A few weeks ago I decided to head out to fish the Eerste
River in Stellenbosch with my newly acquired Tenkara rod. Tenkara fishing is a
Japanese form of fly fishing that is many centuries old.
There is no reel or fly line used, just a 11 to 13 foot telescopic rod with a very fine and delicate tip. You attach a braided leader the same length as the rod to the tip section and tie your tippet onto the end of this leader. The rod that I am using is a Nissin and it is 12 foot long. So with the 12 foot leader and 12 foot rod I can effectively fish up to 24 feet away. Nice and simple. I have fished with a Tenkara rod before on the Smalblaar river (using one of Craig Thoms rods) where I managed to hook and land two beautiful rainbow trout on dry flies. It was an awesome experience after I got used to not fumbling for the non existent fly line.
The presentation that you can achieve with a Tenkara rod is amazing. You can effectively fish with most if not all of the leader off of the water for impossibly brilliant drag free drifts. Arriving at the water I soon realized that it was very low. I headed off downstream in search of deeper sections. About a kilometre down stream I entered the water and set up my tackle.
The water was relatively clear and I spotted lots of small fish in the water many of which were feeding off the bottom. These where little indigenous red fin minnows. Although eager to take the fly, if you could get it deep enough (not easy with flowing water and a size 20 fly), they where however not big enough to fully take it. I tried in several likely looking areas for trout but no luck. Arriving at the low water bridge I spotted a bass (first time that I have ever seen one in this river) and several banded tilapia but before I could get to them some students went swimming in the pool...
I then fished the pool higher up which was deeper and had nice palmiet structure on the far bank. i had no luck with dry flies but knew that there had to be trout in the pool. I had tied up some tiny size 14 woolly buggers in black the night before and tied one onto my 6x tippet.
Second cast and I had a follow. Third cast and I missed a take from a trout that was at least 15inches. I worked my way slowly up the pool casting the tiny streamer out and sweeping the rod back to retrieve it. I had several more follows before hooking into and eventually landing a lovely 14inch rainbow trout that fought very strongly on the light rod and fragile tippet.
I worked my way higher up the river but most of the pocket water sections and shallow pools had an abundance of tiny red fin minnows but no trout. I eventually headed back down stream to the low water bridge pool and caught a lovely banded kurper. One thing is for sure, I will return soon to the Eerste to try for those trout on my trusty Tenkara. Especially after the good rains that we have just had...
For more details on fishing Tenkara or to look at a Tankara rod check out www.streamx.co.za or http://www.streamxflyfishing.co.za/tenkara/index.htm You can speak to Craig Thom who imports these magnificent Tenkara rods from Japan. His telephone number is 021 551 4248
There is no reel or fly line used, just a 11 to 13 foot telescopic rod with a very fine and delicate tip. You attach a braided leader the same length as the rod to the tip section and tie your tippet onto the end of this leader. The rod that I am using is a Nissin and it is 12 foot long. So with the 12 foot leader and 12 foot rod I can effectively fish up to 24 feet away. Nice and simple. I have fished with a Tenkara rod before on the Smalblaar river (using one of Craig Thoms rods) where I managed to hook and land two beautiful rainbow trout on dry flies. It was an awesome experience after I got used to not fumbling for the non existent fly line.
The presentation that you can achieve with a Tenkara rod is amazing. You can effectively fish with most if not all of the leader off of the water for impossibly brilliant drag free drifts. Arriving at the water I soon realized that it was very low. I headed off downstream in search of deeper sections. About a kilometre down stream I entered the water and set up my tackle.
The water was relatively clear and I spotted lots of small fish in the water many of which were feeding off the bottom. These where little indigenous red fin minnows. Although eager to take the fly, if you could get it deep enough (not easy with flowing water and a size 20 fly), they where however not big enough to fully take it. I tried in several likely looking areas for trout but no luck. Arriving at the low water bridge I spotted a bass (first time that I have ever seen one in this river) and several banded tilapia but before I could get to them some students went swimming in the pool...
I then fished the pool higher up which was deeper and had nice palmiet structure on the far bank. i had no luck with dry flies but knew that there had to be trout in the pool. I had tied up some tiny size 14 woolly buggers in black the night before and tied one onto my 6x tippet.
Second cast and I had a follow. Third cast and I missed a take from a trout that was at least 15inches. I worked my way slowly up the pool casting the tiny streamer out and sweeping the rod back to retrieve it. I had several more follows before hooking into and eventually landing a lovely 14inch rainbow trout that fought very strongly on the light rod and fragile tippet.
I worked my way higher up the river but most of the pocket water sections and shallow pools had an abundance of tiny red fin minnows but no trout. I eventually headed back down stream to the low water bridge pool and caught a lovely banded kurper. One thing is for sure, I will return soon to the Eerste to try for those trout on my trusty Tenkara. Especially after the good rains that we have just had...
For more details on fishing Tenkara or to look at a Tankara rod check out www.streamx.co.za or http://www.streamxflyfishing.co.za/tenkara/index.htm You can speak to Craig Thom who imports these magnificent Tenkara rods from Japan. His telephone number is 021 551 4248
A lovely 14 inch rainbow caught on a #14 woolly bugger. It gave a good account of itself on the light Tenkara rod.
The Eerste was very low
Banded tilapia caught on a nymph and Tenkara rod
Hey Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten me so pumped with that 14" fish! I live in Stellies!
Where would you recommend starting to fish from? Swing bridge?
Hey David, sorry only spotted your comment now. Ya above swing-bridge is the way to go....
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