The Middle River Group, LLC

fly fishing, conservation and politics.

Tenkara

On the Wet Fly Swing podcast

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In September of 2019, I was a guest on Dave Stewart’s Wet Fly Swing podcast.

Dave is great host and we chatted for over an hour. It was a wide ranging conversation and we covered a lot of ground!

Give it a listen and take a moment to like and share on your podcast deliver vehicle of choice!

Keeping ’em wet

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As a fishing guide, a journalist and advocate being on the water, especially fishing, is one of the most rewarding parts of the gig.  Many times that means getting a photo of a happy angler with a fish.

Here’s the rub. The grip and grin, hero shot is great for the angler, but even when it is done right is not great for the fish and when done wrong can be deadly.  I’ve done it and it bothers me, a lot. Sure, I am careful when I set up those shots but I’ve always worried about it. Of course I want the client to have a memento but not at the sacrifice of my business partner the fish.

Enter Keepemwet Fishing. Bryan Huskey and the team are promoting responsible handling, photographing, and releasing fish in the future. And they are doing it the right way.

This is from the website:

ETHOS: WE BELIEVE THAT AS WE LEARN MORE WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO EVOLVE OUR MINDSET AND PRACTICES

Thanks to advances in science, we now have a better understanding of the impacts that handling can have on the long-term health of fish. We believe that anglers have the responsibility to apply this knowledge to their fish handling practices and should strive to minimize the impacts on the fish they release.

Keepemwet Fishing doesn’t believe in casting stones. Instead, we believe in mindfulness and positive progress. We know that we have all been guilty of mishandling fish in the past and recognize that we will likely err in the future, despite our best intentions. Rather than tearing down others for their missteps, we hope to promote this awareness so anglers are better equipped to properly handle, photograph, and release fish in the future.

We encourage our supporters to share this approach, to lead by example, and to serve as positive influences for other anglers.

The website has principles and tips that help anglers do a better job of fish handling. Take a few minutes to read them over.

There is also a link to Andy Danylchuk’s piece The Release – Fundamentals of fish and the path to responsible angling in Patagonia’s blog The Cleanest Line. Andy is a good friend and his experience and research on this subject is excellent. Again, give it a read.

If you are a recreational angler you should care about the resource. Spending a few minutes learning how to be a good steward is part of the program.

 

Buffalo Tenkara

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I recalled what Yvon had said first thing that morning. “If we can just get them to catch a darned fish. Feel life on the end of that line.” He laughed like a kid himself. “Something they never imagined. Bang. Whole new world.”

Worth a read, the nexus of good in this story, Teach Something, Learn Something by Dan O’Brien is outstanding. O’Brien is a buffalo rancher, Chouinard is an entrepreneur, both are characters I greatly admire. Put them together with some kids from the Crow indian reservation and the tenkara magic happens.

Check it out.

Good Food: Patagonia Provisions has partnered with Wild Idea Buffalo for their Buffalo Jerky

Good People: You can help this watershed by supporting the Bighorn River Alliance.

Source: http://wildideabuffalo.com/blogs/blog/teach-something-learn-something

Tenkara Jam 2016

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c4ccc68130ff58e54b026306c4711199The 2016 Tenkara Jam is coming soon!

Tenkara anglers and those interested in tenkara it is time again to “Jam on it!”

When: October 15 and 16 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m both days.
Where: Yellowhill Activity Center, 1455 Acquoni Road, Cherokee, North Carolina.

This is the third year of the “Jam” and it is shaping up to be the best ever and a worthy successor to previous tenkara summits.

The big names in tenkara will be giving presentation and I am fortunate to be included with these notable and knowledgeable tenkara pros. In addition dozens of equipment vendors and organizations will be there to show off products and tell their stories.

As of this writing here are the pros on tap to share their knowledge.

  • Jason Klass: “Ten Tenkara Presentations Anyone Can (and Should) Make” The majority of fly anglers rely mostly on a simple, upstream dead-drift presentation. But there are so many other presentations you can make that will increase your catch rate and lend themselves perfectly to the tenkara method.
  • Daniel Galhardo: “Tenkara: a different way of thinking” Tenkara shows us there is usually a different way of thinking and doing things. Daniel will talk about things that at a first glance are counterintuitive but when people are willing to give them a try are very effective.
  • Robert Worthing: “Advanced Casting for Fixed Line Fly Fishing” Teaches a method of building casting skills without limits. The presentation begins with understanding rod dynamics (we sneak in some big fish wrangling here), and defines a common set of terms for dissecting casting elements. We will use stop motion capture software to introduce and analyze various casting strokes and begin to explore their application on the water.
  • Chris Stewart: “Lions, Tigers and Bears (Oh My!)” Tenkara is not limited to trout. We will cover ideas about fishing for micros, sunfish, crappies, bass, perch, pickerel, muskies, catfish, carp and inshore salt water fish.
  • Erik Ostrander: “Advanced Casting Techniques”
    A discussion on how to utilize the entire body to create effective casts and drifts in highly technical riverways.
  • Anthony Naples: “Dynamic Tenkara: A Personal Approach” Dynamic Tenkara – will focus on the idea of creating a personal tenkara tool-box that fits your own personal preferences, conditions, locales and experience, as well as allowing you to successfully tackle varying conditions that you’ll meet.
  • Jason Sparks: “Tenkara 101” This is an introduction of tenkara for all anglers. It will cover a brief history into the origins of Japanese fixed line fishing. We will touch on the equipment of the rod, line and fly, basic fly casting and fish landing. This is a primer to get all of those curious about tenkara up to speed quickly so that they can appreciate the following programs.
  • Luong Tam: “Fundamentals of Tenkara Rod – Characteristics and Mechanism” Reveal the basic mechanism inside the rod through the developer’s point of view, using Tanuki rod as a case study. I will try to present how things work inside the rods. I will also share outside designs and rod development process.
  • Tom Sadler: “Focused Fishing” Success in fishing, especially fly-fishing, comes when you leave complexity and technology behind. Tom will explain why knowledge, skill and simple tools are more important and how they can increase both your fly-fishing success and your enjoyment in the outdoors.
  • Dan Dutton: “Making the release count: how to minimize post-release fish mortality”. We all want the fish that we release to survive, grow, and be able to be caught again, but fish often succumb to the trauma of catch and release fishing. Learn how well-intentioned anglers inadvertently kill fish and how to increase the survival of fish that you release.

The Tenkara Jam website is loaded with info, here are some quick links:

Click on the link for information about lodging.

Click on the links for information about vendors and organizations coming to the 2016 Jam.

Click on the link for bios on the presenters.

Hope to see you at the 2016 Tenkara Jam!

Casting a Tenkara Rod

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TS-Demo-02062016
Jason Sparks photo

Casting demonstrations are a great way to introduce tenkara. For the last couple of years, I have had the good fortune to do tenkara casting demos at The Fly Fishing Shows in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival.

Among the myriad benefits of fishing with a tenkara rod is how easy the rod is to cast. While the fundamental casting principles still apply, the simplicity of the outfit; just a rod and a line, make casting a very simple and intuitive process.

A fly rod and reel outfit uses a rod that is designed to cast a weighted line. As my friend Dusty Wissmath likes to say; it is a flexible lever designed to cast a flexible weight. Each rod is designed to cast a specific line weight. There needs to be a certain amount of that weighted line out beyond the rod tip to make the rod cast the line to the target. The weighted line is essential to the system. It is what allows the rod to load and make the cast.

The caster loads the rod using the force of physical energy to build potential energy (bend or “load” the rod) that when released (the rod straightens) becomes kinetic energy transferred to the line, delivering the fly to the target. The weighted line is essential to building the amount of potential energy or load in the rod.

A tenkara rod is a very flexible lever designed to cast a variety of very light lines. The line weight is not the essential element to loading the rod. Just moving your arm or flicking your wrist will load the rod. My rod of choice is a Patagonia 10′ 6″ tenkara rod.

Let’s look at the steps for casting a conventional fly rod.

  • Start with the rod tip on or near the surface of the water with two or three-rod lengths of line out in front of you.
  • Raise and accelerate the rod backward to an abrupt stop just past vertical.
  • Let the line extend straight out behind you.
  • Accelerate the rod forward to an abrupt stop with the rod tip at about head level.
  • Follow the line down to the water.

Now let’s look at the steps for casting a tenkara rod.

  • Start with the rod tip in front of you with about a rod length of line hanging from the tip of the rod.
  • Accelerate the rod backward to an abrupt stop just before or at vertical.
  • Let the line extend straight out behind you.
  • Accelerate the rod forward to an abrupt stop with the rod tip at about head level.
  • Don’t follow the line down to the water especially if you are fishing a dry fly or dry dropper.

The elements of timing, so important in the weighted line system, are not as critical with the tenkara cast because your physical energy controls the loading of the rod. The line plays a much smaller role in making the cast work. This is one of the reasons people enjoy using a tenkara rod. The casting execution is very very simple.

In addition to the above, there are other differences in casting a tenkara rod that contribute to making it easier.

  • You can use your wrist to make a cast; a big “no no” with conventional fly casting.
  • You don’t “shoot” line eliminating the need to master the “pat your head while rubbing your stomach” element of conventional fly casting.
  • You don’t need to mend the line as often or in most cases at all.
  • The cast requires less energy and is slower.
  • You tend to cast more “open” loops making casting two fly rigs less prone to tangling.

THE TAKEAWAY

Casting a tenkara rod is not a whole lot different from casting a conventional fly rod. Someone who has mastered casting a conventional rod will understand it in seconds. Most beginners will quickly get the hang of it and spend more time concentrating on fishing rather than casting, and isn’t that the whole point anyway?

Author’s note: A version of this article first appeared in Hatch Magazine.

Disclosure.