Fishing Valley Creek With The Sakura Kongo Tenkara Rod

Sunday's fishing outing was well...ordinary.  I'm not going to glorify a rather standard afternoon on the water like other blogs might.  If nothing else, by now you know I'm a straight shooter.  That said, even a few short hours outdoors can be very good for the soul, so this felt refreshing to be out & about once again.

Hot.  Thick.  Muggy.  That's how I'd best describe Sunday evening's visit to Valley.  I had intentions on fishing another body of water on this day, but Mother Nature had a different opinion.  What was high and muddy elsewhere was interestingly still relatively low and barely stained locally, and I really needed to get rid of the lingering aroma from last week's skunking, so I fished.

...and he watched.

The 3-weight would stay on the shelf, as today would be a tenkara rod day.  I fished the new (to me) Sakura Betuatsurae Kongo that arrived via mail only the day before. I had fished this rod once before as a "borrow," but this would be it's maiden voyage in my personal quiver.

Sakura Kongo

Flicking out my first few casts, I quickly recalled how differently the Kongo handled when compared to the Tenkara USA Iwana I typically use...it has quite a bit of a stiffer feel down towards the tip.  As the day progressed, I found slow, methodical casts seemed to lay the line out better than a quicker, snappier cast, which in a way, may be a bit of a contradiction for a "stiff" rod...but I'm no expert on things like that, so take it for what it's worth...

After about 10 minutes I found myself in the groove and was able to softly pinpoint casts upon demand. Unfortunately, such softness didn't apply to my first hookset, as my quick upward jerk coupled with the stiffer tip ended up launching the unsuspecting 8 inch trout out of the water & into the air.  Oops!  Sorry little guy.  Yeah, that extra bit of stiffness at the tip definitely needed to be compensated for on the next fish.

Other than the Kongo observation above (and an on-stream incident I'll write about tomorrow), the rest of the afternoon was pretty much standard when compared to most other fishing reports I write.  I landed about a half-dozen beautiful 8-12 inch wild brown trout by fishing nymphs; so why bother posting more pics of the usual?

Instead, I'm tossing up a pic of this 3 inch trout that was just as eager as his larger family members when it came to attacking the size 18 prince nymph that drifted into his feeding lane.  Nature's beauty comes in all sizes, and this is no exception.

Back into the water to grow big & strong