Switzerland!

I will be heading home to the old country for 10 days to visit family but will of course bring my 12 ft Iwana with me. Who knows, maybe I can harrass some fish while I am there. Would be interesting to see my old fishing holes where I spent hours and days fishing as a kid.

Anybody out there in Switzerland who follows this blog and has some advice?

See you later, -K

A new rod, net and some old and new friends

Anybody who knows me knows that I am not really fond of the city. New York City that is. I lived in and around New York City for 8 years and that was enough. There is a reason why we moved to Denver after all.

That being said, business trips bring me back to the city once every few months and one of the things I do without missing when I am in NYC is meeting up with Chris Stewart, the Tenkarabum, for drinks and burgers, sometimes even for some fishing time.

Last week was no exception I had a great time catching up with Chris and talk Tenkara. One of the fun things when hanging out with Chris is getting some inside as to what new stuff is to come, see it or borrow it for some testing. This time was no exception. 

First, I picked-up my new Daiwa Soyokaze 31SR. This is one of the tanago rods Chris is selling, but at 10'2" it is the longest "tanago" rod and, to me, really a nifty and fun small stream tenkara rod. If you are a reader of this blog, you might remember I fished earlier this year the 9' long Daiwa Soyokaze 27SR. The 27SR at 9' left me wanting another foot back then, so I wanted to get the longer version. Funny how things go, yesterday, when fishing the 31SR, I at times wished I had the shorter rod. But the 31SR was really just the ticket yesterday, handling fish up to 11" or 12" just beautifully. While it has a soft tip, it also has quite some backbone that lets you handle fish of good size. This will become my small stream rod when the 12' or even 11' Iwana is too long and the 9'4" Iwana is too short. 

Next, I was able to borrow a new net for testing, the Daiwa One Touch Keiru Damo 25. This is a collapsible that fits a pouch attached to your belt. I had a few blog posts complaining about forgetting my  tamos at home and Chris suggested I try the One Touch that is small and can stay in the car, bag or attached to my wading belt. The One Touch 25 has a diameter of 25cm (apx. 10") and a very deep bag and will hold large fish without any issues. Some of the fish I caught sort of "disappeared" in the net which leaves me to think that a 16" trout or even bigger won't be a problem. There is also a bigger net, the One Touch 30 with a 30cm (apx. 12") diameter frame. When you are ready to land a fish, you simple get the net out of the pouch (secured with velcro), shake the handle and the net opens pops up. This is a net for the minimalist who wants to have the net out of the way and off his/her back.

Lastly, I got one of the new hand-tied bi-visible fc lines for the Daiwa Soyokaze 31SR. If you have been interested in level lines, you know that Chris had some outstanding and visible level lines in hi-vis orange. Well, those lines are being discontinued and Chris had to come up with something new filling the void. Chris found a new chartreuse hi-vis line and has begun thing lines using both the "old" orange and the "new" chartreuse lines. This way, you have a line that is visible in all conditions. If you have been using level lines, you might have noticed that in certain conditions hi-vis yellow is more visible and in some conditions hi-vis orange. This line is both and enables you to track it during any light conditions and backgrounds. I fished with this line yesterday and couldn't have been hap. pier.

And yes, I had a great time fishing yesterday on Bear Creek. I landed 18 trout, all bronws, one nice rainbow got away while I was about to net it. I started out fishing with a CDC & Elk and got my fill, later in the day I switched to an Ishigaki Kebari and continued to catch fish, twitching and pulsating it in pocket water. Caddis where out at first and were then later joined by some Mayflies. Oh, and I ran into another fellow tenkara angler and blogger, Kevin Fricke of Tenkara Rising. He seems to have been quite successful on his own yesterday. I only known about Kevin from Facebook's Colorado Tenkara Anglers and was glad to finally put a face to a name.

River Statistics:
Weather: nice & sunny, little wind
Air Temp: low 50ies @10.30am, high 60ies/low 70ies @ 4.30pm
Water Temp: n/a
Flow: 23cfs, a bit off color from heavy rains the prior day 
Day on the water in 2012: 10
Fish: 20 hooked, landed 18
Equipment: Daiwa Soyakaze 31SR, Tenkarabum new bi-visible hand-tied line 10'2"