I just had an interesting exchange with a friend who is heading down to the San Juan River soon. He told me about how he was planning to fish a tandem rig with the river’s namesake pattern (the San Juan Worm) and a beadhead dropper. I relayed the story of how when I fished the…
Over the last four years, I’ve seen a lot of good tenkara products introduced to the market. Good, but not unique. There’s been somewhat of a homogenization in the offerings of new gear companies flooding the market with “good” but almost carbon copies of rods and other gear that already exists. In short, not many…
Further proof that tenkara is steadily growing, a new online retailer is about to enter the market. Tenkara Rod Co. has just launched a Kickstarter project to get their new line of tenkara rods off the ground. And based on their backing so far, it looks promising. Tenkara Rod Co. will initially offer two 12…
While there are plenty of tenkara lines I really like, when the opportunity presents itself, I will always jump at the chance to try out something new. I’ve cast everything from dental floss to dacron in search of the perfect line, and have always found myself coming back to fluorocarbon tenkara lines because of…
You may not have heard of Go Ishi, but you owe him a “thank you”. He is a Japanese tenkara angler who has quietly been the “invisible hand” opening up a great body of tenkara knowledge to the English-speaking world. Ishi-san translated the English language version of Tenkara no Oni’s Tenkara World website, as well…
For over 20 years, I’ve been fishing exclusively with barbless flies. And not just for trout–for bass, panfish, steelhead, salmon, and even saltwater fish. In fact, even before I started fly fishing, I used to crimp down the barbs on my spoons, spinners, and crankbaits too. Why? 3 simple reasons… 1. Better Hooksets A barb…
Did you know that when you buy the new level line from Tenkara USA you also get a free line holder? Neither did I (and maybe they don’t either). But since they’ve changed their packaging to include a new plastic spool design, I was curious to see if the wider diameter hole in the center of the spool…
Hello. My name is Jason and I’m a level line addict. So when Gary, a Tenkara Talk enabler reader offered to send me some Sunline Fluorocarbon Sniper BMS line, how could I refuse? Even though there are already plenty of good fluorocarbon lines out there, I love to try out as many as I can in…
I’m no stranger to Tenkara Centre UK rods. I’ve reviewed their Masu and Seiryu rods so when I had the chance to try out their new Hamon rod, the expectations were already set. In my experience, their rods feature crisp actions and consistently high quality components. And the Hamon did not disappoint. Action [wpcol_1half id=””…
Every once in a while, I like to step back and take a look at the state of the tenkaraverse. This week, a couple of things in social media really made me pause and think. And I think it gave me a couple of insights into the current state of tenkara outside Japan. The first…
The Takayama sakasa kebari is a classic tenkara fly that is tied in many color variations. But basically, it’s characterized by having a thread abdomen, a peacock thorax, and forward facing hackle. My first encounter with this fly was the red version so that’s what I chose to base my interpretation on. Here’s my recipe…
Years ago, a friend of mine who had returned from a fishing trip in Tasmania told me about an unusual practice that the local anglers did there. He told me that they sanded down the blanks of their fly rods with sandpaper. My first thought was, “why on earth would anyone take sandpaper to a…
