Tenkara USA's other blog

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Chinese proverb
OR,
“Tell a man where to fish and you give him place for leisure. Teach a man how to find fishing and you give him a world of fishing, and adventures for a lifetime.” – Tenkara USA

It is common for fishermen to feel protective of their favorite streams, and it can be frustrating for people new to an area, or new to the sport, to know where they can find good fishing. Given that there are so many thousands of streams in the US and in the world, we figured we couldn’t try to give you stream locations, and we will not attempt to, but with our experience in finding our own streams, and often fishing them completely along, we can give you some advice on how to find waters to fish.

There may be many ways to do so, but here are our three favorite methods on finding areas for fishing:

1) Study maps and go for a hike: This is our personal favorite. It allows us to explore, and allows us to feel like we are pioneers. It is relatively easy, and if you can let go of worries it’s very rewarding. Maps provide anglers with tons of information
2) Read your state’s regulations: Very often the state’s regulations are something an angler doesn’t pay attention to until he is going fishing in a specific stream. But, here’s the trick a regulation book pretty much tells you almost all the streams you may want to fish anyways. They will list major rivers, and streams, and often break the streams into pieces based on landmarks. They may also tell you limits and types of fish found in a stream. What we often do is search through a book for counties near where we are willing to drive to (most regulations books are available as pdf files in your state’s fish and game site, you may scroll down through the pages, or do ctrl+f and type the names of counties you suspect there are mountain streams and are close enough to you that you can drive there). Use these guides alongside with maps to determine streams that may have the elevation you feel is appropriate, will provide adequate gradients of the terrain surrounding the stream (Google maps, especially in terrain mode, Google Earth and the USGS map database are our favorites) and seem to have access points (e.g. no private property markings, trailheads, roads nearby, etc).
3) Connect with anglers via online forums or fishing clubs:

More tips:
- Don’t be afraid, relax, and make sure you have enough gas in the tank, some spare time and a willingness to sometimes not find productive fishing water but in exchange have an adventure.
- Know the type of water you like. Do you like small and fast streams with pools, rocks covered in moss, and rocky terrain? If so look for locations on topo maps where the lines may be closer together, which indicates a steeper terrain, but not super close that access is impossible.
Or, do you prefer meadow streams, where the view is open and the streams zig-zag through grass and flowers? If meadow streams are your preference make sure the topo map shows lines that are further apart that can indicate less steep gradients and meadows.

All pictures of this outing can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TenkaraUSA/TenkaraOutingOctober09#