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…
DetailsWhere I come from, nymphing meant two things by default: 1). a heavily weighted fly and 2). a high-floating strike indicator (usually the bulky teardrop type with a toothpick stopper). That was an effective rig on a 5 wt. It’s the perfect balance between sinking the fly and getting a visual indication of the take…
DetailsDaniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA swung by my new house today and gave a great forecast of the future of tenkara. Let’s listen …
DetailsWhen I first started tying flies, I didn’t have a dedicated space to do it; let alone tools or materials. I literally took snelled hooks, smashed down the baitholder barbs on the shanks with needle-nose pliers, and secured them in the corner of my dad’s tool vise on his workbench in the basement. For materials, I…
DetailsFor 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 fish fluorocarbon level lines since…
DetailsWhen 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 gained an intimate knowledge of…
DetailsMy 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…
DetailsThe 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.…
DetailsFor 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, you can see why. There…
DetailsWe’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, and a seeming raft of…
DetailsBack 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. Some people love it, some…
DetailsNot 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 icon Jim Teeny. Here is…
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