The Skate is a simple and fun way to present flies and is an ideal presentation for the tenkara rod with it’s delicate, highly sensitive tip section, as well as its ability to create the slightest movement in a fly. This technique can be combined with the Dead Drift and the Pause and Drift to add life to your fly with movement, and give you the opportunity to “work the water” a little long with each cast.
To Skate your fly you can cast downstream and then, while keeping the fly just on the surface of the water, gently begin to walk it upstream by giving very slight taps to your tenkara rod. This tapping, bounces your fly ever so slightly and if kept just on the surface of the water, will give the appearance of a bug trying to walk across or escape the water.
Likewise you can cast upstream, do a dead drift down stream, then end your cast cycle by skating the fly back up to the top in preparation to cast again. This allows for very thorough coverage of the water because you get to work your fly both up and down stream. First offering a dead insect and then offering a live one. This delicate and slight motion is an excellent attractor and a fantastic way to make the most out of each cast for incredible efficiency and productivity.
To Skate your fly you can cast downstream and then, while keeping the fly just on the surface of the water, gently begin to walk it upstream by giving very slight taps to your tenkara rod. This tapping, bounces your fly ever so slightly and if kept just on the surface of the water, will give the appearance of a bug trying to walk across or escape the water.
Likewise you can cast upstream, do a dead drift down stream, then end your cast cycle by skating the fly back up to the top in preparation to cast again. This allows for very thorough coverage of the water because you get to work your fly both up and down stream. First offering a dead insect and then offering a live one. This delicate and slight motion is an excellent attractor and a fantastic way to make the most out of each cast for incredible efficiency and productivity.