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Tenkara Path Line Spools

August 28, 20175 CommentsLine Holders & SpoolsBy Jason Klass

One of my closest friends and favorite fishing partners, Dennis Vander Houwen from Tenkara Path paid me a visit to show me some his latest wooden tenkara line spool designs. Dennis is a magician by trade, but he’s also a magician at the lathe–creating some of the most innovative and gorgeous spools I’ve ever seen. He hand-crafts each one from a variety of woods (often re-purposed) and each one is absolutely unique. So if you get one from him, you will be the only person in the world to have one like that. In addition to being highly functional, they’re heirloom quality. They could sit behind a glass case in a museum just as much as they can get a workout in the field. Here’s a quick video we did at my house showing some of his recent designs …

Dennis is such a thoughtful and generous person and as always, he brought me some gifts from his garden. He gave a HUGE zucchini, some tomatoes, and some Kirby cucumbers so I can make pickles. Kirby cucumbers are kind of hard to find around here, but thanks to him, I’ve got a good supply. I have all the ingredients I need, I just have to find my Mason jars. Once you’ve made your own pickles, you’ll never eat a store-bought one again. There’s no comparison. Plus, you can make them just the way you like them. You’re probably wondering why the hell I’m talking about pickles on a tenkara blog. Well, I see a correlation. In tenkara, you keep it simple and create your own experience according to your own tastes. Same with pickles. 🙂

Wooden tenkara line spools

tenkaratenkara line spoolstenkara videoswooden tenkara line spools
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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5 Comments
  1. Reply
    August 29, 2017 at 7:19 am
    Jim N

    These are awesome! Makes me want to add a lathe to my shop! Great gifts to share with fishing buddies!

  2. Reply
    August 29, 2017 at 7:28 am
    Wendy C.

    I absolutely love these. I have several and use them all the time! They are works off art!

  3. Reply
    August 29, 2017 at 9:28 am
    Martin Weaver

    Great information and I will be purchasing a couple of spools from Dennis. Have a great day Jason.

  4. Reply
    September 15, 2017 at 11:55 am
    Bob McNair

    Jason, I am a fan of your blog and am also an avid backpacking/Tenkara fanatic. I enjoy all of your posts, which end up leading me to new stuff and ideas, but this post on Dennis’s work was great info. I ordered a spool immediately after I watched the video and I was fishing with it less than a week later. Awesome product. My favorite spool. Keep up the good work.

  5. Reply
    August 8, 2018 at 9:47 pm
    Brett

    Awesome looking spools…before turning you could always have the wood stabilized and that would alleviate the varnished finish, make the wood pretty much waterproof, and it would prevent warping, cracking, or swelling.

    Cheers

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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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