Pole Fishing for Tiny Streams

By Seth

As spring approaches, and the thought of backyard fishing comes  to mind our thoughts drift to gear. Chances are, your backyard creek is a tiny stream, or a stream nevertheless ( such as the Paint Branch or some tributaries of the Middle Patuxent). Even still, driving to a tiny stream to fish is a rewarding experience.

When most of us think of fishing tiny streams, we think about ultralight spinning combos and ultralight fly fishing combos.  But in some very small streams, casting is not something you want to do. Too often has a cast hit a tree, along with a $4 Panther Martin. Even with jigs, casting and hitting trees can drain your pocket tackle box faster than you think. And then there are the knots, and knot tying. Yikes!

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The interesting idea of tenkara fishing and keiryu fishing came to mind. For those of you who don't know, it's basically fishing without a reel.  With keiryu, the fishing is done with natural bait collected at the creek, which"matches the hatch" perfectly. And tenkara is fly fishing with a stick. That's right, no reel. Which means no complicated castes, or possibly long and uncontrolled casts.

In tiny streams, who wants long casts? Chances are, that's another $1 fly stuck on a tree. However, with a stick, you don't need to cast. For fly fishers, you can learn tenkara. Several of my friends do it, and they love it.

Now let's turn to keiryu, or something like that. In many creeks, worms on tiny hooks are absolutely deadly. Along with a tiny BB split shot and a tiny float, you can catch a lot of fish, such as sunfish and creek chub. You also don't need a legit tenkara rod, which, for a decent one, costs at least $70. There are sometimes others than drop in the $50s or $40s, but many are of bad quality. Plus,for spin fishers,  this is just a tiny creek rod. If it does the job, it's good.

I have bought a cheap cane pole on Amazon back in the fall. Most of those poles seem to work fine. I have only dunked worms at that point but when the weather warms up, I want to try jigs.

Tight lines,

Seth