Let’s face it, when it comes to fly fishing accessories, retractors (AKA “zingers”) aren’t the sexiest things. We tend to focus on rods, flies, lines, and other things that are more exciting. But when we get right down to it, we all rely on supplementary tools to help us with our streamcraft. And that so…
I know most of you probably don’t and might consider it completely unnecessary, but I carry a fishing wallet. It’s where I keep my license, national park pass, emergency cash, business cards and other sundries. Until recently, I was carrying a Travax wallet which works great, but is a little bulky. So in my ongoing…
Here’s a simple hack I came up with to carry my thermometer on my new Yonah Tenkara pack which allows me to clip it to my net in order to get a better reach. This just makes it easier to get the thermometer a little deeper so I’m not merely measuring the surface and easier…
Like many of you, I am continually striving to improve my on-stream carry system and I feel like I make small increments of progress with every iteration. For years, I’ve been carrying a Fishpond San Juan chest pack and it’s served me well. Every so often, I browse sites like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, searching…
Sling packs have become all the rage in fly fishing over the last few years–and for good reason. They’re light, compact, versatile, and offer a unique hybrid alternative to wearing both a backpack and a fly fishing vest without sacrificing the convenience and functionality of either. And the intrinsic ethos of their design is especially…
A “fishing” wallet? Yes, a fishing wallet. And it’s not a metaphor for an arsenal of techniques or secrets I carry on the stream or anything more interesting like that. I’m talking about an actual, mundane, physical wallet. For years, I’ve kept a dedicated wallet in my kit to carry certain fishing-related sundries I don’t…
Here’s a video of how I set up the Tenkara Guide Sling Pack from Zimmerbuilt to be my ideal carry system for tenkara fishing around Colorado. This pack was designed by the Tenkara Guides in Utah to be a tenkara-specific pack but could also be used for conventional fly fishing. How do you carry your tenkara…
Many anglers have a fishing office (i.e. man cave) where they have their fly tying desk, gear, and where they like to put their tenkara rods on display. Some people have built their own tenkara rod racks, or used an off-the-shelf solution like these pool cue racks to show off their rods. But the innovative…
“Man cave”, “gear room”, “fishing room”, “sanctuary”…no matter what you call it, we all have our special little corners of the world where we gather our gear, come up with new creations, or just generally meditate on our sport (even if it’s just a corner of the garage). This is mine. And I’d like to…
Over the last four years, I’ve seen a lot of good tenkara products introduced to the market. Good, but not unique. There’s been somewhat of a homogenization in the offerings of new gear companies flooding the market with “good” but almost carbon copies of rods and other gear that already exists. In short, not many…
Right out of the box, I loved my Fishpond San Juan chest pack. I’ve had it for about 2 years now and during that time, I’ve discovered a few tricks that make this great pack even better. 1. Added an External Tippet Dispenser I wanted a way to be able to pull out tippet…
Tenkara USA recently introduced their first minimalist fishing pack and I got one this weekend at the Denver Fly Fishing Show. Here is a brief review… The pack immediately reminded me in many ways of a UL pack I designed years ago called the Trico. It’s compact, lightweight, and designed to be carried multiple ways,…
The RIBZ front pack is a very versatile pack for backpacking, hiking, skiing, and pretty much any outdoor pursuit. I think it also makes a great pack for tenkara when you don’t need a full vest, but need to carry a little more than will fit in a chest pack.
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 so why carry it? I…
I just got word that the newly redesigned Stream Pack from TrailLite Designs will be available next week on the Tenkara Bum website. If the name TrailLite Designs sounds familiar, it’s probably because you know them as the creator of the Ebira Rod Quiver–an ingenious tenkara accessory which happens to have been named by yours…
I finally decided to replace my 15-year-old Orvis gear bag with something a little more modern and technical. At my local Bass Pro Shops, I found the White River gear bag–a feature packed bag that is perfect for tenkara as well as other types of fly fishing. After comparing it to several other bags, this…
After a recent discussion with Karel from Tenkara on the Fly, I finally decided to sit down and do something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: put together a tenkara kit to leave in my car for when those unexpected fishing opportunities present themselves. The conversation went something like this… We were…
After reading Mike’s post about a tenkara rod rack over at Troutrageous!, I just had to drag myself over to Walmart to buy one (actually two). Using my iPhone level app and a cordless drill, I had both racks installed in a corner of my man cave in about 10 minutes. Of course, these aren’t…
I have been using the Fishpond San Juan chest pack for a while now on a variety of streams and really like it for tenkara fishing. I couldn’t find one locally, but luckily, Colorado Skies Outfitters (my local fly shop here in Parker) was cool enough to pick one up from their distributor and got me…
I went a little crazy tonight building level lines with my girth hitch attachment method and it quickly became apparent to me that I’d need a way to store and organize them. So, I bought a bunch of 3″ X 4″ plastic bags at Michael’s and printed out some inserts that allow me to write…
A lot of people have asked me what I carry in my pack for UL fly fishing and backpacking trips so I thought I’d do a quick video about it. It’s called the Trico and I’d be curious to hear what others carry and see if it’s similar to my setup or what other gear…
As a semi-minimalist who likes to combine outdoor sports (yeah, you guessed it: backpacking and fly fishing), I’m always on the lookout for multi-purpose gear to enhance my outings without adding a lot of bulk and weight. Enter the RIBZ front pack. Wear it up the trail to balance out your load and make your…
I just got back from field testing a prototype of an ultralight leader wallet I’m designing. The idea is to create a super light, super compact wallet that will store 3-6 leaders and keep them from tangling. I’ve been looking for ultralight ultra-compact leader wallets for a while and found that like ultralight fly fishing…
This was a fly fishing pack I always wanted but didn’t exist. So I designed it myself. PLEASE NOTE: The Trico is no longer available as I’ve been unable to secure a new sewer to produce it. If you’ve got a lead on someone who will and help me put it back into production, please…
The Ebira is a rod quiver for tenkara fly rods such as Tenkara USA rods and the Backpacking Light Hane. It features a removable pocket to hold a fly box and tippet spools that can be accessed without taking the quiver off. “Ebira” means “quiver” in Japanese and while they were traditionally worn over the…
A while back, I wrote about a simple fly fishing setup for backpacking. As fly fishers, we have an intrinsic advantage when it comes fishing on overnight and multi-day backpacking trips. Unlike other styles of fishing, we aren’t condemned to carrying heavy, bulky tackle like spinning reels, weighted lures, etc. However, fly fishers also tend…
I’m one of those people who likes to fish my way up to my campsite. I’m usually not wading so leaving my pack on while I hit pocket water along the way is my typical MO. Yet, I want quick access to my flies, floatant, nippers, and tippet. Here’s a great little pouch you can…
