A few years ago, I remember seeing a curious piece of gear worn by iconic some Japanese tenkara anglers (including Dr. Ishigaki): knee and shin guards. Basically, they were black neoprene “leggings” worn over waders that had padded knees and were secured with Velcro straps. I had never seen anything of the sort in the…
DetailsZoom rods are becoming more and more popular in tenkara these days due to their versatility and their ability to “dial in” the action to one’s liking. They’re versatile because they can adjust from one to two or three different lengths allowing you to reign in the rod tip in tighter quarters, and then “zoom”…
DetailsA “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…
DetailsI come from a place where tight streams are the norm and fighting against riparian vegetation is just something you accept. But since I’ve moved to Colorado (15 years ago), that hasn’t really been a challenge for me. There are plenty of streams that offer you all the casting space in the world due to…
DetailsEven though in the last few years I’ve almost exclusively fished subsurface flies like sakasa kebari since adopting tenkara for trout, during the course of my overall fly fishing career, I’ve probably used gallons of fly floatant on dry flies; mostly paste such as Loon’s Aquel. And while it’s effective, I’ve never been happy with the application…
DetailsWhen I first started tenkara back in 2009, almost all interaction with fellow tenkara anglers was online–a handful of blogs, a few Facebook groups, and half a handful of Twitter posts. But there weren’t really any venues to physically connect early adopters from the web in person. That all changed with the first Tenkara Summit…
DetailsToday, I got a nice care package in the mail from Robb over at Creekside Kebari & Fly Company. We initially agreed to just do a simple sticker swap for one of my new stickers, but Robb also sent a sample some of the flies he sells on his website and I thought they were…
DetailsWhen we think of tenkara lines, we tend to think either of tapered, braided monofilament lines or level fluorocarbon lines. Undoubtedly, those are the two most popular kinds used today; however, there is another type of line you may not be familiar with that’s a little more (shall we say) “esoteric”. There’s a small number…
DetailsWe’re less than two months away from what might be the largest tenkara gathering in the West to date. The Tenkara Jam in Cherokee, North Carolina will feature some of the most influential anglers and early adopters of tenkara in the West including: Daniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA who initially imported tenkara to the U.S.…
DetailsIf you’re looking for a good book to curl up with this fall, I highly recommend “The History of Fly-Fishing In Fifty Flies” by Ian Whitelaw with Illustrations by Julie Spyropoulos. Not only does this masterpiece trace the development of fly fishing in the West through innovations in fly design and materials but also spins…
DetailsLately, 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…
DetailsWhen I first heard about the new Suzume tenkara rod from Zen Fly Fishing, my first thought was, “arrgh, here comes another ‘me too’ rod”. I really had no interest in trying another one but I got the opportunity to test one out with the company’s owner Karin Miller on a recent trip to Rocky…
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