“It depends”. That’s it. In the fly shop, I probably get 100 technical questions every day. “Which size tippet should I use?” “Should I get a 5 wt. or a 6 wt.?” “What are the best flies to use right now?” And my answer is always the same: “It depends.” Because it does depend. On…
Over the last several years, a debate has been raging in the fly fishing world that comes up so frequently, I thought it better to write out my position on it so I can link to it rather than explaining myself time after time. The debate centers around felt-soled wading boots vs. rubber, with the…
I’ve had a good talk with several veteran tenkara anglers and here are some of my thoughts on the current state of the tenkaraverse. I think we all really need to stick together and realize that even though the sport has grown, we’re still a niche within a niche, within a niche. We should all…
Lately, I’ve been flipping through the pages of some recent fly fishing catalogs and have been shocked by the prices. $800 for a rod? $500 for waders? $750 for a reel? I was disgusted by what companies were charging these days for gear that is slightly better than (or in some cases worse than) their…
I recently had to send a tenkara care package to a friend and thought it might be a good opportunity to clean up and organize some of my gear while I sifted through what to send–kill two birds with one stone. By the time I emptied the first bag (of several bins, bags, boxes and…
Daniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA swung by my new house today and gave a great forecast of the future of tenkara. Let’s listen …
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 fishing all the time.” The…
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 they walk on their own.…
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. This got me to wondering–was…
A few weeks ago, I went fishing with my good friend Dennis Vander Houwen. Neither of us had been out in a while so we were really looking forward to a much-needed day on the water. Everything started off fine–we were in good spirits, the weather was good for February–all indications pointed to smooth sailing and…
I’ve mentioned on many occasions that I don’t adhere to the tenkara “one fly” approach simply because I would quickly get bored tying the same pattern over and over again. To me, fly tying is as much fun as fly fishing and the monotony would ruin one of my favorite aspects of the sport. So,…
I’ve had several people ask me about what it takes to become a fly fishing guide. I was only a guide for a couple of years in my grad school days out of a shop in Boulder that was then managed by the great Charlie Craven. But in that short time through my own experiences…
At my neighborhood Starbucks, they used to have this fancy dispenser for those cardboard sleeves you slide over your to-go cup to prevent you from burning your hands while holding your $6 drink (probably to avoid a lawsuit). It was a clever design–a plastic box with two rows of sleeves spring-loaded like a Pez dispenser.…
Imagine listening to a symphony where the conductor put their baton back on the podium in between every motion they made with it. With the music stopping each time the baton is laid down, it would be painful to sit through. There would be no flow and the piece would probably take twice as long to…
You’ve probably seen the meme “Tenkara +” going around social media. It’s the idea that tenkara compliments other outdoor hobbies such as “tenkara + hiking”, “tenkara + mushroom hunting”, “tenkara + mountain biking”, etc. While the portability of tenkara gear certainly lends itself well to being combined with other activities, it got me to thinking…
This weekend, my family and I rented a condo in Estes Park that’s right on the Fall River. It was really a family trip, not a fishing trip, but I took my tenkara gear anyway. I’ve been caught off guard too many times without a rod after stumbling on to easy fishing opportunities. So now,…
Today, a reader requested that I do a post about my opinion on zoom rods. For those of you who don’t know what zoom rods are, they’re rods that can be extended to different lengths with sections that lock into position. I’m no expert on zoom rods and I’ve only tried a few, but as…
I’m not one of those tenkara anglers that only fishes one pattern. But I do only fish one fly at a time. There’s no idealogical reason behind it and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fishing a dropper or even a cast of flies. In fact, I fished droppers for years before I started…
More years ago than I care to admit, I worked in a fly shop that catered to a pretty mixed bag of characters. On any given day, anyone from Barbour-clad Bogdan reel collectors, to redneck bait chuckers could walk through the door. It was during a time I consider to be the pinnacle of fly…
As a beginning fly tier, one concept was thoroughly drilled into my brain by the cronies at the local fly shop: match the hatch. The “goal” of fly tying was to imitate specific species of insects and the more realistic the fly was, the better it was. It made perfect sense. The trout are eating…
“It’s simple.” Ask most anglers why they like tenkara and that’s probably the answer you’ll get. That was my stock answer too for a long time. But the overthinker in me started to wonder why does “simple” = “good”? After all, “simple” isn’t intrinsically good. If my doctor tells me I need a simple surgery,…
The other day, I was wondering where tenkara was most popular outside of Japan. I had a few suspicions and did some quick research on Google Trends to see if I could get any insights. What I found wasn’t shocking, but I must say I was pleased. According to Google Trends, the U.S. tops the…
I was talking to a tenkara gear designer the other day about the problem of trying to accurately describe rod action. The conversation was especially interesting to me because this is a problem I face every time I write a tenkara rod review (and one I’ve often been criticized for). Part of the problem lies with the…
In his book Purple Cow, Seth Godin wrote the following: While driving through France a few years ago, my family and I were enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing in lovely pastures right next to the road. For dozens of kilometers, we all gazed out the window, marveling at the beauty. Then, within…
In tenkara, a fairly esoteric group of anglers subscribe to the “one fly” approach where they strictly fish only one specific pattern (or slight variations of the same pattern). A larger group adheres to the more liberal “any fly” approach, meaning that they don’t necessarily restrict themselves to one particular pattern, but feel that any…
I just got back from a trip to Mexico where I had a chance to do a little bonefishing. You might be wondering why I’m posting about bonefishing on my tenkara blog but strangely enough, even though fishing for bones with a saltwater rig seems like a world apart, I had an experience that is…
Some of you might have stumbled on to the recent tenkara litigation (maybe the first in the history of the ancient sport). While I knew about it some time ago, I decided not to write about it for a variety of reasons. But this case did spark an online dialogue that piqued my interest about…
It’s not that I don’t want to. Believe me, I used to work in a fly shop and understand the value of having a place to gather to talk shop, exchange info on conditions and tell some good old fashioned fish stories. And, I do want to support local businesses. But unfortunately, most of the…
“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…
“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…
