Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

Flyfishing

“Tenkarais a simple,pureformof

fishingandonethatI would encourage

everyfishermantotry”

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 45

fishermanknow,therewas no way

theywouldbelieveme.

Inanattempttoreplicate

theconditionsinwhichtenkara

originated,I founda highpartofthe

riverbank,overlookinga deeppool

belowme.I couldjustmakeoutthe

shapeofsomechubmillingabout

underanoverhanging willow branch.

Tiddlerattack

TheywerejustbackinseasonsoI

croucheddownina nettlepatchand

stalkeda littlecloser.I droppedinthe

fly witha castthatI wasremarkably

happy with, and certainly not one I’d

haveachievedwithmynormalfly rod.

I watchedasmyHare’sEarNymph

driftedoverthechub.Thebigone

ignoredit buta tiddlerattacked.It

spatit straightoutagain.I flickedthe

fly backuptothetopofthepool and

thesamethinghappened.

I wasgettingthefeeling this really

wouldn’tbemyday.

Therainwasstillcomingdown

hardaswemuncheda mid-morning

Scotchegg.Feelingre-energised,I

setofftofindanotherspot.Thereeds

broughttheriverina bittighterand

theaccuracyofthetenkararodcame

intoitsown.BythisstageI wasgetting

thefly whereI wantedit aboutnine

times out of 10, so I hit the little

focusedandminimalist.It remained
a relativelyunknownsportoutside
Japanuntilthelastdecadeorso.
Traditionally,a bamboopole
around11ftto14ftlongwasused
witha lineofaboutthesamelength
attachedtotheend.Thisrod-and-line
combinationallowedfishermento
dropfliesintofast-flowingmountain
streamsfromhighpositions,on
bouldersorabovegorges.Thereis
noreelonatenkara rod, adding to
itssimplicity.
It turnsoutthatyoucanbuya
telescopictenkararod,alongwith
a line,tippetandflies,forabout£50
online.Twodayslater,it arrived.
A day’sfishingtheriverWelland
inLincolnshirehadlongbeeninthe
diaryand,whileit wasa farcryfrom
a Japanesemountainstream,this
seemedtobemybestopportunity
togivetenkaraa go.MaxBlanshard
andI satinthekitchenonMonday
morning,sippingcoffeeandlooking
outat torrentialrain.Wecursed
theweathergods— mid-Junewas
supposedtobea gloriously sunny
t i meofyea r.

Wadersandwaterproofs
Determinednottolettherain
dampenourspirits,weheadedout,
heavilycladinwarmclothing,waders
andwaterproofs.It reallywasn’tthe
sortofdaywehadplannedwhen
webookedthedayoffworkearlier
intheyear.Nevertheless,wemetup
withanotherfisherman,BenWilson,
andtrudgeddowntotheWelland,
a lovelystretchofwaterflowing
throughthewatermeadows of the
Burghleyestate.
Linedalonglargestretcheswith
cricketbatwillows,thewateroffers
a rangeofflows,fromquickrifflesto
deeper,slowerpools.Westoodon
thebridgeandassessedthings.The
rainwasnowsoheavythatthewater
seemedtobeboilingawaybelowus
andI feltit seepingthroughmycoat
anddownthebackofmyneck.Max
andBensetoffdownstream,rolling
theireyesat myinsistence on using
thetenkararod.
I hadspentquitea longtimeon
YouTube,watchingasmanytutorial
videosaspossible.Thecasting,unlike
theflyfishingcastI hadbeentrying
tomasterforalmosttwodecades,
seemedtobemuchsimplerandmuch
moreintuitive.Likeflyfishing,the
weightofthelineandtheflexofthe
rod is used to propel the fl y out on to

thewater,butthatseems to be where

thesimilaritiesend.

Withnochanceofseeinga littledry

fly intherain,I puta nicebigmayfly

ontoabout5ftofleader,witha Hare’s

EarNymphona dropperunderneath.

Perhapsthiswouldbefrownedupon

bytenkarapuristsbutit wasmy only

optiongiventheconditions.

Ipickeda relativelyopenpart

oftherivertobeginwith,andgave

tenkaraa go.TakingallthetipsI had

learnedfrommyonlinetutorials,my

firstcastwasremarkablysuccessful.

Therodcameupto 12 o’clock,before

pausing and fi ring it forward to the 10

o’clockposition.Therewasa sharp

pauseat 10o’clocktoallowtheline

topowerup,thentherodfollowed

throughasthefly came“fromthe

skies”tolandsoftlyonthewater.

It reallywasremarkablysimple.

I spentthenexthalfanhour

takingaimat variousreedsand

rushes,workingonthetechnique.

After 100 castsorso,I wasmore

oftenthannotlandingthefly exactly

whereI intendedit togo.It wasat

thatmoment,justasI wasbecoming

ratherpleasedwithmyself,thatI

tangledmyline,andlookedupto

seeBenandMaxchuckling.I tried

toassurethemthatthiswasactually

the fi rst cast I had tangled, but as all

Jamiegetstogripswith

hisnewskillontheriver

Welland in Lincolnshire