If you are short on time, the main content I want to share is the section titled “Techniques” below, which talks about the 6 main techniques used in tenkara.

Getting comfortable with the idea that one fly pattern is sufficient takes time and some degree of dedication, but most importantly it takes knowing that this is something you want and something that suits you. It is not something most people can or should be convinced of, they have to know they want this degree of liberation in order to seek it. Much like tenkara, those who get it, get it and will eventually try it on their own pace, and it is not for everyone.

Even for myself it took time to embrace the concept. I first heard about it when Dr. Ishigaki visited the Catskills – a traditional center of American fly-tying tradition – for a talk on tenkara. Like everyone else in that room, I was VERY skeptical and probably gasped a bit when he mentioned that for the last 10 years he only used a simple and non-descript pattern. Well, he caught a fair number of fish when he was visiting. After he left, I hesitatingly  gave his fly a try whenever I would go fishing, but could not get myself to abandon the western fly-fishing tradition I had embedded in my mind. A year later I spent a week fishing with him in Japan, and only using one fly and catching plenty of fish. I returned to the US dedicated to the idea that I could learn how to use my one fly in any condition, yet my fly box continued to have a “just-in-case” compartment of assorted flies. A few months later, about 1 1/2 years of practice and experiments after learning of the concept I finally embraced it on the trip I describe here. It has been the most liberating aspect of  tenkara for me – I can travel anywhere, anytime and never have to worry about what is hatching or consult a local shop on what fly I should use. And, I have travelled to a lot of places and fished in a lot of different types of waters without worrying about my fly selection. Beyond paring my equipment down to rod, line and flies, I also pared down my fly choices. Getting here took some serious time and belief, but I believe it has paid off.

There have been numerous occasions when the belief I had in my one fly was ascertained, and some where the “faith” in the one fly has been shaken. Those who fish often enough will occasionally have a day when the get skunked, whether they rely on one fly pattern or every fly and rig in the bookd. It is important to know we won’t always catch fish, it is not always up to us. At the moment however, I can say I have full confidence in saying that it is possible to catch plenty of fish just about anywhere and anytime with your one fly. After all, the fly that is in the water is the one that will catch the fish.

What does one fly mean?

Just to be clear, the idea of using one fly can mean slightly different things to different people. My main teacher Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, who first introduced me to the concept, will tie what is essentially one fly pattern but in different variations (a couple of sizes – primarily 12, but some 16s and a few 8s – and some dark and some light). As for the colors he says he gets bored of tying the same fly, but also seems to give preference to a “whiter” fly in high water conditions. As for size, and as a generic rule of thumb, if fish are striking the larger flies but not taking them he will go smaller, or in fast water he may go bigger. On the other hand, another teacher of mine, Mr. Katsutoshi Amano, uses only the exact same fly pattern, same size, same color and same materials. I have arrived at a combination of 4 flies that I use based on what I have learned from my teachers (the ones on white background on this page).

Mr. Amano showing his fly box, the only one that is different is one I gave him that day:

What fly?

Ask 10 tenkara anglers to show them the fly they use and they will show you ten different tenkara flies. Thus, in a play of words, it is often joked that “tenkara has ten colors”.

Anglers arrive at their fly based first on suggestions from friends or something they read, and then they navigate to their go-to fly based on experience. Experience primarily has to do with reinforcing patterns: use a fly, catch a bunch of a fish on a good day, that will be your first go-to fly next time. Catch fish on that fly and it becomes your favorite pattern. Because it is your favorite pattern, it spends more time in the water and catches more fish.

The fly really doesn’t matter a whole lot. Watch footage of fish underwater and you’ll see them grabbing rocks, leaves, twigs and anything that could pass as food. On my first extended visit to Japan to fish with Dr. Ishigaki at one point I ran out of the flies that he taught me. I would pick up any of the other flies I had left and ask if that was okay, “yes, that will work”, he would respond. The third time I asked him if my chosen fly was okay he say, “yes, any fly okay”.

With that being said, I have come to the conclusion that the “sakasa kebari“, the most distinctive fly used in tenkara with the hackle facing forward, is the most versatile and best fly to become your “one” fly.

There is a good reason it is the chosen tenkara fly of tenkara anglers in Japan, and the reason is simple. If you settle for a western dry fly that is designed to float, it will float okay, and kind of sink when it is wet, but it will not sink well if you want it to sink. If you settle for a nymph pattern, like the now-famous Utah Killer Bug, it will do a great job at sinking, and it will do the only thing that tenkara flies can not do very well: sink deep, fast; but it will not be easy to fish it closer to the surface. And, neither fly will have a lot of movement. The sakasa kebari can be fished on multiple water columns with learned techniques, and it can be imparted with movement, by pulsating the fly up and down it becomes very lively and attractive. Thus, any variation of the sakasa kebari is, in my view, the best choice if you are looking for your one fly.

Techniques

A few days ago I noticed someone in our forum was interested in the idea of using one fly pattern. Not sure why, but it always makes gives me a warm feeling when someone wants to embrace a more traditional aspect of tenkara and seeks to learn more about it. He asked about the techniques used when trying to go with one fly pattern. And, this brings me to today’s post and the meat of this article.

There are 6 main techniques that can be used in tenkara to entice fish. Each can be varied in a number of ways. Illustrations and videos are the easier way to show them, but I’ll focus more on the descriptions and a quick list here.

1) Dead drift
2) Pause and drift (try this with the rod tip high, and also try it with the rod tip low – lift your elbow high so the rod tip points down, having the rod tip low close to the water will make more of the line stay in the water and thus the fly will be below the surface).
Variation: PAUSE, try pausing the fly in one place for up to 5 seconds and then recast it to the same place and pause it there. The objective it to keep the fly in the exact same place (Mr. Yoshida told me that if one can hold the fly in the exact same place for 5 seconds, with no movement, then he will catch a fish – take that with a grain of salt).
3) “Create a hatch” - as Eddie mentioned in the forum, one technique is to cast to the exact same place multiple times, effectivelly creating a hatch – be sure to only have the fly touching the water. I have seen different variations: cast to the same place some 20-30 times as he mentioned, or 5-6 times and then letting it sit, repeat.
4) Up and down - cast quarter upstream, as the fly drifts follow it and at the same time pulsate the fly by moving the rod tip up and down about 3-5 inches. This should be a very controlled movement, not erratic. And, try working the stream in sections, not super long drifts. Mr. Amano does the up and down 4 times, counting to 4, and recasts.
5) Pulling - cast downstream and pull the fly upstream or towards the shore in some cases at about 1ft intervals. The rod tip should be low so the line serves as an anchor in the water and the fly doesn’t come flying. This can be done fast, or slower.
6) Sinking - A few ways of doing this, but primarily casting upstream from a small plunge, then dropping the rod tip (line and fly) into the plunge to sink. If you are doing this correctly you will see the line staying in place at the plunge and spinning around. Then it will tighten. At this point you will start raising the rod tip and following your line downstream, aiming to get the line tight in case there is a fish. Variation: try combining sinking with the “up and down”. If there are no plunges so to speak, casting farther upstream will give the fly more time to sink.

Another variation: to cast the fly upstream, keep the rod tip in place till the fly goes dowstream from it, then when it does pull the line upstream a bit and let it slack by moving the rod tip slightly downstream from the first place you kept the rod tip in place, hold, move rod tip upstream a bit and return to slightly downstream, and repeat. Introducing that slack can allow the fly to sink more every time. When fishing with Karel and Jason in Colorado last year this is a technique I used to get a couple of takes on a day that was very slow and fish were not moving for the fly. We could see fish low in the water but not moving, so I did this, keeping the fly going in as straight a line as possible, to get the fly right to the fish nose. I also combined this with pausing my fly in a few places to give fish a chance to grab it.

Line below the surface V. line above the surface (or, rod tip high v. rod tip low)

With each of these techniques the most basic variation will be based on the position of the rod tip. When the rod tip is high, more line will be above the surface of the water, as the currents push the fly away from the rod, the fly will tend to come up to the surface of the water. On the other hand, when the rod tip is lower or pointing down, more line is allowed to be in contact with the water, and most of it will be below the surface, this will in turn keep the fly below the surface. Knowing this variation is important when wanting to manipulate the fly into deeper parts of of the stream as I describe at the end of the “Sinking” technique.

Frequently you may see pictures of Dr. Ishigaki and myself looking a bit contorted as we fish, with the elbow high and the rod pointing down. What we are trying to do in those cases is keep more line in the water to manipulate the fly in different water columns. You could simply point the rod down, but that limits the range of motion and range of reach of the fly.

Here is one example (photo by learntenkara.com)

Move, move, move…

I have, in some situations, spent a fair amount of time in certain pools to work a fish and have had success at eventually hooking a fish by changing techniques in the same pool. But,  moving to the next pocket is by far the most effective way of fishing. One of the first fishing terms I learned in Japanese was “dondon, dondon, dondon” , which means move, move, move and Dr. Ishigaki frequently used when I first started fishing with him. Fish can have a hypnotizing effect on us and I know when we spot fish we sometimes spend inordinate amounts of time on one. It is better to move on.

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You contributed a total of  218 reviews during the contest period! This is really helping give our products your voice, and hopefully will help those taking up their method make their decision more easily. And, the reviews feature has already been serving as a great way to capture your feedback on our products. Some of the feedback is already making its way into our products, and at least one review prompted me to create some additional instructions/tips for the tenkara line holder.

Of course, we would still very much like to continue receiving your reviews of our products to make them better and help others. Please give us your honest review on our products by signing on and visiting the desired product to comment on it.

Without further ado, here is the table of winners. I’ll be emailing the winners of the complete sets and t-shirts to get more info, but will be mailing the other items shortly. Congratulations and thank you!

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To give you an incentive we’ll be giving out a lot of prizes for your honest review. All you have to do is log on to our site, go to your favorite product, and writeup a review before May 10th.

DRAWING: Every review has an unique id, we’ll use a random number generator to pick the winners – reviews already entered will be included in the drawing. The more products you review, the more chances you have to win though, of course, we only want reviews of products you know. The review should be honest – no special consideration will be given to content.

Ah, “what prizes can I get?”, you ask.
So, we will make this very sweet for you and give plenty of stuff away:
1) Complete tenkara set (two will be given)Any tenkara rod you want* along with a traditional tenkara line, tenkara level line, 2 tenkara line holders and set of flies. *rod subject to availability but all should be in.
2) Tenkara net *(US ONLY) (1 will be given).
3) A new tenkara bamboo fly box valued at $63 (1 will be given).
4) Copies of The Fly Fish Journal with Daniel Galhardo’s article on tenkara and his visit to Japan. (5 will be given)
5) Tenkara Sakasa Kebari T-SHIRT (2 will be given).
6) Tenkara baseball cap (2 will be given)

DEADLINE: May 10th. Winners will be selected within a couple of days from May 10th.

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Quite sometime ago we talked about the beginnings of a fascinating film project, the Manzanar Fishing Club. This project documents the stories and history of Japanese and Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Manzanar internment camp (Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada) but would risk their lives to sneak out of the camp and pursue freedom in some moments of fishing.

We’re happy to share that the film has been completed and is opening soon in several theaters. I had the pleasure of watching a pre-opening showing a couple of months ago and it is a touching story that is very well told by the film-makers and those who tell us their personal stories.

The angler pictured above was an angler from Japan who would disappear for days at a time to go fishing in the mountains nearby. In this particular stance he was gone for 2 weeks, leaving the camp with absolutely nothing on him, and for 2 weeks surviving off the harsh terrain of the Eastern Sierras. The fish he proudly displays are golden trout, which were only found miles and miles away from the camp.

We will never know whether he, or anyone else who suffered the injustice of being imprisoned, was aware of tenkara or not. It is actually irrelevant. If tenkara really means from heaven, then I’m certain they practiced their tenkara. Those who fished outside the camp found their tenkara, their moment of freedom and their gift from heaven, on the streams on the other side of the barbed wires.

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By Kevin Kelleher:

Though likely no one can prove unequivocally the first English reference to tenkara, I think you dismiss the discovery of George Elliott Gregory’s 1877 description in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan too easily. Let me defend.

First, Mr. Gregory’s report to the Society was in his own words “a thorough consideration of the subject of the fisheries of this country,” and includes a broad if not comprehensive description of at least 20 fresh water fishing techniques from hand line and net, to trap and cormorant fishing, in “lakes, rivers, and preserves.” One would anticipate that a “thorough” report to an academic society cataloguing fishing techniques in the “preserves” might contain an early reference to tenkara and Mr. Gregory states he has been studying the subject “for some years” in many different parts of Japan.

Second, the length of the rod in question is described as being between the 21-foot koi-tsuri-sao, and the 3 ½ foot haze zao, which at least fits the bill. More importantly, Gregory describes the rod in question as “a simple bamboo rod.” This resonates with my thinking on early tenkara rods, and Gregory himself contrasts this with multi-sectioned rods, lacquered and bound with silk found on other waters, and known to be used in Ayu fishing.

Further, Gregory calls both the rod and the fly it casts, Ke-bari. The undeniable explanation of the action of the kebari (the fly) seals the deal for me. Gregory describes the wings (sic. Hackle) as being rough and rigid when compared to European flies and made so they are able to “resist the pressure of the rapid streams of the country [so they do not] collapse and thus cause the artificial fly to lose all similitude to the real insect.” Surely this is a reference to the traditional tenkara fly. Mr. Gregory’s specific reference to “the rapid streams of the country” makes the description unlikely an Ayu fishing reference, which was practiced in larger rivers nearer urban areas. Later in his report he spends several pages on a translated work, describing the cormorant fishing for Ayu including recipes, implying he likely knew the difference.

In summary, Gregory’s description is a scholarly report of a fishing technique using a medium sized, simple, bamboo rod, fishing a kebari, whose hackle is designed to resist the high gradients, of the rapid streams of the country. Pretty convincing, I think.

(As an aside, Gregory presented this report to an open meeting of the Society, and since Sato was a founding member, would very likely have been in the room at its reading.) In the end though, it will be admitted, that neither Sato or Gregory were anglers, hence we shall be forever dissatisfied. As I said in Tenkara, the origins will likely remain a mountain mystery, which suits me just fine. More importantly, the friendly banter between tenkara enthusiasts in this uniquely open community should continue, God willing, as long as clear mountains streams dance with fish.

Cheers,

Kevin

Notes by Daniel:
Just a few points:

1) Gregory chose to describe 5 methods: koi-tsuri-zao, ka-bari, nagashi-bari, dzudzugo and te-zuri. He writes ka-bari, not ke-bari. Ka is the word for mosquito, and is still used to describe the flies used in ayu fishing. Tenkara flies are not reffered to as ka-bari. This was something I discussed with Mr. Fujioka, who researches tenkara flies, when I was in Japan. He gave me a set of ka-bari, which are used for ayu-fishing because he thought I would be interested, but said ka-bari are not used for tenkara.
2) On the flies, he does mention they are stiff, but we’ll never really know if he was referring to tenkara flies or ayu flies. Here’s an image of an ayu fly. Some ayu flies are stiffer. Likewise, some tenkara flies are stiffer than others. Also, it is more common to see ayu flies made with bristles than tenkara flies. Not an overly important clue, I do not think.

3)” “the rapid streams of the country” makes the description unlikely an Ayu fishing reference, which was practiced in larger rivers nearer urban areas. ” Ayu fishing is also done in what can be perceived as rapid streams. While more popular in some of the lower rivers, it is also done in higher faster streams. For example, this picture was taken in Gujo, Gifu, an area that would have been easier for him to reach and observe ayu fishing: , which is still plenty fast for someone who may have grown up by a chalk-stream. Ayu fishing was a big thing where I was living, and was done also on the Mazegawa, which is a great tenkara river. When the ayu season opened, this section was full of ayu anglers:

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Mr. Ernest Satow, a British diplomat who spent over twenty years in Japan at the prime of his career and who was also a keen mountaineer, kept detailed diaries of his time in Japan. In his records of the years 1877 and 1878 we can find the first references to tenkara ever recorded. The references did not mention tenkara by name, simply the fact that flies were being used to catch the local trout.

Based on the detailed descriptions in his diary, his records are the first that most likely indicate the observation of tenkara.

It was stated in Tenkara: Radically Simple, Ultralight Fly Fishing by Kevin Kelleher and Misako Ishimura, that the first description of tenkara was written by George Elliott Gregory on March 28, 1877. I do not believe, that Mr. Gregory was the first person to observe and write a record of tenkara. Mr. Gregory wrote a report titled “Japanese Fisheries” for the book Transactions of the Asiatic Societies of Japan. In his report, Gregory describes five methods of fishing practiced in Japan, one of which he calls ka-bari, where ka is a word for “mosquito” and bari is the word for hook. He writes, “The ka-bari is a simple bamboo rod. The line is used with a float but without any sink and the bait, as its name ka implies, is an artificial fly.” However, based on the vague description, and the fact that he does not mention the area where he observed this type of fishing, nor the species targeted, we can not be certain whether he was referring to tenkara or another method of fishing. Japan has an abundance of fresh-water fishing methods, at least two of which use flies (ayu fishing and tenkara). As tenkara was primarily practiced in the higher mountain streams, and ayu fishing much more common and at easier reach, it would be difficult for him to have observed the method. Furthermore, ayu fishing is normally referred to as “ka-bari”, not tenkara.

Mr. Satow, on the other hand, was in a good position to have witnessed tenkara first-hand. he frequently visited the areas far off the beaten path in Japan, and more importantly, spent time areas where tenkara would have been practiced. On numerous occasions he visited the mountains in what is now known as the Japanese Alps, with numerous mentions of Mt. Tate (or Tateyama) and Mt. Ontake. These areas are known for their cold streams and the long history of tenkara practice.

On September 22nd, 1877 Mr. Satow writes about his time near the river Katashinagawa (gawa = river), “Bears, deer, wild boar & hare taken in the winter months; yamame (trout) with artificial flies.”

Then, during a period of about ten days in 1878, Mr. Satow wrote three passages on his experiences around Tateyama and Mt. Ontake:

July 23 1878: “…Height about 7500 or 8000 ft… Below the top large yellow ranunculus 3 & black lilies in abundance 4; then rhododendrons in flower… Magnificent rocky cliffs tower above us all the way to the first hut at Futamata, then the sides of the ravine slope more, and are generally covered with trees. The ice cold stream boils along over rocks of grey granite, & so cold is it that in crossing one bridge we actually feel the consequent change of temperature.”
July 24, 1878: “Last night we had for dinner capital fish called iwana [a native Japanese trout], caught in the Kurobe-gawa with a fly made of cock’s feathers, weighing about 3/4 lbs.”[2]
July 28, 1878:”Our coolies[3] were provided with bamboo rods and flies to fish for iwana in a stream near Kamidaki.”
August 3, 1878: …”Fish caught in this stream iwana and tanabira, and artificial flies are used. From here to the top of [Mt.] Ontake is 7 ri.”[Edited by Ruxton, Ian. A Diplomat in Japan Part II: The Diaries of Ernest Satow, 1870-1883. Lulu Press Inc. September 1, 2009

One note: I have mentioned in this blog before that the first record of tenkara was in a book called "Diary of Climbing [Mt.] Tateyama”. This was a compilation of Mr. Satow’s diaries done in Japanese. Mr. Satow himself never gave his diaries that title. Thus, it is more accurate to state the first record was in Sir Ernest Satow’s diaries.

The full transcripts of Sir Ernest Satow’s diaries can be acquired and read in this pdf version of the book. The diaries themselves are a fascinating read for those interested in Japanese travel.

Ah, just as a reminder: tenkara was never practiced by samurai.

[1] From Japanese scholars, I heard of the existence of a book called “Diary of Climbing Mt. Tateyama”, but besides hearsay I could not confirm its existence. Diary of Climbing Tateyama (立山登山日記)
[2] [Note: the Kurobe river is not far from Tateyama, which is mentioned later in the same entry.]
[3] It is thought his guide in this areas was Mr. Shinaemon Toyama

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A big thanks to Josh Leavitt of Rutalocura.com and Holga photographer Brian Schiele who helped at the booth.

Also, a huge thanks to John and Rob of tenkaraguides.com for their enthusiastic participation at the show. Having their booth next to ours provided huge synergy.

It was also great seeing many advocates stopping by and talking tenkara to anyone who came near our booth. Several people said they came to the show specifically to see tenkara. If there is something that makes me truly happy it is to see those who adopted tenkara come to say hi and then hang out talking to everyone about their newfound passion.

The day before the show John and I went fishing at one of the Cottonwood canyon streams. We only had a bit over an hour of fishing time and I landed a beautiful brown trout. Using an ishigaki kebari of course. We fished a small stretch without a bite. The temperature the day before had swung dramatically: t-shirt and shorts weather when I arrived, but a nano-puff jacket and gloves when we went fishing the day after. Caught it by casting upstream and getting my fly to sink a few inches on a small plunge.

In a couple of hours we’re heading to a new-to-me stream outside of Salt Lake City, and I’m truly excited to see what that holds. The tenkaraguides.com couldn’t stop talking about it last night. I think they know something most people here don’t.

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Detail of the image above (Ralph and Lisa Cutter’s business card) – NOT MAGNIFIED BY THE PHONE!

Recently I ran across this blog post talking about using a water drop to turn your camera phone into a microscope of sorts. Intriguing, but I did not try it right away and didn’t think much about it since. Then, I went fishing with Ralph and Lisa Cutter, renowned anglers, fly fishing instructors and makers of the highly acclaimed film Bugs of the Underworld. Remembering the post I had read, I brought it up when they were taking some pictures of water life. At their home, the waterdrop lens became a source of great amusement, because it worked! So, I share it here with you.

Another perspective: find this on your $5 bill:

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Neil Patterson, John Goddard, Brian Clarke, Dr Tony Hayter

Long story short, tenkara just found itself in the hands of some great anglers, one may say “the biggest of big guns” at a gathering in the River Itchen, one of the most famous chalk streams in the UK.

British angling author Peter Lapsley recently discovered tenkara. By chance, the day after he received his tenkara gear, he attended a small gathering of some of Britain’s best and best known fly fishers and angling writers for a day’s grayling fishing on the famous River Itchen. Of course, he took his coolest new toy to the gathering and amused many people with it.

Mr. Lapsley said, “We all tried it, liked it and were intrigued by it; it is a most attractive blend of ancient Japanese tradition with modern materials and technology.”

The gentlemen in the picture are (left to right): Neil Patterson (author of Chalk Stream Chronicle), John Goddard (well-known angling entomologist and designer of numerous trout flies such as the Goddard Caddis), Brian Clarke (fishing editor of UK’s The Times) and Dr Tony Hayter (author of the definitive biography of F.M. Halford and of a future biography of another great angler).

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