With a nod to tradition and a passion for Tenkara Americana, the Tenkara Talk Blog features hundreds of gear reviews, fly tying tutorials, DIY hacks, and presentation techniques.
For the last several years, I’ve been fishing level lines for tenkara almost exclusively. While tapered, furled lines are a pleasure to cast, level lines (due to their almost anti-gravity weight) make it much easier to keep your line off the water and maintain a good dead drift. Usually, I
When I first heard that Chris Stewart of Tenkara Bum teamed up with Japanese rod maker Suntech to design a new rod, I was really excited. Chris has been fishing tenkara longer than pretty much any American angler I know and through his vast store inventory over the years, has
My friend Randy and I worked together in the same fly shop in Western New York for several years and we had kind of a running joke between us. Customers would always make comments like, “I wish I could work in a fly shop. You guys must get to go
The nice thing about being an early adopter of a newly introduced niche sport is that you get to observe its evolution—kind of like watching a child grow up and witnessing all of the “firsts”. You get to see the first smile, hear the first words, record the first time
For many, just dipping their toes in the sport of fly fishing is daunting enough–forget about getting into tying their own flies. I imagine it’s something like trying to rewire the Space Shuttle before learning to actually pilot it. And if you peruse the fly selection at your local fly shop,
We’d been having a bit of a dry spell–my fishing buddy Dennis Vander Houwen and I (he goes by the pseudonym “Dennis Michael” in the entertainment world). We’d been through more than our share of fishing fiascos and I’d been having less than a stellar year (to phrase it diplomatically). Timing, high water, weather,
Back in May of 2010, I introduced the (then tiny) tenkaraverse to the concept of using EZ Keepers as an on-board line management system. Since then, I’ve seen more and more people adopt this method of storing their line on their tenkara rod without the need for a separate spool.
Not too long ago, I wrote a post about how I rediscovered the Teeny Nymph and why I think it’s a good pattern for tenkara. While I have a fairly long history fishing this venerable pattern, I wanted to hear more about it directly from its creator, fly fishing
Masami Sakakibara (AKA Tenkara no Oni) is coming to the U.S. next month for the first ever Oni Tenkara School! In case you don’t know, Tenkara no Oni is widely regarded as the most skilled tenkara caster in the world and has a huge following in Japan. This is an
I have to confess, I’d never heard of Fulling Mill hooks until I saw them on Anthony Naples’ site, Three Rivers Tenkara. There are a million hooks out there today and I’ve tried a lot of them–not just for tenkara, but for many other applications as well. I usually don’t
This question isn’t new. In fact, it probably arose on day one when tenkara first hit the U.S. Over the years as I’ve watched tenkara go from an underdog in the flyfishing community to a tour de force, I’ve heard many anglers tout that its efficacy is what won them over.
Every time someone asks me to try out a new tapered tenkara line, I always say the same thing: “I’m a level-line guy”. But, because of my STGA (“Severe Tenkara Gear Addiction), I always accept, and am always reminded of how easy tapered lines are to cast. So when Chris
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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