Tenkara has a long history, though little of it is documented. Fly-fishing in Japan is suspected to have been practiced as far back as the 8th or 9th centuries B.C.
June, 2014
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]haven’t cast a fly rod in several years. Back then I didn’t have much luck. That is to say I had plenty, all bad. Casting lines with my friend and master fisherman Craig Amacker on the Wisconsin River I spent more time untangling my hooks from low hanging branches than actually tempting trout. With all the best equipment and under the instruction of a talented angler I had to assume that any failure I experienced that day was all due to my own lack of skill and expertise. Fishing was hard and I lost interest.
Photo by Tenkara Talk blog.
Years later, last week in fact, I found myself commissioned to do another story on fly fishing. And once again my attention was aroused. I wasn’t convinced that it would be any easier this time. But I was a bit more respective to the possibility of success when Bart Bonime, the fishing product manager at Patagonia, told me that he had a kit to make it simple.
“What’s nice about this is you can teach someone how to fish with about five minutes worth of instruction,” he said. “And they can be catching fish that quickly.”
That was Thursday. On Monday a package arrived in the mail containing a telescopic fly rod, fishing line, 12 wet flies and a book entitled Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel by Yvon Chouinard, Craig Mathews, Mauro Mazzo. I was skeptical but willing to give it try.
Read more . . . by author James Mills
“James is a freelance journalist that specializes in telling stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving and practices of sustainable living.
