Fly of the Month 12.13
Sakasa Kebari
Tenkara fly fishing was presented to the Chapter in October by Appalachian Anglers Tenkara Guide Lance Milks. With simply a rod, a line and a fly the Japanese have fished for trout commercially and now recreationally for well over 200 years. No reel, no backing, no leader? Correct! They do use a 5X, 6X or 7X tippet to prevent rod breakage and assure an invisible line presentation. However, what is really amazing and simple is the extreme “one fly philosophy”. Each Tenkara fly fisher in Japan tends to develop his or her own special kebari which means “fly”. Rather than match the hatch, the fly is either dappled as a goju kebari which means “dry fly” on the surface to appear tenkara which means “from Heaven” or “from the sky” or is sunk and manipulated to attract trout. Here we present the most unique of the Japanese fly designs, the sakasa which means “reversed hackle”. This is a simple, very easy fly pattern to tie.
Sakasa Kebari
There is a variety of kebari, with each fly having different qualities. The obvious differences are shape, size and color, but there are different flies influenced in their history and development by the geographical region in Japan, from which they originated.
Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka has done extensive research into tenkara flies and has shared his knowledge with his website “My Best Mountain Streams” www.hi-ho.ne.jp which is online in both English and Japanese.
Mr. Fujioka does not group the tenkara fly patterns into dry, wet, nymph, streamer and so on as we do in the western world. Rather he groups by styles and patterns used by tenkara practitioners. A general guideline for styles is based on whether a tenkara fly has an almost thick body or a slender body; uses a long hackle or short hackle, a soft hackle or a stiff hackle; and, whether the hackle is tied traditionally or reversed.
The three (3) styles of Sakasa Kebari are the long soft hackle kebari which presents a high degree of motion when manipulated underwater; the short soft hackle kebari which is most effective when presented in a natural drift beginning on the surface and allowed to gradually sink, literally both a dry and a wet fly pattern by western labels; and, the short stiff hackle kaberi which is essentially a dry fly.
Typical soft hackle materials for tying sakasa kebari includes but is not limited to partridge, pheasant, guinea, grouse and hen feathers. Oversized feathers are used for long soft hackle and undersized feathers are used for short soft hackle. Typical stiff hackle materials for tying sakasa kebari are high grade rooster feathers. Grizzly, dyed-Grizzly and Badger hackle are used in many Sakasa Kebari patterns. Black, brown, gray, cream, red, white, olive and yellow thread bodies in order of frequency of occurrence are used for slender body Sakasa Kebari patterns. Various dubbing colors and ribbing are used for almost thick body Sakasa Kebari patterns. Peacock herl from peacock sword eye feathers are highly used for the thorax, yet due to our western influence various dubbings, ice dubbing, chenille, tinsel, flash materials and even glass beads are used for some Sakasa Kebari patterns. Fine wire is used as underbodies, weighting and ribbing on Sakasa Kebari patterns as well.
For example, the Tenkara Red fly sold by Big Y Company is tied with a red thread body; a peacock herl thorax and a reversed partridge hackle on size 10, 12 and 14 hooks.
Tenkara USA sells four (4) Tenkara fly patterns. Their Takayama Sakasa Kebari, named after the Takayama village, is tied with a black thread body; a peacock herl thorax and a reversed grizzly hen hackle on size 16 and 18 hooks. Their Ishigaki Sakasa Kebari, named after the tenkara master Mr. Ishigaki, is tied with a thread body and a reversed partridge hackle on a size 12 hook. Their Amano Sakasa Kebari and Oki Sakasa Kebari flies are named after other Japanese villages.
I searched the internet using “tenkara flies” and found a good number of websites to research. Overall, I found roughly fifty recipes for kebari patterns using size 8 to 18 hooks with a majority of the recipes calling for size 12 hooks. There is actually a YouTube video where a tyer actually ties a size 8 Sakasa Kebari without a tying vise.
Fly Fishing with a Sakasa Kebari
The Sakasa Kebari is highly, highly effective. Charlie Campbell tied a few Sakasa Kebari for the two of us to try when we fished the delayed harvest waters of the East Prong Roaring River in Stone Mountain State Park. We fished a pool where other anglers had thrashed the water heavily that morning. Let’s just say there were very few fish in the pool that did not get excited as most of the trout would strike the Sakasa Kebari while briefly floating and then again when manipulated and sinking. The Sakasa Kebari fishes well as a single fly and fishes even better as a dropper using our traditional, non-tenkara methods of fly fishing. The reversed soft hackle yields even greater motion than a traditional soft hackle fly which is well known as very effective due to the motions of the soft hackle.
Fly of the Month 12.13 Sakasa Kaberi
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
Recipe:
Kebari Senkase
Hook : Daiichi 1150 scud hook, size 10,12,14,16,18
Thread : Uni 8/0 Red
Abdomen : Pearsall silk
Thorax: Peacock herl
Hackle : Hen pheasant
There are some very exact instructions and old methods for tying Tenkara flies,and myself being very, very new to the discipline I will give instructions from my very Western perspective with an eye to honoring the original ways. My apologies in advance.
Directions :
Debarb and mount the hook in the vice making sure the eye is parallel to the ground. Do not let the tip dip down. Begin wrapping the thread one turn back of the eye and continue for eight or ten touching, but not overlapping, turns. Lock in the tag with one wrap, trim and return the thread in touching turns to the eye.
Carefully, form a small head with the tying thread and let the bobbin hang at the very back of the newly formed head. Note: To make the head, simply decide how long you want it to be and make several wraps going front to back of the head. Then begin building the center higher with several more turns of thread at the center and one or two turns in front of the build up and behind. Continue until sufficient height is achieved and take the thread to the back of the head as above.
Select a hen pheasant feather from the center of the back and close to the head. Look for well-defined marking with light tips. Strip away any webby barbs. Most of these feathers are fairly straight across the tips, which aids in a uniform wrap. Using tweezers, find the center stem of the tip and holding the feather by the center stem, pull back the majority of the barbs, leaving a very small number still in place at the tweezer. This exposes the stem to tie in with. Tie in with the tip immediately behind the thread head with one or two firm wraps, letting the bobbin hang to hold the feather in place. The feather is tied in with the dull side up.
Make two or three wraps of thread behind the feather at the tie in to trap and push it into a more vertical position. Let the bobbin hang. The properly formed head begins to be very important in this and the next step.
Trim the small tip away and begin wrapping the feather, stroking the feathers forward to avoid pinching or gathering the barbs. After two or three wraps, trap the feather with thread and trim away the excess. Make two or three thread wraps for security and take several tight and touching wraps toward the bend. Bring the thread back to the hackle and let the bobbin hang.
Sakasa Kebari
Tenkara fly fishing was presented to the Chapter in October by Appalachian Anglers Tenkara Guide Lance Milks. With simply a rod, a line and a fly the Japanese have fished for trout commercially and now recreationally for well over 200 years. No reel, no backing, no leader? Correct! They do use a 5X, 6X or 7X tippet to prevent rod breakage and assure an invisible line presentation. However, what is really amazing and simple is the extreme “one fly philosophy”. Each Tenkara fly fisher in Japan tends to develop his or her own special kebari which means “fly”. Rather than match the hatch, the fly is either dappled as a goju kebari which means “dry fly” on the surface to appear tenkara which means “from Heaven” or “from the sky” or is sunk and manipulated to attract trout. Here we present the most unique of the Japanese fly designs, the sakasa which means “reversed hackle”. This is a simple, very easy fly pattern to tie.
Sakasa Kebari
There is a variety of kebari, with each fly having different qualities. The obvious differences are shape, size and color, but there are different flies influenced in their history and development by the geographical region in Japan, from which they originated.
Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka has done extensive research into tenkara flies and has shared his knowledge with his website “My Best Mountain Streams” www.hi-ho.ne.jp which is online in both English and Japanese.
Mr. Fujioka does not group the tenkara fly patterns into dry, wet, nymph, streamer and so on as we do in the western world. Rather he groups by styles and patterns used by tenkara practitioners. A general guideline for styles is based on whether a tenkara fly has an almost thick body or a slender body; uses a long hackle or short hackle, a soft hackle or a stiff hackle; and, whether the hackle is tied traditionally or reversed.
The three (3) styles of Sakasa Kebari are the long soft hackle kebari which presents a high degree of motion when manipulated underwater; the short soft hackle kebari which is most effective when presented in a natural drift beginning on the surface and allowed to gradually sink, literally both a dry and a wet fly pattern by western labels; and, the short stiff hackle kaberi which is essentially a dry fly.
Typical soft hackle materials for tying sakasa kebari includes but is not limited to partridge, pheasant, guinea, grouse and hen feathers. Oversized feathers are used for long soft hackle and undersized feathers are used for short soft hackle. Typical stiff hackle materials for tying sakasa kebari are high grade rooster feathers. Grizzly, dyed-Grizzly and Badger hackle are used in many Sakasa Kebari patterns. Black, brown, gray, cream, red, white, olive and yellow thread bodies in order of frequency of occurrence are used for slender body Sakasa Kebari patterns. Various dubbing colors and ribbing are used for almost thick body Sakasa Kebari patterns. Peacock herl from peacock sword eye feathers are highly used for the thorax, yet due to our western influence various dubbings, ice dubbing, chenille, tinsel, flash materials and even glass beads are used for some Sakasa Kebari patterns. Fine wire is used as underbodies, weighting and ribbing on Sakasa Kebari patterns as well.
For example, the Tenkara Red fly sold by Big Y Company is tied with a red thread body; a peacock herl thorax and a reversed partridge hackle on size 10, 12 and 14 hooks.
Tenkara USA sells four (4) Tenkara fly patterns. Their Takayama Sakasa Kebari, named after the Takayama village, is tied with a black thread body; a peacock herl thorax and a reversed grizzly hen hackle on size 16 and 18 hooks. Their Ishigaki Sakasa Kebari, named after the tenkara master Mr. Ishigaki, is tied with a thread body and a reversed partridge hackle on a size 12 hook. Their Amano Sakasa Kebari and Oki Sakasa Kebari flies are named after other Japanese villages.
I searched the internet using “tenkara flies” and found a good number of websites to research. Overall, I found roughly fifty recipes for kebari patterns using size 8 to 18 hooks with a majority of the recipes calling for size 12 hooks. There is actually a YouTube video where a tyer actually ties a size 8 Sakasa Kebari without a tying vise.
Fly Fishing with a Sakasa Kebari
The Sakasa Kebari is highly, highly effective. Charlie Campbell tied a few Sakasa Kebari for the two of us to try when we fished the delayed harvest waters of the East Prong Roaring River in Stone Mountain State Park. We fished a pool where other anglers had thrashed the water heavily that morning. Let’s just say there were very few fish in the pool that did not get excited as most of the trout would strike the Sakasa Kebari while briefly floating and then again when manipulated and sinking. The Sakasa Kebari fishes well as a single fly and fishes even better as a dropper using our traditional, non-tenkara methods of fly fishing. The reversed soft hackle yields even greater motion than a traditional soft hackle fly which is well known as very effective due to the motions of the soft hackle.
Fly of the Month 12.13 Sakasa Kaberi
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
Recipe:
Kebari Senkase
Hook : Daiichi 1150 scud hook, size 10,12,14,16,18
Thread : Uni 8/0 Red
Abdomen : Pearsall silk
Thorax: Peacock herl
Hackle : Hen pheasant
There are some very exact instructions and old methods for tying Tenkara flies,and myself being very, very new to the discipline I will give instructions from my very Western perspective with an eye to honoring the original ways. My apologies in advance.
Directions :
Debarb and mount the hook in the vice making sure the eye is parallel to the ground. Do not let the tip dip down. Begin wrapping the thread one turn back of the eye and continue for eight or ten touching, but not overlapping, turns. Lock in the tag with one wrap, trim and return the thread in touching turns to the eye.
Carefully, form a small head with the tying thread and let the bobbin hang at the very back of the newly formed head. Note: To make the head, simply decide how long you want it to be and make several wraps going front to back of the head. Then begin building the center higher with several more turns of thread at the center and one or two turns in front of the build up and behind. Continue until sufficient height is achieved and take the thread to the back of the head as above.
Select a hen pheasant feather from the center of the back and close to the head. Look for well-defined marking with light tips. Strip away any webby barbs. Most of these feathers are fairly straight across the tips, which aids in a uniform wrap. Using tweezers, find the center stem of the tip and holding the feather by the center stem, pull back the majority of the barbs, leaving a very small number still in place at the tweezer. This exposes the stem to tie in with. Tie in with the tip immediately behind the thread head with one or two firm wraps, letting the bobbin hang to hold the feather in place. The feather is tied in with the dull side up.
Make two or three wraps of thread behind the feather at the tie in to trap and push it into a more vertical position. Let the bobbin hang. The properly formed head begins to be very important in this and the next step.
Trim the small tip away and begin wrapping the feather, stroking the feathers forward to avoid pinching or gathering the barbs. After two or three wraps, trap the feather with thread and trim away the excess. Make two or three thread wraps for security and take several tight and touching wraps toward the bend. Bring the thread back to the hackle and let the bobbin hang.