My converted kebari(s)

I have yet to embrace the "one fly method" of Tenkara -- but I am still very new to Tenkara. I must admit, I am an Tenkara mutant. I love the simplicity, and effectiveness of Tenkara tools, but fishing only one fly or style of fly seems to make me scratch my head. Now that said, I have not yet fished any freestone streams with more opportunistic trout. All those streams are still frozen -- they will not be fishable until May or June, depending on the run-off. So far, the rivers that I have fished have pretty hatch-selective trout. I still feel the call of "match the hatch" to oblige them.

I am trying to be a better Tenkara-jedi, however. So, with that in mind, I decided to convert some classical western wet flies to the kebari style. That way I can feel better that I am on my way to Tenkara nirvana. BTW, I have caught plenty of fish on the western cousins of these flies.

The Cased Caddis kebari

Cased Caddis kebari

My grandfather always fished the upper stretch of the Provo River with "rock rollers". His were the real thing impaled on a hook, but I have caught plenty of freestone stream trout on the feather version. This fly is my sakasa kebari version designed to mimic a cased caddis larvae, still in its case, tumbling helplessly in the stream after being dislodged. If you sample the stomach of freestone trout they contain these sand/stick cases in plenty. The cream-colored dubbing is the larvae reaching out of the case grasping for an anchor. The starling hackle are its legs.

So this fly is for my grandfather. I still tie with some of his tools. He has been gone for many years, but tying flies brings me a little closer to him.

Hook: what ever you like, 12-16
Thread: black 8/0
Case: peacock herl reinforced in a dubbing loop
Rib: small gold wire
Larvae: PMD yellow dubbing
Hackle: starling

The Diving Caddis kebari

Diving Caddis kebari

I first met Gary LaFontaine while fishing the Job Corp ponds near Deer Lodge, Montana. It was a typical Montana summer evening, just cool enough to need a light jacket. I was wading up to my chest and casting a large brown leech pattern in hopes of hooking one of the huge trout that lurked in the pond. As I cast a truck drove up and out got a dark haired man with two German sherpards. As I splashed around he rigged up and them came over and watched me. I had the distinct feeling that his dogs were laughing at me. After a while I got out and started to head back to my car wet, cold and humiliated. As I passed the man we mutally said hello. He asked how I did and I told him I had failed. He them taught me that I didn't fail, I had just not caught any fish. We talked for a while and then we went our separate ways. It was only later did I realise I had been talking to that famous flyfisher from western Montana. Two year later Gary was diagnosed with ALS and was gone all too fast.

Gary had a special way of inventing flies. He often would don snorkle gear and go underwater to see what insects really looked like to trout. From this and other methods, Gary came up with some of the most succesful patterns for catching trout. One of these is his famous Diving Caddis. This fly mimics a swimming ovapositing caddis with its folded wings and trailing bubbles. Here is my olive kerbari version in honor of that gentleman flyfisher from Deer Lodge.

Hook: what ever you like, 12-18
Thread: olive 8/0
Body: Brown-olive dubbing
Underwing: grey mallard wing quill
Overwing: white antron
Hackle: Starling

The Brown Bomber (Soft Hackle Grey) kebari

Brown Bomber kebari

The Brown Bomber wet fly has been around since, oh I'd say, the beginning of time. OK, not really, but it has in one form or another been around since the 40's. Sometimes the pattern is tied with two or even three hackles evenly spread over the body (as in Herter's Professional Fly Tying and Spinning Lure Making Manual, 1969); sometimes it is tied with only one hackle. Likely these are different patterns going by the same name. Also, it should not be confused with the dry fly of the same name, in fact this old Brown Bomber wet pattern looks more like a Soft Hackle Grey since it is grey not brown!  Nonetheless, this is a general searching pattern that has caught a many deceived fish. Here is my kebari variant of this foundation fly. This old time pattern uses beaver for the body but other dubbing ranging from grey to brown may be used. Also, instead of tinsel, wire of various thickness may be substituted.

Hook: straight or curved, 10-14
Thread: grey 8/0
Body: beaver without guard hairs
Rib: flat gold tinsel
Hackle: Brown partridge

The Brook's Stone Ishigaki-style kebari

Charlie Brook's Stone ishigaki kebari

Stoneflies are steaks to trout. None of this light dainty morsel stuff, stonefly nymphs are a real mouth full to a hungry trout. These nymphs are in the freestone river year round, but at various stages of maturity. In June and early July western rivers shores are adorned with thier molted husks as the most mature of these bugs transform into huge adults. Every western fly fisher awaits the stonefly hatch with giddy anticipation.

A successful impressionistic pattern for the large dark stonefly nymph is Charles Brook's Stone. It is easy to tie and bullet-proof on the river. It was one of the first "tied in the round" flies; it was introduced well before rotary vises were common place. Its "not to specific or detailed" appearance is why it is so successful.

Converting this fly to a kebari was easy in that is already is pretty kebari-like. Instead of trying for a sakasa kebari-style I opted for a ishigaki kebari-style. In this style the hackle is more perpendicular to the hook shaft instead of being angled forwards over the hook eye.

Unlike the original which uses both brown and grizzly hackle, I used only brown hackle. I also minimized the amount of hackle. I kept the ostrich gill for contrast however. I did wrap fine lead wire on the hook shaft at first so to make this fly heavier than typical kebari. Stoneflies are bottom dwellers. They don't float.

Hook: generally straight, 8-14
Thread: black 6/0
Tail: black stripped goose biots
Body: black wool yarn
Rib: medium silver wire (copper is also common)
Hackle: brown palmered over thorax
Gills: white ostrich herl palmered over thorax

So, these are some of my converted kebari flies. I am sure they will all catch fish, as thier western cousins have been time tested. Give them a try and let me know how they work for you.

What I learned from band

Yes, I was a band nerd -- in high school that is. I played the clarinet. Part of my daily routine, after playing the clarinet, was to clean it out so that it would not mold/mildew. I live in a pretty dry part of the country but mold can still be a problem.

When I started Tenkara I heard that the hollow telescoping rod segments can get mold/mildew in them and degrade carbon surface if they are not properly dried out. Airing out the segments can help reduce this damage, but in the microclimate of a tube the humidity can remain elevated retarding proper drying (no matter what the ambient humidity outside the tube is). I decided that I would help the process by doing what I did to my clarinet, that is, running a drying swab through.

I have made a drying swab (after the manner of a clarinet swab) for my Tenkara rods by using a triangular piece of silk cloth attached to a length of 25 lb monofilament. The triangle shape helps ensure better contact with the inner surface of the rod. A small, pinch-on lead weight is attached to the end of the mono. Silk is highly water absorbent, even more so than many newer synthetic materials like microfiber. Also, silk does not shed lint. The silk cost me $4.00 at JoAnn Fabrics. I have plenty left over for more swabs, if needed. BTW, my wife surged the edges for me -- I would have probably sewn my fingers together!

I can now accelerate the drying of my larger rod segments by dropping the weighted line through and then slowly pulling through the silk swab. This works great. Aided by my naturally dry environment I should be able to avoid mold/mildew damage to my rods with this little trick. I still take my rod apart to air dry the smallest segments.

BTW, I just gave my niece my 1956 Selmer Centered-tone B-flat clarinet. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did 40 years ago.

A tail of three (furled) lines....

For this review I am going to concentrate on three furled lines: Tenkara USA 3rd Generation Traditional line, Cutthroat Leaders.com Tenkara line, and Streamside Hand Crafted Furled Leaders Tenkara line. I will compare/contrast their physical characteristics and review their on-stream performance. I would like to compare their tapers but I don't have a reliable way of doing so. Also, their tapers are proprietary so I can't compare their formulas. So, I'll do the best I can. I will be comparing the lines that are closest to 10 feet in length.

Tenkara USA Traditional Tenkara Line, 3rd Generation

Tenkara USA 3rd Generation Traditional Furled Line

From Tenkara USA: "Tenkara USA's 3rd generation traditional tenkara lines are an improvement over our original lines: they cast more easily, with more precision, better against wind, and do not tangle/coil when freed from a snag.

These have been developed to cast in perfect balance with tenkara rods - with power and precision - yet make the most delicate presentations you have ever seen. These lines are an improvement over our first offer of traditional tenkara lines, being easier to cast, easier to cast through breezes and yet easy to keep off the water. We believe we achieved the perfect line with this one"

 My first impression is that this is a beautifully made furled line. I have been fishing furled leaders for many years with my western gear, but none of those leaders are like this line. Most western furled leaders are made of nylon monofilament. The Tenkara USA's 3rd generation traditional Tenkara line is definitely not mono. This line is a very subtle yellow-green and made from soft fibers of Kevlar. It has has no identifiable memory right out of the packaging. The packaging, by the way, is amazing! Like everything that Tenkara USA does, the packaging has an earthy, organic feel but is professionally done. There is a paper folio which has a very nice organic texture, stylish symbols and clean typography, and two very cleverly cutout windows which frame the Tenkara USA logo. This packaging would make any graphic designer nod with approval. It is just what we have come to expect from the perfectionists at Tenkara USA. The line is contained in a small plastic bag which in turn resides within a pocket in the paper folio. An empty plastic line cartridge and folded information pamphlet are also provided.


As I stated before, the line is made of Kevlar! Is that cool or what! The line comes with a transition loop of Spectra, used for attaching to your Tenkara rod's lilian. The business end of the line has a shorb loop rather than a tippet ring. A 6 inch extender of 3x mono is attached to the shorb loop. The extender has a terminal perfection loop.


My Tenkara USA line is 10 feet 11 inches, weighs 0.9g (on an Adam analytical scale), and has 11 turns per inch (measured exactly at the line's midpoint). When hanging freely vertically and applying a 2lb weight to the end it stretches 3 inches making it about 3% longer under load. It returns to its original length after stretching.  Kevlar naturally resists stretching, and we see this in this Tenkara line (especially when compared to furled lines constructed of other materials). 


Kevlar is not UV resistant and I am unaware if a UV inhibitor has been added to this Tenkara line. This property of Kevlar may limit this line's functional life expectancy. This remains to be seen.

Using the furled lines on the river was somewhat challenging due to a steady 7-10mph wind. I am sure some gusts were to 15mph. This made line control difficult. All lines were significantly affected by the wind, so much so that I had to leave some of the line on the water so to get some sort of drift out of the flies. The wind caused all the lines to belly and pull the flies. Some of the gusts were strong enough to actually kite the furled lines into the air lifting the flies out of the water!

Fishing the Tenkara USA 3rd Generation traditional line however is a joy. It produces tight loops, precise casts and punches through the wind. It loads my Tenkara USA Iwana-12 comfortably. The line does catch the wind when you hold it off the water, but as previously stated this is typical of furled lines in general -- they being wider and having a larger wind load than level lines.

 The Tenkara USA line will turn over a long tippet. I typically use 6 or 7x tippet rarely shorter than 3 feet -- I often will go to 6 feet or more. Turning over heavy or multiple flies is no problem either -- I frequently use my Tenkara rod for Czech-style nymphing with multiple weighted flies; this line will turn them over every time.

Cutthroat Leaders.com Tenkara line

Cutthroat Leader Tenkara line (I added the transition loop)

From Cutthroat Leader.com: "Our Tenkara Fly Fishing Leaders are hand made by CutThroat Leader Co. Our tenkara leaders will provide you with the most amazing casting & presentation one can imagine.   Our furled tenkara leaders are crafted with the same ancient methods that horsehair leaders were created with thousands of years ago.  The soft presentation you will get with a “Tenkara Thread Furled Leader” is unmatched by any mono or nylon leader you have used in the past."

 My Cutthroat Leaders.com Tenkara line is also beautifully made. I selected the tippet ring version since most of the furled leaders I have used over the years have had this option (you can opt for a shorb loop however). The Tenkara line is a string line made from polyester UNI thread. The line comes packaged simply in a small plastic bag with a supplied instructional card. It has has no identifiable memory right out of the packaging.

My line is Hi-Vis orange (you can choose between camo, green, Hi-Vis orange, pale yellow) medium/heavy weight (you can choose between lite/medium or medium/heavy).  My line did not come with a transition loop, but rather the rod end of the line has a small incorporated loop. I fashioned a transition loop out of 30lb Dacron backing material. My line is 10 feet long, weighs 1.1g, and has 15.5 turns per inch at the line midpoint. It stretches 5 inches when a 2lb weight is attached making it 5% longer under load. It returns to slightly longer than 10 feet after stretching.


Polyester fibers have good UV resistance. They also resists abrasion and mildew. They have more inherent stretch than Kevlar as well.

Fishing the Cutthroat Leaders.com Tenkara line was similar to the Tenkara USA line. This line did, however, cause less bellying when lifted off the water. This may be due to its heavier weight. It turned the flies over with a 6 foot tippet without difficulty. Casting loops were nice but I don't think they were as tight as the Tenkara USA line. Rod load was more pronounced than with the Tenkara USA line, again likely due to its weight. I did not catch any fish while using this line, but I do not think that was due to the line.

Streamside Hand Crafted Furled Leaders

From Streamside: "Mystic Creek Leaders are constructed from a higher quality polyester thread and premium grade monofilament than our Uni-Blend leaders. The polyester and monofilament used in The Mystic Creek leaders is about half the diameter used in my Uni-Blend leaders. The leaders use about twice the amount of thread than my Uni-Blend leaders which results in a leader with a tighter furl and a smooth silk like texture. The "Mystic Creek" polyester is more of a continuous bonded fiber which results in a sharper less fuzzy leader." 

My Streamside Tenkara line is a Mystic Creek version and is a beautiful line. In fact, I would definitely call it an artistic line. It is a blended line of high quality polyester thread and premium grade monofilament. This line comes with tippet ring which appears to be silver or stainless steel and is larger than the Cutthroat Leader's tippet ring. The line comes packaged simply in a small plastic bag with a supplied instructional card. It has has no identifiable memory right out of the packaging excepting for a slightly persistent curve to the distal 5 inches. This may be because the distal or tippet end appears to be pure mono for the last 5 inches.

Streamside (left) versus Cutthroat (right) tippet ring size

My line color is Silver Nymph (you can select between 35 different colors to mix and match). A transition loop comes attached to the rod end of the line. As previously mentioned the tippet end appears to be pure mono for the last 5 inches. My line is 10 feet 8 inches, weighs 1.4g, and has 14 turns per inch at the line midpoint. It stretches 5.5 inches under a 2lb load making it 4% longer. It returns to its original length after stretching.

Fishing the Mystic Creek was overall similar to the Cutthroat Leader.com line. Casting loops were about as tight as the Tenkara USA line, but rod loading was more due to this line's weight. Also, it did belly when trying to keep the line off the water, but this was similar to the other lines -- maybe a little less due to its weight. This line turned a long leader over nicely and had feather-like landings on the water, similar to all the lines.

Fish on! (Oh, and nice shadow self portrait -- camera on my head!)

Conclusion: Although today was a challenging day of fishing, mainly due to the wind, it did give me a view of what these lines can do. I liked them all, and I believe that you wouldn't go wrong using any of them. They all cast well, but they all bellied with the wind. They all turned over a long tippet well despite the wind. They all had feather-like water landings. That said, I think that I like the Tenkara USA line a little better than the other two.  It loads the Iwana-12 nicely, it shoots into the wind and turns over a line tippet beautifully, it gives tight loops, and I love the packaging! The real differences are small but I'll give the Tenkara USA line my nod. I think I prefer level or hand-tied tapered fluorocarbon lines better than furled lines in general, but when I feel the need to use a furled line this will be the one.

My ratings: (poor *, excellent *****)

Tenkara USA 3rd Generation traditional line ****
Cutthroat Leaders.com Tenkara line ***'
Streamside Hand Crafted Furled Leaders ***'


Here is a video of my fish for the day. The wind makes the video noisy, sorry. You can, however, see how the wind affects these lines. You can also see that I had to point the rod slightly into the wind to try to keep the line from dragging the flies.

Tenkara USA Handle Replacement for Iwana Series Rods

It seems that the more I investigate Tenkara the more cool stuff I find (and want to buy). The first Tenkara rod I purchased was a Tenkara USA 12' Iwana. It is a fantastic rod; I reviewed it in January.  However, I know that I will be fishing some pretty tight little streams (dark tunnels of willows, crawl rather than walk --  you know the streams) early this summer after the run-off has finished. I am not sure if I will be able to use the 12' Iwana even though it is relatively short by Tenkara standards. So I started looking for an even shorter Tenkara rod.

Right now my rod collection consists of three rods:  12' Iwana, Amago, and Kasugo-4209 (I have a two part review; part 1, part 2). I thought about getting a 9' Wakata but then I saw that Tenkara USA offers a handle replacement/upgrade for the Iwana series.  After seeing this I had my answer.

I purchased the replacement handle version that would convert my Iwana-12 into a 9 foot, 3 inch Tenkara rod. I understand that 9 feet is pretty short for a Tenkara rod, but I could definitely see me using it on some pretty heavily overgrown creeks and brooks.

The handle came promptly from Tenkara USA, well packaged as usual. The handle was in a clear plastic protective crush-resistant tube with red plastic slip-on end covers.

Handle with tube

The replacement handle is typical of Tenkara USA's rod offerings, i.e. high quality cork, and perfect fit and finish. I don't know who is in charge of Tenkara USA's quality control, but they sure do a great job. Nothing I have purchased from them has been defective, sloppy, poorly done, etc. This handle replacement is no exception.

The handle appears to be a thinner version of my Iwana-12 handle. I grade the cork as "Flor or CG1" with very few defects needing filling. The handle weighs a mere 54.9g (1.9oz) without the plug.

Comparison: 12' Iwana (top), Replacement Handle (bottom)

To use the replacement handle you remove the handle butt screws on both the 12' Iwana and the replacement handle. Then carefully slide out the rods segments (keeping them all together) from the Iwana. Remove the larger two segments (carefully setting them in a safe place) and slide the remaining segments into the replacement handle. I assume that if you have the 11' Iwana you would only remove one segment instead of two. Put the butt screws back on both handles. That's it.

Replacement Handle and the two largest Iwana segments

When the "new" rod is extended it looks just like a mini-Iwana! Mine is 112 inches (9' 4"). It is incredibly lightweight with a slightly brisker action than the 12' Iwana (I would estimate between 6:4 and 7:3).  Casting with an 8 foot furled mono "leader" (from my western-style fly fishing collection) is spot on. The rod loads well and doesn't buck or gripe. Casting a #3.5 level flourocarbon line doesn't load the rod as well but is more delicate. It doesn't cast as easily as the 12' Iwana but I then again it doesn't have as soft as action or the leverage. Still it is one sweet little rod.  Now I can do my small, tight stream fishing with two handles, interchanging them as the conditions dictate. Very clever Tenkara USA!

Conclusion: If you are like me and enjoy crawling along tightly overgrown little brooks or creeks (while all the other guys are crowding the famous water trying to catch "the big one") then this replacement handle may be for you. Fish with your Iwana and carry this handle. If it gets too tight even for the Iwana then quickly slip out the segments, slide them into the replacement handle, and your fishing again with the "Mini"!! 

Tenkara USA Handle Replacement/Upgrade for Iwana (* poor, ***** excellent)

Ease of Purchase *****

Quality of Materials *****

Fit and Finish *****

Physical Characteristics ****'

Fishability ****

Overall ****' (4.5 stars)

Kasugo-4209 review; part 2

The first part of the Kasugo-4209 review gave an overview of the physical characteristics of the rod. Part 2 will review the on stream characteristics.

I fished the Kasugo-4209 on the Black Canyon of the Bear River near Grace, Idaho Friday February 17, 2012. The weather was partly cloudy, slight intermittent breeze of 1-4 mph from the south (blowing upstream). I used a 13.5 foot #3.5 Diawa fluorocarbon level line with a 3 foot 6x fluorocarbon tippet. The flies were a #16 olive Klinkhammer with a #18 olive clear glass bead RS2 as a dropper on 8 inches of 7x fluorocarbon off the Klinkhammer's hook bend. This is not true Tenkara fashion of fishing, but it is what the conditions called for. BTW, I rarely ever fish only one fly -- 90% of the time I fish two flies, one as a dropper. I find this increases my catch rate. Again, this is not "pure" Tenkara. I am working up to "pure" Tenkara. Today it was just too much of a temptation not to use the Tenkara one fly Sakasa Kebari when I knew what the fish were taking -- size, color, stage of Baetidae.

The Kasugo-4209 was a delight to use. Using the level line it's casts were delicate and spot on target. The rod did not fight the cast. There were no wild oscillations. Although I felt that a slightly heavier line would make the rod answer a little better, the #3.5 level line did well. The Diawa line that I used weighs 0.6g at 13.5 feet length. I did not try the rod with a furled line or a tapered, hand tied line. The long tippet turned over without slumping into a pile, despite having two flies.

I caught rainbows ranging from 6 inches to 13 inches. All sizes of fish invoked a nice response from the rod. Even with the smallest fish the fight was transmitting to my hand. The rod had a perfect gentle curve when resisting the fish and leverage was nice due to the rods length and adequate stiffness in the butt sections.

Smallest fish of the day: 6" rainbow

Largest fish of the day: 13" rainbow

The feel of the handle was nice as well. I have large-to-extra large hands so the grip is comfortable. A smaller hand may find the grip fatiguing.

Rod curve with 10" rainbow

The cantilever of the rod was not too heavy, but I did find on occasion my arm pulling back so to rest my shoulder and upper arm muscles. I would say that on the river the rod's cantilever feel pretty similar to the Tenkara USA Amago.

One problem was discovered after using the rod. When I was ready to collapse the rod after fishing I discovered that the butt section cap had unscrewed almost to the point of coming completely off. A few more turns and it would have fallen into the river. This of course may not have affected the rod while fishing, but it would have been readily apparent, and very inconvenient, when the rod needed to be collapsed. Some attention to the butt cap is therefore required during an outing.

Conclusion: The Kasugo-4209 is a nice rod for the money. Purchasing was easy and shipping promptness was excellent. Its materials are good-to-very good, with the exception of the cork which is poor-to-less than good. It's fit and finish are good-to-very good, excepting the loose butt cap. Its on-stream use is good-to-very good. Overall, I would recommend the Kasugo-4209 to anyone on a limited budget wanting a longer Tenkara rod.

Kasugo-4209 Overview (* poor, ***** excellent)

Ease of purchase                       ***** 

Quality of materials                   ***

Fit and Finish                           ***

Physical Characteristics            ****

Fishability                                  ****

Overall                                       ***' (3.5 stars)

Here is a video of me using the rod and some of the fish that I caught. In response to some readers suggestions, I placed the camera on my head to give a better angle of viewing and I narrowed the field of view to 127 degrees. this gives a better estimation of my fishing experience and less of a distorted fish-eye view. I think it looks better than my previous videos, although because the camera is on my head I don't always keep the caught fish in view! Let me know what you think. This video may be best viewed in YouTube.

An updated impression of this rod, and other rods I have used can be read HERE.

Tenkara USA Net Mesh replacement

When I started Tenkara I decided that I would need a net. Although traditional Tenkara nets are pretty cool looking, very functional, and works of art in and of themselves, I decided to get a more traditional wood net yet it being in the Tenkara style. I bought an "American Tenkara" custom wood net from Sam Lacina from Nets that Honor the Fish.


The America Tenkara is a beautiful net of impeccable quality. Sam states on his website:  I have admired Japanese design and their respect for hand craft,  I hope this design reflects that aesthetic.  I think it achieves these goals admirably. It has a 16 inch handle and a 10 inch loop. It has a brass pin on the end of the handle where you can attach a shock cord leash. I love this net.

American Tenkara by Sam Lacina

Still, despite this being a beautiful as well as very functional net, I wanted to make it a little more "Tenkara-like". 


So, with this in mind, I ordered a Tenkara USA Net Mesh replacement. I decided on black mesh and ordered size 24cm. It took about 3 weeks to get from Tenkara USA but it arrived safely carefully folded flat in a clear plastic bag. Tenkara USA says about the net mesh: These traditional hand-made mesh for Tenkara nets feature a very fine mesh, with 2mm holes (some of the finest available). The fine mesh cradles the fish and reduce harm caused to their skin. This is true. I have never seen such a fine mesh. It is very tightly woven from black nylon mono without any apparent defect. It is truly amazing.


The mesh has a clear nylon heavy mono cord running around the rim to help the mesh keep its shape. Tenkara USA recommends replacing this with brass wire, but not having any available I elected to keep the nylon cord in place.


I easily removed the original net mesh that was attached to the American Tenkara. Using 20lb yellow Cortland Dacron backing I attached the Tenkara USA net mesh to the inside surface of the 10 inch hoop. It was a perfect fit. Instead of attaching the mesh using the Tenkara method of attaching the mesh to the rim with half hitch knots, I used the holes in the rim and ran the Dacron in one long segment around the rim.  This made the net attachment very clean and look as if it was original. 


The net looks perfect and is very strong. I think in this application the brass wire is not needed.

American Tenkara with Tenkara USA net mesh replacement

To hold the net while fishing, I use a Smith Creek Net Holster.  It is very well made and holds the American Tenkara securely centered on your back. Drawing and holstering the net are easy one handed movements, even with my left hand (I am right hand dominant so my right hand holds my Tenkara rod). They perfectly compliment each other.

Smith Creek Net Holster

So, if you would like a western net that is sort of "Tenkara-ish", you should consider the America Tenkara by Sam Lacina.  Replace the mesh with Tenkara USA net mesh and you are set!


I would like to thank Tenkara USA for making the net mesh available. Although it is designed for making traditional Tenkara nets, it is perfect for this application.

Kasugo-4209 review; part 1

I recently purchased a Kasugo-4209 Tenkara rod and I thought that I would post a review. I bought the rod, not out of need, but out of curiosity. I have fished with two excellent Tenkara USA rods: Iwana-12 and Amago. It is upon these rods, as well as the Kasugo-4209 fishing experience, that I am basing my review.

My Kasugo-4209 was purchased from Allfishingbuy.com. The rod cost $106.62 plus shipping. I ordered it on February 4th and received it on February 9th. It came in a crush resistant triangle tube via the USPS.

The rod comes in a carbon fiber rod tube, and this in turn in a synthetic fabric sleeve. Both the rod tube and sleeve have Kasugo printed on them. The rod tube is light and well made. One end has a faux wood slip-in plug, while the other end has a black plastic screw on cap. This design mimics the rod itself. The tube is large enough in diameter that the rod with EZ-Keepers can easily fit inside. The fabric sleeve is longer than the rod tube and can be used to cover the rod itself or cover the rod tube. The sleeve has ties at one end.

The whole package

 At first glance the Kasugo-4209 is a handsome rod.  My rod weighs 102.6 grams (measured on my analytical scale) and is 165.5 inches (420.4cm) fully extended. Fully collapsed it is 27" (68.6 cm).  It is rated a 6:4 "slow" action. The rod has a faux wood plug in the telescoping end and a black plastic screw cap on the handle butt. My faux wood end plug was a little loose, but this was easily adjusted. The black plastic screw cap unscrews easily, but when in place adequately secures the butt end of the rod.

Length Comparison. Left to Right: Iwana-12, Amago, Kasugo-4209

The cork handle is 12 inches in length. The handle has a gentle turning reminiscent of a reverse half wells, but with accentuated and elongated curves. The cork appears to be of good, not excellent, quality with many filled defect. I would appraise the cork as "AA or CG3" or worse. My Tenkara rods are "AAA or CG2" for comparison.

Multiple cork defects requiring filler

 The finish of the Kasugo-4209 is a non-glare graphite. It has burgundy and gold banded accents on the lower 7 of the 9 segments. On mine, while all the segments are smooth, segment 7 of 9 and segment 8 or 9 (the tip segment is number 9) have a somewhat rougher spiral surface. I am not exactly sure why this is. The lilian is black and glued to the tip. The lilian has a small gold paint accent where it joins the tip section.

Finish and Accents

One thing I noticed about the Kasugo-4209 is that when it is fully extended it feels lighter and less tip heavy than the Amago. I was a little surprised at this initial impression since the Amago is actually shorter than the Kasugo-4209 and also weighs less. This "heaviness towards the rod tip" is called the "cantilever effect". This effect is important in casting fly rods as it helps determine the fulcrum arc when the rod is in motion. I assume that this also applies to Tenkara rods (although Tenkara has a shorter 10-to-12 cast motion and fewer false casting strokes than western-style fly casting). The cantilever effect impacts on how much energy has to be used by the fly fisherman to balance the cast: the more tip heavy a rod is the more counter balance energy used in casting or fishing the rod. This can make a rod more fatiguing after a day on the water.

So to test to see if my initial impression was correct I built a crude tool to measure the amount of weight needed to overcome the cantilever of these two rods. Mind you, this is not that accurate since the rods are not the same length, but it should give a rough estimate and tell me if my impression is correct. In theory, the Kasugo-4209 should have a larger cantilever effect (or in other words it should take more weight on the butt end to counter the effect) than the Amago since the Kasugo-4209 is longer (and weighs more).

The tool consists of a box with a notch in one end and a ruler taped vertically to the other. I extended to rod to maximum and placed the handle into the notch at the handle's mid point. I then added weights to the end of the rod until the rod was raised to a point that would be very close to a 30 degree angle. I then repeated this for the other rod and then compared the weights. Crude? Yes, but a reasonable estimate of the cantilever difference between the rods.

The results: The Kasugo-4209 took 466.8g to raise it to 30 degrees. The Amago took 571.2g to raise it to 30 degrees.

Kasugo-4209 being tested

Amago being tested

So, my impression was correct. The Amago took more weight (104.4g more) to correct the cantilever effect than the Kasugo-4209, even though the Kasugo-4209 is longer. Interesting. What does this mean? Design? Materials? Well...............I don't exactly know; except for the fact that the Kasugo-4209 may be less fatiguing to fish. I guess I will see. That is for the next post.

Kasugo-4209 review; part 2 -- How does the rod fish? After all, isn't that actually what we all want to know anyway!!??

An updated impression of this rod, and other rods I have used can be read HERE.

Amago review

Today I decided to go back out to the Black Canyon of the Bear River, near Grace, ID, to use my newly acquired Tenkara USA Amago. So far my Tenkara trips have all been with the Iwana 12ft; I was excited to give this longer rod a try. Tenkara USA states on their website "The Amago is a lightweight 6:4 rod. The 6:4 action provides a accurate pin-point casting action. The light weight of the rod, similar to the popular Iwana rods, makes this rod a delight to handle and when catching fish of any size."  The rod is advertised at 13' 6" (mine is exactly 13' 6") with an attractive black matte finish (I really like this matte finish). Its advertised weight is 100g (mine is 97g).

Tenkara USA Amago

Iwana 12' (left), Amago (left-center) handle comparisons

The first thing that struck me when I opened my Amago is that this is a more substantial rod than my Iwana-12, although when you lay them side by side they actually appear quite similar. The cork on the Amago is lighter in color than my Iwana and appears to be about the same quality . I would appraise my Amago cork handle as "AAA or CG2" --  that is, it appears to have had small voids and a little need for cork filler. I would appraise my Iwana-12 cork at "AAA or CG2" as well. The Iwana-12 has a gracefully turned shape to the cork handle reminiscent of a reverse half wells, while the Amago has a cylindrical turning through most of the handle with a "bulb" of cork at the butt end. My hand grip is large to extra large and I found the Amago handle quite comfortable.

I headed into the river on another cold 25 degree day with a slight downstream breeze. At first I used a 10' HiVis Cutthroat furled line (I will give a separate review on this line/leader in a future post) but changed after a while to a 10' 6" Tenkara USA 3rd Generation traditional furled line. Rio 6x fluorocarbon tippet was used.

Cutthroat Leader Tenkara line

Casting the Amago was a little different from the Iwana-12. The Amago rod loading was not as readily evident as the Iwana-12 and the fulcrum point was more spread out during casting than with the Iwana-12. I attribute the later of these to the longer length and increased mass of the Amago, thus increased cantilever effect. Don't get me wrong, casting the Amago is quite easy and control is effortless, but it has more inertia than the Iwana-12. This is not a problem -- the Amago is just a more substantial rod, as per its design.

Casting precision with the Amago was perfect. Especially with the Tenkara 3rd Gen line, the Amago put the fly right where I wanted it to go. Yes, the breeze did mess with some casts, but all-in-all the targeting was very easy to control. Also, with its extra long reach, line control was wonderful.

I caught fish varying in length from 7 inches to 12 inches. The Amago was a delight with all. Every fish I caught could be felt to the handle. Even the smaller fish where very fun on the line; their movements were transmitted to my hand, similar to the Iwana-12.

CONCLUSION: I found the Amago to be a very enjoyable rod to cast, easy to control the line, and fun in fighting small-modest size fish. Although a little heavier and with more casting inertia than the Iwana-12, it was not fatiguing over a few hours of steady fishing. I look forward to pursuing larger fish under more challenging circumstances with this rod (wind swept Idaho spring creeks).

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As for the day, I fished for 2 hours and caught 10 fish --  the last 9 fish being taken over about 20 minutes. It took me a little while to find a pod of feeding trout, but when I did they cooperated quite well. Once again the BWOs were emerging so I used  #18 olive Bunny Dun (see post Black Canyon 1_27_12). However, this time I also added a #18 clear glass-bead olive RS2 as a trailing fly off the hook bend of the Bunny Dun with 7x fluorocarbon. Fish took both the Bunny Dun and the glass-bead RS2.

#18 clear glass-bead olive RS2

While walking up the river, watching for rise forms, I misstep right into a 5 foot deep hole! That was a wake up!  You can see the "blooper" at the end of the video. BTW, my hands got so cold that I was having trouble holding the trout for the camera; I dropped over half of them. This is not my usual method of releasing fish; I try to be much more gentle. I think next outing I will have to use Glacier Gloves!

An updated impression of this rod, and other rods I have used can be read HERE.

Black Canyon 1_27_2012

The closest water open right now is the Black Canyon of the Bear River, near Grace, ID.  It is where I go when I need to get out of the house and I want to catch a few fish. The Bear River isn't know for its world class fly fishing but there are a few section that do quite well. The Black Canyon is one of them. It is my usual winter fly fishing destination -- the Henry's Fork being a little further away than I usually want to drive in snow. The river is fed by hundreds of springs as it works its way down through a basalt strewn canyon. The fish are generally "put and take" rainbows ranging in size from 6 to 14 inches, with the average of 9 inches. The river is stocked only in the summer so the fish that I catch during the winter are holdovers that survived the spinner and bait fisherman of warmer days.  Native cutthrout can also be caught, along with the occasional cutbow hybrid.

The river itself is interesting in that through the canyon it flows over terraces of basalt. These terraces form pools as well as channel the water flow into short runs. It is in these runs and pools that the fish congregate. The water is rich with weed all year round. Scuds, free swimming mayfly nymphs, midges, etc make up the buffet on which the fish feed. Winter hatches of BWO and midges happen every day peaking around 1 pm. Nymphing in the late morning usually yields many fish. Dry fly action from noon to 3pm is the way to go, however.

Basalt terraces near the footbridge

January 27th was cold and somewhat clear. It was 25 degrees with a slight down stream breeze that was just enough to freeze your finger tips solid! I took my youngest daughter with me. She didn't want to fish, but rather preferred to hike and sit in the sun (although it was mostly cosmetic sunshine -- the kind that looks warm but really isn't).

I headed out into the river with the Iwana 12ft. I decided to use a TenkaraBum 10'6" HiVis hand tied line with 3 feet of Rio 6x fluoro tippet. By the time we got to the river the fish were already rising in sporadic locations. I therefore decided to use a #18 olive Bunny Dun. This is a great fly. It floats like a cork, it is very durable, and I can see it much easier than some other BWO patterns I have used.  Doc's Dry Dust was in order -- no silicone for me on a cold day like today.

#16 olive Bunny Dun

I fished for about 1 and a half hours. The catch was intermittent but not to bad -- 10 fish in 1.5 hours. Here is a video taken from my POV of some of the fish.  I am talking to my daughter who was sitting on a river side rock watching her old man freeze in the water! You can see with the last fish that the net was frozen stiff!

After these few fish we headed to our favorite burger shop in Grace, Bergy's, to warm up.