A reader recently asked me about the stopper knots on the ends of lilians (those red cords at the end of a tenkara rod where you attach the line). He said that some of the rods he purchased came with a knot and some didn’t. The question was if a knot is really necessary. Since…
While fluorocarbon has proven itself to be the ideal material for tenkara level lines, its density makes it sink. When using subsurface flies, this is an advantage. But when fishing dry flies or other techniques, it can be a real drag–literally. Having the line underwater can prevent you from getting a drag-free drift or even…
When I first heard Rigs Fly Shop (a Tenkara USA dealer here in Colorado) was coming out with a new level line, I wasn’t really all that interested. After all, how much can you really innovate a level line? But when I first laid eyes on it, I knew it was something special. And when…
I was ecstatic when Masami Sakakibara (AKA, “Tenkara no Oni”) recently agreed to do an interview with me. Tenkara no Oni is not only a tenkara master but is known for his amazing casting style which is often referred to as “magical”. He recently put up an English language website called Masami Sakakibara’s World of…
Over the weekend, I got a chance to field test a prototype line made by John Veterlli of Tenkara Guides. It’s a hybrid line based off of a formula invented by master Japanese tenkara angler Eiji Yamakawa (a.k.a. “Eddie” on the Tenkara USA Forums). While I’ve pretty much been fishing tenkara level lines exclusively over…
Recently, I tried out some red Amnesia for a tenkara level line. I was impressed with its high visibility, but not so much with the way it cast. Being nylon monofilament, it isn’t as dense as the fluorocarbon level lines I’m used to fishing and didn’t turn over as well. It casts, but you have…
With the impending extinction of the famous orange level line from Tenkara Bum, many tenkara anglers have been on the quest for a good replacement. Sanyo has recently come out with a new orange fluorocarbon line of its own called Valcan, but is it a good substitute for the Tenkara Bum line? At first…
Anyone who has ever dead drifted a fly with a tenkara rod has undoubtedly discovered two things: 1. Sometimes it’s hard to detect a strike on a level line. 2. Strike indicators don’t cast well with a tenkara rod. Luckily, for anyone who finds it difficult to see their line, there’s a simple way to…
Today, I got some good tenkara gear in the mail. But this time, I’m not hoarding it all for myself–it’s for you too! The first was a box of tenkara rods and lines generously donated by Tenkara USA for our tenkara rod loaner program. I’ll be adding these to the demo page this weekend. I’m…
I’ll admit it. One of my pet peeves is standing in the parking lot ready to go while a fishing partner takes forever to get set up. It’s wasted time that I could be fishing. I don’t get to fish as much as I’d like so I like to maximize my time on the water…
Today, I came home to a small stack of packages on my doorstep. If you’re an unapologetic tenkara gear junkie like me, you know what such a site causes: an adrenaline fueled, single-minded mission to find the closest box cutter. Oni Tenkara Line Spools The first package came from a friend in Japan who got me…
Today, I got my moose antler tenkara line spool hand carved by Chris from The North River Blog. This spool is a work of art reminiscent of Dr. Ishigaki’s wooden line spool and I just wanted to share a few photos…If you follow my blog, you know that I have a deep appreciation for…
[/caption] I came home from work today to find a nice package from Japan in the mailbox waiting for me. Red fluorocarbon! I’ve been talking to a company there about getting some bulk hi-vis level line and they were gracious enough to send me some sample line. Here’s what it looks like and my initial…
I’ve never seen any discussion of tenkara where the word “simplicity” didn’t come up at least a few times. It’s true that simplicity is an easily identifiable attribute of tenkara but this seems to put gear addicts like me in an interesting dilema. Is our love of gear antithetical to the intrinsic nature of tenkara?…