Kiyotaki Unchained

by Alan Luecke
(Kansas City, MO)

I love the idea of micro fishing. I want to catch every kind of fish in the creek. Awhile back I bought a Kiyotaki 18 specifically to go after micros. I haven't done it. Yes, I've been busy catching fish with "real" tenkara rods ( and keiryu rods, and seiryu rods). The truth is I got stuck worrying about all the micro details of micro fishing-- which line, which tippet, how much weight, where, what bait, how to rig the float and most of all how to keep those impossibly small hooks from turning into a useless ball to tiny red thread.

JimiFly to the rescue. His account of using his Kiyotakis to bascally catch everything that swam by inspired me to get busy. Friday I rigged the 18 with 6' of no. 3 line some 6x tippet and a size 14 Utah Killer Bug. I headed to a known sunfish hole on Tomahawk Creek and immediately caught a nice sized fish. That fish erased any doubts I had about the capability of this little rod. I could feel the backbone and reserve power.

Next I headed to a spot where a bike path backs up a outlet stream into a little pool full of little fish that is too tight even for my Soyokaze 27. I had to side arm the 18 but just hauled the fish out. Not 100, but 20+ in about 30 minutes.

The block has been cleared and I'm ready to go. And thanks to some changes to a Morell flybox I think I've got those little micro bits under control. Last week I spotted some 2" catfish (madtoms?) in a creek as clear as an aquarium.

Onward.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.