My Minimalist Excursion

[northcountry]

[quote author=Adam link=topic=3706.msg37400#msg37400 date=1284123740]
Another interesting read....

commitment to 1 fly pattern intrigues me...but I don't think I have enough guts to go that simple.

http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=1043
[/quote]

Did anybody else read into this article on Tenkara fishing? I have heard of this style but never fully understood it, but after reading through this and searching around for other Tenkara blogs, Im very curious to know what others think. Especially AJ and other members who guide, compete, or fish seriously every day, what are your thoughts about Tenkara theories? Do they hold any weight with you all?

I understand that this guy Daniel and other Tenkara fishermen use 1 pattern in 1 size for the most part and claim to catch as many or more fish once they have acquired the casting and presentation skills necessary to manipulate their 1 pattern in several different ways. Im not saying in skeptical at all, Ive seen wild brook trout behave exactly the same way they have described - very opportunistic and darting out of cover to take something that doesnt resemble any insect present on the given stream. But apparently they discount any "match the hatch" theories, relying on their presentation skills alone, regardless of what specific life may be present in the body of water...

One of the things about fly fishing I find so addicting is that on any given day, I can employ several different methods and catch fish on all of them (or only one of them as often is the case) but the variety spices things up for me and keeps me wanting to learn more. Ive never tried Tenkara so Im not bashing it, but I suspect that I would get bored of 1 style. That being said, it could be fun to add it to the fishing arsenal...one more thing to spend more money on

Anybody on the forum have more experience/insight in this style of fishing?

[Adam]

This thread has been dormant for a while...I was going to start a new one...but thought it made sense to put it here. It has been a little over a year since this idea was hatched and I have certainly simplified many things in my fishing life. I have reduced the number of fly rods from double digits to 3. For that matter my spin gear has been greatly reduced as well...but that is another topic. Down to 3 fly boxes...for now. My ideal scenario is one C&F box...one leather fly wallet and one of those Plano boxes that I can store extra patterns in as I tie them.

And then there is the question of patterns. I admire the idea of fishing just an RS2...but I can't do it. However, I have it down to a final 8...with one that is going to possibly make the list. I am going to allow color variations and certainly size variations in the patterns...but I am tired of hauling a box of 40 different patterns around on the river when in the end I use the same ones over and over again. After way too many hours wasted thinking about this and looking at the open spots in my fly boxes...I have the list.

The Elite 8:
Griffiths Gnat
Adams
Zug Bug
Woolly Bugger
Rubber Legged Stone Fly
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Rhyacophilia (Green Rock Worm)
Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear

And I am waffling about adding the Usual to the list.

[Kaz]

I have been carrying just one "Tach It" fly box for my outings this year. Maybe 40 flies total along with what's on the fly patch (If i wear a chest pack). Works fairly well.

[littlej81]

I like the list...add the usual!

[CM_Stewart]

[quote author=Adam link=topic=3706.msg38514#msg38514 date=1290003745]
The Elite 8:
Griffiths Gnat
Adams
Zug Bug
Woolly Bugger
Rubber Legged Stone Fly
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Rhyacophilia (Green Rock Worm)
Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear

And I am waffling about adding the Usual to the list.
[/quote]

I'd go ahead and add the Usual (or an elk hair caddis), but I seriously think you could eliminate either your gold ribbed hare's ear or your pheasant tail (and maybe even your zug bug and green rock worm as well). Not that they're not great flies, they are. But seriously, how many fish are there that would take one but reject the other?

I'm not of the "one fly" school of tenkara, but I firmly believe that most of the time fish are opportunistic eaters. If something drifts by that looks like food and the presentation is good, I think they'll take it most of the time (and if you fish the kind of high gradient freestone streams on which tenkara was developed, that becomes almost all the time). If you fish very fertile streams with blanket hatches and trout that become extremely selective it is a different story, but given the flies you've chosen, that doesn't sound like the case. For that matter, you could almost certainly cut your list to an Adams, a woolly bugger and either a pheasant tail OR a gold ribbed hare's ear and catch 90% of the fish you'd catch with a much longer list. The question is which is more important to you, that last 10% or the simplicity.

[Adam]

The question is which is more important to you, that last 10% or the simplicity.

Great question...not sure I can answer that one yet. All of the flies listed are patterns that I have had success with on small streams and rivers here in the Northeast. Hard for me to whittle it down any further. But it is a long winter and strange things happen when I get cooped up inside for too long.

BTW....anyone looking for tying materials? I have a boatload of different stuff that I want to unload. Flashabou, Nymph Back, Dubbing...all sorts of colored bucktails, a couple of patches of elk hair...embroidery floss, tying thread and colored wire......estaz as well.

[littlej81]

Do you have any genetic hen necks? I like my buggers soft.

[Adam]

No hen necks...at least not yet.

[Adam]

Interesting quote I read this weekend....

"I believe the way towards mastery of any endeavor is to work toward simplicity. Replace complex technology with knowledge, hard work and skill."

Yvon Chouinard

[Adam]

Let the games begin. Time to fill this thing up.