Golden, Colorado

It has been a long while since my last post. I am in Golden, Colorado, enjoying trout fishing in Clear Creek. It was nice to find out that the tenkara style of fly fishing (using a light weighted pole with no reel) has made its way into the American fly fishing scene. When I brought my tenkara gear to Colorado 21 years ago, I definitely did not see any tenkara fisherman here.

Water in the creek has been far from clear. The unusual rain that has caused many deaths in the neighboring towns has raised the water level. Signs of a recent flood were quite visible, with mud on the rocks, dead fish in the woods, etc.

Well, fish were biting. Small brown trout were actively taking dry flies in the shallows. One was not so small, and it took a while to tame it and bring it in without a reel. Without an easy access to the sea, trout fishing will likely be my pastime for the coming months.

One thing about the tenkara fishing is that one must really stoke the fish carefully. The pole is only about 12 feet long, and one has to get really close to the fish in order to catch it. Fading into the background is very important. It is often the case that fish is just by the river bank, hiding in a shade of a tree or in weeds, or simply staying in a slower current. Not getting too close to the water is very important. This is very different from a typical image of a fly fisherman in a wader standing in the water with big backcasts.

It is great that I can just walk to the fishing spots. Thank you, Golden.