“Stuff that works, stuff that holds up
The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall
Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel
The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall”
—Guy Clark, from the song Stuff That Works
For various reasons I’ve been scattered and unfocused lately. I’ve been in a bit of a creative and motivational lull. The ideas for “big” articles just aren’t making it to the page. So I figured a “catch-all” post with some random thoughts and tips would help me get back on the horse.
I’ve done a few of these in the past:
– Year End Musings (Jan 2025)
– Tenkara Tips: Odds and Ends (May 2023)
Fishing with others… revisited
Back in November 2022 I wrote an article called How Do You Fish with Others? This past spring I spent some good times in the Driftless of Wisconsin (and for a day in Minnesota for the first time). I fished with a bunch of different people and everyone does it a little differently. It got me thinking of that older article – which I enjoyed reading again. Since I’d written it so long ago it felt like new information even to me.
The thing that came up a few times on my trip in conversations is that occasionally people can get upset about perceived grievances when fishing with others. And I’d bet almost all of that is just due to a difference in style, rather than anyone trying to hog the water or take all the best spots on purpose.
So the takeaway is Establish the Ground Rules. Have a conversation with your angling companion and discuss how you’re going to work the water together (see the aforementioned article for some ideas).
Water reset in 3 … 2 … 1 …
This one sort of goes along with the previous discussion about fishing with others. I’ve observed this now enough times to believe it. The water generally “resets” pretty quickly. What I mean is that after an angler fishes a stretch it doesn’t really seem to take too long for the fish to get back to their feeding positions and normal behavior. What’s the exact reset time? I can’t say for sure, but maybe it’s as short as 10-15 minutes (or less). I’m sure there are many variables that affect it and it will vary from stream to stream and day to day.
Maybe the quality diminishes a bit, maybe… but in a quality stream with plenty of fish I think fishing in the “cleanup” position isn’t much of a downgrade. During this most recent Driftless trip (and in previous trips) I found myself fishing 5-10 minutes behind other anglers on fairly small streams, and I was still catching plenty of fish.
So the moral to the story is if you end up getting high-holed accidentally don’t fret too much. If you wait about 10-15 minutes before going through the same water you’ll probably still get a good shot at catching plenty of fish. And you can use it as a strategy to fish with others too, let one angler go ahead and just wait a while. Will this always work? Probably not – but it seems to work pretty often.
Get that cast right… inches can matter
I know I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating: accurate and focused casting is important! If you’re an experienced angler you know this, but if you’re new to the game please take heed.
Sometimes fish will move to a fly, but many times they won’t. In those cases you need to get your cast in just the right spot to get the fish to take. And in those case a matter of inches can make all the difference. Luckily for us tenkara anglers, the light lines we use can be pretty stealthy and thus forgiving to multiple casts in the same area. So if you see a spot that screams “fish!” – don’t be content to get your cast “close enough” – take repeated shots to get it just right. This will often pay dividends. The fish pictured below, one of my biggest of the season, was sitting in a lie next to a bridge support. It took me multiple casts successively closer to the structure to get a take – inches mattered.
The DRAGONtail IceWing zx390
I hope to do a Rod Report Video on the IceWing zx390 at some point, but I want to share some thoughts now. Firstly here are the basic specs and check out Tom Davis’ pre-production write-up for more details:
- Price as of this writing: $159.99
- Fully collapsed Length (with tip plug): 70 cm (27.6 inches)
- Extended Lengths: 285, 340, 390 cm (9.4, 11.2, 12.8 feet)
- Weight (without tip cap or plug): 90.3 g (3.2 oz)
My thoughts on the IceWING zx390
Firstly, I bought the IceWING myself, it wasn’t give to me for review. It takes me a while with a rod to really get to know it. At this point I’ve fished the IceWING quite extensively and I think I know it well enough to share my thoughts.
Cut to the chase… let’s not bury the lead
I like the IceWING… I like it a lot. If you told me I couldn’t fish another tenkara rod the rest of the season I wouldn’t blink. Is it my “perfect” tenkara rod? Not quite, (more on that in a bit), but it’s quite good for 90% of my trout fishing. I generally fish small to medium sized streams for small to medium sized fish – and that is where this rod shines in my opinion. I like zoom rods, and this rod zooms short enough for my small mountain stream fishing but zooms out enough for the more open limestone streams I also fish. Personally I find very little utility for rods shorter than 9′ and rods at 13′ are generally too long for me. So the IceWING fits the bill there with its minimum of 9.4 and max of 12.8 feet.
If you fish small to medium streams for small to medium fish, and aren’t morally opposed to zoom rods – then I would not hesitate to recommend it to you.
At the longest length it is a slow rod. When fishing dry flies and dry-dropper rigs the longer length was a bit slow for me – but taking it down to the next length quickened it sufficiently that casting (and drying) dry flies was fine. If you like slow rods, you’ll like the fully extended length. I used the rod with the aforementioned dry flies, dry-dropper rigs, and small bead-head nymphs quite a bit and it worked well. Would I choose it as a primary rod for large nymphs and weighted streamers ? No – but that’s not really its purpose. Can you throw small small bead-head streamers on it ? Sure you can – especially when casting at the shorter lengths.
This is not a knock on the rod, just an observation – it is not a big fish rod. If you regularly target larger fish or fish large heavy water the IceWING should probably not be your go-to rod. DRAGONtail themselves state:
“This rod is designed for targeting small to medium sized trout on light lines in creeks, streams, or small rivers. That does not mean you can’t use outside of those parameters if you so desire, have fun doing what you like. Although if you want to target big fish then this is probably not the tenkara rod that will give you much control over them but it is strong enough for a bigger fish if you find one.”
What would I tweak?
In a fantasy world where I could tweak the rod to make it my perfect rod what would I do? Bearing in mind my perfect rod wouldn’t be the perfect rod for everybody. So these aren’t “cons” as such – just a personal wish list. If DRAGONtail is listening we can start with the IceWING and add the tweaks for the Anthony Naples signature model (joking… not joking). And keep in mind the only reason I’d be interested in these tweaks is because I like the IceWING quite a bit as it is.
- Longer, larger diameter rod grip: This is a complaint that I have with almost every rod in production so it’s not much of a surprise.
- Slightly faster and stiffer action: For my personal style and tastes I’d stiffen the rod a bit and make it a little faster in the longest length.
- Make the lengths a little closer together: I think the difference between each length is a bit long for me (your mileage may vary). If I could tweak I’d prefer something like: 12’9″ – 11’6″ – 10′
So, in conclusion, if you’re looking for a versatile zoom rod with a softer action to take from small mountain streams to larger open streams and if you’re targeting small to medium fish – the IceWING would make an excellent choice.
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