Tenkara rod fly fishing for Driftless trout
TRIP REPORT
The day after I made camp, I met a few tenkara rod angling friends from the Indianapolis area who were rambling the Driftless themselves. I've known Shawn for a few years now, and met his regular fishing buddy Tyler just that morning. Both are experienced warm water tenkara anglers, but come up this way whenever they get a chance to enjoy our cold trout water. Despite the stream being a bit stained, conditions were decent - mostly cloudy with rising temps. The stream we hit is a Vernon County favorite of mine (even though it ate my first Sony Action Cam a few years ago) and is usually a productive stretch. It did not disappoint on this visit!
My 13-ft rod was rigged as per usual - just short of a rod length of #4 line, 4-5 ft of 5X tippet, and a #12 Pass Lake. I planned on targeting the surface, even though I've had killer days nymphing this creek. The weather is warm and to me that means wet fly manipulations for surface action!
Shawn fished a small hopper/small nymph dropper and CLEANED UP. His deliberate, thorough drifts produced a lot of catches - even in water Tyler and I had both already worked. Slow, steady, and clean catches fish!
Tyler switched between nymph and wet patterns, I stuck to wets, and we each broke north of 20 fish to hand that morning. Shawn buried us both - I would not be surprised if he brought closer to 40 fish to hand. Nothing too big, maybe topping out around 13 inches, but plenty in hand. That is a solid run for three anglers on a mile of small creek, and that was just the morning!
Fishing slowed considerably after lunch. We drove to another "go-to" stream, but as weather started to move in, things slowed. We still pulled down a few dozen catches between us, but success was much more sporadic than it was in the morning.
My 13-ft rod was rigged as per usual - just short of a rod length of #4 line, 4-5 ft of 5X tippet, and a #12 Pass Lake. I planned on targeting the surface, even though I've had killer days nymphing this creek. The weather is warm and to me that means wet fly manipulations for surface action!
Shawn fished a small hopper/small nymph dropper and CLEANED UP. His deliberate, thorough drifts produced a lot of catches - even in water Tyler and I had both already worked. Slow, steady, and clean catches fish!
Tyler switched between nymph and wet patterns, I stuck to wets, and we each broke north of 20 fish to hand that morning. Shawn buried us both - I would not be surprised if he brought closer to 40 fish to hand. Nothing too big, maybe topping out around 13 inches, but plenty in hand. That is a solid run for three anglers on a mile of small creek, and that was just the morning!
Fishing slowed considerably after lunch. We drove to another "go-to" stream, but as weather started to move in, things slowed. We still pulled down a few dozen catches between us, but success was much more sporadic than it was in the morning.
Pictures
TOP LEFT: Shawn puts the stalk on a productive run. He had begun the day with a surface fly, but here he switched to nymphs and started crushing it.
TOP RIGHT: The camera is pointed straight out at eye-level...where you can see that the grass is already reaching the same height in some places. In another week it will all be that tall. What you can't see unless you expand the picture is THE GNATS. SO MANY GNATS this year. Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. If you are hitting the water in the Driftless this summer, BRING YOUR BUGGINS!
MIDDLE LEFT: Bamboo growing along a sweet cut-bank.I liked the color gradient on the stalks.
MIDDLE RIGHT: The "TDB" = "Typical Driftless Brown".
LOWER LEFT: Excellent limestone cuts on the far bank.
LOWER RIGHT: Tyler brings a TDB up for air.
TOP RIGHT: The camera is pointed straight out at eye-level...where you can see that the grass is already reaching the same height in some places. In another week it will all be that tall. What you can't see unless you expand the picture is THE GNATS. SO MANY GNATS this year. Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. If you are hitting the water in the Driftless this summer, BRING YOUR BUGGINS!
MIDDLE LEFT: Bamboo growing along a sweet cut-bank.I liked the color gradient on the stalks.
MIDDLE RIGHT: The "TDB" = "Typical Driftless Brown".
LOWER LEFT: Excellent limestone cuts on the far bank.
LOWER RIGHT: Tyler brings a TDB up for air.
RODS
Between the three of us, we carried a about a half-dozen rods that day, a mix of models from both American and Japanese manufacturers. One of the guys brought a Dragontail/Nirvana 370z zoom tenkara rod along, a model which I hadn't yet fished. I'm glad I got to spend some time getting to know the rod. It's action is a crisp 6:4 that I find easy to control. Casting was smooth; I was able to place and manipulate the fly with precision. This would be a great rod to choose for waters where you want to cast accurate and controlled, but might get into a bigger than expected fish. At full extension, The 370z has a firm, consistent power curve. I am confident it can put the stick to a larger trout when needed, or go "gloves-off" with most smallmouth bass, ranging up to 20 inches or so. I did not fish it at the short position, but will report back when I do.
WRAP-UP
Shawn and Tyler were great company on the water and we caught a ton of fish. Summer fishing is "on" in the Driftless, so I am sticking around for another week of Wisconsin fishing before heading to Tennessee. Catch you soon!
-Matt @ Badger
-Matt @ Badger
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