Yesterday, one of my closest friends and fishing partners, Dennis Vander Houwen, came over as he often does for coffee and our usual conversational acrobatics of politics, culture, art, science, domesticity, gossip, and, of course, tenkara. I posted a video we made about his handmade tenkara line spools the last time he visited, and this…
Probably the thing I love most about fly tying is that there are limitless possibilities for experimentation and how each experiment builds on the lessons of previous ones. You take a certain technique or style you’ve tried in the past and blend it with another (previously disparate one) to create an entirely new avatar. You…
We’ve all been there before. You’re fishing your favorite line and it’s the perfect color for the spot you’re on. You can see the tip perfectly and detect even the gentlest strike with ease. But then, things change. Maybe you move slightly upstream where the lighting conditions are completely different, or the sun suddenly disappears…
I recently found these tenkara line cards during my weekly scouring of eBay for unique tenkara gear and thought they looked interesting, so I ordered a few (well … OK … eight). For those of you not familiar with line cards, they’re an alternative to using the popular plastic line spools and are nothing more…
In this video, I interview my long-time friend and fishing partner Karel Lansky about some of the differences between tenkara fishing in England and the States. Karel was one of the earliest adopters of tenkara in the U.S. and is the author of Tenkara on the Fly–one of the first tenkara blogs in the English…
One of the advantages of having a diverse background in fishing is that there can be some interesting crossover among the different genres. I’ve borrowed many tips, tactics and techniques from spin fishing, bait casting, deep sea fishing and (of course) western fly fishing that I’ve been able to incorporate into my tenkara fishing over…
I’ll admit it. I’ve been keeping a secret from you. I’ve had this rod for several months and am just now getting around to writing a review of it. It wasn’t on purpose. Life just gets in the way sometimes. But if anything, it’s give me a chance to really put through its paces and…
It’s September and for me, that means one thing: IT’S HOPPER TIME! While most people here in Denver will be spending their Sundays watching the Broncos game, you’ll find me pounding the banks of my favorite hopper stream: The Big Thompson meadow stretch in Rocky Mountain National Park. With its lazily meandering currents, deep pools,…
I’ll preface this by saying that that I’m probably not the first one to have thought of this. Whether it’s a new DIY alcohol stove design or a fly pattern I thought was original, it often turns out that someone else had already beaten me to it. But I came up with this design independent…
Here’s a quick video on how to use one of fly tying’s most iconic tools. It might seem intimidating to a beginner, but it’s actually quite easy to use if you follow these simple steps. On a side note, while they come in various designs, my favorite is this style because they rotate freely and last…
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been attracted to oddball gear–those esoteric things you discover off the beaten path that you’ll never find in the chain stores or mainstream fly fishing catalogs. It’s akin to treasure hunting and you need to be diligent–scouring thrift stores, searching eBay, and talking to unknown artisans. But once…
Over the course of my fly tying career, I’ve had the opportunity to try out a lot of hooks, and like many tiers, I’ve settled on a few favorites: the TMC 2457, TMC 2499 SPBL, Umpqua Competition Hooks, TMC 2488, TMC 100 (just to name a few). But I always like to experiment with new…
When I was first getting into fly fishing, there were basically three ways fly boxes stored flies: compartments, clips, or foam. There were some other clever designs companies like Perrine experimented with such as coil springs or magnets, but those never really took off and the trinity above dominated. Compartments were great for dry flies…
As fly tiers, we pride ourselves on the reward of catching fish on flies we tied ourselves. But what about catching fish on flies we tied ourselves using tools we made ourselves? I think taking tying to this next level deepens our connections to the humble origins of our craft and strengthens ourself-reliance as anglers.…