A Day Fishing Trip to Touge-zawa
San Juan River, New Mexico
ストーリー
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A Story
The forest is my friend. She listens and speaks to me. “Adam, be who you are.” And ultimately I am. I walk along a stream picking lines between trees, some of those lanes are natural while others are made by inhabitants. The smells are amazing, the sounds are relaxing, I can understand and make sense of her moods while she helps me make sense of mine.
I feel like Jonathan, a seagull that a great writer detailed in a old book about a individual in a community. Jonathan loved flying where the others simply looked at flying as something seagulls just did. He would practice flying until he knew it well, pushing the envelope of his wings until one day, his flying lead him away from the other seagulls.
The concept is not unique, it’s how the idea for a popular book that is widely read came about.
The suggestion to fish this new to me stream came from a friend. I sent him back pictures of the same jewel like fish he caught. He began texting me back, while on a flight to Japan, his family lives there. “...probably the same fish I caught.”
Probably.
A week ago, John told me about his dry fly fishing here. Using a fine short rod (by Japanese designers) he sampled the pools in the stream collecting the jeweled fish photographs and his own moments flying free. He sent those photographs to me in a text. “We should go here.”
I was born in Arizona, I believe John was too. We are the same age and we meet nearly forty or so years ago flying free. We have common interests, friends and separate memories of the same friends yet we flew our own flights.
John reconnected with me while I was on my first tenkara trip to Japan. “We should meet”
John did not fish but I did. I had many moons of casting flys in the streams, rivers, lakes and sea. I had gathered fly fisherman from around the world together with the many web sites and forums that I created.
John could read and write in Japanese so we explored the history of tenkara through my library. I introduced him to fly tying and he showed me the differences in the language and meaning between the two countries. John lived in Japan for thirty years before returning home.
Never fishing before, he had no preconceived ideas. His learning was from the old Japanese tenkara books. I never held back when I was fishing and taught him tenkara and while he was a beginner, he taught me tenkara as well.
John and I together meet Hisao Ishigaki for the first time. He briefly translated our introduction and put things at ease while we spoke in sensei’s native language. Later he helped translate interviews for both communities, making sense of the meaning we wished to convey.
And then one day John began to catch as many fish as I did, sometimes more and I knew he was flying free.
I began to receive pictures of monster fish caught with Japanese equipment and techniques. Fish that I could have caught but didn’t. The friend I took to our new stream agreed, we would buy him a bottle of Japanese whisky for turning us on to this stream.
I wrote this story while releasing a tiny jewel like fish.
I want to convey how simple and at the same time, how complex fishing can be.
Fishing a small stream helps me to put my ideas into a medium that I could share with John, Jim and anyone else that I resonate with.
But I feel like Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Free to fly (fish) the way I want and write about it the way I want.
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This particular stream was well suited to a 3.2m Zerosum. I really like the 7:3 flex profile. I use a 3.3m Fujino White Tenkara tapered line terminated with a tippet ring, I use Stonfo. For tippet, I use Trouthunter 5.5x.
At 3.2m I can usually see the fly. On this day I used a Parachute Adam’s size 16. I use floatant, it keeps the fly high up on the meniscus like a real fly. Most of the time the line is not on the water and I am using techniques like suttebari where I might peck the surface gently a few times before setting the fly down.
Japanese tenkara anglers use dry fly techniques for tenkara as well as sub surface wet flys.
The white line is a must in these invisible streams. It appears clear. If you can’t see the fly, you can use the line as an indicator. Or you can strike at movement.
All my fish this day were by sight using suttebari and accurate casting to 5 gallon bucket sized micro bucket pools.
MontBell Fishing Bag
I've always fished out of a bag, since the 80's and that's a long time. I remember each one I used and they all had one thing in common.
They weren’t a vest.
I'm not alone in this.
Within tenkara-fisher you will see other pieces I've done on the different bags I use, this is just the latest. I have one bag that has not changed in years and it's idea is the core of every bag I use.
Actually, besides the description of my latest bag, this is a story about a friend. His name is John Sachen and we have been friends for a long time. I meet him in a back yard pool skateboarding some time in the 70’s.
A few years ago John contacted me, I can't remember the details. He was either in Tokyo and I was too and supposed to meet him or something like that. John and I lost touch during our young adult years and at that time, he was living in Hawaii and then in Japan. John is a guy like me, same age, family man, a fisherman but really, he is a Japanese guy inside (like me) too. In Tokyo, he knew I was fishing a Japanese style, he didn't fish but wanted to help me navigate Japan..
Long story short, I came home to Phoenix and taught John to fish tenkara and John has been teaching me how to be Japanese. It's a nice arraignment, I know about Japanese culture but not like John and I know Japanese tenkara and he doesn't know fishing.
He does now.
He has become quite good at it. He out fishes me now and then and I genuinely like that. The student has become better (at times) than the teacher.
John and I went through a period where I've been busy pack rafting, work and family, John has been busy with fishing and a lot of it. I get out a couple of times a month, John goes a lot more than that.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the last time we went fishing, John has built a really cool system. One he worked out with a MontBell travel bag.
I really like it and this is the story of my mine and how it came to be along with it's contents.
As I said, I've been using many types of fishing bags over the years because they are not vests. I have nothing against vests, I've owned one and have a single picture of myself wearing it and I looked very uncomfortable in it. I've used a few Army issue bags, an M3, M5, M7, a Musette bag, a House of Hardy Brook bag, a JW satchel, a few Orvis chest packs, and the lot from Zimmerbuilt (Micro and Strap Pack) as well as the Kaizen Bag that I designed and continue to return to in all of my tenkara.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi351e_Kj_9h0Ad2A-u7VVSj6HWc0xczvy9b0qbhCN_NUPqzoSn-Gwm9ePwmpyCReRI9AXY6IbBfrnf4cq3At-PXuMhz1Qj1F5PF8sWKsRj88tYUqJM-kJ5RXcEY4BqJGn5YY_9_htZHiAk/s0/ChestPack.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjV38vaB3pykdzeBmEKfVCbdSpnnilJLGvNaJEdVLdYaSOpU-G-IuURCyyS19wJQ4Dx3h3s3EwxV9OP7NeDfRfDl5QmeFtmmaHH5UISifgKh2IeisxjPgGua-Q4cExtWyZTbLa_h0oth-h/s0/chest_pack.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3S7Kk5QG8jls_my5B06AMnYA46o4T7gi9fiz4Ezz3KamyfHbqcpO2k_EvmJ8zqLHIcF3Zv1D87RmWXZHJxaMA1-k63_E1Qfp0R-RSmKcdd1RKEw6JjmIiTNw47lFsOMpw0EX5vPQzRUDy/s0/HardyBrookBag.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwk35X5zFqino_yNstgpR-3JR1iXDr0r0tOjkAOFDLSLQMvrT8RHCDbRtGDLvghi72U5ZzRp00r6eCpOY1UdGI7NoNtjDrNRSo5GMYysjcvR8EQsgxp9N1Jv8ASN_2D15ak5Qo1gm-1__w/s0/HipChestPack.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEKCLPdwEVQJX3z9oepSbxupQ2NqYhXo_tuRQTtk8UmkD1gaNVz11GWvdIFUNKLQvZztYxojwbl0R9RJvhN4XjBM7KzblHXjyG2sUIYGhgDU5NG91YhP-NrW_Uxh8ceJ8kemwijoV-7Ja/s0/Satchel1.jpg)
Generally I set up a bag for the type of fishing that I do. If it's a long day hike, I carry a backpack, laughing, I carry the Kaizen too but all my long day hike stuff goes in the backpack, the Kaizen gets the fishing gear only. There is hardly room in that bag for a Cliff Bar. But in the backpack I can carry all my stuff.
When I fish with John, I'm fishing with someone that takes his approach at fishing tenkara seriously. Lately, we drive, fish, hike, get back in the Toyota and drive some more, fish and hike. We are in and out of the car but we could be fishing for miles as well.
As I've said, John has taught me the finer points of being Japanese and his bag could be on the shoulder of ANY Japanese angler. I guess mine could be too, my Kaizen bag but damn, it's really minimal. More so than anyone that I've meet. Not by design but by necessity for me.
In order for me to improve my equipment and do that effectively, I've figured out how I can minimize and maximize my equipment to exactly what I need and nothing more. I didn't know I had that in me until Anthony Naples asked me to write a bit about tenkara for his web site. Without going too much into detail, you can find it here.
So John has this MontBell bag, it's not a fishing bag but it is. John saw the potential in this bag and set it up for himself. When we go fishing, he didn't know I was looking it over. He didn't know I was watching him use it. How many times he used it and how he used it. I asked him on a ride to the next fishing spot, "Hey, can I take a look in your bag?" "Sure adam." and I brought it up in the front seat and glanced through the contents.
"Yup, makes sense to me."
I went home and found it on the MontBell web site and tried to improve on John's idea. I decided on the smaller one and once I got it, I tried to stuff my stuff in it.
Tooo small (insert explicative)
I threw it next to the mirror in my bedroom and didn't look at it.
Next trip John asks me, "Hey, where is your bag?"
I forgot what I told him but it was probably something like it was too small.
We did our usual exploring and I watched John again use his bag. I had my belt and Nalgene bottle with my Tamo stuck in the belt and my Kaizen bag hung cross shoulder. I was exhausted at the bottom of the canyon and I sure could have used a few things I needed but didn’t have.
So I got home and ordered my bag with some custom zipper pulls and other bits from MontBell USA.
I made my list as I always do and I filled the bag step by step as I collected my stuff, all the comforts of my stuff.
- MontBell M Travel Bag
- C&F Designs box
- Seaguar Grand Max FX .6 Tippet 60m spool (so expensive, if you find it cheap, let me know)
- Spare main line on spool
- Net
- Nippers
- Derf Needle Driver
- Temperature Gauge
- Water bottle
- Bento box
- Chopsticks
- Size A battery Flashlight
- E-Candle
- E-blanket
- Whistle
- Cord
- Lighter
- Tinder
- Knife
- Incense
- Sunscreen
- Lip balm
- Ibuprofen
The sun is intense here so sunscreen and lip balm really make things nice. I get sore sometimes from hiking on uneven rocks, ibuprofen for the win. I fish often into the evening so a little flashlight is in the bag.
The bento box was really a hassle to find but man, when I found it, I found exactly what I was looking for. My chopsticks were stolen out of my backpack, I'll have to remember to get another pair or rob my MontBell bag of them.
On stream, often I wonder what the water temp is, got my thermometer off the bench. I should probably add in a little notebook and pen to scratch some notes. Note to self.
I also carry an emergency blanket and cord. Man I hope to never use that but IF I need to, I know what to do. The little candle goes with that.
I was a combat medic. I lived in the field with very little. I made "hooches" out of a poncho and passed time under there. Next to a stream? broken ankle? I'm going to do that in relative style with just a couple of things till my wife finds me.
I love my bag, it has been one of my favorite pieces of kit to set up. I really like that I can utilize the nets that I designed. I like this style too, it is very much like a lot of my Japanese western fly fish friends nets. As a matter of fact, the whole bag is...
Like John's.
Tenkara USA Strap Pack
Patagonia Wader Workstation