Whether you’re a split cane and silk line, soft glass rod, featherweight graphite & tiny reel or packable tenkara fan – small stream fly fishing is one of life’s great pleasures. Always intimate, frequently awkward and – just often enough – simply perfect. Once you get the bug it’s a hard habit to kick.
Watch our special “small streams” YouTube episode right here. If you’ve already read this far – I believe you’ll get a real kick out of it!
You can claim your individual early-adopter bonuses on the small streams bundle (your offer expires in 21 days) and reveal a “Buy Now” button on the link below:
Click here to claim Small Streams Multimedia Offers
You’ll also find some great inspiration for your own trips on this page – including getting to know a couple of little-known masters of the small-stream game; Henry Charles Cutcliffe and Kazunori Kobayashi. Even though they are separated by centuries in time and thousands of inter-continental miles; their approaches are astonishingly similar.
In the same way that flowing water shapes the rivers we fish, the small-stream angler is every bit as moulded by the demands of little brooks, rivers and streams – and the beautiful wild trout and char that live there.
Our Small Stream Fly Fishing Manifesto
As well as the YouTube episode and all the content on this page – you can also download a complimentary 25-page “Small Streams Manifesto” e-book. This reveals 10 of our best tactics and tricks for fishing little rivers. Your copy arrives instantly when you register for the 3x deep-dive “email inbox small-stream articles” & subscriber bonus offers on our (optional) Small Streams Mastery Bundle. Just click on the 3-D book image below to subscribe:
This mini-guide will soon be expanded, based on your subscriber feedback, into a print-version handbook. Already planned additions include: fly-patterns and how to locate and research new streams).
Meet H. C. Cutcliffe
Dr Henry Charles Cutcliffe was an outstanding surgeon who was born in North Devon, England. He was posted as the Surgeon-Major in the Bengal Army – holding the title Officiating Professor of Surgery, Calcutta. Before his tragic and sudden death, he actively campaigned to improve public health and sanitation in India.
OK – but what has he got to offer the fisher of small trout streams?
Well, Cutcliffe also – somehow – found time to publish a fly fishing book that G.E.M Skues himself hailed as:
“indispensable for a dresser of trout and grayling flies“.
Perhaps his sudden death at age 40 prevented him from becoming more famous? Probably his lack of interest in “sluggish” chalk-streams marked him out as a bit of an outsider. This is a crying shame. His book “The Art of Trout Fishing in Rapid Streams“, reveals an astonishing amount of practical, fishing wisdom.
I was lucky enough this spring to fish on one of Cutcliffe’s home waters – the River Taw – as captured below by Duncan:
To quote:
“A good fisherman may glean much instruction by an occasional day on a brook. It always seemed to open my eyes to some new feature, to give me new hints for future application, and improve me in the art of fishing even more than a day on big streams“
H C Cutcliffe
1863
Great Small Stream Fly Fishing Tactics Never Go Out of Fashion
I began “The Art of Trout Fishing” with the expectation of it being a charming 19th century ramble with perhaps some interesting stories and an unusual fly or two. I rapidly ditched that opinion. Almost immediately I was turning the pages faster and faster. With each paragraph I recognised more and more signs of a rare angling talent. I couldn’t put the book down…
I now believe that Henry Charles Cutcliffe would very capably hold his own alongside the top, river anglers of today.
Kobayashi-san: A Secret Small Stream Fly Fishing Fan
Kazunori Kobayashi is very famous in Japan for his daredevil fishing style in huge, powerful rivers. That makes it all the more surprising when he confesses that his TRUE love is fishing small streams…
Even though he fishes without a reel, the length, sensitivity and power of Kobayashi-san’s small stream rods, are a very good match for the descriptions in Cutcliffe’s book. His work-rate, presentation angles and rod-tip position would also be recognised by the 19th Century Surgeon.
As a professional field-tester for Gamakatsu, Kobayashi-san’s fishing skills are phenomenal. We were incredibly fortunate to spend time filming and interviewing him in 2017 as he generously shared his tactics with us.
After analysing his on-stream techniques, it is clear that he is one of the world’s premiere small-stream anglers with the fly. It is not so much the individual tactics that he uses. Instead it is his level of mastery and precision of each tactic. Then, his ability to seamlessly combine different tactics into a smooth system. He makes it all look so easy…
How small is a “small stream”?
One thing is guaranteed. As soon as you put up a post of something that you call “big” or “small”…you are asking for trouble! There is always a “bigger” or a “smaller” example to point to.
On a more serious point, it is actually really difficult to come up with any kind of solid definition for what “small stream” looks like. What is small for some is positively expansive for others.
Where some people would find the stream pictured above too small to bother with, others would be able to think of a dozen smaller spots – all with fish they wanted to catch. For inspiring wild fish captures from that stream, you can read Daniel’s Idaho small stream fly fishing advice on this link to the Best Trout Fishing in Idaho.
Tree canopy changes everything
Aside from just the width or depth of the stream, there are also massive differences in the amount of space available for casting. The height and density of the tree canopy will completely change your fishing experience – even between different sections of the same stream.
The canopy in the picture above is pretty high and with plenty of spaces to create a cast – even with a long rod. At the same time, there are always a lot of branches just waiting to grab your fly when you’re not looking.
A good proportion of the Discover Tenkara syndicate streams are in a very open setting. With that said, there are plenty of super-overgrown sections too. The size of each individual stream varies dramatically with the weather and location as well!
Thinking about it, there is easily as much variation between small streams in your local area as the differences between rivers in different countries. The great thing is that, as soon as you can cope with obstacles, the tactics for successful small stream fly fishing are truly universal…
Small Stream Fly Fishing around the World
Anywhere that clean, cold water runs down a hillside, there should be wild trout or char to catch. That can even happen in urban areas – as long as the water quality is good enough.
Madeira: A “Winter” Small Stream Fly Fishing Option?
As I’ll soon post up a report from the intrepid Duncan Philpott, it seems that the island of Madeira could be an awesome option for some “winter” trouting in small streams.
Below is a short clip of him in action with the Karasu last winter on a Madeiran “research trip” after the end of the mountain bike racing tour season last year:
Blue Lining
There are a good number of quite famous small streams in the USA (Gierach’s “St Vrain” in Colorado for example!). Tenkara fans will also have seen lots of videos of small stream and “genryu” fishing in Japan.
However, one of the really cool things about small stream fly fishing is the possibility of uncovering surprise adventures.
You might just be able to discover a small fishing spot that almost nobody else visits. Your stream could be hiding in plain sight – even in an urban setting. Otherwise, you might also be lucky enough to live close enough to wilderness areas that you can explore.
The anticipation builds during the research stages of a “Blue-lining” trip
As long as you know (and stick to) the fishing access regulations – developing your skills in “blue lining” can be a fantastic pastime. It’s fly fishing for those with a pioneering spirit.
The Fish of Small Stream Fly Fishing
Finally, for this post, I’ll leave you with a small gallery of the amazing wild fish that await you in small streams. All it needs now is for you to get your fly in front of them…
As always – please feel free to give us your thoughts on this style of fishing in the comments section below…You can check out the offers on our “Small Streams Bundle” by clicking the image below:
Plus, if you enjoyed this – hit the social “Share” buttons on this page and let folks know how amazing small streams are.
Very nice. Most of my fishing is on small streams so I am looking really forward to this. If possible can you include video of the casting techniques discussed in the article, esp. the roll cast. great job as always.
Hi David – the Kobayashi-san e-book that I’ve now completed contains diagrams of two special roll casts (to go with the photos of the casts shown in the “manifesto”). If interest in small streams fishing is high, we’ll continue through and add instructional video content that includes casting demos (and add them to the bundle). One thing I am considering doing is to run a “screen-share” video with slides to show good ways to research and find new small streams using freely-available data (to include as a future, surprise bonus to the bundle).
Please let me know what you think about that as an idea too – and many thanks for your supportive feedback,
Paul
A screen share video is a great idea. I also think you will find that the interest in small streams will be very high.
Hi Paul,
Just catching up with this. All jolly interesting. 🙂
Was Cutcliffe the chap who fished cock hackles as wets, by any chance? In those fast little streams?
Got it in one Andrew! North Devon’s finest 🙂
I just finished watching episode 4 and really enjoyed. It was especially nice seeing John smiling. Already placed my order for the extra material. I’m really excited by the whole small stream project. Thanks.
Thank you on all counts David and yes, he cultivates the mean and moody image but I think we all know he’s a giant, flower-pot-hat-wearing teddy bear really.
Paul
PS I have obviously got to the comments control panel before John ha ha ha