After many years of going “netless” I have recently become a strong advocate for using nets. I used to use a net when I fished for larger browns and rainbows back east. But for the small fish I was mostly catching since I moved to the Rockies, I always thought a net wasn’t really necessary…
DetailsToday, I got some fluorocarbon tenkara level line and a nice note from Chris Stewart of Tenkarabum.com. Chris is a level line guru and has tried just about every type of level line out there but also encourages experimentation. So I was delighted when he sent me a couple of “extras” to try out. The…
DetailsI headed over to my local fly shop today to pick up some hooks and there happened to be a fly fishing class going on. While I was scouring the hook wall trying to find some #16s, I was eavesdropping, listening to what the instructor was saying. And it was painful. The “class” listened in…
DetailsIn my last post, I talked about some of my experiments with epoxy sakasa kebari (reverse hackle tenkara flies). I was tying some more at my desk tonight and an idea struck me… Many tenkara wet flies use a bright-colored thread between the eye of the hook and where the hackle begins. It could be…
DetailsSeveral years ago, I started tying epoxy midges to fish a very tough local spring creek in Western New York. The flies themselves were developed in the UK and were brilliantly simple, yet deceptively effective. Across the pond, they’re called “epoxy buzzers” and are mostly fished in larger sizes on big reservoirs. But I…
DetailsMany people talk about high visibility fluorocarbon level lines for Tenkara fly fishing and I’ve recently gotten into them. As a predominantly dry fly fisher, I really don’t “see” (get it) the need for this. And, I think in certain situations, it’s best to have a line you can cast over the fish without scaring…
DetailsAt the risk of sounding overly sentimental or cheesy, I’ll confess that I like wet wading because I feel that it gives me a better connection to the river and fish. I suppose I acquired this feeling a long time ago when I was fly fishing in the surf for Striped Bass and Bluefish in…
DetailsIf you’re like me, you dig level fluorocarbon lines for Tenkara fishing but miss the convenience of the girth hitch knot that the traditional furled lines offer. Luckily, there’s a simple technique you can use to get all the benefits of fishing a level line with the convenience of the braided loop connection. Here’s how……
DetailsThe last three weekends, I’ve been hitting Bear creek at Lair O’ the Bear Campground. The first trip was with a group Tenkara outing organized by Karel Lansky of the Tenkara on the Fly blog. With a mix of new and experienced Tenkara anglers, this was a blast and we will be organizing more trips…
DetailsThe picture above is the first Tenkara fly I ever fished and is the first fly I ever caught a fish with using a Tenkara rod. It’s retired now and a little worse for wear with a tail missing and the dubbing roughed up. But it sits on a shelf in my fly tying…
DetailsIn my last post, I wrote about how to choose a tenkara fly line. Many people had questions about how to attach a level line to their Tenkara fly rods so I thought it would be helpful to post a quick video on it so here it is. I hope this helps: If you’re not…
DetailsAs Tenkara continues to gain momentum is the U.S., the number of choices in gear seems to have multiplied overnight. In particular, many new line makers have appeared giving Tenkara anglers a wide range of choices in color, length, and tippet connection. A common question many people new to the sport have is which…
DetailsYou know you’re a Tenkara addict when… You can name more species of trout in Japanese than you can in English You wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after having nightmares about losing your rod’s plug You feel personally insulted when someone refers to Tenkara as “dapping”…
DetailsThom Darrah from TrailLite Designs has hit another home run for ultralight tenkara anglers and backpacking fly fishers. You may know Thom as the inventor of the Ebira Rod Quiver. Now, Thom has set his sites on nets and has designed what might just be the lightest fly fishing net in the world. The Ti…
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