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Karel Lansky's "Red Butt Kebari"

5/11/2023

This month we have a really fun fly to tie. Don't be fooled by it's simplicity. If you are looking for a fly that gets scooped up like candy, then the Red Butt Kebari may become one of your top used flies in your "fleet of flies."..."swarm of flies?"..."flight of flies?" You know what Whatever you call it... you will want to add these to your arsenal.

Karel and I first met here in Colorado in the early days of tenkara. It was a sad day when his work sent him to live in London. But fortunately we have kept in touch and we have been able to plan fishing trips during a few summer trips he has made back to Colorado.
Later this summer it will be my turn to go meet up with him. More about that later. On with the fly!

Red Butt Kebari
Karel Lansky
"This one is a favorite from my time fishing in Colorado. Not quite an Ishigaki, not quite a Sakasa Kebari either. The Brahma hen hackle is somewhere in between stiffer cock hackle and soft hackles like partridge or pheasant. I tie this fly only in this color combination, a red butt and a black body."

Gather up your supplies:
1. Hook: Daiichi 1157, size 14 (or any hook of your preference)
2. Thread: Red Pearsalls Silk, Black 6/0 no brand thread
3. Hackle: Brahma Hen

Watch the video below!

We would love to hear if you tied this pattern and how it worked for you. Please share in the comments below.

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NATHAN CAMP'S "HIS AND HERS SAKASA"

4/1/2023

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Each month I scour the inter-webs looking for interesting flies and the creative fly tyers who make them. This months featured TIE THIS! artist is Nathan Camp. I have been admiring many of his flies. This month he brings us one of his favorites. I love the buggy look that this fly has with a hint of red at the head and the pheasant tail body wrapped in copper.

His and Hers Sakasa
by Nathan Camp

I invite you to tie along, one of my favorite sakasa kebari. This is always in my box, ready to tantalize some wary fish. While it isn’t officially named, I’ve come to think of it as a “his & hers” sakasa.

This sakasa is tied on a size 14 klinkhammer hook, or something with a similar bend profile.
For materials, you will need;

Red 8/0 thread
Copper wire
Hen pheasant feather (hackle)
Pheasant tail strands (tail)
Peacock herl (thorax)

Nathan Camp a.k.a. "CampKebari"

Visit his shop for more.

BASE LAYER Lets start by laying a thread base to where the body will end.

COPPER WIRE Tie in your copper wire and return the wrap to the eye, creating a small head once you’re there.

FEATHER Next I tie in a hen pheasant neck feather tip end first, wrap and create the hackle around the hook (hackle forward of course) and tie in to hold in place. Cut remaining tag Continue to wrap thread down the hook to the bend.

PHEASANT TAIL add two to three pheasant tail strands to the hook and wrap them in to make a tail coming off of the hook wrapping thread back up the hook towards hackle.

Wrap the long pheasant tail strands up the hook, towards the hackle and tie in at mid body leaving room for the peacock herl that will be added at the end. Clean up by trimming any remaining ends of tail feather.

Wrap copper wire now over the body moving up the hook towards the hackle and tie in. Now tie in a strand of peacock hurl and wrap to make a thorax or collar for the hackle. Tie in and remove any excess peacock herl, whip finish and cut the thread.

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JASON KLASS' SILK ROAD SAKASA KEBARI

3/1/2023

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Just last month Jason Klass posted the "Silk Road Kebari" on his blog TenkaraTalk. I cursed him affectionately under my breath when I saw what he had created. I was also working with some silk thread that had been given to me and was enjoying the process of trying to see what I could do with this elegant and slightly "boujee" material. He nailed what I think is a perfect design with a great nod to the traditions of Japanese kebari. These flies are wispy and colorful. You can easily imagine what they will look like in the water. But go ahead and dip the fly you tie in a glass of water to see how much the silk just shimmers and glows.

I was hesitant at first to post this fly design in our "TIE THIS" feature for March, being as Jason had only just posted it himself this last month. But hey, I think it really stood out as a one of the most interesting if not beautiful flies I have seen in a while. This page is all about sharing the best flies and how nice to get this one shared so quickly.

I have to say that this is NOT Jason's first great fly design that he has come up with. I have been inspired by his fly design posts and enjoyed his philosophy on fly tying. Jason has a way of seeing design in flies, pairing and balancing materials in a way that is not just attractive to hungry fish, but also creating flies that have an aesthetic appeal to the artist fly tier we all think we are (but know we have work to do still.) Perhaps it is his attention to detail or is that a troubling intensity of OCD that makes these flies so good? It is saying too little to say "the guy has chops!" I hope that you will enjoy

Jason Klass
If you know anything about tenkara in the United States, then you know already that Jason is arguably the most prolific writer on the subject of tenkara in the world. His blog, has covered virtually every topic you can imagine. He has reviewed so many products and been a thought leader in the wave of bringing tenkara to the west. I just want him to finally publish a damned book.

Rather than rehash and rewrite the text for his recipe for his "Silk Road Sakasa Kebari" I am just going to send you to his original post. But before I do I want to also say "thank you" to my friend for all you have done in supporting my work, encouraging me to write and for just being someone I can bounce ideas off of. Thanks too for the time we have shared hiking and fishing. I look forward to getting out again with you in the spring.

Please be sure to send Jason a quick note of thanks if he has had an role in your enjoyment and education in tenkata. Either below in the comments here or on his blog in the comments below his post. You can also show him your support by visiting his new Etsy store too!

Learn Jason's Silk Road Sakasa Kebari

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STEWART'S SPIDER

2/2/2023

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Left fly - hen pheasant / Right fly-Indian rooster cape

STEWART'S SPIDER
Variation by Adam Rieger

Hook: Size 12-14 standard shank
Thread: Your choice of color
Body: Thread
Hackle: sparse hen pheasant or Indian rooster cape.

(HISTORY
WC Stewart's "The Practical Angler" was published in 1857. It was a landmark book for two major reasons. The first is that in it, Stewart strongly advocated to fish upstream. He was not the first to do that but the vast majority of fly fishing was done downstream and the vast majority of fly fishing books talked about techniques for fishing downstream. His advocacy for upstream fishing was groundbreaking and met with debate, but Stewart was such an exceptional angler that the technique he advocated, in his own hands, left few with much to argue about once seeing him in action. The second major reason this book was a landmark is because he classified the dressing of hooks (tying flies) into two categories - "spiders" and "flies". This first grouping he called spiders were his all purpose all the time "fly". More than anything, the spiders are more a technique to dress a hook rather than specific patterns. He did prescribe 3 specific patterns only one of which, the black spider, is something one can tie today - the other two include feathers from birds that are not legal to sell. (That said, nothing is stopping you from using any reasonable substitute for those feathers.)

Let's tie this bug!
Straight shanked hooks are my preference and I use standard length although you could use a short shanked hook. The tying thread is not critical in terms of color...try a contrast or something that blends, the choice is yours. Start the thread, one hook eye length, behind the eye and using a long tag wrap back to the midpoint of the shank. Keeping the tag and not cutting it off, wrap past it - keeping that tag at the mid point - and take your thread back towards the bend until you are in line with the hook point. Begin wrapping back towards the tag you left behind and when you reach it do one wrap in front and stop. Select the type of feather you are going to use - hen pheasant, hen capes, partridge, starling, or rooster hackle. The length of the barbs on the feather should be at least the hook gap in length...I like about 1.5... Expose the tip of the feather using hackle pliers or your fingers and stroke the remaining fibers back. Tie in the tip of the feather and move your working silk up to the initial tie in point. Now take the feather and the tag and line the tag end of thread up with the stem of the feather. Using your fingers or hackle pliers pinch both the stem and the tag and start to to spin the two gently to entwine the tag thread and the stem. Don't spin too much or the feather stem will break. Just a few and then take a wrap around the hook shank then maybe spin a few more and repeat. Stroke the fibers back as you go and do consecutive wraps up the shank to the waiting thread in a tight spiral fashion. Tie off the feather and tag with two tight turns and then cut off. Make a small head and whip finish. If you have trapped any hackle fibers during the wrapping you can pick them out with a bodkin.

Adam Rieger

No, not a pretty fly
The resulting fly should not be pretty. That ugly - bed head hair/disheveled look is the goal. This fly is simple, buggy and ideal in a fixed line system.
Challenge yourself to try and tie this fly "old School" by hand with out a vise!

See this fly tied on Adam's YouTube channel here!

black, red and dun tied on Mustad sneck bend hooks size 13.

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"Redheaded Blondie"

1/15/2023

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REDHEADED BLONDIE
(futsu kebari)
Variation by Jonathan Antunez

Hook: Size 12-14 "pupa style" short curved hook
Thread: Danville 6/0 Red
Body: Peacock herl dubbed in on a loop
Hackle: dyed straw or sandy brown stiff hackle

Let's tie this bug!
This fly is tied from tail working towards the head or eye.
Tie in the red thread and form a body base working from the bend towards the eye of the hook but leaving room for the hackle that will be tied in shortly. Return the wrap back down to the butt of the fly. The red butt is tied off with a simple half hitch then glued or left alone. (Your choice.) Now form a 2-2.5 inch dubbing loop and add 2-3 peacock herls. Use a dubbing loop spinner to create a thread and herl noodle, or you can bind the loop down in a plunger style hackle pliers and twist until the herl is tight. The dubbing loop makes the peacock herl "bombproof." Wrap the dubbing loop towards the head end, working your way up the shank. Note again that you must leave room for the hackle. Tie in Hackle in the normal dry fly fashion. (2 or 3 turns depending on how full or sparse you want it.) Finish the fly by building up a bead size head and add head cement to finish.

Jonathan Antunez

Futsu Kebari is a stiff hackle tenkara fly associated with Japanese Tenkara Fishing. As with most Japanese flies, it is not meant to mimic a specific insect but is instead a fly that suggest it is an aquatic food source.
This is a very dynamic fly in that it can be fished as either a dry fly on the surface (add floatant if you wish), or it can be fished as a stiff hackle wet fly subsurface. Traditional Japanese Futsu Kebari are usually kept simple in design. Jonathan has created a wonderful variation of a futsu kebari here that features a peacock herl body that is twisted in like dubbing to show off a red ribbing.

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Karel Lansky's "Red Butt Kebari"

NATHAN CAMP'S "HIS AND HERS SAKASA"

JASON KLASS' SILK ROAD SAKASA KEBARI

STEWART'S SPIDER

"Redheaded Blondie"

TIE THIS!

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