The last weekend has not been devoted to tenkara fishing because of a violent weather event so I did spend a little bit of time with other activities related to my passion; I started reading an awesome book about which I shall publish something later, and I finally realized a tying video of one of my favorite kebari pattern: the Zenmai-dou.
I posted on this blog in July 2014 a detailed fly-tying sheet and some readers asked me if one day I would make a fly tying video of the zenmai-dou... This is now done!
I hope that you will like this home made video and perhaps will you want to try this kebari as in a tenkara fishing experience it is good, and even advised, to walk off the beaten path.
It is always a pleasure for me to promote these traditional patterns that are the result of a long evolution in the perspective to keep it simple and effective.
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.
During the weeks preceding the day of the trout season I like doing outings on various streams of my area to see what winter has made of them. The winter that just ended was soft at temperatures but very wet. It has rained a lot during the last weeks before the awaited date and it was therefore without haste that I did the final preparations for the opening of the trout season.
The last evening before the opening was dedicated to kebari tying and preparation of the backpack; knowing that the water level was very high on any of the many streams of the area still I prepared two rods. Their use for the opening day was undoubtedly going to very little but it can not do them wrong to get in the outdoor!
I reached the edge of the stream on which I have done the season opening for many years, it was hardly day and I could hear nothing but the raging stream. I approached and realized that its condition was the one I had expected: the water was a uniform and opaque grey. There was not the slightest chance to catch a trout here.
I went upstream reviewing all the spots where I usually take the first trout of the season and it was all the same show everywhere: grey water, high level. Many spots were inaccessible as the ground is so soaked and soggy I would be in the mud down to the knee after three steps.
I continued this exploration and arrived about ten o'clock near the place where all the years I settle for the snack. Again everything was wet, the bonfire made more smoke than flames but I would not have exchanged my place for anything!
The fog which was very thick in the morning dissipated and the sun came out, it did not heat the atmosphere but it animated the surrounding woods. Knowing that I was not going fishing I took the time to eat at my favorite strain overlooking the creek and then quietly take the path that would take me back home.
It was long years since I had experienced a trout season opening day with fishing but the trout and fishing passionates are dependent of weather conditions so rather than rail against bad fortune is better to try to enjoy this symbolic day of season opening from a different perspective. One never loses his time in the woods, along a stream even if you can not fish there, there is always something to observe. In a few days the spring comes, then I have some wonderful opportunities to spend days on the edge of a stream and catch some trout. It's just a matter of time. Patience is a virtue...
It is rare to have the opportunity to meet the people who inspire us and thanks to whom we have developed a passion for something but I am gifted to have the pleasure to go fishing with the man who made me discover tenkara: Masami Sakakibara.
With his thirty five years experience in the field of tenkara Masami Sakakibara's style is the perfect illustration of the highest skilled master. Faithful to the basic principle of tenkara "A rod, a line, a fly"
he has developed his technique instead of carrying a lot of tackle. Oni tenkara is not only simple but also very efficient and it is explicit when one sees his kebari and thinks a little about it. I think that the Tenkara-no Oni style of fly tying can be resumed by a simple motto: "design matches function".
This kebari tied by Masami-san is probably his most famous pattern. He is used to name his patterns from the materials used, in this case "Oni black pheasant kebari". What has in first place made this kebari famous among western tenkara anglers is its size as Masami-san ties it on hooks up to size 2. But function dictates design and size and this kebari is designed to be used in the sasoi technique.
Masami-san uses Tiemco "pellet dubbing", which is a natural substitute for seal fur, for the body of this kebari; a hen pheasant feather on a Gamakatsu S10 hook.
The next kebari is Masami-san's interpretation of a Mayfly, a huge ephemera, it is realistic by its size but impressionistic by its design. I think that this describes very well Tenkara-no Oni style of fly-tying.
The body is made of polypropylene yarn and that is a good product if one wants low floatation kebari. The hackle will give the illusion of life to this kebari when on the water surface.
If fishing big streams with long level lines has become a kind of hallmark of Tenkara-no Oni style he is also a very experienced and skilled small streams tenkara angler as I got to realize during my stay with the Team Oni in the mountains.
To fish in shallow mountain streams small sized , in relation with the observable small insects, and light kebari are needed to obtain natural drifts. Masami-san is accosumated to tie his small sized kebari on Tiemco 2499-SP BL hooks that as he says have great features for small streams tenkara fishing: short shank, wide gap and laser sharp point.
Masami Sakakibara's experience shows that it is possible to practice successful tenkara fishing on any water with his "simple" kebari because he has developed his technique on rational analysis of his fishing and fish behavior.
Masami-san has developed over the years a tenkara fishing system that is not only simple but also very effective. I would even personally say that the Oni tenkara style has become so effective because it has been kept simple throughout the years. While fishing with him in the mountains I understood why his nickname is "Tenkara-no Oni", the Tenkara demon. As he says himself: "A tenkara angler must be one with the stream".
If you want to learn more about Masami Sakakibara and the Oni tenkara style I invite you to check his awesome blog.
After a little more than a couple of years of social network friendship I had the pleasure during my stay in Japan to meet a friend who is as passionate as I am about tenkara: Kazumi "Ajari" Saigo.
During the hours of drive we did together from Kyoto to the banks of the Shō-gawa we talked about everything tenkara and I realized that my host's long experience with Masami Sakakibara and Dr. Hisao Ishigaki had gone to his head and that on the contrary he was happy to share his favorite streams with foreign tenkara anglers.
Kazumi Saigo who was a bass competition angler at the highest level has been seduced by the simplicity and efficiency of tenkara and that shows in his ability to give one the best advices while doing countless jokes.
Ajari uses a very small number of kebari and these are very simple. Like other Japanese tenkara anglers he does not give names to his kebari. Over the years he refined his technique and his ties are now the same size 14 which is the one giving the best results on the streams he is used to fish.
The one above is tied on a size 14 Tiemco 403 BLJ hook which is commonly called "jig hook" by fly tiers. The value of this hook is to give a more natural "swim" to the kebari, or rather moves closer to the swimming of a real insect trying to head for the surface. The body of this kebari is made of Hareline "Ice Dub" dubbing that is an excellent synthetic product that does not soak up water and is very durable. Ajari also uses the "Ice Dub" in black which is an interesting substitute for peacock herls.
The benefit of this synthetic dubbing is obviously not to be more attractive to fishes, especially salmonids because as scientific studies show their eyes are not sensitive to UV longer than in the first weeks of their lives, but to be stronger than natural peacock herls.
This second model is tied on a Tiemco 2487 BL hook size 14. The body made of natural peacock herls and its collar black cock hackle make it an extremely versatile pattern that can suggest for a fish hundreds of insect species which are its usual food.
Having had the opportunity to observe Ajari fishing I can state that he masters the drift of his kebari perfectly as he has understood long ago that it was the key of successful tenkara fishing: the fish do not make the difference between a true insect and a kebari if it drifts to the good speed. Rather than multiplying the kebari models Ajari has adapted his technique to fish behavior.
There is no doubt that in the future this excellent and friendly tenkara angler gains a lot of attention from the tenkara community. A fisherman who has developed a very effective technique while remaining faithful to the principle of simplicity of tenkara and who likes sharing will undoubtedly become a respected ambassador of tenkara.
When I arrived in Gifu Prefecture I went with my guests in a small fishing gear shop located a few steps from the Itoshiro river held by Hirata-san. Located a few steps from the river this little shop is the place to stay in the region to be informed of the fishing conditions in the area and buy what you need.
In many ways the Hirata-san shop reminded me of those still existing fifteen years ago in my area and that were held by true fishing junkies and where we were going to buy as much as our material for the simple pleasure to discuss. Hirata-san's tackle shop is exactly that kind of shop.
If Hirata-san's shop is small it offers no less than anything you need to practice ayu, esa zuri and tenkara. The latest gear rubs beautiful tamos manufactured by the master of the house and bamboo tenkara rods.
I did take advantage also of Hirata-san advices to purchase some spools of fluorocarbon tippet then I became interested in the contents of two wooden boxes placed on the counter of the shop. One of them contained the famous "mamushi kebari".
This kebari really deserves to be described as "one of a kind" as Hirata-san uses the skin of gloydius blomhoffii, a highly venomous viper which is called "mamushi" in Japan. Having met several of these snakes when I was in the mountains around Tadami I can assure you that the behavior of this snake is typically that of a viper: it does not flee at your approach, quite the contrary.
Hirata-san uses the skin of this venomous snake to make the body of its kebari. To people who tell him that they are too expensive kebari, around USD 8.50 each, he replies with a smile: "I risk my life to tie these kebari!"
Hirata-san is used to tie his kebari with a pair scissors as sole tool and the result is nonetheless very successful, that is the evidence of a long experience of tool-free tying.
But Hirata-san's kebari are not only beautiful, they are also very strong as he uses nail varnish as a glue. Hirata-san uses Owner Kuwahara Tenkara hooks.
The second box on the counter of the shop contained other kebari tied by Hirata-san. He of course also ties them without tools on the same hooks but with embroidery thread as a body. When I visited all of them had a beige body but differed in the colors of their hackles ranging from grizzly to black through furnace brown.
Hirata-san also finishes these kebari by a thin layer of nail varnish on the body to make it more durable. As he stated varnish body does not change in appearance when the kebari has been submerged. Like most of the tenkara anglers I did meet in Japan Hirata-san has observed long ago that it is not the kebari that catches fish but the angler who knows how to use it wisely.
During my stay in Japan I was lucky thanks to the intervention of my friend Kazumi Saigo of Dr. Hisao Ishigaki meet with whom I did fish an afternoon on the legendary Itosihro. It was of course a very good experience and a joy to meet one of the most notable ambassadors of tenkara.
Ishigaki-sensei and I exchanged some of our kebari after fishing.
We all know the Ishigaki sakasa kebari and most of us have tied this pattern in their tenkara beginnings but the original tied by Ishigaki Sensei are very different from western versions which in most cases show excessive attention to details.
The tenkara technique of Dr Hisao Ishigaki is based on a rational observation of salmonid behavior, especially their sense of vision.
If the details in the pattern may be important for the fisherman they have none for fish which, because of the quasi-spherical and rigid lens of their eyes are myopic.
Made of tying thread and a cock hackle feather a tenkara angler who considers his technique more important to meet success than the choice of a particular pattern will use this kebari as a dry, an emergent or a wet fly. When Ishigaki sensei opened his box to give me some of his kebari he took two other models that have no name.
Both kebari are tied on Varivas barbless hooks, they are of great simplicity and flawlessly efficient in fishing. The movements of their hackle on and under the water surface is certainly no stranger to their efficiency.
Ishigaki Sensei has developed a downstream wet fly fishing technique called "Tomezuri". This technique is very effective and allows successful downstream fishing at short distance. I was initiated by Ishigaki sensei himself and I can state that these kebari tied with long supple hackles perfectly work. Not only in Japanese mountain streams but on any stream.
As the masters of tenkara Ishigaki sensei has demonstrated during his career that while remaining faithful to the principle of simplicity of tenkara he was able to develop a range of effective techniques based on rational observation of salmonids.
John and Paul of Discover Tenkara have released an excellent video starring Ishigaki sensei that you can watch by clicking here.
Learn more about Ishigaki sensei and his tenkara experience in the very interesting interview he did with Adam and that was published on the Tenkara Fisher forum.
