A Tale of Two Styles

Rod & Reel vs. Tenkara on the same mountain stream

This one is NOT about what is better when comparing the fixed line tenkara fly fishing vs. traditional western rod and reel. I fly fish both styles and have benefited from each in my efficacy with the other. I love all kinds of fly fishing. If you want to stake out your tribe…this isn’t the place for you.

That being said, here is what I did to compare my experience on the same stream fishing two different styles within three days of each other.

The spot: A freestone creek near Roanoke, VA that is chock full of native brook trout and some wild rainbows. If you are interested in learning about that stream feel free to reach out to me. I will not be dropping the name of it here.

Conditions, the time I fished and the section I fished on both days were almost exactly the same. The only difference was the equipment and I had the rare southern Appalaichan yeti with me on the first day. I caught fish both days.

Day 1 Equipment: Moonshine Drifter 2 7’6” 3wt rod with a Cheeky reel and 3wt line. I used a 7.5’ leader cut back about 2ft and with a tippet ring that I attached tippet to. About 1/2 the day I fished a dry dropper set up with a Balloon Caddis tied by my friend Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk and various nymphs hanging below. After a few hours I switched to just the Balloon caddis.

Results: I caught over 20 fish in about 5 hours and hooked, but couldn’t land another 20 or so. Literally, one of the most productive times I can remember. They were primarily gorgeous brook trout and they were savage on the dry fly. I might have caught 5 or so on the dropper. At least another 20 or so were too small to each the dry but they were sure giving it their all.

This trip reminded me of something Domenic Swentosky shared with me a few weeks ago when he was guiding myself and my friend Luke Chapman on Spring Creek in State College, PA: “There are a lot of trout in this stream and you need to fish the water.” I fished all the water and was amazed at how many trout were in a relatively short section and was so thankful that this creek was so healthy.

I really had a great time fishing with the 3wt on this stream and was amazed at how effective I was with it. I think there are several reasons for this and one of the primary reasons, even though I have very little recent time on the water with this rod and reel, was how much small stream tenkara fly fishing I have been doing. I find, personally, that there is a great amount of spillover in skill acquisition between both styles of fly fishing. In short, with a traditional rod and reel, I was able to use tenkara style techniques when they made sense and to take advantage of the ability to make longer and different casts with the fly line. I had an absolute blast.

I found myself wondering if I would have had the same success with my tenkara rod and since I had another day to go fishing three days later I decided it would be interesting to fish the same stretch that way…and so I did.

Day 2 Equipment: Dragontail Tenakara Foxfire Triple zoom rod with 7’ level line to about 3’ of tippet. About 1/2 the day I fished a dry dropper set up with a Balloon Caddis and a Chimera fly from Yakoda Supply and various nymphs hanging below. After about 20 minutes I switched to just the dry.

Results: I caught fish, but less than the previous trip.

Don’t get me wrong, I still had a ball. I think there were several reasons with the primary one being that I had selected a less effective tenkara rod for this stream. I believe the Dragontail Mizuchi would have been a more effective tool and would have improved the catch rate. The Mizuchi is longer (better drifts and reach) and stiffer. The Foxfire is fun, but it is much softer and I had a harder time with my casting stroke getting the fly to exactly where I wanted it to go.

I had brought the Mizuchi along, but left it in the car in my rush to get to the water. About 20 minutes in I was wishing I had brought it in my pack (I could have easily done so since it is a tenkara rod). I would estimate that I caught about 1/3 the fish on the second day with a similar miss rate as the first. But, I caught some really pretty ones.

What is the purpose of this article if it isn’t to tell you what is the best way to fly fish?!?

This: go fly fish and be open to new techniques and styles because you will get better at all of them.

One truth I have discovered in the area of performance improvement while coaching business owners is that as you approach the pinnacle of skill, performance gains become significantly more difficult to achieve and the time interval between those gains is increased. However, if you develop another skill (especially if it is somewhat related to the primary one), you can take advantage of the rapid improvement we all get when learning something new and have that skill acquisition spill over to the other one. Cross training works in the Green Berets and it works in fishing.

After all, at the end of each day I had caught beautiful wild trout and I spent hours on a pristine mountain stream. Sounds like fun to me. #flyfishing #tenkara #rodandreel #justfish

All the best and tight lines,

Mike