When 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…
Say that 10 times fast! A while ago, I wrote a post about a titanium line I got from Tenkara Times (click here for that review). In case you missed the memo, titanium lines slice through wind like a lightsaber through butter making them an excellent choice when the gales make it nearly impossible to…
That’s right. Titanium. As in the metal. Believe it or not, some tenkara anglers in Japan use lines made of thin titanium wire instead of fluorocarbon or nylon. This might seem strange, but titanium lines have some interesting properties that give them some distinct advantages. I recently got to try out a titanium line that…
Thom 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…
Tom Davis and Jason Klass list the types of gear designs and trends they’d like to see manufacturers adopt (and a few they’d like to see phased out). If you like to talk about your “dream gear” and explore trends in tenkara tackle, this episode is for you!
Every angler new to tenkara will inevitably face the age-old question: should I use a level line or a furled line? Often, it’s phrased, “which one is better?” My answer is (of course) it depends. But that answer can seem somewhat dismissive and disappointing. Instead, I thought I’d offer a more definitive answer–outlining the pros…
My first “tenkara net” was the one Daniel Galhadro (founder of Tenkara USA) gave me back in 2011. It was the original Tenkara USA tamo and for a while, was one of only a handful of authentic Japanese style nets available (at least as far as we knew). It was the perfect size for the…
As tenkara anglers, we like to push the boundaries and experiment with different techniques and tackle. One area of our sport that particularly lends itself to R & D is using unconventional materials for lines. While early lines may have been constructed of furled or braided horse tail or silk, commercially available modern lines have…
A common concern in tenkara (and a valid one) is casting in the wind. Of course, there are ways to mitigate this and there’s been much discussion on the topic: adjust your casting stroke, use a heavier line, use the blow line technique, use a titanium tenkara line, etc. But to me, a much bigger…
Where I come from, nymphing meant two things by default: 1). a heavily weighted fly and 2). a high-floating strike indicator (usually the bulky teardrop type with a toothpick stopper). That was an effective rig on a 5 wt. It’s the perfect balance between sinking the fly and getting a visual indication of the take…
Tenkara is a traditional form of fly fishing from Japan. It was developed in remote mountain villages by commercial fishermen who were mostly cut off from the outside world and had to make their own equipment with what little resources they had available to them. Early rods were bamboo, the lines were made of horsehair,…
“Man cave”, “gear room”, “fishing room”, “sanctuary”…no matter what you call it, we all have our special little corners of the world where we gather our gear, come up with new creations, or just generally meditate on our sport (even if it’s just a corner of the garage). This is mine. And I’d like to…
In tenkara, a fairly esoteric group of anglers subscribe to the “one fly” approach where they strictly fish only one specific pattern (or slight variations of the same pattern). A larger group adheres to the more liberal “any fly” approach, meaning that they don’t necessarily restrict themselves to one particular pattern, but feel that any…
Tenkara Links & Resources 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 USAIf I could recommend only one…