Tenkara Fishing in West Branch of Croton River, NY

I fished with a tenkara rod in the West Branch of Croton above Croton Falls Reservoir yesterday.
It was my first time fishing there.

I carefully casted my fly to each pocket of water, and then I walked upstream to the next pocket.
While I was stepping into the pocket I had just fished, sometimes I saw a fish running away from that pocket. I haven't done this type of small stream fishing for a long time since I have got into the dry fly fishing of matching the hatch.
After fishing about 200 yards of the stream for 2 hours, I caught three tiny browns.
My legs were a little tired because of difficulty walking on this stream bottom with large scattered stones.
I was just satisfied with my catch.

I broke my tankara rod tip 3 weeks ago.
I fixed it by just glueing the lillian to the remaining tip section.
The repaired rod didn't give me any problem. 

   

Sandy Hook, NJ

I fished at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ yesterday from 10:30 am to 9:00 pm except 2 hours lunch break.
This was my first outing of the season there since two years ago.
I expected some shoreline changes caused by super storm Sandy, but it looked almost the same as before.

High tide came at 2:45 pm.
There was not much action until 4 o'clock.
When fishermen started catching fish one by one at the corner of the tip,
fishermen fishing in somewhere else immediately rushed to the tip.
As more fish came, the tip became more crowded.  Fishermen of all kinds, from the fully equipped surf casters to young guys with 30 bucks Sport Authority's tackle sets, women, the young and the old were there.  Such a festive atmosphere!
Everybody was busy catching fish.
Most were blue fish.
Some even caught fish in almost every cast.
I fished at a spot a little bit away from the crowd because my long rod and line might endanger other fishermen.
Though I wasn't at the best spot, I caught many blues.

The blue fish seemed to be eating peanut bunkers.  
I picked one up from the water to confirm.
My bunker pattern flies worked well, but I lost many of them due to these toothy fish.

Although there were no obvious signs of fish presence yesterday, such as the blitz and many birds activities, blue fish from small to medium crowded along the shore at the tip of the Hook. Everybody enjoyed a day of fishing.

In my Sandy Hook fishing experience, yesterday was one of the most fantastic days.

 

Tenkara Fishing in Carmans River, Long Island, NY

It was my first time to fish in Carmans River, Long Island yesterday.  I wanted to see if this river is good for tenkara fishing.
It would be nice to have a small stream for tenkara fishing near my home.
I paid 3 bucks at the Southhaven County Park boat rental office for one-day fishing in Carmans River
I checked out all access points along River Road in the east side of the River.
The River and the natural environment are nice and well preserved, except one can hear gun shots all the time.

The Carmans River inside the park is a shallow spring creek with a lot of water weed.  It is good for light tackle fishing, like tenkara.
But I didn't see any fish.
I was able to find a rise below the Lower Dam
outside the park and caught a tiny sunfish, the only fish of yesterday.
I fished there around noon time.  I guess the timing was not right. Probably in the early morning or evening would be a better time for fishing.

Hopefully I will have more luck next time.  
                        

 

Little Neck Bay （Ⅸ）night fishing

Did I get a "skunk"  also at my back?  Oh no, it was a RACCOON.

I fished in Little Neck Bay last night from 9:30 to 11:00.  High tide came at 11:00 pm.
It was a nice and quiet spring evening.
The gentle east wind blowing behind me made my fly casting easier,
and yet, nothing happened at all. A bait fisherman fishing next to me caught a large striper. But none of my stuff works - flies, retrieve speed or depth countdown etc.
Maybe I just didn't have any luck.

The well known early spring striper season in Little Neck Bay has been over.
Let me move on.

Tenkara Fishing in Croton, NY

My wife bought a tenkara rod from Tenkara USA last year and caught many fish until the rod tip was broken. Tenkara USA was not able to replace the tip after a month of waiting, so they sent her a new rod instead.
It seems tenkara fishing is natural to her.

During off season last winter, I researched tenkara fishing and bought two rods from Japan, in different length and action.

I tried tenkara first time yesterday in Croton River and caught three trouts.
I started fishing at the spot in West Branch where I caught a large and nice brown in the beginning of the season last year.
Soon after I had fished, I hooked a brown even larger than the one of last year - over 17".
My tenkara rod was bended so much that it looked like a weeping willow.
I had difficulty pulling the fish up close to my net.
It was swimming lively around me while my arm was extending upward to the back trying to control the fish.
It was a tough battle.  My extending arm became tired.
When I was finally able to grab the line to pull up the fish, the tippet broke immediately.
I figure once I grabbed the line, my 5X tippet lost the cushion of flexibility from the tenkara rod.  It just got too much pressure and broke
If I had landed this fish, it would have been a perfect picture of my first fish caught by tenkara rod.
As a first-timer, I was not ready to land such a large fish. I have to learn how to do it.
However I managed to catch three small trouts in other spots of the River.

I would say my first tenkara fishing was a success and I enjoyed it.
But there is a negative side.  I broke the tip section of the rod when I tried to retrieve the line caught in the river bottom.
During my research, I read many warnings about the fragility of tenkara rod tips.
Unfortunately I proved it to be true in my first tenkara fishing.
It seems the rod tip can withstand the pressure from the fish's pulling, but it becomes very weak when the impact or pressure comes from the side. How weak is it?  It is as weak as a tooth pick.
When fishing with tenkara rod, I really need to be extra cautious.    

        

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Little Neck Bay（Ⅷ） night fishing

I tried night fishing for 2-3 hours three times last week in the Bay.
I got only a tiny schoolie in the third night.

I fished two nights in the east side of the Bay at the same spot.
In both nights one lure fisherman took his same spot on my right hand side.
He caught a large striper in the second night.
It is obvious that large fish were there, but I couldn't catch them.
The lure fisherman reeled slowly most of the time and changed lures often.
I used the heavy sinking shooting head at all time, so that I could cast the large fly in farther distance.
It seems I have this obsession to use large flies once I have seen bunkers in the Bay.  Last year I saw large bunkers jumping in the Bay as if they were trying to escape from large stripers' pursue.  I have tied large bunker flies to entice these large stripers.
The heavy sinking line requires constant fast retrieve, otherwise the fly will sink and snag the bottom.
Unfortunately this approach has not worked much so far for night fishing in the Bay.

If I go night fishing next time, I'd better have more variety of flies and use intermediate line so I can retrieve with various speed.