Drawing Flies 52 – 33_Sakasa Kebari (Tenkara)
Drawing Flies 52 Sakasa Kebari (Reverse Hackle) for Tenkara-style fishing. To my eye, a pattern of elegant simplicity and beauty. Was doing some editing in the section on dapping in the upcoming Fishing the Film book, and got to thinking about the Japanese Tenkara angling approach. E-mailed Jeff about doing an “artist’s choice” of a Tenkara pattern and here we are (not familiar with Tenkara? Go here).
Notes: This fly took me less than two minutes to complete (well, I had to mix the red, which took perhaps 30 seconds more). I had started down a different path, one more like the previous Sofa Pillow and Upside-Down Leech, but stopped. I realized that I had something in my head that was much cleaner, much simpler, much more the feel of the fly and its origins. I only took one shot at it, not wanting to get into the “overworking” mode. I like what I got (but then again, I like minimalism, too).
Tech info: Ink mixed in brewed tea water on Canson paper (red spot is watercolor in tea).
Jeff’s Tenkara fly is here. Not only does it have a certain sense of swept movement, but I had actually thought about doing a “royal” style fly myself. Cool to see that Jeff must have had a similar type of idea. I like it.
Jason,
Drawing has been great as always.
Let me say about the fishing culture. Japanese TENKARA is basically swinging soft-hackles as in Western fly-fishing. Interesting thing is TENKARA uses several or more flies at once as W.C. Stewart did several hundreds years ago in Britain (that I learned from Syl Nemes’ and Dave Hughe’s books). But only one difference is that TENKARA uses fixed length of leader tied directly at the tip of the rod (no fly-line). This is because mountains are very steep and streams are very small in Japan; no space for back-casts. And I think this might be why I am good at dapping or oftentimes compulsive to scoot and dap right in front of trout.
As cultural exchage goes, I often hear Japanese anglers are good at delicate dry-fly fishing nowadays. But ss for me I don’t mind stripping 5-inch streamers and chucking huge stonefly nymphs for some big trout.
Satoshi—Thanks for the kind comment and the further info on Tenkara-style angling. And yes, I must agree that delicate dries are a great thing, but a big streamer can sometimes save the day (or the trip).
Jason,
What a cool drawing! I love it. I’m impressed that it took you as little time as it did!
Good job! Keep the drawings coming! I know by now you’re probably thinking “what did I get myself into? but honestly, it’s been a very educational journey. Other than artistically, I didn’t know many of the flies you’ve drawn before you drew them – case in point the Tenkara.
Keep up the cool drawings!
Bruno
Bruno—Thank you, I appreciate your comments about my work. And good to hear that you’ve found the drawings interesting beyond just the art itself. We have another 19 to go to finish off the DF52, and then who knows after that…?