Fly Tying Tutorial by Martin Montejano
For a few summers, this kebari has been one that has grabbed the attention of many fish in the local creeks. What started out as an experiment in tying different traditional kebari, has led to a pattern that doesn’t always hit the water, but always has a place in my fly box.
Named after the time of day when it gets the most use, the Golden Hour Morioka is one that I tend to fish with a simple dead drift, or a little added pon pon. When tied on using a loop knot, this fly tends to sit upright on the surface of the water but tends to lose the efficacy of the tapping on the rod. However you choose to fish it, its added hackle anchors well on the surface, and its color and profile are easy to spot in its drift.
You can tie this pattern many different ways, with plenty of variations, but to tie it in this scheme these are the materials I would suggest:
- Hook: Any hook with a progressive curve. I prefer to use a Hanak 530BL in a size 12
- Thread: I use 6/0 Uni thread in Light Cahill, but any pale yellow color would do
- Hackle: Brown cape or saddle. This pattern works best with a slight variation in the barb length, with the hackle near the eye being a bit longer than in the bend.
- Tail: I like to use some barbs from the longer hackle for the tail, but you could substitute with Coq or Gallo de Leon as well.
- Wings: Hen cape works best, I prefer ginger-colored feathers for this one
With your hook secured in the vise, start making wraps while leaving a gap about the size of the eye of the hook. I generally prefer to do one layer of thread as I work toward the bend of the hook.
Add in the tail with the feathers you choose. Using the section of rooster hackle with longer barbs, I preen a small section toward the stem, do a few light wraps to hold it in place, then pull the feather toward the eye of the hook to get the barbs bunched near the bend before securing them down with a few tighter wraps and trimming off the excess on the side toward the eye of the hook.
Next, add in the section of hackle with the shorter barbs. I like to add it where you will get the barbs tilting toward the point of the hook. I generally do about 3 or 4 wraps of hackle toward the eye of the hook before securing it down and trimming the excess.
At this point you can build up the midsection of the body if you want; I generally do a few more layers of thread, while leaving it a little more sparse in the top third of the hook bend where I plan to tie in the wings and longer rooster hackle.
Select two feathers similar in length from the hen cape and stack them one on top of the other. Secure them to the hook with a few light wraps with the tip of the feathers largely overlapping the bend of the hook and the stems toward the eye.
Pull gently on the stems to adjust the wings to your desired length. Secure the wings with a couple tight wraps, and gently lift the top feather up to place a few more wraps between the feathers so that they separate to the sides of the hook.
Add in the section of rooster hackle with the longer barbs, and secure it in a way where it butts up to the base of the wings. I generally like to do about 5 to 6 wraps toward the eye before securing the stem once again and trimming the excess.
After two, 3 wrap whip finishes in the space between the hackle and the eye of the hook, the “Golden Hour” kebari is ready to fish!
Martin Montejano is a northern California based tenkara angler sharing his adventures and experiences through Sageheart Tenkara on Instagram and the Heritage Tenkara Project.
This article originally appeared in the 2025 print issue of Tenkara Angler magazine.
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