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.
Over the weekend, I got a chance to field test a prototype line made by John Veterlli of Tenkara Guides. It’s a hybrid line based off of a formula invented by master Japanese tenkara angler Eiji Yamakawa (a.k.a. “Eddie” on the Tenkara USA Forums). While I’ve pretty much been fishing
My daughter Emma doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the world’s youngest tenkara angler. I say this because even though she’s only four months old, she embodies the spirit of tenkara. She takes pleasure in simple things, lives completely in the moment, and basically just takes a beginner’s mind approach
Let’s face it. Even the most expertly tied fly is not immortal. Though it might have escaped the perils of underwater snags, tree branches lurking in our backcasts, or weak knots, it will eventually succumb to the merciless jaws of countless trout ripping it to shreds. And at some point,
Today, I received my long awaited gyotaku print! In Japanese, “gyo” means “fish” and “taku” roughly translates to “rubbing”, so “gyotaku” could be translated as “fish rubbing”. Basically, the process involves painting a fish (literally), then laying a piece of washi paper over it, rubbing it to transfer the ink
To western fly tiers, typical tenkara flies like sakasa kebari might seem boring. After all, many of them are nothing more than hackle and a thread body. No wings, no tails, no intricate bodies. It might seem that if one wanted to fish tenkara flies exclusively, they’d quickly tire of
In tenkara, we talk a lot about level lines and tapered furled lines but there really isn’t much discussion on “weight forward” lines. Yes, I do mean “weight forward” in the western fly fishing sense. In fact, I had never even considered it until Tenkara Talk reader Tony Wee mentioned
Long before I started fishing tenkara, I had given up on wearing a vest. I guess one day I finally had enough of the heavy, bulky, and hot garment holding me back like a straightjacket. I didn’t use 90% of the stuff I carried in its multitude of pockets anyway
Recently, I tried out some red Amnesia for a tenkara level line. I was impressed with its high visibility, but not so much with the way it cast. Being nylon monofilament, it isn’t as dense as the fluorocarbon level lines I’m used to fishing and didn’t turn over as well.
The “Calligraphy Brush” is basically a slightly more dressed up version of the Kamikaze Kebari with cufflinks and a collar. The ingredients are almost the same except “the brush” is tied on a slightly longer hook to accomodate an ostrich herl thorax. The ostrich thorax gives a little meatiness to
Today, I got an email asking a question I get so often, that I thought it was worthy of a blog post: “I’m using sakasa kebari and having a hard time telling when a fish takes my fly. How can I tell?” The question came from an experienced western fly
Today, Karel from Tenkara on the Fly, Joe from Dragon Fly Fishing and I headed up to the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park to fish North Inlet Creek just above Grand Lake. I normally fish the east side of RMNP and haven’t been to the west side in
Not too long ago, I wrote a post about using Red Amnesia as a sighter for tenkara level lines. Having fished it for a while now, I can say really like it. The bright red Amensia is easy to see in all lighting conditions and makes it much easier to
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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