Tenkara Tanuki Retractor
I went a little crazy tonight building level lines with my girth hitch attachment method and it quickly became apparent to me that I’d need a way to store and organize them.
So, I bought a bunch of 3″ X 4″ plastic bags at Michael’s and printed out some inserts that allow me to write the manufacturer, length, and diameter/weight of all of my lines.
Some people like the tenkara line spools and they’re great–just a little bulky if you want to carry several lines. I can carry more lines in my chest pack in the same amount of space that would take up a couple of line spools so I appreciate the compactness of this system. Line spools are good for transport from spot to spot–not so great for storage if you want to carry a bunch of different lines.
How do you organize your tenkara lines?
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Jason,
I seriously need to try your girth hitch system, very nice. I had Chris S. send me extra storage bags and have used this same method for organizing my level lines.
I am using leader wallets (2 of them right now), but only the inserts. There are 5 bags, each holds two lines, so I have space for 20 lines (which is NOT enough already…).
I had the idea to make a tenkara-specific leader wallet a while back but never really followed through with it: https://www.tenkaratalk.com/ultralight-leader-wallet
If anyone is a sewer and wants to help me revive this project, please contact me!
Jason, in a word brilliant! I have been fooling around with level and compound lines and wanted a way to keep track of them. Your solution is just what I needed!
-tom
Jason, now you need a BW Sports Tippet/Fly Pouch to hold them. Like Karel’s wallets, it has 5 inserts, but unlike Karel, I hold many more than two lines in each insert. I do two lines per little plastic bag, one on each side of the paper insert giving length and weight like yours, but lots of envelopes per insert. I use one insert for level lines, one for hand tied, one for artificial horsehair (twisted fluorocarbon) one for horsehair and the final one to hold the little wooden tip plugs so they don’t get lost. The tippet/fly pouch holds LOTS of lines (and a flybox, and has clips like a lanyard for tippet spools, etc, etc).
Thom, your dacron is on the way buddy!
Thanks Tom. To be fair, I didn’t really invent the wheel here. I just copied what manufacturers of western leaders do for packaging. But, hey it works!
I am new to the world of Tenkara and was wondering what you use to make the leaders. Is it just some normal fishing line in different colors and strengths? Also if you could give a brand that would be great.
Hi Loften,
You can use just regular monofilament but fluorocarbon works better because it’s a little denser and casts better in the wind. But, yes, it’s essentially “normal” fishing line. Unfortunately, brightly colored fluorocarbon is not easy to find. Here are 2 places you can get colored fluorocarbon lines that Are food for tenkara:
Tenkara Bum
TenkaraUSA
If you haven’t already, you might also want to read my article on how to choose a tenkara line. And if you have any other questions, feel free to post them here or email me.
Ok. Also where do you sell your lines and other tenkara things, because when I went to the backpack fly fishing store there were no products.
Hi Loften,
I don’t sell anything anymore and have shut down the Backpack Flyfishing store. I’ll soon erase the site completely. I want to focus on writing tenkara content rather than selling. I might sell a few tenkara-related items on this site if I think people can’t get them elsewhere but right now, I’m more interested in content than cash.
Jason,
I thank you for the info products are easy to find but info from a proven sorce is worth much. All the more in Tenkara where the idea is less stuff better technique.
Thanks Tom. That’s nice to hear. 🙂