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.”
There has been a fair amount of discussion of late about whether tenkara is a fad. Labels are funny things, the minute you apply one someone wants to fight with you about the appropriateness of the label. Posts started flying on the blogs, questions popped up on Facebook and Twitter and a new tenkara controversy was born. Of course it has raised the profile of tenkara and in my book that is a good thing.
The fans of tenkara offered up some great commentary. Some of my favorites include: Field and Stream’s Fly Talk: Is Tenkara Fly Fishing a Fad?, Eat More Brook Trout: The Fad that’s Built to Last… Tenkara Bum: Is Tenkara a Fad?, Troutrageous! Enough ‘Tenkara Is A Fad’ Already… Unaccomplished Angler: Lefty Kreh declares “Tenkara is cool!”
When asked about tenkara my answer has been, “It is a fly-fishing technique that is very effective. It has pro’s and con’s like all techniques. Give it a try and see what you think.”
By the end of last weekend I was hoarse from repeating that response to curious anglers at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset NJ. I spent time explaining tenkara in the Tenkara USA booth and selling rods at the Mossy Creek Fly Fishing booth.
Explanation was more important than labels. Folks wiggled the rod, saw you could cast with it, visualized the way it would drift a dry or nymph or twitch a streamer and often enough decided to buy one.
Is tenkara a fad? Who really cares? I am going to continue to fish and guide with my tenkara rods and enjoy my time on the water.
If you want to know more about tenkara check out the Fish Tenkara section.
If you have questions or want to fish tenkara, drop me a comment.