Tenkara Bass and Rod Hacks

We found a perfect creek for Tenkara Bass

Wisconsin trout season closed September 30th, but that doesn't mean we're done fishing! There's a nice bass stream we explored a little bit last year that we wanted to spend some more time on this season. We had planned to fish it during the height of summer when it is too warm to trout fish, but we had such a mild summer that that never happened. So, we were back on this little gem as soon as the trout season closed.

For once, conditions worked out in our favor. Matt and I manage to get out to fish quite a bit, sometimes multiple outings per week during the season. However, given our family and work obligations, we don't always manage to get out during the prime times of day for fishing, nor during prime conditions. I can't tell you how many times we have lost the favorable cloud cover on the way to the creek. Yesterday, though, we timed everything right. We got on the creek at about 12:30, getting towards the warmest time of day. Morning temps were in the high 40's, but it was reaching 70 by afternoon, the warm up being favorable for bass fishing. Best of all, for once the clouds rolled in about the time we started fishing. Storms were predicted for the evening, and sometimes the threat of storm seems to trigger the fish to feed.

We started in a skinny stretch of stream that we had not fished before. We brought a few rough fish to hand, which we never complain about, but were not what we were looking for.  We moved up to a bridge pool that looked to have some significant depth, perhaps six feet or so. There, Matt pulled in a small mouth off the bank followed by a feisty rock bass. There was a nice brush pile on my side of the stream that was good for three rock bass, and between the two of us, we caught nearly a dozen bass and rough fish from the bridge pool!

As we moved up the stream, we came upon some bend pools there were nothing short of glorious. Smallmouth, Rockbass, a few little Bluegill, and several kinds of rough fish were hitting left and right! The smallmouths were the largest we caught, but were not huge. The smallest was 8 or 9 inches, and the larger fish were a foot, give or take a bit. Still, the fight a 12 inch smallmouth will give you on a tenkara rod is really something to behold!  

The nicer pools were all good for several fish each, and the deeper runs would also produce. Dropping the fly just in front of any structure seemed to be the ticket, as was fishing tight to the bank. It was one of those days were you look at a piece of water and think "that should hold a fish", and sure enough, you'd get a take. 

I was fishing the Badger Tenkara Classic with about 12 feet of our Badger floating line, followed by about 10 inches of bright red nylon Amnesia to act as an indicator with 6 feet of 2x tippet. The fly I was using was a white streamer pattern with a cone head. This rig is rather heavy for tenkara (and pretty un-tenkara), but the rod handled it just fine. The fish would tend to take fly just as it was sinking or as I started to twitch it back to me.

Matt was fishing a field modified rod with a Badger Floating Line (see Matt's comments on this below). This set up works surprising well. He started with a large version his new favorite fly, the "pass lake", and when that was lost to a snag, he switched to a bead head woolly bugger. Both worked just fine. It was cool to see the bend the Smallmouth would put in his field hacked rod!

This creek is just one of the many options we have for fishing once the trout season closes. We have some old favorites we hope to hit in the next few weeks and some new waters we have yet to explore. We'll keep you posted on what we find!


-Mike

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Note from Matt on field hacked rods:

Here is an easy, cost effective hack. I keep a few rolls of self-adhesive athletic tape in my kit, because it comes in handy for quick repairs to several types of gear. This stuff sells for less than $5 at just about any pharmacy or family store.

Simply remove the bottom grip section, or even a the next one or two sections from the rod. You then wrap the self adhesive tape around the new bottom section, which serves like a butt cap to keep collapsed sections secure inside the rod. Then, wrap it up another six inches or so to shape a handle. 

This configuration reduced the rod's length a  few feet, and results in a softer action! While I really enjoy fishing with the Badger Classic, it has a stiffer action to it that is great for larger fish. With this softer action, smaller fish are even more fun than usual! 

The nice thing is that the tape only sticks to itself, and not the rod. This means that you can return the rod to its original configuration any time without damaging its finish or functionality!

-Matt