Small Stream Video

Here is the video I alluded to in my last post. I tried third person view but that was way to much of a pain in the trees and brush. I kept getting hung up. So, I decided on POV. It's not as cool, IMO, but it lets you see the water and what I did.

Some narrative, music and annotation:

Hooking but not Landing -- the reality of thin blue lines.

This past week I've been exploring some small streams that I've never fished before. These streams are small. Two of them are just wide enough to jump over. The other is not jumpable unless you're a athlete. I've wanted to fish them for a while but the lure of larger waters and larger fish has kept me away.

Screen shot from the topo app on my iPhone

On the map, these streams are thin blue lines. This designation keeps most fly fishers away. But I must say, that is their loss. This time of year most folks around here are hunting anyway, but if they wanted an adventure, these streams would have been a good choice.

Anyway, as I said, I visited three of these overlooked stream this past week. I enjoyed fishing each one even though most of the fish I hooked I couldn't land. This is due to the preponderance of snags and tree/bush limbs that get in the way of one's rod. Casting can be frustrating on these little streams, but I find that playing and landing a hooked fish to be the biggest challenge. It seems that as soon as you hook a nice fish, 10 inches plus, it immediately shoots for cover. Sometimes you can control it and keep it in open water (all 24 inches of it) and sometimes you can't. When you can't, invariably the fish wraps itself up in the snags, gets off, and you have to then retrieve your fly/line.

The fish in these three streams have been either browns or rainbows. I am hopeful that as I explore the more upper reaches I will begin catching native cutthroats. I hooked a couple of trout that looked like cutthroats, but I lost them before getting them to hand, so I couldn't validate my suspicion. Still, some of the fish, mainly the browns, were surprisingly large for the size of water they came out of. When you catch a 12 inch trout in a large river you are usually not surprised, but when that same size fish comes from a creek no more than three feet wide and 5 inches deep it seems like a trophy!!

For tools, I used either the Nissin Pro Spec 2-way 7:3 or the Wakata 270 cm tenkara rods.  I prefer the Nissin, when I can get away with using it, but on two of these streams the birch canopy was so tight in most places that even in its 320 cm mode it was too long! I was whacking tree limbs right and left! For both rods I used a 9 foot #3.5 line with 18-24 inches of 6X tippet.  I must say that I lost a lot of flies over this past week.

On a sad note, on one of the streams I found a drowned Water Ouzel or American Dipper rolling in the current. Attached to one of its legs was braided fishing line attached to a lead sinker and bait hook. It was sad to see this little bird killed my someones careless act of improper line disposal. I love these little birds. They usually follow me upstream, dipping in and out of the water and bobbing up and down when they stand on a rock. It's a lesson to us all: dispose of line properly, as it will kill wildlife and spoil the stream.

I'll be back to these streams, probably over the next few weeks before the snows set in. I have so much more to explore and many techniques to try. If you've got small streams near you, give them a try. They are in every way as challenging as larger waters. And even though the fish are generally smaller, they are just as fun to catch -- maybe even funner, giving all the pain you go though to get 'em!!

I've got some video footage, but I'm too lazy to edit it right now. I'll post it in a day or two, OK?

Tenkara on the Logan River, Oct 18, 2013

The other day I fished the Logan River. I used to fish this river all the time when I was a boy, but I haven't been back in, oh, 30 years. Why? I don't know. I just hadn't gotten around to it, I guess.

The Logan holds a lot of great memories for me. It is where I caught my first fish on a fly (that I tied) when I was young (I think it was the summer of 1974). It was the river where I taught my brother how to fly fish. In fact, the first fish he caught, and was so excited to show me that he ran up stream yelling as the poor little fish dangled helplessly from his line, was a sculpin! We laughed about that for years. You would have thought that he had landed a steelhead by how excited he was.

The Logan River is a heavily trafficked stream due to its proximity to Logan and its outdoors loving people. Despite this, there is always a portion that can be found with no one on it. The morning I went (ok, I was lazy and started at 11AM -- that's still morning, isn't it?) it was cold. The air temp was 32 degrees F and there was a slight breeze coming from downstream. The sky was crystal clear and it was sunny day, but I was in the shade of the canyon. The large rock walls blocked the sun; I froze but there was no sun on the water -- the way I prefer it.

Scooping up the first fish.

The water was low, but not bad for this time of year. I fished a section of pocket water, working my way around the boulders. In parts it was deep enough that I had to skirt the river's edge so not to top over my waders. There are some nice deep runs in the Logan.

As I approached my chosen river section I was a little anxious. I didn't know what to expect. I knew the river had fish in it, but where? What reach would be best? Had I chosen well? I slipped into the water and made my first cast. After a few minutes of not catching anything I was beginning to wonder. With tenkara I have become accustomed to catching fish within the first few minutes. When I don't, I get a little nervous.

But after moving upstream about 20 feet I saw a nice looking pool just upstream. I started working my fly and within a few casts I was into my first fish. It turned out to be a nice brown. Four fish later, out of the same pool, I was feeling more confident. Three of the five fish were cutthroats, and that made it even better.

That first brown. 

I worked my way upstream towards my car and picked up a couple more really nice 13-14 inch cutthroats. By this point I was cold, as I was under dressed. I got in the car to warm up and then move to a different reach of the river.

It was a nice day. I only fished a few hours before I went back to the warmth of the valley below, but it was worth it. I'll be back. There is so much more of this old friend that I need to explore.

Here's a video of the fish. No narration, just some music and annotation:

Sakura Seki Rei 3.3m tenkara rod -- review

I have in the past been fortunate to own/fish/review some of Japan's premium fixed-line rods. These have included rods from Daiwa, Nissin, Gamakatsu, Shimano, Shimotsuke, and Team Oni. I have also used some really nice rods from Suntech as well. One Japanese rod company that I have not been able to try has been Sakura, at least up till now. I recently did some trading and acquired a Sakura Seki Rei 3.3m tenkara rod. Here is my report.

Sakura is a well established rod company of some reputation. Their rods are not as readily available as are rods from other tenkara companies, however, they are well known in Japan. Sakura has a few tenkara offerings including the Seki Rei (se-KEE-ray) and the Kongo. The Kongo has the feature of being really compact when fully collapsed, a cork handle, and a faster 7:3 action. Tenkara Bum has fished with and reviewed this rod. I have not seen one. For what its worth, I found that sakura means "cherry blossom" and seki rei means "wag tail". What wag tail means -- I have no idea (see comments section for update)!

The Seki Rei 3.3m came in a plastic carton and included a orange rod sleeve. My Seki Rei was previously used, but only lightly. The coloration of the rod is vegetation green. The sections are hand detailed to look like bamboo with darker green longitudinal stripes. There are black and beige accents near the tips of the sections. The overall effect is quite nice; it makes this rod look like the premium tenkara rod that it is. The rod designation is hand painted onto the rod. This gives the rod some extra character.

Rod designation

Rod coloration and design (on my front lawn).

The handle is wood, cylindrical in shape, and of moderate diameter. It is reported to be paulownia wood, but I can't confirm that. It is relatively easy to grip, but I found that a wet hand helps hold the wooden handle better than dry hand. I thought the overall effect of the handle was nice, but I prefer a shaped handle more than a uniform diameter cylindrical one.

The winding check is silver-tone metal and is knurled. It fits tightly against the handle.

The handle after light use.

Winding check.

The lilian is green and is attached directly and has a knot in the end. The black epoxy that attaches the lilian is small in diameter, smooth and perfect. The tip plug is wood; it fits snugly into the handle section. The butt cap is black anodized metal. It is smaller in diameter than all my other rod's butt caps. Also, it has a fairly long threaded section, again, when compared to most other rod's butt caps. There is no drainage hole, but there is a small foam pad to dampen the rattle of the collapsed sections.

Lilian and section accents.

Tip plug

Butt cap. The small hole in the foam fits the tip section when collapsed.  

Some scratches on the butt cap show the true metal beneath the coating.

One issue I found with my particular rod is that two of the seven sections do not extend smoothly. As you extend sections 3 and 4 (the tip section is #1) they hesitate just before (2.5 cm before) being fully extended. I suspect this is due to thicker or uneven coating in those areas. The blank looks fine and uniformly tapered, so it must be the coating. I'll have to get a micrometer and do some measurements sometime. I've never run across this issue with any other rod, and to be honest, I find it a little annoying, especially in a premium rod. Both sections do fully extend so there is no issue with the rod casting and such. Maybe its just my rod because it was used and not new. I haven't been able to handle another Seki Rei to see if this issue is common. I suspect it isn't.




My Seki Rei has 7 sections and is 330 cm extended. Collapsed, it is 60.5 cm. It weighs 80.2 g, without the tip plug. It has a Common Cent Scale rating of 21 pennies. This gives it a Rod Flex Index of 6.4. This puts is in the stiffer end of the 6:4 rod range and is comparable to the Tenkara USA Iwana 11 foot. The Seki Rei doesn't feel as stiff as the Iwana 11 foot however.

RFI comparison chart

Casting the Seki Rei is wonderfully easy. It has a relaxed casting stroke that is unforced and smooth. There is no overshoot at the end of the stroke; the tip dampens quickly without oscillation. It casts a #3-4 level line well but it feels best to me with a #3.5-4. I did not use a furled line with this rod. The rod is a little heavy for a 3.3 meter rod and this can be a little distracting, but it balances well in the hand.


Fishing the rod is fun. As I mentioned earlier, the wood handle is easier to hold if you get your hand damp but quickly dipping it into the stream. The day I tested the rod I had to do this numerous times since my hand would dry out after a few minutes.

I fished a moderate size stream with moderate to fast current. The day I videoed for this review I used a 10.5 foot #4 line, plus 3 feet of 5X tippet. This line cast beautifully with the Seki Rei but it was too short for the stream I was fishing. To reach my intended target I had to, on numerous occasions, force the cast by extending my arm.

By extending my arm I greatly reduced the efficiency of the tenkara cast and robbed the rod of its ability to propel the fly towards the target as it was designed to do. Extending your arm is not the way to cast a tenkara rod, rather, keep your casting arm tightly against your body with the elbow bent, at about a 45 degree angle. Keep the forearm/wrist straight in line and parallel to the trunk of your body. The upstroke or back stroke is mostly done by flexing your elbow, remembering to stop the rod tip at about the 12 o'clock position. The forward cast is done by briskly extending your elbow, stopping at the 10 o'clock position, and flicking your wrist forward EVER SO SLIGHTLY. This last maneuver shoots the fly forward in a burst of speed so that hits the water first, before the line.  Better yet, if you perform your cast properly the line will not lay on the water at all. The fly will hit the surface and penetrate the water column with the only part of the line in contact with the water being the tippet. It is a beautiful thing, this cast, when done correctly. It is every bit as beautiful and satisfying as a properly executed double haul. You will be in direct control of the fly with no slack in the line. You will both see (the line hesitates) and feel the fish take your fly. With the proper tenkara cast you can act upon and control the fly rather than be acted upon by the stream.


Here are a few of the fish I took that outing:

Conclusion: I like this rod. That said, if I was in the market to purchase a 6:4 rod, and if I could have handled it before buying I probably wouldn't have purchased one. Remember however, that I got mine through an equipment trade, and I'm happy with the trade.  I like the action. Although it is on the stiffer side of the 6:4 rod continuum it has a pleasing casting action that is relaxed and not at all stiff. I don't really care for the handle. I don't hate it, I just don't care for it. The hand crafted aesthetics are amazing and give the rod special character. I suspect that there aren't any two Seki Rei's that are exactly alike because of this. I think that's cool.

Here is a video of the fish I caught. It contains some narrative, some music, and some action.

Not about Tenkara....but about fisherman food.

If you ever visit Victor, Idaho to fish the streams of the Teton basin, then make sure you visit The Brakeman American Grill. It's a local burger joint where the people are friendly and the food is excellent. Since Victor is so small, you can't miss it. Drive into Victor from Idaho Falls and then turn left. The Brakeman is right there on your left.

I mentioned previously in some of my blog posts that I love a good hamburger. My most favorite is a Mike's Special from Mike's Drive In in Oregon, but the Brakeman has some really nice gourmet burgers too.

The store is small but cozy. The decor is retro American west. The menu is straight forward and inviting. They have something for everyone, even a veggie burger for those who don't like "moo" meat. The last time I was there I had the Barnyard -- half a pound of ground beef, bacon, and veggies topped with an egg! It is one artery clogging delight!! I had to all but dis-articulate my jaw like a boa to get that first bite in, it was so big!

The Barnyard, with fries (and fry sauce).

One of the things I like about the Brakeman is that the buns are fresh and tasty.  There is nothing worse that an good burger on a stale, stiff bun.  For those of you, like two of my children, that have Celiac disease they have a nice, soft gluten-free bun available.

The Brakeman also has great fries. They are made from fresh potatoes, not frozen. They are string cut, not steak cut, so they are not too saturated with grease. And yes, you can get fry sauce. For those of you you don't live in or near the intermountain west, fry sauce is a mixture of ketchup, mayo and pickle juice that was invented, or purported to be, in Utah. It is the only sauce worth dunking your fries into!! It beats plain old ketchup hands down!

That's one BIG burger!

So next time you're in my neck of the woods, stop by the Brakeman for some nice company and great food. You say you're a veg? Then have a salad. But around here we don't always eat what's good for you, we eat what's good!! Cows aren't just for making shoes!