Tenkara in the Mountains of Florida

Article by Dalton Thompson

For the most part, tenkara in the United States focuses on the pursuit of trout in mountain streams just as it does in its country of origin. As a Floridian the closest mountains are a solid 7 hour drive from me, so I have to get creative when trying to do any kind of fishing that replicates the feeling of casting to wary fish in fast flowing water. Fortunately, there are many places where anglers can wade through shallow, albeit very low-gradient, streams that are much closer. The target species may be different, but the enjoyment is just the same.

My favorite areas to fish are the shoals found in the top end of the lower Santa Fe River just after it rises from the aquifer. I jokingly refer to this part of the state as the “Mountains of Florida”, which is what it feels like when walking through many of the undisturbed areas that remain. The water is rarely over chest deep in the shoals and even during Winter it is usually tolerable to wade through them. In contrast to waders and boots, the traditional attire here is a pair of shorts and whatever water shoes you have to avoid stepping on the broken beer bottles that have become so common along the bottom.

I first learned to fly fish in this river from a kayak, and casting to stumpknockers (spotted sunfish) and redbellies (redbreast sunfish) feeding in the current remains one of my favorite ways to spend a day. There is always the possibility of hooking into a largemouth or Suwannee bass too, the latter being one of the best fighters in the state for its size.

The fish are rarely keyed in on hatches, though they do occur, so most flies will work if you know what to use in different situations. The forage base for sunfish species in this river includes much of the aquatic insect life you would find in high-elevation trout streams, and I have personally found caddis, stonefly, and mayfly larvae under rocks and submerged wood. For tenkara style fishing here I usually use dry flies such as a deer hair or Neversink caddis, and both tenkara and western style wet flies or nymphs. The most productive subsurface fly for me is a traditional sakasa kebari tied with bison fur and male pheasant hackle. The fish seem to prefer anything with brown, orange, and yellow color schemes.

I have only run into a handful of people fly fishing anywhere in Florida’s freshwater, and have never seen anyone using a tenkara rod on any river or creek here. While it’s nice since the fish face almost no pressure from fly anglers of any kind, I would like to see freshwater fly fishing as a whole gain traction in Florida since everything here is geared almost exclusively towards saltwater. Currently the opportunities that rivers like the Santa Fe provide are widely overlooked, and the knowledge available online is pretty limited. For now I’ll continue to fish in Florida’s mountain streams in relative solitude, the only competition being herons and the occasional flotilla of tubers in the summer months.

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Dalton Thompson is a marine biologist from Florida that works with African megafauna and enjoys fishing, surfing, and studying wildlife in his spare time.

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