My “One Fly”: The Punk Rock Sakasa Kebari

The Punk Rock Sakasa Kebari. It imitates a caddis larva with a purple mohawk.

I haven’t been tying flies very long. Just a few months, actually. But it wasn’t too long after I started that I came up with my own take on the sakasa kebari and have since declared this beast my “one fly.”

This is the story of how it happened.

It started innocently enough. The first fly I learned to tie was a very sensible caddis nymph, a productive mainstay for the streams here in Montana. A lot of anglers catch the majority of their fish on some variation of the caddis nymph.

Hmm...something about this dubbing doesn't look right.

Maybe some Red Bull will help

Yeah, that looks...well, the fish probably won't care, right?

Moving on to a beadhead nymph -- and doing better.

After doing okay with simple nymph patterns, I decided to move on to the sakasa kebari — the fly I really wanted to learn both to tie and to present on the stream. And on that fateful day, something terrible arrived at Beyond Belief Media global headquarters (Brian’s house). A purple starling skin.

Purple starling hackle. Essential.

Brian had ordered it online, not noticing that it was dyed purple instead of natural. Brian hated it. I loved it. I took it to the vise.

“Are you seriously going to tie your first sakasa kebari with purple hackle?”

“Daniel says that the fly doesn’t matter.”

“If Daniel were here right now, he’d be crying.”

“If the fly doesn’t matter, why not make it something with personality?”

“I will not help you. I will only document the atrocities.”

The madness begins.

The evil genius at work.

Tying my first reverse hackle ever.

I am totally unaffected by your disapproval.

An important moment in tenkara history: The final action on the first Punk Rock Sakasa Kebari.

And that’s the story of the Punk Rock Sakasa Kebari.