First Trout on Tenkara

by Michael Lack
(Jonesboro, AR)

My good friend and I were going to the IFFF Fair in early August in Livingston, Montana. We were going to fish Yellowstone Park a few days before the Fair. I had bought a Tenkara rod from you at the Sow Bug Round Up this Spring but had not had a chance to use it for trout. We were planning to fish the Larmar river but rain made it unfishable. We drove up to the Soda Butte and fished the pocket water above the meadow. I found a nice pool about 30 feet wide and 50 feet long. There was a strong current in the middle of the pool. Trout started rising on the far side. My friend was using his 3wt rod but had trouble getting a drag free drift. I was able to use my Tenkara Rod and wade to the current seam, reach over it and get a drag free drift. The current was actually flowing up stream on the far side of the current seam. I caught over 30 Yellowstone Cutthroat from that pool. Here is my first trout caught on my Tenkara Rod. I may not be a Tenkara Bum but I am a Tenkara convert.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.