Jeremy Lucas: Where East meets West. Tenkara fishing in Slovenia.
We
are in immensely exciting times in the river sport with trout and
grayling.
As never before, the dominant
western-style approach is being challenged to the extent that a new generation
of fly fishers are abandoning the anachronistic AFTMA line weighting system and
even drawing away from being fly line orientated. The Japanese fixed line approach is having
enormous influence and has defined a new plateau of presentation possibilities
at short range. In the last three years
leader-only technique (or leader-to-hand) has evolved away from the limited
French leader, to closely match tenkara in terms of presentation or dry fly, at
greater range.
I
have just returned home from an exciting trip to
Slovenia, where over two weeks
groups of eight and nine anglers, respectively, fished the whole range of nymph
and dry fly approach; from classical western-style (with #2, 3 and 4 weight
lines), silk lines (#2), the outstanding 000 from Rio (equivalent to a #0 on
the AFTMA scale), leader-only and tenkara.
This gave us superb and possibly unprecedented comparison in a whole
range of circumstances and river type.
Because a total of 15 people were involved, as well as guides, objective
conclusions can be drawn, particularly as over 2,000 measurable rainbow and
brown trout, and grayling were caught.
I
think the first observation was that the modern western-style has already
evolved to a very high state, compared with even a decade ago. Gone are the clumsy heavy lines of #5 and
heavier, and short, high diameter leaders and tippets. The three weight is dominant now, typically
on a 10' or 11' rod such as the outstanding XF2 Streamflex. The control and presentation achieved with
such tackle, particularly with a long leader, are excellent, and the
combination probably represents a pinnacle for most river anglers. We noticed that the finesse of a light weight
silk level line improved control still further, while the lack of stretch in
the same also improved the level of control and hook setting. The Rio triple 0 is probably the best polymer
line ever made for the river angler.
This casts a little better than the leader-to-hand (or presentation
leader), touches down more gently even than silk, but still manifests the sag,
or 'drape' as it is often known of fly line, which spoils control.

At
the other extreme, four of us regularly practiced tenkara, with either furled
leaders, fine level fluorocarbon (0.26mm) or a shortened version of my own presentation
leader (with a soft furled loop at the butt for attachment to the
lillian). In all cases we experienced
the outstanding presentation at short range, up to 7m from the hand. We exploited this method mostly on the
smaller streams where we encountered mostly fish in the 20cm - 30cm range,
which are ideal for this approach, though I pushed the boundaries a little on
larger rivers where bigger fish were encountered. A key observation from everyone on the trip
was that while the presentation is unparalleled control rapidly falls away with
range. Beyond 7m, up to 12m, the tippet
length must be very long, and it is difficult to avoid sag, especially with
anything other than fine level fluorocarbon (or copolymer). Worse is that ungainly moment when we have to
grasp the tippet and begin the hand-lining process to bring the fish to net or
hand. The elegance of this approach
completely breaks down at this point, and it can also, frankly, be irresponsible, because with trout larger than
30cm, unless they are exhausted – which itself should never be the case when
practising catch and release – hand-lining often results in a break. It takes huge experience to learn to avoid
this and it is, I feel, the biggest problem tenkara has. Nonetheless, with the smaller fish, both
trout and grayling, we were all thrilled by tenkara; and enjoyed catching such
fish far more than when using western-style.

And
there, in the centre ground, is the leader-to-hand. It struck me more than ever before within the
context of this Slovenian trip, that this approach combines the best of
western-style and tenkara, or rather, eschews the faults in both styles. We still have the impeccable presentation, or
touch down, with excellent control, but at much longer range than tenkara; anything
up to 18 metres, with astonishing drag free drifts and control all the
way. With hooked fish there is none of
the tippet threatening drag created by thick fly line being pulled through the
water and best of all the reel offers its greatest service to us by allowing us
to yield and gather line, maintaining elegance throughout the process as a fish
is brought to hand.
So,
we have a spectrum of styles or methods, all of which have their virtues, both
historic and in the contemporary sport.
I believe that the leader-to-hand is no more than a marriage, a meeting
place of east and west, developed from the best aspects of both.
We should have no time for any fly fisher who
dismisses or attacks the beauty of any approach, and we each exist at some
personal, content space within the spectrum of possibilities in this branch of
fly fishing. I have friends who take
great delight in the western-style with three weights, and yet are exploring
with the triple zero and even leader-only rigs, and others who are consumed by
the minimalistic fixed line, and we all together explore the central tenet of
presentation, which is the frontier in our sport, in my view.
The
courses, masterclass and group sessions I organise on the Eden and various
European venues have proved immensely popular, such that all of these are
filled (or have taken place) for this year other than two places remaining for
the very last trip of the year (to the San, Poland, in the first week of
October). I am, however, repeating all
of these next year, with the addition of at least one week on the top Bohemian
rivers in Czech, along with two of the Czech river masters. Any readers interested should take a look at
my website, where dates and details of all courses will be listed soon;
alternatively you can contact me via this site.
You can also find details about my presentation leader here: www.presentationflyfishing.com
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