A couple Tenkara flies?

[Old Hat]

A couple flies that I tied for a Tenkara swap. I wanted to learn a little about this style. I put a little research into the flies, as I don't have a Tenkara rod...yet . Anyway, I thought I would share as they are appropriate to a wingless wet forum. Those of you that fish traditional Tenkara flies, feel free to let me know if I'm off kilter too much on either fly. Most of what I found out was there are a few styles using soft or stiff hackle, some are facing forward, however most are to the rear as we tie a lot of our soft hackled flies. They tend to be a bit heavier hackled than most spiders or flymphs. I tried to show this in the flies. Really I don't see much difference from the spiders and flymphs other than the heavier hackle. I'm sure any fly on here would fish just fine on a Tenkara rod.

Thread: charteuse
Body: golden pheasant tail fibers
Hackle: furnace hen tied reverse




Thread: black
Tag: red embroidery yarn
Body: blue eared pheasant fibers
Hackle: honey dun
Antennae: tips of blue eared pheasant fibers

[CreationBear]

Those are very cool--I especially like the top one...it would be a killer pattern no doubt on my backcountry trout. At any rate, I've been intrigued by the fact that "traditional" sakasa kebari flies use hen ringneck pheasant a lot, which doesn't seem to factor into many of the "Western" recipes I've seen (except wing-slips made from the secondaries.)

Otherwise, run, don't walk to get yourself a Tenkara rod--fishing softhackles when you don't have to worry about conflicting currents is at times basically like using a seine.

[Soft-hackle]

I don't know much about Tenkara, but those flies look super good.

Mark

[willowhead]

Most ANY soft hackle, flymph or wet (unweighted basically) will work just fine with a Tenkara rod.......flip it out and let it do it's things..............do NOT complicate it............Tenkara is about simplicity..........KEEP IT SIMPLE! You wanna fish in the film and to maybe a foot down.....thass it. Think emergers........SIMPLE........thank you very much.

been havin' major computer/network/etc. problems alllllllllllllll day, drivin' ne NUTZ! looks like we back in business now though.....

[tie2fish]

Those look really good to me, Carl. That top one is a better imitation of a cased caddis than just about anything I've seen.

[CreationBear]

Oh, another question about Fly #1--are you tying off behind the hackle or at the eye as you would with a typical fly? I'm curious, because that built-up head makes for a great "aim-point."

And another question about materials: does your GP tail have quite a bit of "orange" in it? Perhaps it's just the warmth of your photo settings, but compared to yours my GP seems to be more "tan/blond." (And of course, I like yours better! )

[chase creek]

Lovely flies, both. Really like the body and the lay of the hackle on the first one.
Must look into this Tenkara thing. Thanks for posting these.

[letumgo]

I've also started playing around with these flies as well, but my first attempts weren't as nice as yours. I love the proportions on both of yours. Pleasing to look at...

I'm still trying to get accustomed to the reverse hackling methods, so I must keep practicing...

[kacbo]

Beautiful flies!

Which hook (model and size) You used for second one?

[willowhead]

Come to think of it.....that fly DOEs look like it'd work darn well during a Caddis hatch.....i dunno if anyone else sees it, but the head has a grennish tinge to it, (undoubtedly done on purpose), and that sure can't hurt. Thass some really great tyin' Carl. Very imaginative.
btw, the pics are really cool.....great background.