The Shokuryoshi Experiment
Not too long ago I shared a post regarding movement on the river. In this post, I talked about some observations and habits I had formed over the past few years while conducting “The Shokuryoshi Experiment.” You can find the link for the post here…
One big thing I had talked about was skipping over large pools and deep runs. It’s a water type that I personally don’t think tenkara is designed to tackle, and that’s alright. But… Earlier in the season, I started thinking on ways to be able to fish these.
Historically speaking, the shokuryoshi weren’t “tenkara” anglers as we know the term today. It seems that some of them fished using bait, and others preferred kebari. Obviously I couldn’t speak on all of their individual preferences, but this is the information that I have read, as well as what I’ve learned talking with others.
Along with using live bait, usually comes weight - and that’s how I imagined one would tackle those slow, deep glides and placid pools. If I wanted to try to catch more fish as the days got hotter, and they wouldn’t come up to the surface to feed, I could start drifting flies (Regulations in my area don’t allow for live bait in rivers) along the bottom. But, maybe the tenkara rod wasn’t the right tool for the job. That’s where my keiryu rod would come into play. Being able to add weight into the system and utilize a more decisive hook set could be the solution to not having to pass up this type of water.
Setting the Rules
A few months ago I ran a little side experiment to see what the numbers could possibly look like if I were to employ the keiryu rod at times where the tenkara rod doesn’t seem fit for the water type, or to see how many extra fish I could possibly be picking up throughout the day.
For consistency purposes, I recorded my time spent fishing with the keiryu rod the same way I recorded the metrics for the Shokuryoshi Experiment. Number of outings, time fished, and fish caught (as in, fish landed in the net or brought to hand). I did not include my keiryu catches, or the time fished in the normal stats that I share in the monthly recaps, because I had said it was an experiment that I wanted to conduct with the tenkara rod.
Below are two short journal entries from those sessions. But, before I get too far into it, I do have to mention that I’m not very well-versed in using the keiryu rod. There was, and still is a bit of a learning curve that I’m dealing with. I don’t often know the best way to go about fishing in different situations. I’m learning how to properly adjust the weight of the rig, and which flies may be better in certain situations. Could the numbers change if I were more familiar with the style? Probably. But, for now, I’m just rolling with it, and learning as I go!
Journal Entries
July 13, 2024
On this day, the weather was hot, and the water was warm. I figured it would be the perfect time to put this idea to the test.
In a short summary, out of the 2.5 hours fished, I fished with the keiryu rod for about 30 minutes total. In that half hour, I hooked and landed one fish.
The rest of the time was spent with the tenkara rod, and in those 2 hours, I hooked up on 6 fish and landed 4.
So, fishing with the keiryu rod didn’t increase, nor decrease my catch rate for the day.
July 14, 2024
I decided to double down on fishing for the weekend. With overcast skies in the morning, I figured it would be a good time to hit the local creek and experiment more with using the keiryu rod.
This time around I tried to fish in a way that mimicked how I did a previous test in this spot.
Before I get into the details of how I fished, I wanted to tell a little about this spot. It’s a local creek, only a few minutes from where I live. This spot tends to fish better in the evening, but I have found that on overcast days you can find some success in the mornings. As I said at the start of this section, I figured it would be a good time to try out the experiment, as I was hoping to get some rising fish while using the tenkara rod.
I started with the tenkara rod, and fished a size 14 “Blue Dream” futsu from the main pool, to the upper pool. I fished this way for about 10 minutes, then switched to a size 14 Akiyamago kebari, and fished my way back to the main pool.
No bites, no rises, no activity was observed in this time.
Back where I started, I collapsed my tenkara rod and switched to the keiryu rod. I switched to a lighter weight than what I had on from the previous day, and switched to the “Blue Dream” to keep it consistent - that way I knew it was really an issue of depth.
Again, I worked my way up to the upper pool, with no bites in the main pool.
The upper pool yielded 2 rainbows pretty quickly. I would say within a few minutes of each other.
I was starting to understand the keiryu rigging a little better, but also, observing how the depth really made the difference in this section.
I worked back down to the main pool again, but no bites.
Having only fished for about 40 minutes at this point, I decided to fish one more pool just to see if I couldn’t hook into one more fish.
I drifted the next pool down a few times, picking apart the different lanes. A well placed plop of the fly into the current brought it through the center of the pool with a little bump about midway through. Unsure if the fish would try again, I did my best to replicate the placement of the fly to drift it though the same spot again.
No bite on the first drift, but on the second there was a subtle slowing of the marker.
I set the hook and added one more fish for the day - though it was not in the two pools I conducted the experiment in.
Regardless, I was able to see how the depth of the presentation really allowed for success on the creek this day.
The Stats Summary
Over 2 recorded outings, I fished with the tenkara rod for 2.25 hours, and the keiryu rod for 1 hour.
Over the 2.25 hours fished with the tenkara rod, I landed 4 fish. This brings the fish per hour average to 1.8
In the 1 hour I used the keiryu rod, I brought 3 fish to net. This puts the average at, well, 3 fish per hour.
The efficacy of weight is clear, and I wonder how many more fish I could be catching if I understood the keiryu rod a little more. I also wonder how the numbers would change if I were to run this experiment longer. I may revisit it in the future, and add on to the numbers. As for the remainder of this experiment, I will stick with just the tenkara rod, but I would definitely consider bringing the keiryu rod for future adventures in areas where I think it may be the tool for the job.