Top 3 Tenkara Links

There are a lot of links in the list below and if you’re new to tenkara, it can be overwhelming. I recommend you start with these three sites to get a solid foundation on tenkara basics before exploring the others.

Tenkara USA
If I could recommend only one tenkara site to visit, this would be it. My long time friend and tenkara mentor Daniel Galhardo singlehandedly introduced tenkara to the west. He is responsible for getting more westerners into tenkara than anyone else and since their founding in 2009, Tenkara USA has not only developed a full range of widely popular and beloved gear, but also a huge archive of articles, videos, podcasts and more. The wealth of knowledge in their tenkara forums alone is astounding. And they were the first to organize tenkara conferences, brining together tenkara anglers from around the country and the globe. This is hands down the #1 tenkara site today.

Tenkara Bum
One of the oldest and most respected tenkara purveyors in the U.S. run by one of the most respected tenkara anglers in the U.S.: Chris Stewart. This site has everything. A huge selection of Japanese tenkara and fixed-line rods, tons of fly tying materials, tenkara accessories, and a wealth of articles, tips, and resources on tenkara. You could spend all day on this site and you will keep coming back to it again and again. A must-visit for anyone interested in tenkara–no matter what your skill level.

Discover Tenkara
From the UK, Paul Gaskell and John Pearson have created undoubtedly the most in-depth content on traditional tenkara and modern techniques with an academic angle. They’ve produced an outstanding series of high-production value DVDs as well as comprehensive tutorials covering every aspect of tenkara, from the technical to the philosophical. If you want to get your PhD in tenkara, here is where you apply.

Tenkara Gear Sellers

All Fishing Buy
A good selection of Daiwa tenkara rods, tenkara lines, and accessories, plus lots of other fixed-line fishing gear.

Anglo & Co
A Japanese company specializing in ultra-premium tenkara and custom fly rods..

Creekside Kebari
Possibly the best-tied tenkara flies available online. Based in my hometown of Buffalo, NY, they sell via Etsy.

Dragon Flyfishing
Expertly tied conventional and tenkara flies by my friend Joseph Egry.

Dragontail Tenkara
Great selection of price ranges on tenkara rods, lines, packs, accessories and fly tying materials from hardcore tenkara anglers.

Esoteric Tackle
From my Friend Daniel Hall on the Isle of Man, the name says it all-very unique tenkara gear painstakingly designed to fit the unique needs of technical tenkara anglers.

Fly Fishing Artwork (bamboo rod cases)
My friend Richard Kolodny makes the most breathtaking handcrafted bamboo tenkara rod cases on the planet. Each one is 100% unique and of museum and heirloom quality.

FlyTyingYarn.com

If you enjoyed my articles about the virtues of tying tenkara flies with yarn but don’t want to be forced into buying a multi-lifetime supply, this is your site. FlyTyingYarns.com offers small batches of almost every color of Shetland Spindrift yarn at a reasonable price so you can expand your tying library without a huge upfront investment. Note: this yarn is great for non-tenkara flies too!

Fountainhead
Extremely affordable entry level rods form a company that’s got a proven track record. Lot’s of people have come into tenkara with a Fountainhead rod.

Moonlit Fly Fishing
Really innovative tenkara lines from a maker with extensive experience in the ancient art of furling.

PLAT Fishing Tackle
Wide selection of Shimano, Nissin, Daiwa, Gamakatsu, and other Japanese rods and tenkara gear.

RIGS Fly Shop
Based in Colorado, they’re a Tenkara USA dealer and also offer a full range of conventional fly fishing gear such as clothing, waders, and more.

Streamside Leaders
THE place to go for furled tenkara lines. There is no place with a larger selection of lengths, materials, and colors. You design your own line and they make it. If you can imagine it, they can build it.

Team Oni USA
An offshoot of Tenkara Guides, LLC, this is the exclusive dealer in the U.S. for (my favorite) Oni Tenkara Rods.

Tenkara Adventure Outfitters
This is the company that took over the popular line of Badger tenkara rods when they decided to close shop. Excellent people who are really passionate about tenkara.

Tenkara Bum
One of the oldest and most respected tenkara purveyors in the U.S. run by one of the most respected tenkara anglers in the U.S.: Chris Stewart. This site has everything. A huge selection of Japanese tenkara and fixed-line rods, tons of fly tying materials, tenkara accessories, and a wealth of articles, tips, and resources on tenkara. You could spend all day on this site and you will keep coming back to it again and again. A must-visit for anyone interested in tenkara–no matter what your skill level.

Tenkara Customs
Looking to build your own tenkara rod? This is the place to get tenkara blanks and rod-building kits.

Tenkara Fly Shop
Diverse selection of quality tenkara flies from a real fly-tyer’s fly tyer! They also offer some tying materials and handmade wooden fly boxes.

Tenkara on eBay
Why not? Some of my best tenkara gear finds have come from eBay! But, the selection is ever-changing so you have to check back frequently to catch them.

Tenkara Path
One-of-a-kind handmade wooden tenkara line spools and fly tying spools. Gorgeous workmanship, heirloom quality and innovative designs.

Tenkara Prim
Russian site with a basic seleciton of mid-range rods and basic tenkara accessories.

Tenkara Pyrenees
One of the preeminent tenkara companies in the EU with a slant towards “Euro-nymphing”. They design their own rods and sell a range of tenkara flies and Euro Nymphs.

Tenkara Rod Co.
With a full range of great all around tenkara rods and accessories, they also offer complete kits for one-stop shopping if you’re starting from scratch or want to give the gift of tenkara to someone else.

Tenkara Tanuki
If Oni rods are my favorite, Tanuki rods are my second favorite. These are premium rods meticulously designed in California by my friend and experienced designer Luong Tam. These are among the lightest, highest quality, and most responsive rods available today.

Tenkara Times
Long time friend and expert tenkara angler Oleg Stryapunin offers amazingly light rods in a variety of actions and unique accessories such as titanium lines. Built on Japanese blanks, Oleg’s rods are considered among the best from entry to expert level. They also offer proves tenkara flies and a wide selection of general purpose and specialty lines.

Tenkara USA
If I could recommend only one tenkara site to visit, this would be it. My long time friend and tenkara mentor Daniel Galhardo singlehandedly introduced tenkara to the west. He is responsible for getting more westerners into tenkara than anyone else and since their founding in 2009, Tenkara USA has not only developed a full range of widely popular and beloved gear, but also a huge archive of articles, videos, podcasts and more. The wealth of knowledge in their tenkara forums alone is astounding. And they were the first to organize tenkara conferences, brining together tenkara anglers from around the country and the globe. This is hands down the #1 tenkara site today.

Tenkara-Ya
If you read this blog, you’ve already seen a lot of gear from Tenkara-Ya. It’s a Japanese site, but in English and western friendly with fast shipping and excellent customer service. Keiichi Okushi offers a full lineup of Japanese rods, modern and traditional flies tied by famous Japanese tenkara anglers, unique wooden fly boxes, Japanese tenkara lines, and more. Like eBay, you have to check back from time because he occasionally lists limited supplies of some really interesting gear you won’t find anywhere else. And if you’re looking for Japanese gear that you can’t find, he accepts custom orders.

TrailLite Designs
My old backpacking buddy Thom Darrah designs really innovative tenkara carry systems such ad the famous “Ebira” rod quiver (which I actually named and help test) and the ultralight tenkara net. This site should be on the radar of anyone who loves to combine ultralight backpacking and fly fishing.

Wastach Tenkara Rods
Formed by two veteran fly anglers, Wasatch offers high quality tenkara rods, lines and accessories. They also run full and half-day guided trips in Utah as well as online tenkara lessons for those just getting started.

Yonah Packs
Ultralight, minimalist tenkara-specific chest and hip packs with impeccable construction and clever features. My pack of choice for most of my day-long outings is their Tenkara Simple Pack.

ZimmerBuilt
No matter how you want or need to carry your tenkara gear, you’ll find the solution here. Chris Zimmer offers a complete range of backpacks, slings, chest packs, and strap packs tailored to the tenkara angler to fit literally any situation–from UL quickies, to multi-day excursions, to guide trips. They’re ultralight, but made of bombproof materials with clever features you’ll appreciate on the water. I own several of their packs

Zen Outfitters
Good selection of presentation-specific furled lines including some more traditional silk lines made in Boise, Idaho.

Zen Tenkara
Another good friend and probably the most avid tenkara angler I know, Karin Miller has taken it upon herself to “define American tenkara”. In addition to more standard small-stream rods, she specializes in big-game rods and has successfully pushed the envelope of what fixed-line rods are capable of–shattering all preconceived limitations. If you want to try going after big salmon or saltwater fish, you’ll want a Zen rod in your hands, and you’ll definitely want to get in touch with Karin and tap her brain.

Tenkara Forums & Resources

10 Colors Tenkara
A very active forum with a lot of highly knowledgable tenkara anglers covering a wide variety of topics. This is a great place if you like to discuss tenkara gear and techniques in-depth, learn more about fishing in Japan, or are looking to buy some pre-owned rods and other gear.

Angling Knots
Great selection of knot diagrams for general fishing and tenkara-specific.

Animated Knots
The best knot resource online for any application. Clear, easy-to-follow color-coded animations make learning to tie even the most complicated knots simple.

Tenkara Knots
Generic knot site but with a few simple tenkara diagrams.

Colorado Tenkara Anglers
A Facebook group I created in 2010 to help tenkara anglers in Colorado share intel on stream conditions, access points, local gatherings and just generally keep a finger on the pulse of tenkara in CO.

Discover Tenkara
From the UK, Paul Gaskell and John Pearson have created undoubtedly the most in-depth content on traditional tenkara and modern techniques with an academic angle. They’ve produced an outstanding series of high-production value DVDs as well as comprehensive tutorials covering every aspect of tenkara, from the technical to the philosophical. If you want to get your PhD in tenkara, here is where you apply.

FOAL Tenkara Forum
This is a sub-forum of the more general fly fishing forum Fly Anglers Online. It’s quite active, but being attached to the fly fishing community at large makes it prone to bouts of immaturity, politics, and some misinformation. Luckily, there are enough experienced tenkara anglers there to mostly keep it in check.

My Best Streams
One of my all-time favorite tenkara sites! One of the only English-language Japanese sites where you can find detailed information on the history of traditional tenkara flies curated by the renowned Yoshikazu Fujioka. A fun read if you just want to casually explore a little of tenkara’s history and an encyclopedia if you want to try tying some traditional patterns.

Tenkara Austria
Good all around German-language site with lots of information on tenkara gear, techniques and flies.

Tenkara Fly Fishing
No longer updated but another good German-language tenkara resource.

Tenkara Overview
Wikipedia article on tenkara. Superficial but a resource to link to if a reference is needed.

Tenkara Style
No longer updated, but good backlog of Russian-language posts

Tenkara USA
As mentioned above, lots of videos, podcasts, articles, forums, and blog posts.

UK Tenkara Forum
Defunct, but some a catalogue of old posts about tenkara fishing in the UK.

Tenkara Blogs

Over the years, many tenkara blogs have come and gone (mostly gone) but even the ones that are no longer active can still provide a back catalogue of good content. Some of these are completely tenkara-specific, while others are broader fly fishing blogs, but with a heavy tenkara focus.

American Sakasa Kebari

A Pesca Col Muc

Arikebari (Italian)

Casting Around

Mosqueando en las Sierras

My Tenkara’s Photo Story

Northwest Tenkara

Sakasa Kebari

Simple Angler

Tenkara Ambassador

Tenkara Bum

Tenkara Days

Tenkara Elevated

Tenkara Enso

Tenkara Fisher

Tenkara Fishing (Brasil)

Tenkara Fly Fishing

Tenkara Grasshopper

Tenkara in Siberia (Russian)

Tenkara Journey

Tenkara Normandie

Tenkara on the Fly

Tenkara no Oni (English)

Tenkara Path

Tenkara Rising

Tenkara Sasquatch

Tenkara Sweden

Tenkara Takes Manhattan

Tenkara Tales

Tenkara Tippets

Tenkara Tracks

Tenkara Truth

Teton Tenkara

Tenkara USA Blog

Tenkara Wandering

Troutrageous

Tying Tenkara

Tenkara Youtube Channels

The next best thing to learning tenkara techniques in person is by video and today, there are literally thousands of tenkara videos on Youtube. So grab your popcorn and dig in!

Badger Tenkara

Discover Tenkara

DRAGONtail Tenkara

Fisherman’s Spoon

Fumi A

Go Tenkara

Luong Tam (Tenkara Tanuki)

Masami Sakakibara (AKA Tenkara no Oni)

Tenkara Addict

Tenkara Canada

Tenkara Friuli

Tenkara Guides

Tenkara Man

Tenkara Rod Co.

Tenkara Tracks

Tenkara USA

Teton Tenkara

Utah Tenkara

Zenmai Man

Zen Tenkara

Tenkara Facebook Groups & Pages

Facebook still remains the most active social media platform for tenkara anglers to share techniques, get recommendations for gear, places to go, DIY tips, and have philosophical discussions about tenkara. Many of the groups organize local events and joining a few of them is a great way to stay current with the state of tenkara.

American Tenkara Anglers

Appalachian Tenkara Anglers

Colorado Tenkara Anglers

Colorado Tenkara Club

Reverse Hackle Tenkara

Rocky Mountain Tenkara Anglers

Tenkara & Western Fly Fishing

Tenkara Anglers

Tenkara Anglers of Northern California & Nevada

Tenkara Anglers Pub

Tenkara Australia

Tenkara Fishers of Utah

Tenkara Grasshopper

Tenkara Italy

Tenkara Japan

Tenkara Oregon

Tenkara Texas

Tenkara Wisconsin

Tsurikichi Tenkara

Warmwater Tenkara

Tenkara Guide Services

The number of professional guides offering tenkara trips had exploded. Anyone who has taken a guided trip will tell you that it’s one of the best ways to get into tenkara and reduce your learning curve. I personally know many of these guides and shops and they are all excellent anglers and instructors.

5280 Angler
Colorado

Colorado Fly Fishing Guides
Colorado

Crosscurrents Fly Shop
Montana

Dakota Anglers
South Dakota

Fins and Feathers
Montana

Frying Pan Anglers
Colorado

GEAR Colorado
Colorado

Royal Gorge Anglers
Colorado

Montana Hunting Fishing Adventures
Montana

Mossy Creek Fly Fishing
Virginia

Mountain Angler
Colorado

R & R Fly Fishing
North Carolina

Rigs Fly Shop
Colorado

Tenkara Guides
Utah

Tenkara Norway
Norway

Utah Tenkara Guide
Utah

Northern Colorado School of Fly Fishing
Colorado

Vail Valley Anglers
Colorado

Japanese Tenkara Sites

When you’re ready to dig a little deeper into the roots of tenkara in its homeland, exploring some of the Japanese sites is a fun and interesting endeavor. Most of them are in Japanese but can be translated via Google translate. The translations are “quirky” but enough to give you a sense of the meaning.

Fallfish Tenkara

Fuji Hiromichi

Gorky Tenkara Fisher

Harima Tenkara Club

Isao’s Blog KW’s Blog

Masami Sakakibara’s Tenkara World

My Best Streams

N Mountain’s Blog

Prince Tenkara

Tenkara Train

Tenkara Each Day

Tenkara Guide

Tenkara no Oni’s Blog

Tenkara.com

Tenkaraman’s Youtube Channel

Yoshida Kebari

Tenkara Print Publications

When I first started tenkara, there wasn’t a lot in print in English. There still isn’t a lot compared to western fly fishing, but it’s growing and there will be more to come (wink).

Tenkara–the Book

Tenkara Angler Magazine

Tenkara: Radically Simple, Ultralight Flyfishing

Tenkara Flyfishing: Insights & Strategies

Tenkara Magazine

Tenkara Today

Who’s Missing?

Is there a good tenkara-related site you think should be listed above? While I try to keep this page up to date, there are new tenkara sites coming online all the time. So if I’ve missed one, please feel free to post it in the comments section below and I’ll add it.