Many of the streams tenkara anglers fish in Japan are fast flowing mountain streams. In those streams, fish have very little time to “inspect” food. If they hesitate, it’s gone–lost to the swift current or a competitor. A good fly for these conditions is a larger, easy-to-spot fly like the Oki Sakasa Kebari.
For fast flowing streams, or high or muddy water conditions, the Oki kebari is a great choice. Because it’s usually tied in larger sizes and is mostly black, it’s easy to see. And with a very buggy appearance, it’s also easy to quickly identify as food. I tie mine on heavy octopus hooks from Allen Fly Fishing to help get the fly down fast in swift currents and short pockets but you could tie them on standard wet fly hooks as well (in fact, that’s how it’s usually tied.
Hook: #6 Allen Octopus Hook, black nickel
Thread: Black sewing thread
Abdomen: Black sewing thread
Thorax: Peacock Herl
Hackle: Brown pheasant
At some point, we’ve probably all faced a situation where we could use a fly with a little more visibility so it’s worth it to have a couple of these flies in your box. And, they make killer panfish flies too! If you don’t tie, you can buy the Oki kebari here.
Hi Jason: Beautiful fly, it look easy to tie, what kind of thread is Black sewing thread?
Regards.
Hi Vasco. Yes it is very easy to tie. I just used cotton sewing thread. It absorbs water and helps the fly sink.
Ok thank you. I´ll try.
Jason,
How many hackle turns do you do on this fly? I found that with flies I want to sink quickly, I don’t go beyond 1 or 2. Good call on the octopus hooks; I’ve started using the red Gamakatsu ones.
Hi Albert, I usually do 3 wraps but like you, sometimes do less to help the fly sink. On this particular pattern, I wanted maximum movement and visibility so I made it a little denser (hence, the heavier hook).
I like that fly, but wonder how it would look if you used a metallic or sparkle thread. I’m thinking warm water stuff here. Are there any bright colored variations of this type of fly?
Good tip, I bought a pack on your recommendation and will tye up my pattern for deeper presentation.
Thank you Mr. Klass!
Jason I you did not have the #6 Octapus hook, is there a #6 substitute or substitutes you could suggest? Otherwise I will try to find the octapus hook. thanks
Hi Luther. Mustad octopus hooks would work. These look good too: http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1307878&destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct.jsp%3FproductId%3D711945%26productVariantId%3D1609431%26WT.tsrc%3DCSE%26WT.mc_id%3DGoogleProductAds%26WT.z_mc_id1%3D02952136%26rid%3D40%26channel%3DGoogleBaseUSA%26mr%3AtrackingCode%3D8A632DCC-958E-DF11-A0C8-002219318F67%26mr%3AreferralID%3DNA%26mr%3AadType%3Dpla%26mr%3Aad%3D19135905911%26mr%3Akeyword%3D%26mr%3Amatch%3D%26mr%3Afilter%3D43641097511%26gclid%3DCIa07bXI8rUCFYk7MgodX3IAmg&WTz_l=YMAL%3BIK-321457
Thanks Jason I found some #6 octopus on Ebay and have ordered
I’ve found I really like the Daichii 1120’s in size 6, they are a 2x heavy wire hook and sink really well.
Jason Artbeads.com sells the #2 silk bead cord for $1.50 per card—$10.00 order gets free shipping. Just thought some might like to know. Cheers
Jason, have you noticed any differences using a hook with an turned up eye? At a glance it would appear that the eye would be in a better alignment with your level line that the the normal eyed hooks that are used.
Dale
Hi Dale,
I haven’t really noticed any difference. A long time ago, my friends and I used to think that an upright eye on a weighted nymph would prevent it from riding upside down. But after some underwater observation, that proved not to be the case. So, I’m not sure if there is any advantage for hook setting or anything else.
I wish to expose this site as a flagellent attempt to deceive us into falling back into our habits of expanding our flyboxes and carrying ever more flies, creeping back to match the hatch or the newest “thing”. shame on you jason. you keep offering new forms of fly “crack” to recovering addicts, and this is just plain despicable.
In my case, I will only tie one of these, and just try it once, I assure you I will throw it away afterwards and not do use it again……….