Warmwater Tenkara Amid the Afternoon Raindrops

This past Saturday morning was one of those days where you wake up to a dark, overcast rain that makes you just want to pull the sheets back up and go back to sleep for a few more hours.  Although once the rain broke a little after lunchtime, it was actually quite nice...and dare I say cool, by Florida standards at least.  

Not really having the sunlight left to take the kayak out, I hit the neighborhood ponds to see how active the fish might be after the rainfall, which at this point was reduced to the occasional drizzle.

I was glad I did.  The juvenile bass and bluegill were very active and receptive to my copper wire & grizzly hackle kebari.  I used this one fly to catch them all, so it was truly a "one fly" kind of day.  

Probably brought 15 or so fish to hand in the short time I was out there, mostly bass of the dink variety.  The tenkara rod handled them well and made the battles quite entertaining, even the bluegill, who probably fought harder than the bass. 

Okay, all except one.  I had a larger bass rise to take a fly so I was able to get a fairly good look at it.  It nearly bent the rod in half, so I knew the 6x tippet I was using was going to be in trouble.  I fought it for almost a full 5 minutes, but couldn't really turn or tire the fish to get it to come to hand.  All it took was one swift turn back out toward the middle of the pond and it snapped me off.  I hope it enjoyed the free facial piercing.

And with that, challenge accepted.  I know where it lives...