Article by Chuck Grimmett
Earlier this year I emailed Mike volunteering to coordinate a kebari swap if Tenkara Angler wanted to host one this year. I’m delighted he agreed. It was a fun experience from the coordinator side to make new connections and get to open all of the packages that arrived at my house over the course of a month.
We got a lot of well-tied patterns in that I’m excited to try out on my local streams. Some inspired me to up my game… I took lots of notes to try out at my own vice this winter!
Here’s a breakdown:
Timeline
- Post published on September 8, 2025.
- Sign up form closed September 30, 2025.
- Flies were to be postmarked by October 15, 2025.
- I swapped the flies and sent them out November 15 and 16, 2025. I waited a bit longer for packages to arrive than intended, partially because family and work got busy and partially because a few people emailed that flies were on their way after the deadline and I didn’t want to exclude them.
By the numbers
- 26 people signed up.
- 19 people sent in flies.
- 5 people sent in an extra fly for the swap coordinator. (Thank you!!)
- 3 people sent in stickers.
- 2 people had others send in flies on their behalf.
- 2 people sent in flies but didn’t want any in return.
- 1 person sent in more than 12 to share, so everyone got some extras.
- 1 person sent in material samples to share.
Since there were 20 people in the swap and everyone sent in 12 flies, each person got a slightly different set of flies (and no one received their own.)
Nothing goes off without a few logistical hiccups:
- 2 people forgot return envelopes.
- 3 people had inadequate postage on their return envelopes.
- 1 person had to send me a new label because I waited too long and their label expired. (I didn’t know those expired!)
- 1 package got lost in the mail and returned late to the sender, causing them to miss the swap.
No big deal, agreeing to handle those things is part of being the coordinator. I’m including here as lessons to pass on to the next swap coordinator 🙂
The Kebari
Now, what you’ve all come to this post to see… what people sent in!
Types of flies sent in:
- Sakasa: 8
- Jun: 4
- Nymphs: 3
- Western: 3
- Futsu: 2
In no particular order, the photos with whatever detail the tiers sent in:
Pocket Picker Kebari from Bryce Job. Hook: #10 Firehole Sticks 320. Thread: Semperfli classic waxed 12/0 thread in fluorescent orange and watery olive. Wire: Black brassie ultra wire, silver small ultra wire. Thorax: Hares ear dub HET1. Hackle: Partridge.
Dre Fornasiero sent in Hen & SLF Sakasa Kebari in size 10.
Green Lantern from Jim Fagan. Size 12, purple glass beads, olive thread, copper wire rib, natural hen back hackle.
SHWAPF from Don Rolfson. Hook: Mustad 3906B, size 12. Body: Red wool yarn. Shell/hackle: Pheasant tail fiber.
A mix from Bill Robichaud: Mostly DRAGONtail Utah Killer Bugs with a couple kebari and soft hackles.
Pheasant and Peacock Sakasa Kebari from Nick Feller.
Pheasant Zenmai Jun Kebari from Jay Guarneri.
CDC Dark Futsu Kebari from Amanda Hoffner (tied by Jay Guarneri).
Cutcliffe Emerger from Chuck Kaminski.
Road Kone Kebari from Mike Agneta. Firehole 320 #12, Fire orange thread, white hackle, peacock herl, 3.0mm gold bead.
Pinky Finger from Zach Williams. Wire underwrap, peacock herl, UV pink thread.
Utah Killer Bug from Trevor Smith.
Red Samurai from Brad Pennington.
Idaho Killer Kebari, size 14, from Kevin Higgins (tied by Chuck Grimmett).
Note from Chuck: Kevin is my uncle and who got me into Tenkara!
Fran Betters’ Usual, size 16, from Chuck Grimmett. Hook: Gamakatsu R18-B, size 16. Thread: Uni orange. Fur: Snowshoe Hare foot.
Yes, I know this is not a traditional kebari, but it was one of my top producers this year. It can be fished wet, dry, or in the surface film, and it is very buggy. Also, I live in New York and wanted to represent a NY fly fishing icon, Fran Betters.
Foam Hot-Spot Sakasa from Ben Colonnese (Fixed Line Appalachia). Can be fished wet or dry, though he prefers dry.
High Voltage from Daran Hissam (tenkara.wv). Includes a body of taser wire and turns of partridge feather.
Lemolo Jun Kebari from Nathan Hamm.
Blowtorch Style Jun Kebari, size 12, from Dean H.
A wide selection of fur-based flies from Doug Mast.
Thank you to Nathan H. and Dean H. for some of the kebari photos above!
Fun extras
We also got a nice selection of stickers and a sample of taser cartridge wire (used in the High Voltage kebari). I distributed these as evenly as I could given that there were sometimes fewer stickers and samples than total participants.
Swapping
I lined up 19 cups and gave each one a number corresponding to the one in the spreadsheet I had in front of me with everyone’s name and what they sent in. Then I opened each package and distributed them in order round-robin style, skipping the person who sent them in so no one got their own flies back.
After that I counted out each cup to make sure they had the correct number of flies (and a second double check that no one received their own.)
Last I added the stickers and packaged them up (where my spreadsheet numbers came in handy!). I found it easiest when someone sent in a small tin or cup along with a padded envelope (perhaps someone to add to the guidelines for next year?).
My 4 year old son helped me take them to the post office the next day, where we held up the line while the postal worker weighed and checked 18 packages.
Swapping and packaging took me about 3 hours total. I estimate that admin time (emailing, making the spreadsheet, writing this post) took about another 4 hours. So roughly 7 hours total over the course of two and a half months. Not bad!
Thanks again to Mike for letting me host, and thank you to all of the participants for sending in such great patterns! Keep an eye out next year for another swap!
Chuck Grimmett builds websites during the day, ties flies at night, and makes things out of wood on the weekends. He blogs at https://cagrimmett.com
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Thanks again for coordinating! Everyone clearly sent in their best work. I need to put them together in a special box so I make sure to use them and they don’t get lost in the mix.
For those curious, the details on the flies I sent in are:
Pheasant zenmai jun: hen pheasant hackle, NH gathered zenmai dubbing with thread rib, Veevus 10/0 light brown thread, Firehole 633 hook size 10
CDC Dark futsu: speckled furnace rooster hackle, wrapped black CDC body and collar, Veevus 8/0 red thread, Firehol 633 hook size 12 – this one is good for fishing wet or dry, but it’s absolutely killer fished wet.
Doug Mast here, I donated my flies because 1, I have way too many and don’t get to even test many of them and 2, they are somewhat unique. Other than a peacock body, I don’t use feathers. All fur and hair collars and wings. So any comments would be appreciated. Durability, effectiveness, etc.
Fantastic job running the swap (and sharing the article) Chuck. I hope everyone that participated had a great experience!
Awesome job running the swap! I love all of the flies I got back and see some I would have liked also.
I hope people use and have success with my fly.
Like any good community project, it usually takes one person to drive it forward. Thanks, Chuck, for being the one for this. I love the flies I got – there are some talented tyers in our community! (not including me – I’m just a talented buyer).