I have been using Picasa for storing and sharing our photos for a long time. At first it was a handy way to organize the photos on my computer, and eventually I made it our central repository for Tenkara USA photos. It was easy to upload full-resolution photos and share them. And then, Google starting messing things up. They tried combining it with that service nobody seems to use called Google+. And, instead of easily viewing the photos on Picasa, now people saw it in a Google+ page, which made it hard to download the file.

Today I uploaded a large batch of photographs from the Tenkara Summit and a few funny things happened. Without me wishing it, Google combined a few images into multi-photo compositions. And, it combined others into animated Gif files. Some of them worked out well – pretty smart system. But, I didn’t want them, nor need them. So much for using Picasa for our photography needs, time to find a new service. But, in the meantime I’ll share some of the funny things it did today:

Here’s TJ, happy to be in a Virginia brook trout stream

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Every event needs a good photographer. We have been very lucky to get professional photographers to attend all of our Tenkara Summits and memorialize the event in superb photos. This year we counted on the presence of Justin Ide. Justin was a participant at the event and is a professional photographer who offered to capture the moments at the 2013 Tenkara Summit. If you’re looking for a professional photographer, look no further: http://www.justinide.com/. Enjoy the slideshow below.

Tenkara Summit 2013 – Images by Justin Ide

John, TJ and I went tenkara fly-fishing in the Virginia mountains yesterday. We were looking for the beautiful brook trout found in those parts and certainly found some. Pretty fish. Watch for some special tactics on catching a lot of fish.
Music by Shenandoah Alley

We sold out of the Tenkara Summit 2013 shirts very quickly today, so, here it is if anyone is interested in purchasing them. To make things quick (we’re posting this less than 12 hours after selling out) we’ll be offering the shirts through Zazzle, and yes, it’s a little more expensive. Artwork by Anthony Naples.

Here’s the link to get your t-shirt: http://www.zazzle.com/tenkara_summit_2013_shirt-235190548398762435

Photo by Justin Ide:

The third annual Tenkara Summit is just a couple of days away now! We hope to see you there this weekend. Here’s an overview of the event, and some FAQs:

SCHEDULE:

Day 1  (May 11):

Walk-ins welcome! $25 fee includes lunch

Location: 1400 East Market Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801

9AM – 9:45 Welcome remarks and presentation by Daniel

10:00-12:00 - Clinics, vendor tables, silent auction:
Clinics:
1) Fly Tying with Jason Klass, Loften Duprez, Misako Ishimura, John Geer
2) Casting with Daniel
3) Tenkara Knots

Vendors:
1) Mossy Creek (TUSA rods/lines/etc; waders, etc)
2) Tenkara USA (event T-shirts and showing rods)
3) Zimmerbuilt (packs)

Authors:
1) Kevin Kelleher and Misako Ishimura
2) Dave Dirks

12:00-1:00 - Lunch, provided
1:00-1:20 - Video presentation by Daniel Galhardo, preview of upcoming DVD
1:30-2:15 - TU presentation, Seth Coffman
2:20-3:00 - Different techniques with a tenkara rod, Tom Sadler
3:00-3:50 - Tenkara in Virginia, and Local waters – Brian and Colby Trow
3:50-4:00 - Final remarks, directions to Day 2 by Daniel and Tom Sadler
6:00-10:00 - Skype with Japanese anglers on a stream, then Dinner/Band/Party

Day 2 (May 12):

10AM – 12PM free demos on the river at Riven Rock Park. Participants can stay past the time at the park.

12PM- 1PM there will be a lunch provided to participants who paid for the day 2 registration (now sold out)

1:00PM – 5PM paid participants will be guided to nearby waters to fish (sold out)

FAQ

Q. What should I bring?

A. For day 1, you do not need to bring anything. We’ll just look forward to your presence and participation. For day 2, which will be held outside, we recommend bringing sunscreen and appropriate clothing. We also recommend bringing your own tenkara equipment to ensure we have enough gear for everyone and can give you tips on using your own equipment. If you’re participating in the guided portion, waders and wading boots are recommended but not required. Keep an eye on the weather, there is a chance of rain – Weather Forecast.

Q. Will equipment be available for sale?

A. Yes. Mossy Creek will have a stock of tenkara and other fishing gear (e.g. waders) available. However, there is no guarantee of availability. We recommend bringing your own.

Q. Will there be event t-shirts available?

A. Yes. We have made a limited run of t-shirts with the artwork designed by Anthony naples and will be making that available at the summit. Shirts will cost $25.

Q. Can I still register?

A. For day 1 you can still register here, and walk-ins are welcome. There is a $25 fee, which includes lunch. Unfortunately we are completely sold out for the guided portion of day 2.

Q. What flies should I bring?

A. That depends on your philosophy when it comes to flies. I was there last year to teach a class, was told that I should use specific patterns but did very well with the Ishigaki kebari. Here is a post on fishing there, and here is a video shot at Mossy Creek. 

I grew up mowing the lawn. I did it for my parents back in Brazil, and when I came to live in the US as an exchange student I also mowed the lawn for my host family almost every weekend. Both of my families always had powerful gas or electric lawn mowers.

When I was about 10, I remember seeing a neighbor using this very funny contraption; it had no electric cables nor an engine. It made no noise. He just pushed it around while some blades seemed to make the grass shorter. I couldn’t fathom how that tool could possibly cut grass. It looked so old school. I thought to myself the poor guy couldn’t afford an actual lawn mower. Nonetheless I was very intrigued.

Yesterday, for the first time, I had to mow my own lawn. But, before the lawn could be mowed I had to shop for my first lawn mower. There are many choices out there: electric or gas; self-propelled or push; cheap or expensive. I opted for simple.

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It has just been discovered that some fish use a kind of sign language to help others hunt. So, I decided to investigate the footage I have been capturing over the last couple of weeks for the Tenkara Diaries videos to see if trout displayed any tendencies to use sign language – after all, one of the fish they discovered uses sign language is the coral trout. I’ll keep my eyes open in the future to see how they tell each other, “Hey, look at that tenkara fly; it looks yummy!”

*Once you click play, click on the gear icon and select the 1080p for best quality!

I went fishing with Steve Schweitzer, author of “Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park” (an excellent guide book that now includes a section on tenkara). The fishing turned out to be quite tough due to cold snowmelt. Yet, this tenkara experience was great nonetheless, and we even ran across a tenkara angler on the water.

A frying pan and a tenkara Grand Slam in Colorado… Armed with a tenkara rod (I was using the Tenkara USA Ito), tenkara line and tenkara flies I went fishing near Aspen, Colorado yesterday. Caught some pretty good fish, a couple in the 20 inch range. You’ll see a tweak I did to my tenkara fly, the Amano kebari during the video, which seemed to produce results.

Today I started fishing near Aspen, Colorado, after giving a presentation in the area yesterday. In the morning I headed out with a group and caught some beautiful rainbows, mostly in the 18-20″ range. Then, in the early afternoon I hooked into browns (still in the same river), at least one at about 20″.

On the 3.5 hour drive home I stopped in a small stream off the highway to take a break and fish. A few minutes into fishing and I hooked a couple of cutthroats (western slope cutthroats I think). As I walked upstream I came across a beaver dam, cast above it and caught a brookie. As I walked away to farther spot I thought to myself…”wait a minute, I just caught a Colorado Grand Slam! YEAH!”. A quick note, I caught them all on one fly… not just the “one fly”, but the actual same fly (a variation of the amano kebari). I’m putting a new “Tenkara Diary” video together, hopefully you’ll see it tomorrow, but here are the photos:

This is the photo of a Japanese char, the Iwana, which I took on one of my trips to Japan. Iwana translates roughly as “rock fish”. Aptly I caught this guy on the Tenkara USA Iwana rod. It is said they can “walk” on rocks to get back to the water, and legend has it that they can use that ability to cross paths and get on different waters if their stream is drying up. I can vouch that they can use their fins to stand, though I haven’t yet seen one walk from one stream to another.

John Geer and I went to Missoula, Montana to attend the Orvis Guide Rendezvous over the last couple of days. We were invited to share tenkara with the Orvis network of guides, since they will likely be getting a lot of inquiries about tenkara rods and the tenkara method of fishing now that we are being featured on a full page of the Orvis catalog. We had 2 hours yesterday to sneak out and fish the nearby rivers. You have to watch the video to see the enormous fish John is holding at the end, he says it felt like a kayaker was pulling him.

 

Tenkara rod: Tenkara USA Amago
Tenkara line: 4.5 level line
Tenkara fly: Oki Sakasa Kebari
Tenkara net: hands and teeth!