C'mon, where are your stories?

Not much here, but I did take my Tenkara with me on the JMT. I caught/released 3 at Rae Lakes and 3 at Sallie Keyes Lake.

That’s cool.  One of the things I love about Tenkara is that there is so little weight and space penalty if you don’t end up using it on a trip.

I’m thinking I might take advantage of these warm fall days and hit the town gravel pond for some bass and crappie.  Lived within 4 miles of it for over 40 years and never fished it – my bad.

That’s it, Jen! Do it on Sunday, when the temps will be ~70* F. Then when your hips are up to it, you, Ron, and I will meet at the other super-secret ponds so that you can check them out. You won’t mind much if I root for the fish, will you? GO FISH!

Don’t worry too much Gary. After all it is called fishing, not catching.

My Tenkara year started out opening weekend in Wisconsin, Jan 6-7, trying to get my friend his grandson’s first trout and ended in the Spanish Pyrenees this fall. We got him his fish thanks to a San Ron Worm and the Pyrenees were incredible. On June 5th my grandson got his first trout, also on a Tenkara rod. Later we had a great get together at the MWTF in Coon Valley, Wisconsin, with people from 11 states attending. On a trip to Colorado I went backpacking in the Sangre de Cristos where my sister and husband both caught their first trout on a Tenkara rod. I got out trout fishing over 70 days (love retirement) this year (all Tenkara) and managed to catch some fish. Here is a pictorial history of the year.

I was in Rocky Mountain National Park in September.  Caught a bunch of fish.

David:  love that photo with you and your grandson!  The gifts of time and fishing are the BEST!

And Robert, nice fish photos.  I can identify the brookie in the 2nd photo and cuttie in the 3rd:  what is the fish in photo #1, another cutthroat or a rainbow?  I must say, I don’t differentiate well between greenbacks and Colorado River cutthroat.  Just curious.

That first one is a rainbow.  All caught in the Big T at different locations along it’s length.

Jenny,  That is my friend Zoan and his grandson. But yes, those kids getting their first trout was really a lot of fun. This year my 5 year old grand daughter wants to try. I’ve already picked up a 240cm tenkara rod for her.

Robert, thank you.  Now I see.

And David, still a nice photo; sorry for my assumption.  Sounds like you and your family fish a lot – lucky grandkids!  That 240 cm rod should be great.  My daughter was raised right but still didn’t really enjoy fishing until she moved to Montana and “had to” fish because all her friends did.  Turns out she loves it and is pretty capable – she is spoiled and thinks a small trout is 14″.  She ribs me about my Tenkara rods, and indeed they aren’t the best tool for much of the water she fishes up there.  But I can’t wait to lure her into a shrubby, narrow creek filled with hungry 6″ trout and silently smile as she tries to cast her 9-ft, 6 wt fly rod while I am pulling yet another fish in with my sweet little  240.  That is my fantasy, anyway.

Earlier this month I re-visited Hyas Lakes (Alpine Lakes Wilderness) and the high country beyond it. It had been over 20 years since I last backpacked in that area, and it brought back vivid memories of camping at Hyas Lakes with my then 10 year old daughter Carrie and 8 year old son Taylor.

I found the campsite we stayed at way back when, and lingered for a while remembering how excited the kids were to go trout fishing. I had pointed out a good spot on the shore for Carrie to try some casting, and while I was helping her brother Taylor get his line in the water she caught her first trout. Nice fish too. When she reeled it in I removed the hook and she proudly named the fish “Spotty” and relocated it to a little pool she and her brother made in the creek flowing next to our camp. It hung out there while the two went back to fishing. Taylor had barely gotten his line in the water when she hooked another one. This fish – another nice trout – got named “Copper”, and it joined Spotty in the little creekside pool.

Both kids got a couple more bites but no fish (I got skunked), so their attention quickly turned back to the two fish in the pool. Copper and Spotty did whatever it is that trout do, which is pretty much nothing, and the kids were quite happy with their new friends. In fact, Carrie decided to take them home as pets, and I said if they survive the night we’ll give it a try. Survive they did, and the next morning we packed up our backpacks and headed out, with Carrie hauling a plastic grocery bag full of water and two trout back to the car, stopping at each creek we passed to freshen up the water in the bag. Copper and Spotty almost made it back to the trailhead alive… but didn’t.

Carrie was sad, but when we got home I remember saying to her, “Let’s clean these fish and see what they were eating so the next time we go fishing we’ll know what to use for bait.” That perked her up. When we opened the stomach of the first fish (it could have been Spotty or it could have been Copper, all rainbow trout look the same to me) it was full of small insects and other mushy stuff, but the other fish had a larger stomach and when we cut into it we found a fir cone inside! I told Carrie, “This fish wasn’t very smart. It eats fir cones!”

When she got married a couple years ago I told her the “Copper and Spotty” story would be perfect as part of my ‘Father of the Bride’ talk at her reception, but she threatened to disown me if I said a word about it. So I didn’t – until now. Don’t tell her…

Jenny,  I get that “you can’t catch trout here with a tenkara rod” all the time. After I catch a few the tune usually changes esp on those tight, brushy streams you mentioned. I have a 275 cm I use a lot on small streams.

Dave, Love the story.

I’ve fished around Bozeman 2 years ago. Caught plenty using a tenkara rod especially in Hyalite canyon.

What? No one else fished Tenkara this year?

Fished Tenkara in Montana out of Red Lodge.  10 days of hiking, fishing , and backpacking. Lots of small brookies.  a couple of cuts.  Good eating.  Moose were encountered 4 times.  Great trip

Few things in life give me bigger wide grins

than small wild trout with their white-tipped fins.

Not this season but…

Sweeping the Garden: On Killing Trout

(Last image is tenkara in the Upper Kern Basin)

But a great read any season.

did someone say Upper Kern basin? stories? my biggest trip report is located H_E_R_E

part of which is my story of a first: attaching a tapered leader to a trekkin pole, to drop a black ant imitation onto tyndall creek, to lure some california gold to hand long enough to photograph it to share w my young son back home. [site featured in photo]

the kern river headwaters…the high basins at the feet of the Great Western Divide…that landscape is an all time fave. i’ve expressed the idea that some of my ashes be scattered there some day…

“i’ve expressed the idea that some of my ashes be scattered there some day…”

I have a good friend who has family ashes scattered there and wants the same.  I can’t think of a better place from what I’ve seen, both for those at rest and the living that want to go there to remember them.