If put to a vote, I’d bet the majority of fly tyers would elect scissors as the most important tool on their desks. There are a lot of other tools you could easily go without, but scissors are essential for sculpting a tidy, respectable fly. As you might imagine, I’ve tried dozens of types of…
Sometimes, I find overlaps between tools I use at the tying desk and tools I could (and should) also use afield. Case in point: scissors. I used to trim materials from my flies on-stream to better suit the situation at hand using my tippet clippers. But I found that a small pair of tying…
Many years ago, I was gifted a small bag of dubbing from an English acquaintance of mine. I had no idea what I was holding in my hand at the time and little did I know that it would eventually fuel a minor obsession that countless others had fallen into before me. He told me…
If you visit my tying desk, you’ll notice two gadgets that have taken up permanent residence on the base of my vise: my scissors, and a Higonokami knife. The former would certainly make sense at a tying desk. The latter might seem a little odd, yet it’s nonetheless just as utilitarian (and certainly more storied).…
Recently, a friend of mine sent his waders in to Simms to be repaired. Two weeks after he mailed them, he got a message saying it would be another 2-3 weeks before they’d be ready. So that’s a total of at least 4-5 weeks that he’ll be without them. De facto, it will probably be…
I get this question all the time: “how to I attach a loop eye to an eyeless hook? Is there a video showing it?” Every single time, I tell myself I’m going to make a simple video about it, but the idea soon falls victim to the same fate as new years resolutions. The topic…
Giveaway Ends Saturday, January 14th, 2023: This giveaway has ended. Countdown This month’s giveaway exclusively for CTA members is one dozen beautiful tenkara flies tied by professional tyer and CTA member Joesph Egry. Joe was a fishing buddy of mine here in Colorado until he moved to Florida for work. But he’s still tying and…
Giveaway Ends Sunday, January 8th, 2023: This contest is over. Congratulations James Knittle! Countdown Now that I’ve convalesced to the point where I can turn my attention back to this blog, I’ve decided to start a monthly giveaway. This first one includes: Two Tenkara Talk all-weather stickers Three of my go-to Glass Bead Takayama Sakasa…
I recently started a new hobby: pipe smoking. And already, I can see many parallels between it and tenkara. That’s for another article, but one thing I’m particularly struck by (or perhaps reminded of) is that just like learning tenkara, fly fishing, climbing, guitar, stamp collecting, or any new endeavor, one has the option to…
Over the last few years, it’s been rare for Tenkara USA to release a new rod. For a decade, they relied on their same tried-but-true rods like the Iwana, Ito, etc. to carry their lineup and built a following around it without really developing new rods or innovating their existing ones. But all that changed…
Using a patch to dry your flies while fishing is a good practice for at least two reasons. The first is that you never want to put a wet fly back into your fly box (that is, unless you want to start a rusty hook collection). The second is that if your fly uses CDC,…
Here’s my new super-compact wading bag and what I carry in it. Over the years, I’ve whittled down my wading system to be much simpler by observing my own habits. In this video, I show you what I carry and why. And toward the end of the video, I give two little tips on…
ATTENTION: I was inundated with orders on these and it became too time consuming so I am no longer making them. Sorry. I posted on Facebook about a line sighter (strike indicator) that I developed specifically for tenkara and the level of interest was not surprising. One of the biggest complaints that I’ve heard from…
There’s one in every home. Whether it’s in the kitchen, the garage, or the laundry room, we all have … a junk drawer. It’s a catch all for things we think we might need one day (but never do), yet miraculously becomes a lifeline in those odd situations we never thought we’d face: “Honey, can…