If you’ve followed me on social media and have seen my pictures and read my stories, then you know I enjoy fishing mostly on a mountain stream. Since I have fished tenkara for two years total, I have become more in touch with myself and how I go about catching fish. I still consider myself a student in the art of tenkara and I probably always will, but I have worked on some techniques that have become part of my arsenal in catching fish in the mountains.
After listening to the most recent TA podcast where Mike, Matt, and Anthony discuss the “little things”, my ears perked up when I heard discussion on the skill of stealth. Even though I was told at a young age to “never take yourself too seriously”, and I try to live by those words, I take tenkara seriously.
I say that, but if you fish with me, then you will never see me crawling on the ground up to a spot on a creek or purposefully wearing mute colors to blend in with the trees and background. In reality, I frequently wear colorful tie dye shirts, am seen carrying my custom yellow Zimmerbuilt sling, fish with my white Tanuki rod, and I am almost always moving (safely) with a purpose and deliberate steps. So, maybe you wouldn’t think I am so stealthy and I don’t take my tenkara so seriously, but I would like to think I am and I do.
Stealth to me isn’t simply about what the fish sees and “hears”, but also making sure I am being patient in nature. Around every bend in the stream, over another boulder, and across a riffle I am always watching and waiting before casting or taking my next step. I am using all my senses to feel around me. I listen for fish jumping, watch for rises, feel the rocks under my boots, and I have these senses in tune with my purpose of catching a fish. Deliberate and purposeful steps and movements are taken to ensure I am not spooking a fish.
I may wear bright colors and fish a white rod, but, to me, I have not found less success on the stream than anyone I am with. The ability to read water (because fish aren’t going to be caught if you’re presenting the fly in a fishless spot) and casting accuracy to not get hung up in the foliage and to hit targets without spooking a fishy spot is much more imperative to tenkara and catching fish in general.
For example, with using my hearing while I fish, I use the sound of the water to mask my footsteps and I try to make the shortest yet safest path to my next destination to cast from as I can. After observing a pool I would like to fish, then I actually might have to backtrack, reverse my forward path, and go around a huge log jam instead of climbing right over it to get there the fastest. Speed is not part of stealth; safety is. Safety includes not falling and making a huge “ka-sploosh” as you fall and crack your knee on a rock or slipping and creating a splash because you are taking large footsteps in your wading footwear without keeping steady, safe, and purposeful movements.
Stealth to me also means being able to cast in not just the simple back and forward cast method. Being able to cast from anywhere you stand without picking your feet up and moving on the stream is extremely important to my tenkara practice and is stealthy.
Picture yourself casting from the bank of a creek that is 10 feet across as you stand directly parallel to it. Trees are your background and the creek runs left to right. You could do a simple cast of a “12-2” angle of the clock, but you can also do a cast that doesn’t require a back cast at all or do some aerial mending to miss the surrounding branches and foliage and place your fly in a spot without moving your feet from the spot you are standing. You could do a circular cast that allows you to have a “fly first” presentation or vice versa to present the fly differently to the fish.
The skill of stealth not only involves the physical part such as body movements but also touches on parts of your other skillsets as a tenkara angler.
I guess this is what stealth is to me, or something like it anyway.
In what ways are you stealthy on the stream?
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