Sakasa Kebari flies are very simple patterns characterized by the forward sloping hackle. They are simple flies and share some characteristic with North Country Spiders and other Yorkshire patterns.
Hi Peter, fantastic info. Water that you tight line nymph is also great Tenkara water. Kebari’s are great additions to the Euro nymphing rig as a top dropper. Also, I've found Kebari’s are excellent emerger and spinner patterns. After all, most times, trout are taking then sub-surface.
A couple of notes: The Sakasa or reverse hackle is extremely similar to the Valsesiana traditional flies. While it can be fished upstream, the value of this fly is in pulsing and also down and across swinging, and a technique called seam slotting, where you let the fly go downstream in the edge of the seam stopping and starting as you go. Fun fact: The most popular fly in the flyboxes of Japan is called a Futsu Kebari...which looks alot like a dry fly without wings and a tail. Cutcliffe had similar style of flies he would use in the North Country streams of Devon. Call this style a stiff hackle wet, perhaps? If you look up Dr. Paul Gaskell's books " How to Fool Fish with Simple Flies: The Secret Science Behind Japanese "Kebari" and Euro-nymph Patterns" and "Fly Fishing Master H.C. Cutcliffe Rediscovered in The Art of Trout Fishing in Rapid Streams: Including Cutcliffe's original 1863 Text & Roger Woolley's Cutcliffe Fly Collection Photographed in color" He explains the nuances of Japanese Kebari and Cutcliffes flies in better detail. I have been practicing Japanese Tenkara since 2017 and fish it regularly here in Colorado. In Japan, there is no one fly philosophy...but one fly can be made to simulate many different bug activities. If you have any questions about Japanese Tenkara, I would be happy to chat about it. Love your videos and their quality. Cheers.
That is, it is not that different. To some of the ideas. That I had recommended. Of where one can have. The upper part of the dry fly. Or emerger. And the lower portion (where the 'line' tied into and hook is located).
I have not come across. A lot of flies. That are made in that way. That exploit that kind of thing. Of how the insect. Can be presented. In the water. In common with these flies though. There is a kind of fly that one can use. Like the Bowman 'stuck' emerger fly. That is used. For those situations of denser hatches. Where one might find oneself (a lot like in the situation as described, using these short line methods). Of being in close quarters. In common with the slightly submerged soft hackle fly pattern. That kind of an emerger. With a double component to it. Is interesting. For close quarter usage.
What I like about the David Bowman design too (it was published on the channel of that name in late 2015). Is that it's not a very tricky dry fly, or emerger pattern. To make. Except that it does have two distinct components to it. Apart from that. I wouldn't say. That you have to be terribly careful. About anything like wings. That look a certain way. It is more the overall form. That you obtain. From having the upper part. And lower part.
I'm always looking for a solution. To that thing. Of where you are looking at hundreds after hundreds. Of this hatch coming down. In numbers. And rises are happened. On every side of you. And for some reason. You end up emptying the box of fly patterns. In a very frustrating way. Without managing to convince any fish. Of the attractiveness. Of your dry flies. Emergers and so on.
Hi Peter, I've really enjoyed this series about soft hackles and now Sakasa Kebari flies. I use soft hackles a lot for trout as well as salmon and steelhead. You mentioned in this presentation that Kebari flies are typically fished dead drift. In the upcoming videos would you please address the action of Kebari flies-as well as effectiveness-versus traditional soft hackles when fished upstream and downstream? I know that soft hackles are typically fished down and across, but they can be and are used upstream too. Just wondering how the feather tips pointing towards the rear of the hook would look as opposed to tips pointing forward. Thanks.
No one really knows. How 'old' the British and Irish soft hackled flies. Really are. Because it's a bit like what Peter was saying about sustainence fishing on the Japanese islands. The fly patterns referred to as soft hackled here in Ireland and Britain. Tend to exist in parts of the landscape. Where you would have a pre-industrial revolution wool and sheep meat industry. Where the farmers there. Would have quite a strong relationship. To things such as rivers (for the purposes of the process to do with harvesting wool etc). By definition, they needed to be alongside rivers. For that purpose anyhow. And they were aware. Of the aquatic habitat.
They also had the advantage. Of being trades people, crafts people and even artists. In the pre-industrial revolution. So there is no doubt. They were able to turn their hand. To making things. Such as basic forged hooks. And rudimentary fly lines. And making of the flies themselves. They would be intimately familiar too. With the idea of making various colors. Very bright. And putting the color. Into all kinds of materials. Made of natural hairs, fibers, feathers and so forth. The basic raw material though. Seems to have been. Their strong ability. To make brightly colored threads (the wrappings on the hooks, were simple thread wrappings).
It was an upstream cast. Always, in those very old fly fishing techniques. Where yes, the characteristic of the 'soft' hackle. Was one of movement (if one listens to Blane Chocklett nowadays talk about things like 'game changers'). He always talks about appearance. And he talks. About 'movement'.
Even Mike Lawson who interviewed recently. About his experience. Of growing up in Idaho. And fishing some of the most famous rivers there. Talked about. Back in the early days. That they actually had. Small spoons and spinners. As well as flies. That the older generation. Used to fish. On their fly rods (made out of bamboo). There is a tradition. In many of these parts of the world. Where fly anglers have been around. For a long time. To leverage that aspect. Of fly fishing. That has to do with movement, and creating. The reactionary bite, or response. To whatever happens to be tied. On to the end of a fly.
