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Tenkara Winter Series

March 21, 20153 CommentsEventsBy Jason Klass

I just got back from the Tenkara Winter Series event in Loveland, CO organized by Zen Fly Fishing Gear. I went with my good friend and early tenkara adopter Dennis Vander Houwen. Unfortunately, both of us had to be back in Denver fairly early in the day so we couldn’t stay for the full conference, but we did manage to get some mingling in and catch some great content.

The crowd was intimate (but passionate) and the venue was great. The overall setup was much more professional than I had expected, creating a great atmosphere. After seeing this, I really regretted not going to the first one.

Tenkara Winter Series

We only had time to catch the first presentation by Chris Stewart from Tenkara Bum. His presentation was on using long rod/short line presentation tactics. It drew upon many different fixed-line traditions in Japan and showed how they can be incorporated into tenkara. It was a nice balance of philosophy vs. practical takeaways and was one of the best tenkara presentations I’ve ever seen–a nice, refreshing departure from the standard “tenkara is only a rod, line, and fly” lectures those of us who have fished tenkara for a while have already heard 100 times. It was good to hear something different and more specific on technique.

Tenkara winter series

As I mentioned, the event was hosted by the owners of Zen Fly fishing and they did a great job.

Tenkara Winter Series

 

Zen had some of their wares on display and some cool deals on gear (Dennis bought a net for a great price for example).

IMG_0195

Tenkara Winter Series

Tenkara Winter Series

Tenkara Winter Series

There were also raffles for gear like this Riverworks tenkara rod with a graphite handle.

Riverworks Tenkara Rod

Outside, there was a great space set up to do some casting practice with hula-hoop targets. People got to try out some Zen tenkara rods and hone their casting accuracy.

Tenkara Winter Series

Tenkara Winter Series

Tenkara Winter Series

Adding to the mix was tenkara-related artwork from Anthony Naples and Mike Boneme:

Tenkara Winter Series

Tenkara Winter Series

As always, the venerable Joe Egry of Dragon Flyfishing was there as one of 3 presenting fly tiers wrapping some of his awesome sakasa kebari.

Tenkara Winter Series

Overall, this was a great event and worth the drive. I got to meet a lot of familiar faces. It’s always great to talk tenkara in person and I look forward to going to the next one. Kudos to Adam and Karin for putting on such a great event in our backyard!

tenkaratenkara eventstenkara summittenkara winter series
About the author

Jason Klass

Jason is an avid fly angler and backpacker. As a former fly fishing guide originally from Western New York, he moved to Colorado and became an early adopter of tenkara which perfectly suited the small, high altitude streams and lakes there. He has not fished a Western-style fly rod for trout since.

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3 Comments
  1. March 23, 2015 at 6:53 am
    John

    By any chance, was Chris Stewart’s presentation recorded? If so, can it be viewed anywhere? Thanks, Jason. It sounds like it was an event well worth attending.

  2. March 23, 2015 at 9:44 am
    Chris Stewart

    Both Kirk Deeter’s presentation and mine, and the question/answer session with the presenters and the featured tyers were filmed and recorded. I think Zen may be thinking about doing a DVD but I don’t know the details. Adam, Karin and the videogrher are in MI chasing steelhead now.

  3. March 24, 2015 at 2:02 pm
    Jason Klass

    Hey John, yeah, Chris’ presentation alone was worth the drive up to Loveland. really wish I could have stayed for the full event.

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About Me

Jason Klass is a former fly fishing guide & casting instructor based in Colorado. He was an early adopter of tenkara in the West and has been fishing the method for a variety of species since 2009. Read more >>

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