How many times have you been in the middle of winding your line on your spool, only to suddenly lose your grip sending your spool flying down the bank (or worse, into the river) and unravelling your whole line? This happens because most tenkara line spools are round (they are “spools” after all). I recently…
Yesterday, the video below appeared on YouTube. It’s a video of Tenkara no Oni testing the casting action and fish fighting ability of the two new rods he’s launching soon. Please note: that’s not a real fish in the video. From this post on his blog, we know that the new rod will be offered…
This weekend wrapped up the 2014 Denver Fly Fishing Show and while I didn’t see much there that was innovative, I wasn’t disappointed. This was for two reasons. First, vendors have pretty much the same gear every year. I rarely see anything new or anything that surprises me so I go with pretty low expectations.…
Most people probably know Mike Agneta as the author of the wildly popular Troutrageous blog. But very few know that he is also one of the world’s preeminent authorities on Tenkara Sasquatch–an elusive bigfoot-like hominid thought to inhabit remote mountain areas and sustain itself by tenkara fishing. I wanted to know more about this fascinating…
I know a little about fly rod design from working in the industry for a few years. But the other day, it occurred to me that I know absolutely nothing about what goes into designing and building a tenkara rod. So out of curiosity, I turned to Tenkara USA founder Daniel Galhardo to get a…
Most tenkara line spools I’ve tried have been either plastic or wood, so I was intrigued when I saw the spools from Tenkara Pyrenees that are made entirely of cork. I liked the idea since a.) it’s unique, b.) it floats, and c.) the entire spool is made from a material that lets you stick the fly…
When I was 15, I got my first fly box. I can’t recall exactly what it was, but I remember it being just a cheap plastic box from K-mart (probably a Plano). Back then, I was too preoccupied with learning how to cast and the basics of fly fishing to be concerned with what kind…
You won’t get far in your research on tenkara without coming across the Tenkara Bum website. It’s one of the best resources for learning about tenkara and one of the most popular online stores with a wide range of gear. But many might not know much about the man behind it. Chris Stewart was one of the…
I’ve always been drawn to unique gear and have a special penchant for interesting tenkara line holders. I have a wooden line spool that I got at the Tenkara Summit that was handmade by Dr. Ishigaki’s friend. It’s gorgeous (see it here) but there’s one small drawback. The hole in the center is too large…
In case you missed the memo, the world’s first tenkara-only magazine is here! Created by Tenkara USA, the magazine is a very high quality 112-page publication featuring well-written articles and great photography from a lot of names you’ll recognize if you’ve been fishing tenkara for any significant amount of time. The wide range of topics…
Tenkara USA has just released two new rods that are a complete departure from any design they’ve done in the past. So much so, that when I first laid eyes on them after opening the package, I had to double check the sender’s address to make sure they weren’t from a different company! Forget everything…
I was recently interviewed about tenkara by Joel Ede of Kings Canyon Outdoors. If you’re an experienced tenkara angler, you might not hear a lot of new information but beginners will probably learn a few things. Regardless, it was a great conversation and will hopefully help spread the word about tenkara. Be sure to check…
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…
When I started tenkara and first learned that many tenkara flies were tied with sewing thread, I was appalled. I mean, anything other than 8/0 Uni thread was sacrilege! And sewing thread was just plain crude. This was mostly because I was used to tying more complicated flies where sewing thread would be too thick.…