Archive for January 2010
Oct ’09 Tenkara Outing
All pictures of this outing can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TenkaraUSA/TenkaraOutingOctober09#
Traditional Tenkara Flies
Ishigaki Kebari
Fujioka Kebari
Gujo Kebari
Sakasa Kebari (*sakasa = reversed hackle)
Nikko Kebari
Takayama Sakasa Kebari
Caddis Mayfly Variant
Paper Trout – by Yoshikazu Fujioka
Okay, kids, here’s the coolest site out there:
Japanese trout: http://www.amago.jp.lv/papercraft/papercraft-2.html
World Trout: http://www.amago.jp.lv/papercraft/papercraft2-2.html; http://www.amago.jp.lv/papercraft/papercraft2-3.html
Developed and put together by Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka in Japan, these are a lot of fun to make and look at. You can make some beautiful paper trout, several different species, by simply downloading the pdf files Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka has put together available at his site. These are true works of art at anyone’s reach.
Instructions:http://www.amago.jp.lv/papercraft/pdf/instructions3j.pdf
Tenkara Rods
Ayu
$165.95
13ft, 5:5 action, mid-weight
Our longest rod at the moment, it’s a great rod for its versatility and delicate sensation
Ebisu
$159.95
12ft, 5:5 action, mid-weight
At a “standard” 12ft the Ebisu rod has a truly unique red-pine wooden handle. The wooden handle is unique in its aesthetics and its sensitivity to subtle bites. It’s a slow rod, with similar build as the Ayu, but feels faster because of shorter length.
Iwana
$135.95
11 OR 12ft, 6:4 action, light-weight
The Iwana is a beautiful precision tool. Our lightest rods, either at 11 or 12ft long, the Iwana has the perfect action for delicate yet accurate casting. But, don’t let the “light-weight” description fool you, because of its superb construction and high-quality materials it’s been known to handle VERY good sized fish. It’s our choice for smaller streams, or consistently catching large fish.
Yamame
$139.95
12ft, 7:3 action, “heavy”-weight
The Yamame is our most robust rod. It’s a true tenkara rod, that is, made for small stream fly fishing. It’s sensitive rod transmits the vibration and take of small fish very well, yet it serves to protect light tippet when handling large fish. It has the most backbone of our rods, and is the recommended rod if you are consistently catching larger fish (i.e. >15″).
1% of the purchase of any Tenkara USA product goes direct to conservation projects
For more information on the rods, or to purchase tenkara gear, please visit www.tenkarausa.com or call +1.888.483.6527
.jpg "Tenkara fly fishing in Brazil")
Knots – just the basic
For those who just want a simple and quick way to fish, there are 3 1/2 knots you REALLY have to know:
Improved clinch (to tie your fly to the tippet, and pretty much anything else that needs to be tied),
Surgeons (forming a loop) – and the Surgeon’s join, that extra 1/2 knot we refer to (joining two lines, e.g. lengths of tippet, together )
Loop-to-loop.
Other knots may be necessary in specific situations, e.g. tying your level line to the tenkara rod, and the tippet to the level line, but they are less frequently used. These are just the 3 1/2 knots we feel everyone should know at anytime. Here are some simple knots used in tenkara:
About Tenkara
What Is Tenkara?
Tenkara is the traditional Japanese method of fly-fishing, which uses only a rod, line and fly.
Tenkara is a category of fly-fishing particularly well-suited for fishing small streams and for backpacking. It’s a very effective, simple and enjoyable method of fly-fishing small streams.
The basic concept:
Tenkara is primarily used for small-stream fishing. It is particularly effective for fishing pocket water and faster flowing streams. Some of the main advantages are its simplicity, the very delicate presentations with the light line, the ability to hold the line off the water and a fly in place on the other side of a current, precise casting, and greater control of the fly.
Only rod, line and fly are used. The line is attached directly to the tip of the rod using a girth hitch, and tippet is attached to the end of the tenkara line (total line length will be about 1 – 2 ft longer than the rod) . Like in western fly-fishing the line propels the weightless fly foward and there is a fly-casting technique involved (just a bit slower, and with a shorter casting stroke). Landing a fish is very intuitive and similar to any type of fishing with a rod: one simply raises the rod high, and reaches for the fish.
Tenkara USA Authorized Dealers
Tenkara USA will be sold through independent fly shops and outdoor equipment retailers. Our products can currently be found at the following locations
MONTANA
Blue Ribbon Flies
305 Canyon Street, West Yellowstone, Montana 59758
(406) 646-7642
MASSACHUSETTS
Bear’s Den
98 Summer Street, Taunton, MA – (508) 977-0700
Blogs
The list is ongoing. If you have a blog that discusses tenkara and you’d like to see it here, please email us info “-@-” tenkarausa.com
www.tenkarausa.com/blog 🙂
Dr. Ishigaki’s Blog (in Japanese)
Yoshikazu Fujioka’s Blog (Japanese)
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/how-fish/
http://backpackinglight.typepad.com/
http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/
http://troutunderground.com/
http://www.paflyfish.com/
http://www.52trout.blogspot.com/
http://castingaround.anthonynaples.com/
http://eclecticguy.com/
Basic Tenkara Instructions
A tenkara rod is a very easy instrument to use. But, as with anything there are a few things one must learn:
Setting Up
1) Remove rod plug. Tilt rod down a little to expose the rod tip.
2) Keeping the hard tip inside, and exposing only the braided tip, attach line to rod tip.
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS Leave the fragile hard tip of the rod inside its main segment while setting up, exposing only the braided “lilian” string to prevent sideway pressures and breakage.
Traditional Line Attachment
Level Line attachment
Opening Rod
Tip: Keep control of the rod segments when opening or closing the rod!
Tippet-to-line connection
Important: Always use 5lbs or weaker tippet material.
We recommend the use of a 5 – 8 inch nylon extender (suggested 3X material) to extend the life of your line and protect it from your cutter when changing tippet.
Extender
Closing Rod
Stuck Pieces!
If pieces are stuck, you may try the following:
Important: when closing rod, always use your fingers (not your entire hand) for extra precision, and ALWAYS hold nearest the joint of two pieces (the strongest part of the rod).
1) Hold stuck pieces with rubber pads for increased grip and push straight in.
2) Put the bottom of your rod on a flat surface, and gently tap the stuck piece against it – while holding near the joint! Simply hold stuck segment with your finger close to joint, lift it up and tap it down a few times to dislodge it.
If you continue having problems, please contact us or mail the rod back to us:
Tenkara USA
5758 Geary Blvd. #226
San Francisco, CA 94121
888.483.6527
info “-@-” tenkarausa.com
FAQ
Shipping:
All orders placed before 11:59PM PST (GMT -8) are shipped the next business day.
Domestic Shipping
US orders are optimized based on best shipping method for your delivery address and should arrive in approximately 5 – 7 business days. Most orders will ship via UPS or Fedex, please email us if you need USPS shipping. At this moment we do not offer Express/ Overnight shipping.
Shipping costs within the United States is based on the following table:
up to $40.00 (e.g. t-shirt, couple of flies, line, etc) = $5.50
$40.01 – $80.00 (couple of shirts, couple of lines) = $7.50
$80.01 – $600.00 (most orders, rods, lines, flies ) = $9.00
> $600 = $15.00
International Shipping
We ship to pretty much any country. International orders ship via USPS (United States Postal Service) and most orders arrive within 10 business days. Estimated International shipping costs for most commonly requested regions and most orders (please note, these may vary on larger/heavier orders, but these reflect most orders):
Canada = $ 22.50
Europe = $ 27.00
Asia = $ 30.50
*Customs: buyer is responsible for any customs fees, tariffs, duties, VAT, etc. Our shipping costs do not include these fees. Unfortunately we have no control over customs charges and no way to estimate what customs fees will be. For customs inquiries you may contact your country’s customs (HS Tariff #:950710).
Sales Taxes
We’re based in San Francisco, California. Thus, any sale to a customer with a billing address or shipping address in California will be charged California sales tax. And, any customer with a billing or shipping address in San Francisco will be charged San Francisco sales tax. Customers in any other locations are currently not charged sales tax.
| Shipping:
All orders placed before 11:59PM PST (GMT -8) are shipped the next business day. Domestic Shipping US orders are optimized based on best shipping method for your delivery address and should arrive in approximately 5 – 7 business days. Most orders will ship via UPS or Fedex, please email us if you need USPS shipping. At this moment we do not offer Express/ Overnight shipping. Shipping costs within the United States is based on the following table: up to $40.00 (e.g. t-shirt, couple of flies, line, etc) = $5.50 $40.01 – $80.00 (couple of shirts, couple of lines) = $7.50 $80.01 – $600.00 (most orders, rods, lines, flies ) = $9.00 > $600 = $15.00 International Shipping We ship to pretty much any country. International orders ship via USPS (United States Postal Service) and most orders arrive within 10 business days. Estimated International shipping costs for most commonly requested regions and most orders (please note, these may vary on larger/heavier orders, but these reflect most orders): Canada = $ 22.50 Europe = $ 27.00 Asia = $ 30.50 *Customs: buyer is responsible for any customs fees, tariffs, duties, VAT, etc. Our shipping costs do not include these fees. Unfortunately we have no control over customs charges and no way to estimate what customs fees will be. For customs inquiries you may contact your country’s customs (HS Tariff #:950710). Sales Taxes We’re based in San Francisco, California. Thus, any sale to a customer with a billing address or shipping address in California will be charged California sales tax. And, any customer with a billing or shipping address in San Francisco will be charged San Francisco sales tax. Customers in any other locations are currently not charged sales tax. Closing Rod It may seem odd that we’d start by talking about Closing Rod before we even covered opening and setting up. That’s because closing the rod requires special care. Tenkara rods are excellent and strong fishing tools thatcan take a load and handle fish well. But, they are delicate forhandling, and most breakages will occur when closing the rod. It’simportant to never exert any sideway pressure on the rod segments when closing the rod.It’s best to put the bottom of the rod on a flat and stable surface when closing it. And, then push pieces straight in. As soon as the piece is loose, you may letit slide down. The 3 tip segments are particularly fragile and specialcare should be taken when handling them. Opening Rod Tenkara rods are telescopic. Opening the rod is nothing complicated, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind to make it easier/quicker to open and prevent damaging the rod:
Keep control of the rod segments when opening or closing the rod! 1) Remove rod plug. Tilt rod down a little to expose the rod tip. 2) Keeping the hard tip inside, and exposing only the braided tip, attach line to rod tip. 3) Once line is attached, hold rod tip near opening of rod. Pull the tip, and each subsequent segment out, sliding them out between your fingers. Pull each piece (tip, second segment, 3rd segment, etc) out completely until next segment is snug and pulled out before pulling the next segment out. Pieces should feel snug, not overly tight.
Warning: (1) When pulling the cap out, pull it straight out without any sideway pressure. (2) Never swing the rod open, and do not apply too much pressure when pulling the segment out as that will cause pieces to get stuck together. Attaching Line to RodOne major difference between tenkara rods and other fishing rods is the absence of a loop at the tip of the rod, or any guides throughout the rod. The tip of tenkara rods are made of strong braid material, where the tenkara line is then tied. this greatly enhances the sensitivity for detecting subtle strikes and also provides for a smoother cast. To tie the line to the rod, simply tie an overhand knot on the braid material at the tip of the rod (leaving a 1/8 to 1/4 inch tag sticking out), then girth-hitch the small braid loop on the tenkara line to the rod tip (behind the stopper). Though a bit strange, this is an extremelly secure connection. All tenkara lines come pre-tied with a short loop made of Spectra braid. This short, and soft loop is what you use to hitch the tenkara line to the rod tip. Line to tippet Alternatively, you may also connect your tippet directly to your tenkara line by using a loop-to-loop connection. Replacing Rod Tip or Tip Stuck Inside Rod: Should rod segments get stuck:
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Tenkara in Brazil
Brazil…land of peacock bass, huge snook, and monster amazonic fish! Where could tenkara fit in?
Being originally from Brazil I had some sweet memories of my earliest days of fishing, where it all started, and they didn’t involve the largest fish. But, rather, some of the smallest, and what I now know are some of the most challenging! The small “lambari“, in Japanese called “tanago”.
This is where I first became familiar with telescopic rods. They were not tenkara rods, but rather crappie rods, and to begin with I didn’t use a fly, but rather some home boiled “pasta”. I remember many of these rods I acquired and the first experiences with cleaning them, or getting the pieces stuck. I learned. With the years my fishing evolved and it seems to have completed a full circle: telescopic rods for lambari; spincast reels for tilapias; baitcasting reel, heavy rod and a hundred lures for some monster dourados and pintados in Pantanal; a fly rod and reel that I managed to find in the scarce fly market of Brazil and used for tilapias, bass and trout after I moved to California. And, finally, tenkara, which combined the most advanced stage of my fishing with the simplest and most enjoyable of my experiences as a kid. I kept the pieces I liked best: the casting technique, the weightless fly, the reading of water and finding of fish, and the experience of fishing without the encumbering of the hundred lures.
The appeal of the lambari I remembered most was its taste! How delicious it was to catch several of these and have my parents fry them for us. Growing up the lambari were known as the “bait thieves”, as they often took our bait before our floats detected them. The lambari always had a fame as being a VERY difficult fish to catch. This time, their reputation became the biggest part of their appeal, their appeal was the challenge. These fish are fast – lightning fast! And, what a sport it was to target them with a fly. Not for the fight, but for the chase and “seeing-if-I-can-catch-it”. Much like trout, the lambari are very wary and spooky fish, and they can be found in very similar water, small mountain streams, the type of water I take every opportunity to fish, be it in the Sierra Nevada, or even in the country known for its big fish. I’m glad to report, tenkara is the way to go for lambari too!
My dad says he couldn’t remember having so much success catching the lambari in a long time, even with the time it took him to learn a new method of fishing, and our limited time fishing due to heavy rains. One day some locals saw us in the water and probably found our funny casting, the fact that we never seemed to replace our “bait”, and the quantity of fish we were pulling out of the water at least intriguing. Thinking it was an unusually good day, they pulled out their cane poles and bait and started fishing next to us. It wasn’t a counting game, but we easily outfished those who tried, and they soon gave up fishing next to us. The Iwana, the Ayu, and the Ebisu performed flawlessly!
Perhaps another story for another day, but, I thought I may as well write it here. Tenkara USA is introducing a foreign style of fly-fishing to the US, so it was quite interesting that two days before taking off to visit family, I was contacted by the person who is helping introduce [western] fly fishing to Brazil, Thiago Zanetti, owner of Fly Shop Brasil. Not only that, but he also happened to be from my home-town, Curitiba, where I’d be spending most of my time. The market for fly-fishing in Brazil is barely an infant. When I started about 12 years ago I had to look VERY hard to find any fly fishing gear, I hiked looking down to find feathers for my flies, tied them without the use of a vise, and was happy fishing a rod, reel and line combo from 3M Scientific Anglers. Fly Shop Brasil is currently one of the only companies giving access to quality fly fishing gear to anglers in Brazil, and they see the opportunity with tenkara. Since lambari are by far the most popular fish in my home waters, it seems like fly-fishing in Brazil could have in tenkara a useful tool to introduce anglers to the wonderful sport of fly-fishing.
Thiago Zanetti, Fly Shop Brasil
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P.S. Trying to pack as light as possible for this 3 week trip, I carried very few clothes. Mandatory among them, of course, was the World Trout Tenkara USA t-shirt. I wore that shirt almost every other day, washing it in the sink after using it, and putting it out to dry so I could have a clean shirt when I needed it. After so much abuse, I’m glad to report the shirt has held up extremelly well and still looks like new.
2010
Happy New Year!
Today Midcurrent sent out a newsletter with a topic named “Fearless Fly Fishing Predictions – 2010“. No one explicitly said 2010 was going to be the year of tenkara fly-fishing – when newcomers and experienced anglers discover that fly-fishing is really simple and these anglers realize for themselves that the long tenkara rods provide significant advantages to fishing, and that reels are really not necessary in most small stream fishing – but everyone seemed to have these thoughts near their words. We particularly liked the second prediction, by author Lou Ureneck:
“One of the best things about fishing is its resistance to change. Too much technology, too fast, seems an affront to the soul of the sport. So my hope (and prediction) for the New Year is that fishing will find its equivalent to Europe’s slow-food movement — cooking based on local ingredients, prepared slowly and with care for taste and health. A slow-fishing movement would return us to the health of our local streams, fishing deliberately, maybe with a youngster at our side, with cell phone apps and iPod ear plugs safely out of sight. Just a man and a fish, with a rod and a line between.”
Other interesting predictions were:
“…the continued Balkanization, or specialization, or fracturing, or whatever you want to call it, among fly anglers… the various fly-fishing subcultures—tournament bass fishermen, carp anglers, steelheaders, backcountry saltwater fishermen and so on —will continue to define themselves more distinctly and vocally.” – Ted Leeson, Author. He failed to include tenkara anglers in the subcultures, but you are part of a distinct, and shall we say, a very cool group of anglers!
“Trends for trouties: The European proliferation of deadly nymphing techniques will continue to gnaw on Yank rod makers, who after many years of ignoring anything longer than 8 1/2 ft. and 9 ft. rods for regular fishing are going to convince users of the versatility found in longer (9 1/2 on up) equipment.” – Paul Bruun, Columnist and Guide. Huh!
Our prediction is that 2010 will be an awesome year for angling with a rod, line and a fly; when angling will be the simple and relaxing experience we crave, when you don’t need to (though you may still want to) travel far to enjoy pristine waters and wild fish, and perhaps a year of retirement for your underworked reel. This will be a tenkara fly-fishing year for many anglers throughout the world who will enjoy the simplicity and relaxation only tenkara allows.
Tenkara USA's other blog 