Monday, January 10, 2011

Tenkara Flies

Over the last few months I have been able to create some new friendships with fellow Tenkara anglers, some of which were very generous by sharing some of their flies with me. Today I want to share with you the flies of Joe Leal of California and Chris Steward (Tenkarabum) of New York.

The flies are absolutively gorgeous and I am sure I will fee hesitant to tie them to the end of the tippet. But alas, flies are to be fished, even if they are works of art.

Chris' flies are simple North Country style soft hackle flies, tied as purple & snipe, inspired by a discussion about fly colors we had a while ago on a forum.

Joe's flies are tied as Sakasa Kebari's which some of them are Sakasa Kebari Takayama (with peacock herl collar). The special thing about his flies are that the hackle, which is typically a soft hackle feather from a game bird such partridge or pheasant, has been substituted with CDC. I think this is a great idea since they can be fished both as a dry fly if properly treated as well as a emerger and wet fly. If you haven't fished or tied with CDC, you should definitively give it a try.

CHRIS STEWART NORTH COUNTRY SOFT HACKLE PURPLE & SNIPE



JOE LEAL SAKASA KEBARI / SAKASA KEBARI TAKAYAMA FLIES:




















JOE LEAL CDC & ELK - without the Elk:





4 comments:

  1. Wow. Those CDC flies are pretty interesting. Wouldn't have thought of that, may have to tie up some and fish them myself.

    Seems most in the tenkara community are willing and open to share ideas. Glad you're finding the same thing.

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  2. Thanks, Karel, for posting my flies. I'm hoping,of course, to get other Tenkara fly tyers interested in using other fly materials instead of traditional bird hackles.And trying deviations of traditional patterns. The CDC& ELK without the elk has become my caddis pattern of choice. Fussy to use onstream, but very effective nonetheless. Thanks again. Joe Leal

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    Replies
    1. just found this site.
      Your flies are superb..where do you get your cdc from ??
      I've never seen anything like the cdc on your flies. .
      please let me know. I'd be forever in your debt.

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  3. Hi Joe, I have to thank you for sending me the flies and allowing to post the picutres. I have made a few mental notes already for "new" tenkara flies that I want to tie for the Summer season, some of them include cdc hackle... Tight Lines,- Karel

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