by TJ Ferreira

I feel blessed to have attended all 3 Tenkara Summits and #3 in Virginia was a blast. As this blog is being typed, I am just starting to get over a cold that somehow I picked up at the Summit. Seems the art of shaking many hands and talking to so many people can cause one to get the cooties but I am happy to deal with it after a great weekend doing everything tenkara.

As most of you are probably aware Tenkara Summit #1 was in West Yellowstone in Montana, #2 was in Salt Lake City Utah, and now #3 was in Harrisonburg Virginia. All 3 were great fun and now I look forward to future Summits to meet fellow customers and tenkara fisher-folk.

But… I have now added another goal to strive for at Tenkara Summits. The Art Of Putting Checkmarks Next To Trout On My Bucket List.

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Written by Daniel

Most states in the US allow for customized license plates. Several of them allow for 7 characters, the perfect number for the word TENKARA.

Getting a customized license plate costs money and makes it easily identifiable – what if I park near a “tenkara-hater”? So, I never thought I’d get a customized license plate for my car. But, when I noticed the number of letters was perfectly suited for the word tenkara I had to get custom plates.  Plus, I learned that these “Special Interest Licence Plates” direct the money paid for them toward good causes, such as environmental groups, that was enough for me to pull the trigger. And, surprisingly I wasn’t the only one!

The one below is the first one I got and the money goes to the Yosemite Conservancy.

Once I got the first “TENKARA” plate I just had to get one for our second car. I went for “I 10kara”. The money goes to the California Tahoe Conservancy.

Tenkara guide Tom Sadler, out in Virginia, got 10Kara for his car. While he could have gone for “TENKARA” that wouldn’t leave room for the brook trout on the plate. The brook trout benefits the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries – if you ask me, I think choosing the brook trout with 10kara was a great choice.

John Ellsworth and Carrie Mori, certified tenkara instructors who split their time between Utah and Idaho, have amassed 3 tenkara license plates! Two in Utah and one in Idaho.

The plate on John and Carrie’s camper supports wildlife conservation in Utah and features Utah’s cutthroat trout. Neat.

John Fuller also in Virginia picked the same plate as Tom Sadler, benefitting Wild brook trout in the state, and here’s his plate:

These are way too cool! I wonder if we’ll see 50 TENKARA plates one day.  Do you have TENKARA plates or know someone who does? We’d love to see it.

From our inception we have been approached by numerous clients asking where/with whom they could learn more about tenkara. As a result, and in collaboration with the Tenkara Guides of Utah, last year we started developing a new program to put people in touch with guides who know tenkara well, love it, and have tenkara as part of their guide offerings.

As a result we developed the Tenkara Guide Network™

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This weekend we participated at the Wasatch Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo. It was very much a last minute decision to attend. The Tenkara Guides of Utah were participating, as was Craig Mathews from Blue Ribbon Flies (one of our dealers and very passionate tenkara angler). Also, Utah is one of the states with most potential for tenkara, with lots and lots of streams in the mountains nearby but where, by perusing the main online forum for fly-fishing in Utah, it seems like many people have the wrong ideas about the method. Thus I decided to come in and help tenkara take over the show. It turned out that we did make a big splash, and introduced tenkara to hundreds of people and “converted” a good number of them. It was hard to look at our corner and not see a crowd. Several people commented that we were keeping people in that area for too long. So, tenkara has now made big strides in Utah.

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.

The Tenkara Guides of Utah, Erik Ostrander, Rob Worthing, and John Vetterli, have just posted their awesome video on tenkara online. The video was filmed and produced by Ben Luthy, a student at University of Utah. We were able to enjoy a first showing during the Tenkara Summit in Montana, and the audience was stoked. Needless to say, Ben got an A in his class for a very well-done work. Enjoy it.

The Tenkara Guides of Utah are part of our upcoming Tenkara Guide Network program, and are certified Tenkara Guides by Tenkara USA. This new program, which we hope to roll out in full effect in 2012, will put those interested in learning more about tenkara with those who have learned it directly from us. The Tenkara Guides are also helping us put together the second Tenkara Summit, which will be held in Salt Lake City, UT on July 28th and 29th of 2012.

Recently two of our customers, Erik and John, started organizing a tenkara gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had been looking forward to returning to the area. The last time I had been there I spent a week fishing every day after work. The mountain stream fly-fishing in the area is phenomenal. That was pre-tenkara, and I had been looking forward to tenkara fishing in those mountain streams. I knew they would be tenkara-perfect. Indeed they were.

Below is a slideshow of the 4 days I spent in the area. Every day as perfect as it could be. On Thursday I arrived at the airport in late afternoon, checked into my hotel, and headed to one of my favorite streams. I called Erik up, and he was already there – mind you we had no plans to meet that afternoon, but we had a blast fishing together. Friday was a nice repeat, and it included John. Awesome company in small stream fishing. On Friday night I gave a talk at Western Rivers Fly Shop in SLC. They don’t currently carry our gear, but were very welcoming and eager to learn more about tenkara and have their customers also learn about it. The talk was followed by a great dinner at a sushi restaurant not far from the shop. Saturday we resumed the “talk” with on-stream demonstrations. We fished all day, caught some nice fish. More fishing Sunday on one of the most gin-clear streams I know. On Monday I headed up to Logan to meet with our dealers in the area. Round Rocks brought in a great crowd, many already avid tenkara anglers. The rivers were completely out of control and it was raining but I still gave the on-stream demonstration, on the stream that runs right behind their store. It was very cool to teach real tenkara to people that were so used to using it similarly to western fly-fishing.

Today I came to Bozeman and already have some great stories, which I hope to share soon, including tenkara fishing in the middle of an unexpected snow blizzard today. Tomorrow morning I’m heading on a 2-day backpacking trip with Ryan Jordan, founder of Backpackinglight.com. Definitely looking forward to this and to sharing it all with you. All in all a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

Tenkara USA is largely founded on philosophical principles, primarily: simplify your gear to enjoy the experience (no need to be weighed down by extra stuff), and protect our waters. It can be argued that forming the basis of these principles is the explicit need for public access to fishing waters, that is the only way that people can connect with nature and in turn enjoy the experience so many of us love, and finally feel compelled to protect these waters.

Thus, here is an important issue brought up by tenkara angler, Erik Ostrander, a Utah resident, on our forum:

Many of you are aware of the Utah Supreme Court decision on July, 2008 that gave back the public’s right to access public water ways – whether they flow on private or public lands. This was a huge win by fisherman across the state. Since then, the legislature has been trying to resolve the issues that have come up from that decision every legislative session. This year there are two bills HB-80 and HB-141. Please, please contact your Utah representative and ask them to vote FOR HB-80 and AGAINST HB-141. I have attached my e-mail to my representative at the bottom

For those of you outside of the state I’m not sure who you would send your comments to, but please let them know that this legislation might affect your decision to spend tourism dollars in Utah – we’ve got to make people know there is more money to be made through greater access.

READ MORE
Link to HB-80′s text: http://le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0080.htm
Link to HB-141′s text: http://le.utah.gov/~2010/bills/hbillhtm/hb0141.htm
Link to “How to find your representative”: http://le.utah.gov/house/DistrictInfo/NewMaps/State.htm

Below is a summary of the two bills:

HB-80 (Rep Fowlkes) – GOOD:
*Went through and open, public process involving multiple parties
* Provides education which will drive accountability
* Clarifies the unanimous Supreme Court Conaster decision
* It strengthens protections for landowners by defining the easement clearly, limits liability for landowners, increases trespassing penalties, and requires the public to be educated on the easement if they are going to use it.
* It benefits the public by defining the easement clearly recognized by the Supreme Court, allows for portage around man-made obstructions in streams
* It also clearly recognizes two competing rights and fairly balances those rights

HB-141 (Rep Mciffs Bill) – BAD:
* Repeals the Unanimous Supreme Court Decision – Conaster
“Line 78: (3) The public has no right to the recreational use of public waters on private property
Line 79: to which access is restricted, as defined in Section 73-29-102 , without permission of the
Line 80: property owner or as provided in Chapter 29, Public Waters Access Act.”
* No public process
* It makes no attempt to balance the rights of private property owners and the public
* It is no attempt at a compromise in these competing rights.

This is my e-mail to my representative:

Quote:
Representative Biskupski,

I’m emailing you to ask for your continued support on HB-80. I believe this bill to be a good clarification and support of the Utah Supreme Court decision that was made in the Conaster decision. HB-80 supports the public in a constitutionally granted right to access public waters – whether or not they fall on private or public land. I believe that the education provided as a result of section 73-6a-202 exemplifies the public’s desire to respect public waters on private lands, and the bill offers land owners protection from lawsuits by section 73-6a-201. I believe HB-80 to be a good definition of the law that supports both land-owner rights and the public’s rights.

Conversely, I would like to ask for your vote against HB 141 which is un-constitutional in it’s blatant disregard for the Supreme Court of Utah. HB 141 takes away all access to public waters that flow on private lands – that’s over 14,000 miles of water ways that will be stolen from the public. HB 141 would support the last several decades of unfairly compensating land owners at the public’s expense – compensation that is granted by restricting access to the public. Not allowing the public on these river beds is immoral and wrong. Simply put, it is stealing away a constitutional right.

I urge you, please fight for the tens of thousands of recreators in Utah that would like their rights protected by HB-80.

Thank you very much for your help,

NAME

Resident, District 30