dpnoll wrote:
I did buy the DVD and along with it they give you access to view it online. After watching it the illustrations made sense. As usual the video is of very high quality. I am looking forward to really giving kebari flies a real workout this spring.
Their YT videos are high quality productions and contain great content that has been very helpful.
I purchased a rod in December 2017 after our general season closed. I told myself I was going to use Tenkara for all of my freshwater fishing in 2018. With the exception of one float tube day trip I met that commitment. My records for 2018 indicate I managed to catch fish in streams and lakes on 18 of 20 outings with a Tenkara rod and landed upwards of 60 fish. Admittedly that's not a
great scorecard but it did include the largest I'd ever caught in two streams I've been fishing since the mid 1990s.
And speaking of a real workout for kebari
**Warning - not UL - Warning** I went out with my saltwater mentor to fish for Chum Salmon back in early November. It was my first time out for Chums, known locally to be "tackle busters". When Chum are ready to spawn, they aren't eating. But they do get pissed if something; especially a chartreuse lure or fly, passes in front of their mug and lash out with those 1/4" teeth in the front of their mouth that give them their nickname, Dog Salmon. My buddy had given me the "lowdown" on what flies I should bring. I'd had such good success with sakasa kebari in freshwater I figured, "If the fly is supposed to irritate them into biting, why not try tying a big chartreuse bead head sakasa hackle fly?". So I fit a 10mm magnetic hematite bead on a #6 Gamakatsu SS15 hook, tied on a chartreuse marabou tail a tad longer the shank, some long guinea hen hackle; sakasa style, a silver tinsel body, and an olive Crystal Chenille thorax-collar. We got to the beach near a spawning stream and rigged up. I was using a heavy old 9 1/2 foot 8-weight with a WFF8 on a heavy old SA-2 10-11 reel (you know, the one with the closed frame). I showed him the fly I intended to start out with and he probably thought I was nuts. He offered me the "hot fly" recommended by the local shop but me being me, I tied mine on anyway.
Beach fishing for Sea Run Cutthroat, Blackmouth Chinook, Coho, and Chums is usually no more than a 4-hour deal. For most beaches, I start rigging up around 2 hours before high tide, and fish up to high tide, have a bite to eat during the slack, then work the ebb for up to 2 hours. We hiked a few hundred yards into the beach away from the stream. He told me the structure to look for, and walked off to fish the edge of a small bay. I went the other direction around the corner and found a 100 yard section of coastline with a lot of rocks that were becoming submerged as the tide rose, and noticed fish breaching/porpoising (to get rid of sea lice?).
First few casts, nada. And man I figured I was gonna be shagged quick if I was blind casting an 8 weight in double-haul beast mode for 4 hours so I started stalking rises. I saw a couple of rises in a straight line coming towards me and tossed my fly out ahead about 70 feet out in around 4 feet of water, made a few strips. The line went taught and I set the hook, then set again for good measure. After about 5 minutes of some "dogging" and a couple of runs, my buddy came around the corner about 80 yards away just as my fish was beginning to tire and doing more thrashing on the surface than making runs. He watched as I managed to net the 30", 9lb Chum with a foot of the tail sticking up out of a 24" net. Soon the tide had risen enough to allow unfettered access to the stream, and the rises had pretty much stopped. I was backed up to the breakwater in 3 feet of water with 1 foot swells and no beach to back up on, so I walked down to the bay where my friend was and I just watched him. It was our only fish of the day.
Yeah man, Kebari are Kool!