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Tenkara on the Rio Grande

August 11, 20207 CommentsTrip ReportsBy Jason Klass

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

I recently returned from a 4-day trip to the Rio Grande with my long-time friend Randy. He drove up there from Arizona and I drove down there from Denver. We both headed to Creede with high hopes. But, in fishing, the higher the hope, the easier it is to be dashed. The fishing was lackluster, but it was still a good trip for other reasons. Here’s a quick recap …

The Cabin

We stayed in a beautiful cabin at Soward Ranch. It was quaint and comfortable–the kind of place that makes you feel like you’ve really escaped from modernity.

Soward Ranch Cabin

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

You can see my travel fly tying kit on the table in the picture above.

By the time I got there, Randy was already settled in and tying flies.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Probably one of the most unique things about this place was that there was a hummingbird feeder on the front porch. I think I saw more hummingbirds in those 4 days than I’ve seen in my entire life combined. At times, there were 9 or 10 of them competing for their place on the feeder. I made the joke that we needed a “hummingbird zapper”. But in reality, they became comrades every time I went out on the porch to smoke and I kind of miss them now that I’m back in Denver.

The Company

Randy is one of my oldest friends. We worked together at the oldest Orvis dealership in the country some 20+ years ago and became good friends and fishing partners–terrorizing inland trout and Great Lakes steelhead before everything in Western NY became combat fishing. We try to get out to the San Juan River on a regular basis, but life has an adept skill for usurping plans. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years so it was nice to catch up and reminisce about our glory days.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

The River

The Rio Grande has some of the best water I’ve ever seen. It was stunning. Being on private water, we didn’t face much pressure and we were close to the confluence of Trout Creek and Red Mountain Creek. It was every angler’s dream–two feeder streams ejaculating food into a perfect storm of good cover, structure, and feeding lanes.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

I think this was the only fish I actually landed on the Rio Grande. It was on a Balloon Caddis …

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

The Lakes

The redemption of the trip was the ponds the cabin was situated near. They’re beautiful. We didn’t come all that way to fish ponds, but that turned out to be our salvation and we had much more success there than in the river.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

There are three ponds about 100 yards away from the cabin and they were more reliable than the river. The water in the river was low and the fish were few and far between. Also, we faced a lot of lightning, thunderstorms and high winds, making it not only difficult, but dangerous to fish. The last thing you want to do in a lightning storm is stand in water while holding a 13′ carbon rod toward the sky. So those times, we just hunkered down in the cabin, talked, and made the best of our downtime. But when the wind simmered down and the skies cleared, we took advantage of the short window to hit the lakes in the evening.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

I caught mostly rainbows but one Brown trout. The kicker is that instead of driving 5 hours, I could have driven 20 minutes to catch the exact same fish on my home waters. BUT …

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

I wouldn’t have been able to see my old buddy. We may not have caught as many fish as we’d hoped, but I think we caught up on a lot of memories that mean a lot more than a tug on the end of the line. I always tease him that he looks like John Gierach in that hat holding the bamboo rod. And so for that, I’m calling it–the trip was a win.

The Tackle

I used my Oni Type I and a Tenkara USA 3.5 line the entire trip–both for the rivers and lakes and it fared well but I really needed more distance in the lakes. Randy did better than I did because he was able to get out further with his bamboo rod and Hardy Bougle than I was even with a 20′ line. I tried to compensate with wading but was still a little under-gunned.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

I really thought my double glass bead sakasa kebari would kill on both the lake and the river because it does everywhere else in the universe. I don’t know if it was the low water, the temperature, or just karma, but it produced nothing this time. And it’s a hard-to-swallow pill when your confidence pattern doesn’t produce. Being desperate, I actually resorted to switching patterns until I caught something. In the lakes, it turned out to be an olive Wooly Bugger. And as I mentioned above, the only pattern that worked in the Rio Grande was a Balloon Caddis. There were a lot of midges hatching and as much as I hate to admit it, I wish I had brought my midge box.

Tenkara on the Rio Grande

The Best Mediocre Trip Ever

Sometimes, there’s more to fishing than fishing. It’s a chance to take a break from the hustle and bustle of society and dwell in the hum of hummingbirds, the chirps of crickets, the soothing silence of the night and take solace in the stars that the city conceals. And for me, that’s good enough.

soward ranchtenkaratenkara in Creedetenkara on the rio grande
About the author

Jason Klass

Jason is an avid fly angler and backpacker. As a former fly fishing guide originally from Western New York, he moved to Colorado and became an early adopter of tenkara which perfectly suited the small, high altitude streams and lakes there. He has not fished a Western-style fly rod for trout since.

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7 Comments
  1. Reply
    August 11, 2020 at 1:18 pm
    Dave R

    Jason, thanks for sharing your experience. Even though the fishing wasn’t what you had hoped for. I’m glad you had a good time.

  2. Reply
    August 11, 2020 at 6:51 pm
    Eugene Walk

    Jason, I never meaured a good fishing trip based on the number of fish caught, especially with good companionship, good food, and a good cigar! Tight lines my friend.

    • Reply
      August 11, 2020 at 7:00 pm
      Jason Klass

      Hi Eugene, I think that is the best way to look at it. 🙂

  3. Reply
    August 15, 2020 at 7:45 pm
    Wendy-Lynn

    Awesome…it looks and sounds like the ideal fishing trip to me.

  4. Reply
    September 15, 2020 at 6:29 pm
    Steven Joseph

    It looks like a beautiful place to be regardless of the fishing. As a new Tenkara fisherman I have landed few fish but am working on not having any expectations every time I go out. I’m just loving being out and away from people for a few hours. I did a double take when I read your hat. I grew up in Williamsville!
    Hope your next trip is a success.

    • Reply
      September 15, 2020 at 6:43 pm
      Jason Klass

      Hi Steven! That’s not my hat, it’s my friend’s. Randy. We both used to work at The Orvis Shop and Buffalo Outfitters. Those were the halcyon days of fly fishing in WNY.

  5. Reply
    January 26, 2021 at 7:58 pm
    Richard Groff

    Interesting that you guys met in Creede. In 1972 I spent a week on the Rio Grande in a tent with a buddy about 2 miles east of Creede. It was my first trip to the Rocky Mountains and it’s an understatement to say I was impressed. We caught a reasonable number of trout on the Rio Grande including a 20 inch Rainbow I landed in white water. That fish alone made the fishing experience memorable. I’ve been back to Creede several times since and it’s probably my favorite place to spend time. I found out a few years later talking to my dad that Creede was also his favorite place to visit. We had been separated from each other for about 30 years when we had that conversation. Once when I had my wife and our 3 young sons camping in Creede we stopped by the Creede fire house. Previously the fire house was closed every time I went by it but on this occasion 2 men were washing one of their pickups and the door of the fire house was open. We stopped and asked them if we could tour their fire house which they gladly guided us through. There were old trucks and a new one. The bulletin board had several pictures of fires they had responded to. We got a good history lesson from them. I was even offered a job to teach in the Creede school when the found out I had a previous teaching career. I think they might have been more interested in adding 3 kids to the school’s enrollment. Ha. There have been times I’ve thought maybe I should have taken their offer. I’d still be fishing the Rio Grande had I accepted that job.

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About Me

Jason Klass is a former fly fishing guide & casting instructor based in Colorado. He was an early adopter of tenkara in the West and has been fishing the method for a variety of species since 2009. Read more >>

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