After several months of patiently waiting, my Oni tenkara rod has finally arrived! For those of you who don’t know what an “Oni” rod is, it’s the rod designed and used by Masami Sakakibara (a.k.a. “Tenkara no Oni”), who is widely considered to be the best tenkara caster in the world. He is notorious for…
While I certainly appreciate the advances in technology that have allowed us to have high-performance fishing gear, I have always also had a fondess for rustic, traditional gear. There’s something special about traditional, handmade gear that I just can’t resist. It could be nostalgia, but I think for me, it’s more about aesthetics. Modern gear…
“It doesn’t imitate anything”. That’s the response the 15-year old me got from a fly shop guy when I asked what a Royal Wulff was supposed to imitate. As a young fly angler, I was slowly learning entomology and trying to match up the different insect species with their feathered doppelgangers. Some patterns (like the…
I just got a package in the mail from Tenkara Fly Shop and am so excited that I couldn’t wait to share it with you! If you want to see some of the coolest, most minimalistic, gorgeous fly boxes, read on… Bamboo & Cedar Fly box The first box is my favorite and…
I’m sure we all could use some levity lately so…take a shot every time… A tenkara angler refers to a fly rod & reel as a “western” rod. Owl Jones refers to tenkara as “cane pole fishing”. There is a reported Tenkara Sasquatch sighting. Someone posts another post on “what is Tenkara?”. Someone else…
Many of the streams tenkara anglers fish in Japan are fast flowing mountain streams. In those streams, fish have very little time to “inspect” food. If they hesitate, it’s gone–lost to the swift current or a competitor. A good fly for these conditions is a larger, easy-to-spot fly like the Oki Sakasa Kebari. For fast…
I just got my new T-shirt from Adam Trahan over at Tenkara Fisher. It’s beautiful and will make a great addition to my growing tenkara T-shirt collection along with my four Tenkara USA shirts and Tenkara Talk shirt. The back features “tenkara” written in katakana with an amago, brook trout, and rainbow trout framed by…
“Traditional Japanese Fly Fishing”. That’s the tag line of this site. But lately, I’ve been wondering how accurate that line really is. In terms of the tackle we use, there seems to be nothing that is really “traditional” about it. Early tenkara anglers fished with bamboo rods, lines, and hooks fashioned from needles. Today, we…
Silk bead cord–it’s not just for eyeless flies anymore! Silk bead cord is a popular material to form the loops on eyeless tenkara flies. But did you know it can also be used as a body material? Many classic soft hackle patterns use silk floss for the body. It sure does create some elegant looking…
As I sit here looking at the aftermath of the recent snowstorm through my office window, I’m reminded of the cruel joke nature sometimes plays on anglers: the thwarting of fishing plans. You know, those days where you could go fishing, but the rivers are frozen over, or blown out. It’s a bitter irony and…
I recently posted pictures of some tenkara hooks I got from a friend in Japan. I finally had a chance to tie with one, the Owner Hera Sasuke and just wanted to briefly share my thoughts on it. The Hera Sasuke is both eyeless and barbless (which is not easy to come by) and features…
I see a lot of photos on the internet of people casting tenkara with their arm fully extended. While it might seem like a good idea at the time to gain a little extra reach, it can actually be detrimental to your presentation, and on stream stamina. The better alternative is simple: take a few…
Ah, memes. Those ironic, sarcastic, or dichotomous pictures with allegedly clever slogans overlaid upon them, or the over-the-top videos (think Gangnam style) that go viral overnight are all the rage right now. They dominate social media these says. I happened to see one related to tenkara today and thought, “why not bring tenkara down to this…
For as long as I can remember, describing fly rod action has always been problematic. The typical adjectives used such as “fast”, “medium” and “slow” are not only inadequate, but also subjective. What does “fast” mean? And does it mean the same thing to you as it does to me? At some point, there was…