Micro Sakasa Kebari - O-Sakasa!

This is what happens if your muse stays around a bit; after inspiring me with the Shaggy Caddis Sakasa Kebari for the TenkaraUSA Swap II, I was pondering how to tie a nice looking small or micro Sakasa Kebari. Then it dawned on me.

Initially, I wanted to tie the fly for the swap with an ostrich herl body but at the end I liked the dubbing better. But the ostrich herl got stuck in my head and then I felt like "duh!" - why don't I use the ostrich herl as hackle?

So I went back downstairs to the vise after my daughter went to bed and below is what I came up with. This looks like a feasible adult midge pattern which I am sure fish won't say no to when fished subsurface. I hope I can put them to the test soon.

O-Sakasa!

Shaggy Caddis Sakasa Kebari

It's time for another fly swap at TenkaraUSA. This time I felt challenged to mix up things a bit and do a dubbed body instead of a thread body. I also thought a caddis pupa imitation might be something trout would not pass up. I started playing around and here is the result. Not quite as polished as I would have hoped but it should do the job. One thing I struggled with is how to tie off the fly. I dubbed the body from the back to the hackle and realized that I will not only create a band of thread between dubbing and hackle but also potentially change the angle of the hackle and flatten down the thick dubbing body. Attributes I don't really appreciate and which will require some more tinkering. Something I might try is to start dubbing at the hackles and tie off at the hook bend but that wouldn't have worked well with small wire tag I added.

Shaggy Caddis Sakasa Kebari

Hook: TMC 2488 size 12

Thread: UNI thread 6/0, green

Body: Orvis Scud Dubbing, olive

Hackle: Grouse

Tag: x-small wire, green 

Group Picture

Tight Lines!

PS: Did I mention that this is the year of Tenkara?

"Tenkara-Fisher" Swap

I participated so far in two Tenkara fly swaps, one being the first "completed" American Tenkara Fly Swap with folks from the TenkaraUSA forum. If you were to be correct though about the "first" part, the first "initiated" Tenkara fly swap would be the one from Tenkara Fisher's web site and the associated forum (this link might only work if you are a member of the forum).

As with the swap from TenkaraUSA, I am highly impressed with the overall quality of flies, particularly since some of the Tenkara fishers out there just began fly tying as an extension to their Tenkara addiction. I wish sometimes I would have come up with a certain material and color combination; I don't really consider myself being very creative.

From the growing number of posts and members on both forums it looks like the Tenkara bug is spreading like wildfire in the States as well as in other countries across the globe. I have seen people contribute and read posts from various countries in Europe such as France, Germany, England, Denmark, Italy but also from more exotic locales such as South Korea, Russia, Croatia (yes, also part of Europe), South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. Looks like we're onto something here.

Anyway, this post is about the swap and the flies. I do not think I have the all the origins or fly tyer information but where I do, I would like to offer proper credit. Should you be the tyer of one the flies without credit (aka "unknown", please let me know in the comments section or drop me a line through the link at the bottom.

So, without further delay, here is the group picture of the original Class 2011 of  the Tenkara Fisher Fly Swap, group picture:

And here are the individual contestants:

Anthony Naples - Steelers Sakasa Kebari

257ROBT:

gentleshepherd:

Terry:

Troutrageous:

Arson (and yes, he's a firefighter...):

wrknapp:

jleal:

ERiK:

unknown 3:

Adam Trahan:

and mine:

WOW! What great work of art and craftmanship those flies represent. And if you think I will keep them stacked away in a dark and dusty box, you are wrong!! I am planning to fish all of those flies and hope to land many fish on them.

Tight Lines!

PS: and if I haven't mentioned it yet, THIS IS THE YEAR OF TENKARA!