I see a lot of photos on the internet of people casting tenkara with their arm fully extended. While it might seem like a good idea at the time to gain a little extra reach, it can actually be detrimental to your presentation, and on stream stamina. The better alternative is simple: take a few…
Some rod manufacturers may cringe at me suggesting this tip to remove line twist when you’re winding your line on to the spool for fear of broken rod tips. But I have been using this technique for over two years and have never broken a rod. You just have to take the same care you…
I know this isn’t a great video but I’ve been getting a lot of interest in Eiji Yamakawa’s furled tenkara lines since my recent post. This is footage I took at the 2012 Tenkara Summit and while it was difficult to get a good shot because of all the people crowded around and I’m not…
A few tenkara anglers have asked me to take underwater video of sakasa kebari in motion in “real world conditions”. This proved to be a slightly more daunting task than I imagined. Here’s my first attempt. I’ll be the first to admit it’s not a great. It’s difficult to position the camera the right way,…
Some tenkara anglers in Japan prefer to tie their sakasa kebari on eyeless hooks. Rather than a metal ring for an eye, these flies have a loop of flexible material to which the tippet is tied. I’ve heard some people say that this connection gives the fly more movement in the water than flies with…
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…
I’ve always been a fan of the “S**t People Say” video series and thought it would be fun to make one about tenkara. Special thanks to TenkaraTalk readers Phil Echelman, Joe Egry, and Kevin Fricke for being in the video. WARNING: This video contains adult language.
Here’s a quick video I shot showing just how fast you can get your tenkara rod set up and ready to fish. Actually, I’m being a bit generous. If you count, it’s really only 43 seconds.
Tenkara line spools make both long-term storage and moving from spot to spot more organized and convenient. But just like every piece of gear, people will have their own preferences and demands. Today, we’re lucky to have a few different designs we can choose from to suit our individual needs. In this video, I cover just a few different designs and where you can buy them.
I recently got some eyeless tenkara hooks from Tenkara Bum and have been having a lot of fun trying out different patterns. But I was curious…are the claims about eyeless hooks having more action in the water true? So, I decided to do a (very unscientific) test and see. I tied two flies with identical materials, put them underwater, and took video so I coud compare.
Remember my post about tenkara’s diversity in simplicity? This video is a perfect example of that. In it, you will see a range of different tenkara casting techniques including the standard 10 o’clock / 12 o’clock overhand cast, the backhand (cross-chest) cast, sidearm cast, and the bow-and-arrow cast–but not just any bow-and-arrow cast.
I’ve been asked by several people to make a video showing the basic steps on how to tie a sakasa kebari so here it is. I chose a very simple pattern for the demo but you could easily substitute a lot of different materials to create a wide variety of patterns.
