I normally don’t like gadgets hanging off the outside of my chest pack. I try to limit it to the things I want quick access to like hemostats and line clippers. Until now, I have kept my tippet spools inside my pack thinking it was one less thing to clank around. But, I like the…
Ever since I started tenkara fishing, I’ve been fascinated with those who subscribe to the “one fly” approach. Imagine an angler so confident in their skills, having so much faith in one fly, that they choose to carry only one pattern with them. It seems almost mythical. Yet, there are some practical reasons why this…
As tenkara takes hold in the West, many people are experimenting with different techniques, rigging, and DIY gear modifications. As someone who has a deep passion for innovation, I think this is a good thing. But there are many voices criticizing certain types of experimentation in an effort to preserve the intrinsic simplicity of tenkara.…
April Fool’s day was no joke on Bear Creek this Sunday. I had another stellar day–one of those sublime “lost track of how many fish I caught” days. But aside from the great fishing, I learned a thing or two. The days you catch fish (or don’t) come and go. But the lessons you…
After a humiliating day on the water being outfished by bait fishermen, I had an epiphany. I’ve decided that I’m giving up tenkara. It was fun while it lasted but after seeing these guys outfish me ten to one with worms and corn, I can’t see any reason why I’d stick with a “cane pole…
Maybe “giant” is a relative term for a size #8 sakasa kebari. After all, in Japan they regularly fish flies that large (or larger). But for me, a #8 is huge. You see, I got some grouse feathers from Tenkara Bum that were too large for the #12 and #10 sakasa kebari I normally tie,…
I just finished reading the article “Japanese Dreams” by Daniel Galhardo of TenkaraUSA in Vol. 3, Issue 3 of The Fly Fish Journal. As someone who tries to consume every piece of information on tenkara I can get my hands on, I was prepared for another “more of the same” article that just rehashed things…
A while back, I wrote an initial review of the Tenkara USA Yamame. But until now, I hadn’t actually had a chance to fish it. Now that I’ve had it on the water, I wanted to report back as promised. To read my more detailed review of the Yamame’s features and design, read my initial…
I’ll admit it. One of my pet peeves is standing in the parking lot ready to go while a fishing partner takes forever to get set up. It’s wasted time that I could be fishing. I don’t get to fish as much as I’d like so I like to maximize my time on the water…
In a recent post, I wrote about how the path of the rod tip in tenkara differs from western casting. In order to achieve the right angle, it’s important to use the right grip. Western anglers coming to tenkara might be tempted to use the same grip they alway have with their thumb on top…
Here’s a quick video I shot showing just how fast you can get your tenkara rod set up and ready to fish. Actually, I’m being a bit generous. If you count, it’s really only 43 seconds.
A lot of people that come to tenkara are already western fly anglers familiar with the 10 O’clock/2 O’clock casting stroke. While this may be a comfortable casting style, it doesn’t really translate well to tenkara and some wonder why they can’t cast a tenkara rod well with their normal casting style. There are some fundamental…
Just got back from Bear creek where I finally caught my first fish of the year. I can’t believe I went this far into 2012 without catching anything but to be fair, this winter’s fishing conditions haven’t been great and I’ve been going to some tough places like the S. Platte. But today made…
Here is a an interesting chart I made using Google Gadgets showing the number of global searches for the keyword “tenkara” since 2004. Not surprisingly, no data shows prior to 2009 (the year Tenkara USA was founded). Keep in mind that the numbers on the y-axis are not the actual number of searches, but normalized…