Tenkara Scores Again in Austria

by Dave Southall
(Driffield Yorkshire UK)

This September I revisited the high streams of Austria with my friends Steve Donohue, Don Stazicker & Stuart Crofts (ex England Rivers Team Captain), all Tenkara converts.

Despite two rivers having been seriously scoured out by severe floods a week earlier & a blizzard when we fished up at 5300 feet on the Krimmler Ache, we caught good numbers of browns, rainbows & brookies (up to 19 inches), many from the most impossible looking pockets. In fact we actually tried to find the most ridiculous place we could to catch fish. Stuart reckoned that at least 95% of the fish we caught could not have been taken on conventional gear due to drag.

Virtually all our fish were taken on dry flies, mainly Elk Hair Caddis, small Chernobyl Ants, Foam Beetles & Black Klinkhamers, even when it was snowing!

Tenkara, using a 0.35mm copolymer level line plus 2 feet of 5X tippet a bit longer than the rod, allowed us to hold all the line & most of the tippet off the water & let us present our flies in the smallest pockets of calm water & within an inch of undercut rocks & banks.

The rods used were Tenkara USA Ito, Amago & Iwana & Tenkara UK's 12 foot & 13 to 15 foot models. All handled well.

Dave Southall