toolman

A good video??? Useless garbage in my opinion...

Traditionally, I believe horsehair lines were used with silk leaders. Today, there are a few line choices including tapered mono furled lines, mono braided taper lines, level mono or fluro lines and synthetic horsehair braids, to which short leader/tippets are attached. Lines are typically around 1x -2x rod length. The Tenkara rod that I have casted was a beautifull rod from northern Italy, where an almost identical form of Tenkara fishing has been in practise for centuries. I think it was a rod made by Shimano (or one of their companies such as GLoomis) and cost around $2,000. The Italian rods are stiffer, faster actioned than the traditional Japanese Tenkara rods.

The Tenkara USA rods are mostly suitable for fish up to 17"-18". Terrific for the small trout streams that you fish back east and our mountain streams here in the west. Shimano has just released a new 4.5m Tenkara rod, the Mainstream ZE 40-50, that is designed to handle fish up to 4kg. which would be ideal for Grillse, sea run browns/brookies that you get to fish for and our large Bow river trout. Not much fishing info. available on the new Shimano rod, but here is a link with the technical specs. Shimano Mainstream ZE 40-50 http://www.allfishingbuy.com/Tenkara-Rods-Medium-Action.htm Tenkara flyfishing sites http://tenkaraflyfish.webs.com/tenkararods.htm http://www.tenkarabum.com/

Traditional Tenkara fisherman use only flys, mostly a reverse hackle pattern, in a few different sizes and colors. http://www.tenkarausa.com/index.php .

Tenkara rods are traditional Japanese flyrods and can be fished in the same manner as other flyrods. The appeal for me is the simplicity. My buddy has a Tenkara rod for trout that I've had the chance to cast a few times. Very cool. But, imagine how thrilling it would be to get hooked up directly to a big chromer like that.

Fishing with a Tenkara rod for Steelhead on the Kalum river. I want one of these big sticks... Awesome! http://tv.shimano.co.jp/movie/tv/paradise_06/ Edit: After doing a bit of searching, I have learned that the rod used in the video is called a Keiryu rod (meaning mountain stream fishing). Not exactly Tenkara fishing, but very similar in many respects

See you guys on Saturday.

I usually use a two hander when fishing the Bow from the boat and find it to be both effortless and effective.

I have not had the opportunity to cast the TCX 7119 Switch yet, so I can't make a line weight recommendation, but others have reported success using Skagit heads in the 390gr-420gr. window. The correct line for any rod is based on the individual anglers casting experience, style, fishing conditions and preference. Here is a link to a thread which may help. http://speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=41833

Is this a TCX or Z-Axis switch rod? I would suggest a Compac Skagit for the fishing that you are going to use it for. Considering the head length and taper of the Rio Switch line, IMO it would not be the best line choice to turn over heavy sink tips and larger flys that you will likely use in the pursuit of the species that you mentioned.

I did cut the guy a break... I gave him the entire pool, large rising trout included and even chatted a bit from a distance, before I left. Maybe it was someone I know, who maybe assumed it would be no problem, which I can understand. Not sure as it was starting to get dark.

Today, I only used the 8'-T15 sink tip and did not hang up very often. Occassionally, it would hang up on the strip back along the bank and in the shallow sections. How deeply a tip sinks depends on the amount of sink time allowed after the line is cast. If the water gets shallow, I tighten up on the fly sooner than if the water is deeper. Also, sink time is affected by the flow rate. In slower water, I tighten up sooner than in faster water. If the water is really deep and moderately fast, then I might switch up to a longer tip. I use T-14/15 tips from 8' - 12' or full sink heads in S2/3 and S3/4, for most of my winter swinging. There are some pools that you could use 15' of T-14 or faster sinking Shooting heads when the flows are up, but not many.

At this time of year, the only thing I am hoping for is open water. I usually start swinging at the top of the pools (where the water slows/levels off) and fish down over the ledge into the pit of the lie, working all of the water down too the tail spill. I'm finding most fish down low, in the back of the pools and into the tail. The water is often deceivingly fast when the flows are up and having a sink tip of sufficient mass/sink rate/length, is critical to get the fly to swing deep and slow. Some of the water that I hooked fish in today was not that deep, but faster than you might expect. I usually use 10'-12' of T-14 or full sink heads at the pools that I fished today. The trout wanted a very slow pace to the swing this afternoon, as they most often do in cold water.

I said he was a Nymph fisherman, not a bait fisher. hahahaha....

Hit the Bow on this beautifull, winter afternoon, for an hour and a half of Spey casting/fishing. Flow rates were up and the drift ice was as terrible as it usually is in December, but there were occassional opportunities to direct casts between the burgs. Lined up my Loop GA 6120 with a SA 430gr. Skagit head and looped on 8' of T-15 + a few feet of 10 lb. tippet. The 8' sink tip was a bit short/light for the flow rate, but still fishable. Started off with a #6 CH Bugger in brown, which produced immediate results. Worked downriver towards the deeper tailout pools and had 6 on the line, with 4 Bows 14'-17' landed. The majority of takes were aggressive, with a couple of fish hitting the fly several times through the swing and/or slow strip retreive back along the bank. When I reached the last pool, (the deepest), I could see several large trout porposing occassionaly, about 75' below me. I swung down through the neck of the pool towards the risers, when suddenly, a nymph fisherman steps in about 50' below me ( next to the rising trout). He then rigs up, proceeds to point out the large trout rising in front of him and starts casting.... WTF buddy? Those of you who have fished with me already know that low holing me usually does not end well for the offender, but today, I just reeled in and headed back upstream, where I found and landed a couple more decent Bows on a black bugger.

Some of you guys are sure easy to catch... only two casts....hahaha. Just pokin' and having a little fun.

I fail to see how many of the posts in this thread have anything to do with the original posters topic.

Some folks sure have a lot to say about nothing.

I've been out swinging a Skagit head with sink tips this past week. Darker fly colors have been producing consistently in medium sizes. Fish have been holding in a variety of structure ranging from the deeper holes, down through short glides into the shallow tail spills, in slow and moderate paced water. A #6 CH Bow Bugger in black/olive, fished on a T-14 tip, was stellar this afternoon. http://www.idylwilde.com/html/fly_gallery....&page_num=3 Going to fish the same water tommorow with a Sink 2/3 or 3/4 shooting head, depending on flow rates, which have been up for the past couple of days. Lots of drift ice bagging the floating Skagit head today, so the full sink heads will be a little easier to manage once the line gets under the surface.

Some will say that Spey presentations are not as productive during the winter months, but it has been my experience that it can be just as effective as any other time of year. The same goes for fishing nymph presentations during the winter months, it can be equally effective as the warmer months, if presentations are adapted to the conditions. During the winter months, I use a variety of line/sink tip/leader systems, based on the water/fishing conditions. If I am focusing on the inside, shallow and slow water, then a Scandi shooting head with long Flourocarbon leader and a small/medium sized/weighted fly, might be my set up. If the inside water is a little deeper and/or faster, then I may use a sinking Polyleader of the density required to get deep and to help slow the pace. When I fish out further off the bank, where the water is faster and/or deeper, I use Skagit heads with T-11/T-14 sink tips or full sinking heads, which swing very slowly and maintain depth very well. I don't add extra pace to the fly (stripping) during the swing when the water is cold, but will slowly strip the fly back along the shoreline at the end of the swing and hook many fish on the retrieve. As for favorite swing patterns, a mix of small/med/large Leeches, Buggers, Clousers, Caddis, Midge, Stonefly Larvae ect. Use lighter colors or darker colors and try different sizes to figure out what works best each day. I know there are many who believe that only large flies catch big fish, but I probably hook more big fish on the swing, using small/medium flies. Not to say that I don't use large flies, it's just that I use them for different reasons. Lastly, I believe that the fly, is most often the least important part of Spey fishing and the focus needs to remain on the elements of presentation, ie, Stealth, angle of the cast, mending, controlling/adjusting the depth/pace of the swing, searching/reading the water to identify winter holding water and strike zone ect., These are always the essentials of success.

Absolutely the best midge pattern that I have ever used on the Bow. Ice Cream Cone in bright red. http://www.idylwilde.com/html/fly_gallery....&page_num=2

Turn your waders inside out and take them into a room without windows. Turn the lights out and shine a flashlight inside the waders to find the holes or worn spots and seal from the inside. If the leak is in the socks of the waders, you will likely need to have the socks replaced. I had the socks replaced on my Wardells, at Springbrook here in town, for about $60 and they did a great job.

Dr. Hook Jekyll and Hyde

A few of the top producing dry flies on the Bow for me, this season, were PMD Sparkle Dun's, #16, #18. Especailly from mid July through late August. Another stellar dry pattern was a Peacock Caddis, which produced many large fish in late May through till mid June, during the intense Caddis emergence that we had. We also had an epic hatch of Classinea Stoneflies in late June through late July. A Skid bitch in the first two weeks of the hatch was king, then a Fat Albert produced well into August. Most of the epic Stonefly dry fly fishing was over by sunrise. In fact, many of my best dry fly days started at 3:00 am and ended at sunrise or started at sunset and ended near midnight. It sure was worth the many sleepless nights.

Take a look at the new Guideline PowerTaper 3D (Triple Density), full sinking shooting heads. The Intermediate/Sink2/Sink4 will cover most of the water and still be easy to lift/cast. These heads are designed to be custom cut to suit your fishing conditions/rod. For your 6wt. Sage, use a PowerTaper single hand 7/8 and simply cut it to the length/weight required to load the rod to your preference. Attach a shooting line to your backing, loop the shooting head to the shooting line and you're ready to go. http://www.guideline.no/?module=Webshop;ac...late=engWebshop