The Tenkara Guides of Utah put together this really cool fly-tying video below. I love their use of multiple cameras and embedded picture-in-picture editing. Check it out:

For the last 14 years, just about half of my life, I have thought of getting a tattoo. I know it is a permanent thing, so I certainly never felt the need to rush it. Yet, I knew when the time was right I would get a permanent mark, and it would be something that would mean a great deal to me.

For the last 4 years I have been dedicated to introducing tenkara outside of Japan. As I turn 30 (today), I feel that I have accomplished some important milestones in my life. And, I have also reached some very significant milestones for Tenkara USA. These milestones have been made even clearer over the last few weekends attending Fly Fishing Shows, where I have been reminded that tenkara has actually meant a lot to so many people. Just watch this video, and this other to get a glimpse.  So much in fact that two folks got tenkara tattoos before I did.

As I anxiously anticipated my thirtieth birthday, I decided it was time to just do it. As the year turned, I started to constantly think about the design and placement of my tattoo. I thought of getting a drawing of Boulder’s Flatirons to mark moving here and getting a new home. I thought of getting the Tenkara USA logo done. And I have thought of a bunch of other things. It should be noted here, too, that my very first design concept came when I was 16 years old and I personally drew a rainbow trout that I wanted done on my back – so even the theme didn’t deviate a whole lot.

As of yesterday evening I still didn’t have a clear idea of what it would be. I had resigned to the fact that it wouldn’t be on my birthday.

Then, this morning I woke up with a very clear idea. It would be a “sakasa kebari”, the iconic tenkara fly that is simple to tie, pulsates when you twitch it, and to me also symbolizes how tenkara went in the opposite direction of the rest of the industry. And, I knew exactly which fly to do, it would be Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka’s illustration for the cover magazine of Fishing Cafe, a Japanese magazine in which I appeared.

As the day wore on, and I tried to meet some important deadlines, it was becoming less and less likely that it would happen on my 30th birthday. But, I figure, I’ll at least go meet the artists and see what they say. As I’m leaving home, at 5:15pm, I tell my wife, Margaret, “I’m stepping out for a bit…er..gonna get a tattoo.”

“REALLY?” – Yes, as of this afternoon she didn’t know whether I’d finally get it done or not. “Oh, I have made plans for us at 7pm. Can you be back by then?

“Oh…sure. I’m probably just going to make an appointment for tomorrow.”

I arrive at the very nice tattoo shop (Rising Tide, in Boulder, actually the classiest and coolest tattoo place I have seen), and tell them I’d love to get this done today, but understand if they can’t. And, to my surprise they had one guy available (Adrian Holcomb), who could do it and really liked the idea.

Ah, and the placement, it would be on my forearm. One reason I had been hesitating about getting a tattoo is that most hot-springs in Japan do not allow guests with a visible tattoo to enter. I absolutely love the onsen, and did not want to give up on them. A tattoo on the forearm would be pretty easy to conceal.

Plus, there was another, more important reason for this placement. I wanted my tenkara fly to pulsate, like the real thing. I had first thought of having the fly drawn right at the bend of the elbow. But, as I talked to the artist I realized that would be (a) super painful, and (b) it would not hold up well. As we played with the design and exact placement, it became clear that we could accomplish the exact same motion by placing the tattoo right below the elbow. And, it worked. So, I give you a moving tattoo:

How do I feel about it? I love it. Love that it was a small, simple yet meaningful fly. Love that it marks some important milestones achieved. And, love how there is a great, and quite long, story to tell from this one little drawing.

Was it painful? A tiny bit.

written by Jason

In a recent post, I wrote about some of the flies I got from the Tenkara Summit.  One of the featured tiers was Japanese tenkara angler Masami Tanaka.  Tanaka-san’s flies are very interesting.  Unlike many tenkara flies that use all natural materials and muted colors, he uses sparkle braid to give his flies a flashy appearance.

 

For some flies, he wraps sparkle braid the full length of the body.  But another variation he does is to just wrap it at the head of the fly where most people would wrap thread to build up a head.  This makes for a mostly muted fly with a small “hot spot” of flash–just enough to give it a nice attractor quality.

 

While I normally don’t use synthetic materials in my tenkara flies, I really like the idea of adding a little flash to the head of the fly and will be experimenting with this design.  Tanaka-san’s flies are another testament to the great diversity of tenkara fly patterns.

How have you incorporated synthetics into your tenkara flies?

written by Jason

The flies were flying at this year’s summit with anglers generously opening their fly boxes to share some of their favorite patterns with other attendees. On Friday, I was lucky enough to fish with Dr. Ishigaki and the other Japanese tenkara anglers that flew in for the event.  Everyone marveled at my fly box made by Rick Setina. They were especially impressed with the wooden hinges.  We passed our fly boxes around and traded a few flies before hitting the river.

Dr. Ishigaki’s fly box needs no introduction. It’s undoubtedly the most famous fly box in the tenkaraverse and seeing it in person was a real thrill.  To me, looking though someone else’s fly box is tantamount to peering into their soul.

He gave me two flies.  I was expecting the standard Ishigaki kebari with a black thread body and brown hackle.  Instead, I was surprised to get two peacock body flies; one with a cream colored hackle and one with olive hackle.

 

Since these flies are unusual Ishigaki kebari, I think I will get them framed.

Another interesting fly I snagged was from Eiji Yamakawa (known on the Tenkara USA forums as “Eddie”). He likes bright flies on eyeless hooks and uses high visibility 20 lb. Dacron backing for the loop.  His flies are beautifully colorful and his fly box looks like an artist’s palette.

There’s been a fair amount of buzz lately about snake skin kebari (mamushi kebari) and I was fortunate enough to bump into Matt Donovan (statikpunk on the forum) who shared one of his snakeskin body flies with me.

Matt actually sent me some skin from a bull snake a while back but I haven’t had much time to experiment with it.  But seeing his fly in person makes me want to run to the vise and start.  The skin makes for a very buggy looking fly with lots of variegation that provide good contrast.  He also told me that it’s the most durable material he’s ever used for a fly body.  Don’t be surprised if I post my version of the snake skin kebari soon.

Kebari were the currency of the Summit–happily traded to network, and form new, lasting relationships.  Flies are easier to make than money.  And unlike in real life, at the summit, I enjoyed walking around with a fat wallet (my fly box).  I wish it worked that way in the “real” world.

Did you snag any interesting flies from the Summit?

Written by Jason

Daniel has been posting a lot of flies from tenkara anglers in Japan over on the Tenkara USA Facebook page lately (click here to see Daniel’s summary from his blog post yesterday).  They’re all beautiful and unique but one in particular struck me as distinctly different.  It was the Kurobe kebari tied by Mr. Fujioka.  At first glance, this fly might not seem like anything special.  But what I found so interesting about it was the fact that the hackle was palmered.  “Palmered” means that the hackle is wound through the body of the fly, rather than just at the head as in many tenkara flies.  It reminded me of some of the classic British palmered flies such as the Wickham’s Fancy or Soldier Palmer.  While I knew that not all tenkara flies are tied in the reverse hackle sakasa kebari style, it was the first time I had seen a tenkara fly with palmered hackle.  And it got me thinking…

Even though I’ve mostly given up my entomological pursuits, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a simple fact.  Real insects don’t have legs that point out from their head like a sakasa kebari.  They have legs splayed out through their thorax. Some point forward, some point back.  And when they’re tumbling or swimming, they could point in any given direction in what must resemble more of a jumbled mess than a neat “paint brush”.  It would seem then that a palmered fly would more closely replicate an insect than a pattern with hackle just behind the eye.

And the more I thought of it, I discovered a couple of other reasons why palmered flies would seem to make sense.

For one, they offer the illusion of more movement.  If one of the keys to the sakasa kebari’s effectiveness is the motion in its hackle, then wouldn’t it look like more things were moving if the hackle were spread out rather than concentrated all in one place?

Another is segmentation.  Palmering the hackle through the body leaves gaps between the wraps that create a segmented look (another buggy hallmark). And, it does this without the need to add any extra ribbing material like copper wire.

So after all of this, I decided to try to tie some Palmered style flies.  As soon as I got going, I realized how open to experimentation this style is.  There are literally an infinite number of material and color combinations you could use for the body, thorax, and abdomen.  I actually had a hard time settling on which ones to chose for my first go.  Obviously, this will be an ongoing experiment but here are a few to get started…

 

Recipe:  Olive & Yellow

Hook:  Any eyeless hook
Thread:  Olive 8/0
Eye:  #2 silk bead cord, brown
Abdomen:  Yellow turkey biot
Thorax:  Olive dubbing
Hackle:  Olive grizzly saddle

 

Recipe:  Grey

Hook:  Any eyeless hook
Thread:  Grey 8/0
Eye:  #2 silk bead cord, red
Abdomen:  Grey turkey biot
Thorax:  Grey dubbing
Hackle:  Natural grizzly saddle

 

Recipe:  Peacock & Gold

Hook:  Any eyeless hook
Thread:  Black 8/0
Eye:  #2 silk bead cord, black
Abdomen:  Gold wire, med.
Thorax:  Peacock sword
Hackle:  Black saddle

 

Recipe:  Brown & Orange Pheasant

Hook:  Any eyeless hook
Thread:  Orange 8/0
Eye:  #2 silk bead cord, white
Abdomen:  Pheasant tail
Thorax:  Burnt orange dubbing
Hackle:  Pheasant hackle

 

Seeing these flies from Japan has really got me thinking beyond sakasa kebari.   Back when I thought the only tenkara flies were sakasa kebari, it felt kind of limiting. But now, I have a new sense of freedom and a whole world of tenkara fly tying opportunities ahead of me.

What styles of tenkara flies have you tied that are “outside the box”?

Written by Jason

Happy 4th of July!

Here’s a simple pattern I’ve been using lately that I’ve been having a lot of success with.  I normally fish thread-bodied flies but am starting to use more and more flies with dubbing for the body.  The dubbing absorbs water and helps the fly sink.  But I also think it creates a slightly bulkier body that makes a more tempting meal to trout.  Watch the video all the way to the end to see footage of what it looks like underwater.

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There are many variables that make an artificial fly attractive to fish: size, silhouette, movement, and color. Anyone who has seen a sakasa kebari underwater knows that they’ve got excellent, lifelike movement and this is probably the main reason they are so effective. But movement often overshadows color in sakasa kebari design.  Typically, the bodies are an afterthought and nothing more than a simple black or other muted colored thread.  While these flies work, I think we can take a lesson from the great attractor patterns like the Royal Coachman, and incorporate not just color, but contrast into sakasa kebari to make them even more effective.
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This is one of the most difficult concepts to embrace in tenkara, but in my view the most liberating. What I am talking about is the idea of using [any] one fly pattern in pursuit of trout in mountain streams. I have talked at length about the idea of not getting caught up on the western fly-fishing mentality of changing flies in order to catch trout, but rather to learn techniques to use your one fly in many conditions. Instead of relying on gear (i.e. changing of fly patterns), one can rely on his skills to make the fly work in any situation. This is not something I tell people they have to do with tenkara, it’s simply something I say is possible, and very effective.

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.

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Yesterday I was able to spend time with the well known Mr. Katsutoshi Amano. One of the few people considered to be a living tenkara master in Japan, Amano-sensei is very well known in fishing circles in Japan. He may be the longest-living practitioner of tenkara in Japan. And, his fly-tying is very simple and interesting, for he uses no vise, and eyeless-hooks.

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Jay (Yakfisher) from our forum, tied this wonderful fly. He says he’s tied less than 100 flies and is just “beginning to understand the techniques involved”, but I think he’s done a pro job at it. Description and his words below:

Jay says, “The story behind my flies is a simple one. Four years ago, or so, a friend tried to get me to tie flies and I even took a series of classes… A recent fly-fishing trip to Puget Sound brought my interest back up a bit and I discovered tenkara fishing as a simpler alternative to what I’ve done in the past. This idea fits very well into my psyche. Most of the flies I’ve seen tied for tenkara fishing appeared spare but effective so I decided to try tying once again. The pattern I’ve sent was based on this idea with some of the materials I purchased when I first tried to learn. Including these flies, I’ve tied less than 100 flies total so I’m just beginning to understand the techniques involved. Next I’ll need to better understand how changes to the patterns affect the behavior of the flies.” Great fly Yakfisher! I really like it.

MikeM from the forum tied the fly above, and wrote, “I am pretty much a traditional fly tier and have been tying longer than I have been fly fishing. Therefore I am far from a “one fly” guy. I really respect those that go this route, but I am a biologist and a bit too much of a geek about the entomology side of things to give up hatch matching. So I thought about what I would want to incorporate from what I have learned of traditional western fly tying if I could only use one simple fly. That fly would have to be a soft hackle wet fly as they are versatile and always seem to work well for me. One color would be tough to choose, but it would likely be either olive or purple. I went with purple because of the idea that it is more recognizable in deeper water. I strongly believe that segmentation is important, so I had to give it some type of rib, and figured that a little flash from the silver wire might act as a trigger. Finally, I choose the light partridge hackle because it provides a bit of contrast and the banding in the barbs provides a “buggy” look. I put all off this together and used the reverse hackle in homage to the traditional Tenkara style. I’m looking forward to hearing if anyone has success with this pattern.” Nice going Mike!

Karel Lansky, of the website http://www.tenkaraonthefly.net/ tied the first fly featured today, and says, “I wanted to crate a fly imitating a very widespread insect, a caddis, fished as pupa, with a dubbed body instead of the thread to achieve more “shaggyness”. Oh, yes, it’s all about the shaggyness, as he says, “thought a caddis pupa imitation might be something trout would not pass up.”

Andrew Berner tied the fly below, and says, “Mine was the red reverse Ishigaki Kebari. I just got all the stuff to tie flies and actually made two other batches of twelve and picked this third batch that looked the best. I’m new to this tying thing and I don’t think mine are as good as others but am really excited to try them out and see if they work. I used some 6/0 thread, hungarian partridge and red peacock herl. I’m really excited about tying as much as I can and want a bunch of good flies before the season starts this April.”

How I love our community of tenkara anglers, their enthusiasm and passion for tenkara inspires me to run Tenkara USA and try to make it better every day. As the flies of our second tenkara fly swapare put in the mail for the recipients, I will be featuring 2 flies a day on the blog. Keep coming back!

Forum user, Heineken, tied the beautiful fly below.

Heineken says, “Hi Daniel ,
I had no time to come up with a little story behind my micro sakasa kebari earlier. Here it is
My objective was to tie a dry fly for quieter pools and streams where picky trout are feeding on small insects off the surface.I wanted to incorporate a little more movement in the hackle so I added some white fibres of culle de canard. The copperwire has to weigh down the body to ensure penetration of the water film, since the fly is very light, and a parachute like landing. Hook: Tiemco 103 bl | Thread : Black 0/8 uni | Rib: Copper wire fine | Hackle: Red cock hackle (Brahman) | Wing: White culle de canard | Simple enough ?

My fly was an “ugly” functional fly, and my take on a “original kebari”. I tied a fly to accomplish one goal: to sink effectively while using the simplest materials, thread and hackle. Actually, there is a bit of a story behind how I learned about this fly. Last September, Dr. Ishigaki came to visit and fish in California. On one of the days we went fishing for golden trout, on a gorgeous mountain stream with many very calm pools. One of the pools had a good number of fish, but they were only going for flies about 2-3ft under. While we could get to them with other flies, it took a while for them to sink. So, after a few minutes he pulled this “secret” weapon. I had seen his fly box many times Yet, I never noticed this “different” fly, which was tied with a lot more thread on the body. We tied this fly on, cast to the pool, and observed it sinking twice as fast. And, we could now catch twice as many fish, still using one pattern.