Talking of tenkara flies… Tenkara flies analyzed

Some people consider winter the fly-tying season, thus our recent posts on tenkara fly-tying. With the very large number of new tenkara adopters and readers of our blog since this the post below, I thought it would be appropriate to “recycle” a previous post on “Tenkara Flies analyzed”. This is not to form a habit, but there is some really good content in past posts…maybe a book in the making?

Originally posted on June 25th, 2009. Slightly edited here:

While the most characteristic tenkara flies are the so-called “sakasa kebari”, or reverse hackle flies, these are not the only type of fly used in tenkara. Over the years, Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka, from the website “My Best Mountain Streams”, has researched and collected traditional tenkara flies from different regions of Japan. Now, Fujioka sensei gives us a very nice, yet, tenkara-like simple, analysis of tenkara flies. Like classifying western flies into “dry”, “wet”, “nymphs”, etc, his analysis focuses specifically on tenkara flies and what pattern styles are commonly found in the hands of tenkara anglers. These should serve as a good foundation to better understanding tenkara flies (if one chooses to, understanding this is not really necessary to be a successful angler). As shown in his graphic chart, even the sakasa kebari come in different forms and with different characteristics (soft hackle/stiff hackle, thick body/thin body and short/long hackle).

Typically, an experienced tenkara angler will use one pattern only. Over time, an angler will acquire preferences for a specific fly type, and will have his sole “go-to” fly, maybe a couple of different sizes and colors, but the same pattern. Not all tenkara anglers use the same fly, but each one tends to stick with only one style. Some may believe a fly with soft hackle will be more “fluid”, softer and thus may be more attractive; other people may believe a stiffer hackle facing forward is better. There is even an angler who uses snake skin to tie his flies, and he believes the reflection of the snake skin attracts fish (we just think it is a cool story!). This is largely personal preference, or maybe because of that “one great day with the one fly” they experienced.

The complete analysis of tenkara fly by Fujioka sensei can be found on the pdf document. It’s very informative and thorough, yet simple as it should be.

Tenkara fly-tying shot with macro lens

Today we have a great video showing the simplicity of tenkara fly-tying. It was shot with a 100mm macro lens in real time, not edited, with the fly being tied beginning to end. This is the only pattern that I use. Trout in faster flowing mountain streams, the only places I fish, can’t afford to be that selective, thus a generic fly pattern such as this will work very well. This was taught to me by Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, the leading tenkara master in Japan.

Tenkara fly-tying, large sakasa kebari

A new, shorter version of the tenkara fly-tying video featured in our tea post.

Tenkara fly-tying, sakasa kebari
Demonstration on how to tie a tenkara sakasa kebari (reverse-hackle tenkara fly). This fly is tied on a large, size 8 hook. It is ideal for fishing mountain streams that are running a bit higher and you want to increase the visibility of the fly, or when you see larger bugs in the water. This is pretty much the only pattern I use, though I most often use flies in size 12. Fly-fishing for trout in mountain streams means that the fly used doesn’t need intricate details, so, any fly with a size similar to bugs in the water and general bug shape, such as the sakasa fly, should work well as long as it is presented and manipulated properly.

Tenkara Tea and Fly Tying

One of the reasons I created Tenkara USA is because I really like introducing friends to things that I love, tenkara fly-fishing, tenkara rods, tenkara nets, now tenkara tea!

Drinking high-quality green tea has long been an obsession of mine, and most recently Dr. Ishigaki turned me on to ground green tea. As luck would have it, shortly after I discovered ground green tea, a tenkara angler put me in touch with a distributor of this type of tea. I wasn’t looking for it, it just found me. So I thought, how cool would it be to make our own label and give people a chance to try it. One of the most soothing elements of Japanese culture, especially now in the fly-tying season. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. We’re offering this for a very limited time, unless there is strong demand, for only $15 for the tea, a Tenkara Tea can, and a neat bamboo whisk.  Tenkara Tea

Here is a video I made especially for the occasion.

Tenkara rod, Iwana redesignFeedback from tenkara masters

While Tenkara USA is a fully independent company with no commercial ties with a Japanese company, we are very fortunate to have established very strong relationships with tenkara masters in Japan. These relationships,  particularly with our masters Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, Yoshikazu Fujioka and Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkarano-oni) can be seen in every single one of our products, and is something no other tenkara company can enjoy. That is our true competitive advantage.

Today I’m happy to release our redesigned Iwana tenkara rods. The Iwana is currently our best-selling rod, and redesigning something that is working that well is always a risk. However, this rod incorporates meticulous feedback acquired from tenkara anglers in our last visit to Japan. The feedback was honest and important enough to warrant the tweaks we made.  The main focus of this release was the new handle design. The handle is probably the most important design component of a tenkara rod. It provides comfort for a full day of constant casting and manipulating of the fly and balance to the rod. Our new design allows the angler to comfortably grip the rod in different positions, including the very end of the rod with a rounder finish.  This new release also features better quality cork, a longer handle (unanimously suggested by all tenkara anglers we met in Japan for improved balance), and a redesigned metal cap which will not come loose while fishing.

Live interview for Japanese radio 東京ラジオ局J-Wave ・テンカラのインタビュー

I have suspected that the popularization of tenkara in the US would help create even more interest for tenkara fly-fishing in Japan. Today, Tenkara USA founder and CEO (yes, me, Daniel Galhardo) gave a live interview about tenkara for the Tokyo radio station J-Wave, in their program, “Global Frontline”.  They were very interested in tenkara, particularly because most people in Japan still have no idea what tenkara is, but  it’s being widely adopted here in the US.

The introduction is in Japanese, but the interview was fully done in English. It’s now available on iTunes as a free podcast.   You can also listen to it on your iPhone, just search for “Global Frontline”. CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW FOR PODCAST LINK:

Tenkara USA interview for Tokyo radio station, J-Wave “Global Frontline”:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/j-wave-jk-radio-tokyo-united/id322103767#