Nissin 450ZX medium

by Rob Y
(San Jose, CA)

I caught a few trout over the Presidents' Day holiday with my keiryu rod. Fish were holding near the bottom of a pool where the river transitioned from shallow riffles to deep slow water. I was in shadow against a granite wall, while the fish were in sunlight; it was a unique place to observe them without being seen, apparently.

I used a size 16 beadhead nymph and some tungsten putty about a foot above to get it down into the pool. The 4.5m reach came in handy. A rainbow hit first, and then a brown. These were the biggest fish I'd ever caught on tenkara or keiryu gear, maybe 14-15 inches, and the Nissin handled them well, not surprisingly.

Next day I caught another rainbow, and then hooked one of the larger fish, which made a run for it and broke my tippet. Wow ! I don't have much experience with big fish, and that monster probably wouldn't even have fit in my net :) Definitely exciting. I guess I need to read up about landing bigger fish ...

“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.