Tenkara Podcast: Tenkara Masters & History of Tenkara in the U.S.
In this video, I interview my long-time friend and fishing partner Karel Lansky about some of the differences between tenkara fishing in England and the States. Karel was one of the earliest adopters of tenkara in the U.S. and is the author of Tenkara on the Fly–one of the first tenkara blogs in the English language.
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Jason, thank you much for doing this very interesting interview with Karel. I was wondering if Karel does any stillwater Tenkara fishing in the UK, as it is far more available for the average angler than the running water angling is there? Thanks….Karl
Hi Karl, no I don’t do any still water tenkara. I suppose you could but I think that “normal” fly fishing gear would be the better tool for it.
Cheers, Karel
Hey Karl, to add to what Karel said, a lot of the “stillwater” fishing in the UK is on big reservoirs that are often windy and they tend to use larger streamers like booby flies or versions of wooly buggers. Not exactly the best for tenkara. Sure, they fish buzzers (larger chironomid patterns), but often people fish teams of them and distance is usually required. But for smaller stillwaters, tenkara works (as you probably already know) and I use it a fair amount in the alpine lakes here in CO.
Thanks for taking the time to sit down and record this. Glad to see all is well with Karel, hope he’s able to get in a fair amount of fishing while back in the States… maybe your fishing in RMNP will even inspire another blog post… on each of your blogs.
While fishing western tackle may be the best tools and easiest to use on large, windy reservoirs, beefier fixed line rods and Titanium T-lines will cast larger flies and handle significant winds as well as fish the depths. As for the distance casting limitations inherent in fixed line rods, that’s what boats, float tubes and kick boats are made for, which will get you closer to the fish than you can get by casting alone. And with a float tube, casting is mostly a nonissue because the fly or flies are usually trolled behind your tube. And I have fished with other anglers who were using western tackle in their tubes, with equal and sometimes even better results with my T-tackle, so I know it can be done if you are willing to think outside the box, get creative and experiment in pushing the limits of traditional tenkara fishing….Karl