Jungle Cock Sakasa Kebari & More on Spectra Lines
In my ongoing experiments with hackle and materials for sakasa kebari, I’ve found an unlikely source for hackle that looks promising: jungle cock.
Read MoreSilk Thread Sakasa Kebari
Since I can’t go fishing right now, tying flies is the next best thing. In the past few months, I’ve been playing around with some unorthodox body materials for tenkara flies but recently felt the urge to tie some with the more traditional thread bodies. I saw that Tenkara Bum was selling Pearsall’s silk thread, and it kind of jogged my memory. I ransacked a dark corner of my fly tying desk where I throw obscure materials only to confirm my suspicion that I did indeed have a few spools of the gossamer size! And, I even had some workable colors for tenkara flies. But I specifically wanted orange to tie up the classic combination of partridge and orange so I promptly ordered a spool of the truant color from Tenkara Bum.
Read MoreThe Utah Killer Bug
OK, it’s not technically a tenkara fly, but so many tenkara anglers seem to have so much faith in this pattern that I couldn’t ignore it. So, I ended up buying some killer bug yarn from Tenkara Bum (as well as some other stuff like some Pearsall’s silk thread for sakasa kebari) and give the pattern a fair shake.
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Double Sakasa Kebari
I don’t know if this has been tried before or not but I had the idea to play around with the concept of a “double” sakasa kebari. Essentially, it’s just a regular sakasa kebari with two sections of wrapped hackle separated by a “spacer” of thread.
My thinking was that if the main attraction of these flies is the hackle opening and closing, then doubling a good thing might not be a bad thing. In all fairness, I haven’t fished this design yet so I won’t know until I put it in fron of the “judges”. But, I think it’s an interesting concept to explore and one with a lot of possibilities. The fly above is just a prototype to test movement of the hackle.
Read MoreHorsehair Tenkara Flies
That’s right–I said “horsehair tenkara FLIES”, not “horsehair tenkara LINES”. Usually, whenever you combine the words “horsehair” and “tenkara” in the same sentence (or Google search), the discussion is inevitably around horsehair tenkara fly lines. But what many people don’t know is that horsehair (or, more accurately, horse tail) also makes an excellent body material for sakasa kebari.
Read MorePartridge & Black Sakasa Kebari
This is a simple, yet effective fly that would be a good pattern to try for anyone who read my recent post, “A Beginner’s Guide to Tying Tenkara Flies“. With the barring on the hackle, high-contrast ribbing, and muted colors, this is a great all around tenkara wet fly. The key is to tie the hackle very sparsely (no more than 3 turns). This lets the fly sink faster and better mimics the delicate look of natural insects.
The Recipe
Hook: Curved nymph hook #8-#16 (I prefer #12)
Thread: Black 6/0
Rib: Medium silver wire
Hackle: Natural Partridge
Because it’s so easy and inexpensive to tie, you can fish this fly in places you might otherwise avoid for fear of getting snagged. You can easily replace a lost fly in just a few minutes.
What is your go-to Sakasa Kebari?
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Peacock & Starling Sakasa Kebari
In my last post, I briefly mentioned this fly pattern which was very productive on a small lake near Mt. Whitney and I thought I’d post the recipe. It’s a simple fly to tie (as many successful patterns are) and very buggy looking because of the iridescence of the materials used.
The recipe
Hook: Any heavy wet fly hook #12
Thread: Black Uni 8/0
Hackle: Natural Starling
Body: peacock herl
Rib: Medium gold wire (counter wound)
How to fish it
Like any sakasa kebari, it can be fished various ways. You could dead drift it like a nymph, swing it like a wet fly, do a Liesenring lift, etc. However, the method I found to most effective was more like the traditional way of fishing tenkara wet flies. Simply let the fly sink, then slowly lift the rod while twitching the rod tip. This action forces the hackle to open and close, giving it an irresistible ”swimming” motion. I’ve found that fish tend to strike pretty aggressively with this presentation so it’s best to use the heaviest recommended tippet for tenkara rods (5x) to avoid break offs.
Give it a try and hang on!
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Twisted Body Sakasa Kebari
One of the nice things about tenkara wet flies is that while they’re very simple in design, they allow for a lot of experimentation in body construction. This is probably the main thing that keeps me interested in them as a fly tier.
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with wire bodies and epoxy bodies. Now, I’m playing around with a tying technique I used to use on Western-style nymphs: twisted bodies.
I used to tie a fair number of nymphs that used twisted camel hair for the abdomen. Camel hair comes in a hank and you basically pull off a length, tie it in, twist it into a “rope” and then wind it around the hook shank. The result is a nicely segmented body that is durable, yet absorbent enough to help the fly sink faster.
Here is an example of how this technique could be incorporated into a traditional tenkara wet fly pattern. I call it “the Twisted Camel”. Think of it more as a template rather than a dictated recipe. You can substitute any colors or materials you like.
How to Tie the Twisted Camel
Hook: Any wet fly hook will do
Thread: 8/0 Contrasting color behind the eye, black behind the hackle
Hackle: Hungarian Partridge
Abdomen: Twisted Camel Hair (color of your choice)
Thorax: Peacock Herl
Step 1
Tie in your contrasting thread and wrap a nice head. It can be any color you want that you think goes well with the other colors of materials you choose but it should be something brighter than the body color. Depending on your overall color scheme, the contrasting thread could be chartreuse, red, yellow, etc. In this case, I’m using orange thread.
Step 2
Whip finish the contrasting thread and start a new bobbin with black thread on the hook shank.
Step 3
Tie in a partridge hackle feather and strip off one side of the barbules so it looks something like this. Advance the thread back into the thorax a bit to where you’ll want to eventually secure the hackle.
Step 4
Wrap the hackle 4 or 5 times back toward the hook bend and secure with the thread.
Step 5
Pull a length of camel hair from the hank (the amount will depend on how big of a fly you’re tying and how thick you want the segmentation to be). Tie it in behind the hackle and wrap your thread back down the hook toward the bend forming a slightly tapered body. Make sure you return the thread back to the thorax.
Step 6
Using hackle pliers, grab the loose end of the camel hair (making sure you get all of the strands) and twist them into a “rope”. Wind the “rope” toward the hook eye forming tight segments and tie off at the thorax. Be sure to leave enough room to build a thorax of peacock herl.
Step 7
Tie in one or two strands of peacock herl and wind forward to form the thorax. Optionally, you can twist two strands of herl into a “rope” just like you did with the camel hair. This offers a little more durability and bulk (if you want it).
Step 8
Whip finish just behind the hackle and cut the thread. You’re done!
Variations on this pattern are endless. I like to use camel hair because it sinks well and is a natural material but you could substitute anything that comes in a hank such as Antron, SLF, knitting yarn, etc.
Basically, any material you can twist can give your tenkara flies a touch of more realism and fun.
What other materials work for twisted bodies?
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More Epoxy Tenkara Flies with a Twist (of wire)
In my last post, I talked about some of my experiments with epoxy sakasa kebari (reverse hackle tenkara flies). I was tying some more at my desk tonight and an idea struck me…
Many tenkara wet flies use a bright-colored thread between the eye of the hook and where the hackle begins. It could be orange, red, yellow, etc. My idea was that since the color really only functions as an attractor, why not make it dual purpose? What if you could add color and contrast while adding weight to help the fly sink faster at the same time?
So, Instead of using thread at the head of the fly, I used medium gauge, colored wire to help the fly sink (orange in this case):
The 9 or so wraps of copper wire add a significant amount of weight and give you the same visual attractor effect as using brightly colored thread but make it heavier. This is just one example. The wire, body, and hackle could all be substituted with different colors to produce an infinite number of variations.
If you look at the body of this fly, you’ll see that it is coated in epoxy but it doesn’t have to be. I think the heavier gauge wire head could be applied to any tenkara wet fly where you want to add weight and color contrast.
Well, now, between the epoxy, mixed-in glitter, and wire head, I’ve got a lot of experimenting to do. I don’t know what I’ll come up with next but it sure is fun to experiment!
How are you tweaking traditional tenkara flies?
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Epoxy Tenkara Flies
Several years ago, I started tying epoxy midges to fish a very tough local spring creek in Western New York. The flies themselves were developed in the UK and were brilliantly simple, yet deceptively effective.
Across the pond, they’re called “epoxy buzzers” and are mostly fished in larger sizes on big reservoirs. But I started tying them in sub #20 sizes and they absolutely killed on my notoriously impossible local spring creek.
The epoxy buzzer design is relatively simple–a tapered thread body, wire rib, and floss wing buds all covered in (you guessed it) epoxy.
The epoxy gives the body of the fly a lot of unique properties that I think make it successful and set it apart from other fly designs:
- The added weight and slick coating help the fly sink better by penetrating the surface of the water faster
- The gloss and translucence just make it look “buggier”
- The smooth coating also gives the fly better hydrodynamic properties that allow you to get a more drag-free drift (if you want it)
- It creates a nearly indestructible fly allowing you to keep fishing the pattern that’s producing longer
So, I thought, “why not apply the same design to some sakasa kebari?”
Epoxy Sakasa Kebari
Here is the basic recipe but by switching out the colors of wire, thread, and hackle, the color combinations are nearly limitless:
Hook: I used #12 Partridge McHaffie Masters hooks but any wet fly hook will do
Thread: Uni 8/0 (color of your choice)
Wire: (color of your choice)
Hackle: Hen, Partridge, Pheasant, or Starling
Epoxy: I like Devcon 5 minute epoxy but you can use any clear drying epoxy
Here are some examples of color variations:
Brown thread, copper wire, partridge hackle
Chartreuse thread, green wire, brown hen hackle
Black thread, silver wire, brown hen hackle
A Tip for Working with Epoxy
An epoxy turner makes life much easier
An epoxy turner is a nice convenience. If you are thinking about making a lot of epoxy flies, it’s worth the investment. If not, you can just spread the epoxy around the body of the fly with a toothpick and juggle gravity for a few minutes by holding and rotating it in your forceps or hackle pliers while it dries. It may feel dry to the touch after 15 or 20 minutes but I recommend letting it sit untouched overnight just to be safe.
Further Experimentation
I think I will keep experimenting with different color combinations and see what I can dial in. I’m also thinking of borrowing a few tricks from my saltwater fly tying and trying things like mixing glitter into the epoxy to get different effects. I think there is a lot of room for experimentation and while epoxy might not appeal to Tenkara purists, I think it opens up a whole new dimension for sakasa kebari fly patterns.
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The Ninja’s Victim: a Sakasa Kebari Tenkara Fly
While I tend to prefer dry flies and don’t fish sinking flies much, I thought it would be fun to start experimenting with some reverse hackle Tenkara wet flies. When I do fish wet flies, I usually want them to sink fast. So, I’m playing around with some different ideas for Tenkara-style flies that use copper wire for the body to give them a little more weight than the traditional thread bodies. Also, I’ve been reading a lot lately about the effectiveness of blue-colored flies. And that’s what inspired this pattern.
The Ninja's Victim
It’s called the “Ninja’s Victim” because it goes down fast and is black and blue (get it?). It’s a very simple pattern but one that I think has a lot of fish appeal (like iridescent Starling hackle). Here is the recipe:
Hook: TMC 2457 #16-20
Thread: Black UNI 8/0
Body: Blue copper wire (with tapered thread underbody)
Hackle: Starling
I’m thinking about adding a peacock herl thorax to add to the iridescence but am not sure if that would slow down the sink rate. The Starling already makes it look buggy enough so maybe the peacock herl is redundant. I guess I’ll just have to put it in front of “the judges” to get the final verdict.
Read MoreJapanese Hammer in a More Versatile Color
So I’ve been tying different variations on the Japanese hammer and thought it might be good to tie some in a tried-and-true color scheme: the Adams.
The Japanese Hammer in Adams colors
This pattern pretty much has everything I want for fishing the high mountain streams of the Rockies: it’s buggy, buoyant, hi-vis, and easy-to-tie. Tied in the colors of the venerable Adams, I think this will be a very productive pattern and is a good candidate for my “one” fly.
Recipe
Hook: TMC 2487 #12 – #20
Thread: Black Uni 8/0
Body: Grey muskrat or beaver
Hackle: Brown and grizzly mixed
Post: White polypropylene yarn
I’m also thinking of tying some variations based on other classic patterns such as the Pheasant Tail, Royal Wulff, PMD, etc. I can’t help but think that blending the traditional patterns of the East with the traditional patterns of the West is a good thing. Any other suggestions for color combinations?
Read MoreAbout Me
Jason Klass is a former fly fishing guide who now exclusively fishes Tenkara for trout in the streams and lakes of Colorado...Read More Tenkara Summit 2012
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