More Urban Tenkara – Tenkara in the Park

The Red Brook crew wanted to get out and use our new RBT One tenkara rods but we only had a small window of time so we decided to visit Town Brook in Plymouth, MA today. The goal was to go after some sea-run brown trout and rainbows. Town Brook is in walking distance to the famous Plymouth Rock and is part of a public park that gets a lot of visitors. It’s a beautiful place but it’s kind of strange to be wading and casting a fly with so many tourists and locals walking by. You need to watch your back cast and also be prepared for all kinds of questions from passerby. We saw it as an opportunity to fish a beautiful location and also spread our love for tenkara.

Today we enlisted the help of friend and local expert Geoff Klane who owns Brackish Flies (https://www.brackishflies.com/). Geoff ties some beautiful flies and is a knowledgeable guide as well as professional filmmaker. He spends a lot of time on the water and is very familiar with Town Brook. Earlier this year he caught a beautiful 15” sea run brown trout in the brook. When he isn’t tying flies or guiding, Geoff can be found volunteering for the Sea-Run Brook Trout Coalition.

Geoff scouted the brook before we arrived and happily reported that he had spotted several rainbows. We started our day right below the grist mill and began making our way downstream. We hit several spots along the way before settling in at a deep pool where we spotted several rainbows. Deep for this brook is a relative term. This pool was probably less than three feet deep. The brook is also very clear so you need to use some stealthy tactics like kneeling on the edge so as not to spook the fish. We saw a lot of activity but it took some time to figure out what flies would work. The first rainbow was caught on a green pheasant tail tenkara fly. After this fly stopped working we had some luck again, using a midge pattern. We were having a pretty successful day until we spotted some herring and decided to call it a day so we wouldn’t hook any of the protected fish.

Fishing Town Brook is both fun and challenging. You’re in the middle of a busy park and the brook is both clear and narrow. But it can be very rewarding as well. It was a lot of fun talking to people and educating them on tenkara. We met a nice couple who was interested in fly fishing and got the opportunity to explain tenkara. They we’re avid hikers and liked the portability and simplicity of tenkara. We’d like to thank Geoff for sharing his expertise and also filming our outing. Please check him out at brackishflies.com and on social media.