fly fishing, conservation and politics.
It is show season and I had the chance to do a couple of casting demos and seminars at The Fly Fishing Show in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
As part of the Mossy Creek Fly Fishing crew and a Patagonia Fly Fishing Ambassador it is great opportunity to share how easy and fun tenkara is as a fishing technique.
“The more you know the less you need.”
Now and again things jump out as being just the right tool for the job. In this case it is keeping beer in bottles cold and safe.
Cousins Adam and Matt decided to solve a problem vexing beer drinkers; warm beer in unsafe containers.
Quoting from their website:
“a golden light flashed above Cousin Matt’s head as if Zeus himself had sent a bolt of lightening from the heavens above; ‘what if we could leave the beer in the bottle and put the bottle in something that would keep it cold, like one of those stainless steel water bottles?’ and BAM!, BottleKeeper was born.”
The BottleKeeper has a neoprene sleeve (4 mm) inside a stainless steel container. Add a padded bottom and the bottle is protected from errant mishaps. The screw top, while not creating a vacuum, seals in the bottle keeping the beer fresher and in the bottle while open in transit.
While I enjoy my PBR’s in a can, the ability to keep a bottle of some of my favorite craft beers safe and cold has made me a fan.
Check out the BottleKeeper website. It has lots of entertaining info. The link should get you a 10% discount code on your first purchase.
I recently posed this question to a group of fellow tenkara anglers; “If you could share one tip that you think is essential to enjoying tenkara what would it be?”
The responses surprised me but maybe they shouldn’t have. After all, the whole premise behind tenkara is simplicity. The comments essentially broke down into three areas, experience the zen of tenkara, enjoy the simplicity of tenkara rigs and a few great tenkara hacks.
Get in the tenkara ‘zone’
Many anglers focused on the greater ease of focusing on the experience of being out on the water that comes with the tenkara’s inherent lack of clutter.
James Ray wrote, “For me it’s the feeling of Zen, allow yourself to become what you are doing. Leave the world and its problems at the truck, find your inner peace and become one with the fly.”
“Look all around and be a part of it. Rivers and streams are universes by themselves. Tenkara allows you to keep stealth while fishing. There’s incredible life just a footstep [in front] of you,” wrote Fabrice Golay.
“I have fly fished for 53 years and watched as the sport has become more technical and competitive. Tenkara represents the simpler side of fly-fishing to me. Don’t sweat the details, just fish!” wrote John Farmer.
Chris Stewart wrote, “One tip essential to enjoying tenkara: just do it.”
Keep it simple
There are some strong opinions on tenkara definitions, and I won’t go into that here. But common element in many of the responses was the notion of simplicity, the idea of letting the fishing, not the gear, drive the experience.
John Geer wrote, “If you come from a western fly fishing background, tenkara should be very easy to pick up. The most difficult thing may be learning to set up the rod. Make sure you’re very comfortable with that before you get to the water.”
“I personally love the versatility tenkara brings to the table. It’s not all about the dead drift, the manipulation of the fly is what changed the way I look at fly-fishing. The Kebari style fly can be manipulated to give it lifelike action in so many ways”, wrote Jesse Spears. “My tip to anybody getting into tenkara is to learn how to use the fly to attract strikes. The pause and drift move, plunging the fly by casting it into water falling into pools to sink the fly, or by hanging your fly in one place and letting it sit on the water are all great ways to catch fish. Pulsing the fly upstream, downstream or across a stream to give the fly life-like action (basically like a steamer) is another must have for your fish catching tool box.”
“My tip: Don’t overcomplicate things. Try to reduce the number of knots, different kinds of line, and use of Western methods”, wrote Adam Klags. Our human brains have a way of wanting to make things more complicated when they don’t have to be. Tenkara is about going back to the older and simpler ways before we overcomplicated fishing mountain streams.
Slow down and think it through. My mistake in fly-fishing was always thinking which line, reel, fly, etc. would work. The simplicity of tenkara took that out of the equation for me. My tactics and presentations have improved dramatically.”
Bill Harner wrote, “Have fun and don’t over think it. You’ll feel naked the first few times you fish without a reel and a pack full of doo-dads and 37 different patterns and flies. Have a good top water fly (I’m partial to a parachute Adams if there’s a hatch or an elk hair caddis if there isn’t any major action) and a good subsurface fly (small wooly bugger or a killer bug or killer bugger) in 2 sizes and you’ll be having fun in no time.”
“Focus on technique and not tools and material. Challenge yourself to get the most out of the least. Understand that most failures are the result of less than ideal technique and not the tools you’re using. Perfect your technique and the tools you have will work,” wrote Todd Parks.
Jesse Thomas wrote, “Take it everywhere. It’s gotta be the best keep behind the seat fishing system around. Peer into every piece of water you cross and fish every one you have time for.”
“Relax and Fish. It can be as simple or as complicated as you desire…but without much skill you can begin, have fun and catch fish,” wrote Adam Rieger.
Jeff Krusinski echoed that sentiment, “My tip ‘Relax’.”
Have you tried this?
While the core of tenkara is the simple fly-fishing approach, the ability to adapt, modify and innovate is as much a part of tenkara as the fishing itself. In my experience those who tinker tend to lead the way to innovation. That certainly remains true in tenkara.
One of my personal favorites and an always-in-my-vest item are foam ear plugs. They make great temporary replacements for lost tip caps. Don Haynes turned me on to this hack, and it has already come in handy.
Besides losing tip caps, having the butt cap come loose and disappear can lead to multiple obvious problems. I haven’t seen a good in-the-field solution, although the foam plugs might be a quick fix, so be sure you tighten them early and often.
Dennis Vander Houwen sent me one of his rainbow color variegated furled lines on a cool looking spool, and I have been looking for them since. It was Bill Hobson’s comments that pointed me toward Bob-eez, No-Tangle Thread Bobbins from Bead Smith.
If you use multiple lines, these spools are a great way to carry them and organize them. I use the 2 ½ inch size for my lines and write the line length on the spool.
“These are the spools I got on Amazon. I use them for lines too because, unlike other spools, they don’t unravel,” wrote Hobson.
The takeaway
I’ll quote Yvon Chouinard; “I believe the way toward mastery of any endeavor is to work toward simplicity; replace complex technology with knowledge, hard work and skill.”
Author’s note: This article first appeared in Hatch Magazine.
If you have not read any of Bill Tapply‘s work then you have missed out. Phil Monahan over at Orvis.com has started to bring back some of Bill’s articles for their website. The first, “The Truth about Fly Fishermen,” conjured up thoughts of the all too often negative comments in various forms about tenkara or even more silly, what is and is not tenkara.
“One of them damn anglers.”
Spoken as if the word angler were a disgusting waste product.
“Dry-fly snob. Thinks he’s better’n the rest of us.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I heard one of them poles he’s using costs over a hundred bucks.”
And so forth. I’d been hearing it all my life.
Substitute “tenkara” for “dry fly” and you get the picture.
I won’t spoil the story but here is Tapply’s punch line:
“Wanted to see how it was done. I’ve always thought that fly fishing was so cool but figured it was too hard for an old dog to learn. You made it look easy.”
“It is easy,” I said.
“Looks like a lot of fun,” he said. “I gotta learn how to do that.”
“Really?” I said. “You want to be a fly fisherman?”
“Yeah. I always have.”
“We’re terrible snobs, you know.”
They both laughed as if they didn’t believe me.
Next time you feel compelled to offer up your opinion on what is or is not the right way to fish, and I don’t care what type of fishing it is, you would be well advised to read Tapply’s story again. There is no room in the sport for snobs.
One of the perks of being a Patagonia Ambassador are the smiles of my grandson.
A few years ago my very clever wife made this very special Christmas gift.
The two small horns are Lily’s puppy teeth.
It graces our home as a reminder of the magic that is Christmas.
The simple things really are the best!
Here’s hoping this finds you safe, happy and in the company of those you love.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!