Tenkara Fishing - 2016 Season

Shenandoah National Park

 The Big Meadow

  

The Rapidan River brookie

Camping and fishing in Shenandoah National Park was the highlight of this season.

The Croton Watershed

 My wife caught this big one in one of the pools. She got some more of similar sizes.

Fishing was productive this summer until the end of August when the water temperature of the West Branch was unusually warm.  I caught this rainbow in the East Branch.

The Catskills

We went to the Catskills on Labor Day weekend. In Hale Eddy of the West Branch Delaware, we both hooked large ones of West Branch standard at the same spot of the rapid, but both tippets were broken in a moment. .

I bought 4X tippet the next morning at The Fly Shop in Roscoe, but I got no chance to go back to Hale Eddy.

The Farmington River in Connecticut

  She caught a brookie in the Upper Farmington River.

 I have tried several times, but I haven't caught one.

She caught a beautiful brownie with a hooked jaw in the Beaver Pool.

 

 The Church Pool

Shenandoah National Park - Tenkara Fishing, June 12 - 15, 2016

                                                             Mountain laurel blooms beautifully.

My wife and I camped for three days in the Big Meadows, and fished brookies in the Rapidan and Conway Rivers.

                                 Driving to the Rivers, we passed by tranquil Virginian farm land.

There were rough mountain roads we had to drive through to reach the Rivers. My car could barely make the trips.

The middle and lower section of both rivers in the mountains are typical big-boulder streams.

Though the driving was tough, we were nicely rewarded.

New York State Parks Touring and Tenkara Fishing

My wife and I drove across New York State for two weeks.  We visited eleven State Parks, and searched for trout fishing streams in the Adirondack, Genesee and Allegany Regions. We also experienced fishing under the waterfall.

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MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown was a must-see for us.

* * * * *

                                                                       

Saratoga Spa State Park

We saw many people came to the Park to bottle the mineral spring water.
As for the taste, we would say New York City tap water is better.













                                                           

 A geyser by the stream              

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In the Adirondack, we hiked to the peak of Blue Mountain.  The fire tower there offers 360 degree view.  The above picture is Blue Mountain Lake. 

    

We drove along the Moose River Road in Moose River Plains Wild Forest to search for trout streams.

                   A tiny brookie
               

To catch these brookies, we had to pay the price with our blood.  We were attacked by zillions of the famous Adirondack black flies, mosquitoes and some other deadly bloodsukers in the Moose River Plains.  Though we were sprayed with abundant insect repellent and my wife even wore a hat with a net covering her face, we got serious bites. They are so bad that they remain red on our skin still.

* * * * *

We visited the State Parks in Finger Lakes, Genesee and Niagara Regions to see the waterfalls there.

                       

Below are some of the photos of these beautiful waterfalls in the State Parks.

   

     Niagara State Park

   Letchworth State Park

               Watkins Glen State Park

            Taughannock Falls State Park

    Robert H. Treman State Park

Why not fishing in a nice pool under the waterfall?  We had a lot of fun fishing in this pool one evening. 

A Rainbow                                                                                              A Bass

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We were disappointed at fishing in the Genesee and Allegany Regions.  There had been heavy rainfalls for several days, and these caused the runoff water from the farmland flowing to the streams. The streams became muddy and overflow.  We couldn't find a fishable stream.

We managed to fish in Clear Creek.  Only a small brown was caught.

* * * * *

      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

         

Being back to our home front fishing, we were quite rewarded.
Junction Pool in Roscoe was our last stop.
We caught many stocked browns.

We enjoyed of our two weeks vacation very much.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                     

Tenkara Fishing in Croton - The Trout Season Ends.

Last Saturday we fished the West and East Branch of Croton to conclude this year's trout fishing season.

I caught a beautiful 15+ inches rainbow in the East Branch as a nice season's finale.
   

My wife got many browns in her favorite pools in the West Branch.

We were happy to end the season with these catches.











On Sunday I planned to go to the Breezy Point jetty,
but instead I went to Croton again because saltwater fishing seemed still slow.
The pools that were productive on Saturday were very quiet,
and yet I found a pool with fish rising to tiny ants.
I caught many browns with midge flies similar to ants in sizes and looks. They really like ants.

Tenkara Fishing In Croton Falls Outlet

My wife and I went to the Croton Falls Outlet for tenkara fishing again.  We hoped to have a good time like last weekend.
We were quite well prepared this time.  We carried our whole sets of fly boxes.



The water was still murky. We fished in the small pool where I caught several fishes last weekend. This pool was very productive. Fish were rising in the morning, and after the severe noon time thunder storm, they were rising again.  Just before the late afternoon thunder storm, I caught a 14-inch brownie.  Then we were forced to take our leave.

The fish seemed eating spent caddis,  Anyway they were not picky.
We caught fishes with different kinds of flies which were similar sizes and colors of the spent caddis.

I've been fishing with the tenkara rods for two seasons.  In a small stream like the Croton Falls Outlet, I can control the flies easier with tenkara rods than fly rods whether I am midging, nymphing or dry fly fishing.