truly springtime weather which I would enjoy on the banks of a stream but as a storm passed over the region it was not possible, I contented myself with an excellent reading on which I shall return in due time.

I wish each of you my fellow tenkara anglers to have a great trout fishing season! 

Still a few days to be ready...

We are only a few days away from the opening of the fishing so it is still time to prepare for the trout fishing season. As always I approach the preparations with calm and without haste because I know that whatever happens I will be ready. 

It has been raining a lot these last few days and there is a chance that it will continue, so it is at the last minute that streams and rivers that did not have a flood during autumn or winter will see their water levels rise. It is therefore useless to rush, since the opening will undoubtedly be symbolic and the fishing in itself reduced to the congruent portion.

I do not devote the winter to tying hundreds of flies like some people do first because I usually take only a very limited number with me when I go fishing and also because this will of compulsive accumulation does not seem to be a good idea. I prefer to tie only few flies, use them then if necessary to tie a series again. In any case, the only box I carry with me to the fishing can contain little more than two dozen.

So I started this morning by tying the large sakasa kebari for which I used cock and ringneck pheasant feathers. I had not used feathers from farm roosters instead of "fishing" roosters fir very long time, but a blog reader offered to provide me on condition of sharing the tied flies with him and it was a pleasure to accept.
Feathers from farm cocks have longer fibers and really softer fibers than those of the genetically selected roosters but since I intended to use them to tie sakasa kebari this is no problem, quite the opposite in fact.
I use the Oni hooks that were designed by Masami Sakakibara and manufactured by a famous Japanese firm, it starts with a "G", which is the world leader in the market. They are excellent quality and the four different sizes, from 8 to 14, cover my needs.

I will also of course use feathers from ringneck pheasant wings.
The dubbing used this year will be only three: zenmai, squirrel tinted in black and washed squirrel. Natural materials, inexpensive or even free, and which make solid kebari.

I will not use these kebari at the season opening.They are not suitable, because of their large size, to fishing in small streams. If I started with these patterns it is only because that they are the fastest to tie fast.
The sakasa kebari, especially if tied on large hooks, are mainly interesting flies for fishing downstream because it is the current that gives life to their soft hackle.  Function determines shape.

July tenkara

The month of August has just started, so it is time to publish a brief summary of my fishing in July. After a month of June and its bad weather July was very hot which ultimately has been good because it has helped reduce water level in most rivers in the area.

I have been keeping throughout July the same strategy used in June: multiplying short fishing sessions (2 hours maximum) to adapt to temperatures so by fishing only early morning or late evening .

I fished the full month with the same gear : Nissin ZeroSum Oni 450 rod,  Nissin Ony-ryu 号 2.5 level line and my faithful Yamato kebari. Running out of rabbit dubbing I received by chance some samples of hare dubbing from a fly-tying materials company. Of course this does not alter the effectiveness of my Yamato kebari nor its function, it just changes a little its appearance. Trout, blind as bat, do not make the difference. 

August is starting with gray and rainy days, fishing is perhaps going to be less easy...wait and see!

Spring is coming...

After the first real fishing outing last week that has  left me a pleasant memory it seems that spring is on the way; temperatures begin to rise and the wind is less present.

I have had very few moments to be on any stream but a few days ago as I was driving nearby a stream I did stop for a few casts on a spot that I had not visited for ages. What was not my surprise to take this big rainbow! Very beautiful, with fins in perfect condition there is no doubt whether a trout have been introduced into this stream and that has managed to survive the herons, fishermen, etc. 

Even though it was cool to land this big fish I would have preferred it to be an atlantic salmo trutta fario. 

With spring animals, just like fishermen, are much more active and that offers me the opportuniy to do some photography. It gives me the will to become a little more familiar with the Canon EOS 1200D camera I purchased last winter and which has almost not been used yet.

The early morning is the best time of day to watch all this wildlife that often lives a few steps, or something a few tens of yards, away from us. 

I recently made new editions of my kebari tying videos,  I make them so that they are understandable to everyone, especially novices so hopefully it will meet their expectations about this topic. Fly tying is not complicated or mysterious, it's just a matter of training.