My most important tenkara item...

...is not a tenkara item at all. I have a lot of rods, and with the exception of a few, I would be happy fishing exclusively with any of them. I like level lines and dislike furled lines, but I'm not married to any line brand. Flies? Nope, still not my most important item. I have a handful of patterns that always produce and no one fly is my favorite. My most important tenkara item is my wading staff.

I made this wading staff in 2012. I used a garden rake handle and designed a staff that is long enough for deep water, sturdy enough for fast water, and one that doesn't have harmonic resonance like hollow staffs have. I take my staff everywhere. In fact, there have only been a very few fishing outings in which my staff was not present. It has been my friend through all sorts of fishing adventures. It has, on more than one occasion, saved me from going in the drink. It has saved me from loosing A LOT of flies. Basically, it's the one tenkara item I would not, or could not, do without.

When I made the wading staff I cut off 2 inches of the handle and fashioned a T-top. This allows me to retrieve flies hooked to underwater snags and rocks without getting my arm all wet. It also allows me to retrieve flies snagged in the branches of trees.

I use a tennis wrap on the upper portion of the staff. I replace this twice a year.

I tie the leash three-fourths of the way up the staff and not at the top because it allows the staff to ride nearly horizontal at my side when I drop it. Just one quick jerk on the tether and the staff rises up and into my hands. I made the tether or leash with paracord and I attach this to my waist belt with a Gear Keeper zinger. A small carabiner allows me to clip the staff to my belt quickly. The paracord has three knots tied into it, which allows me to lengthen and shorten the tether as needed. The tether is gathered onto a second carabiner. I only lengthen the tether in rare instances, such as reaching very high into a tree.

Paracord extended

Paracord gathered

At the lower portion of the staff I have a few wraps of black silicone plumbers tape. This is at the level of me knees, and allows me, at a quick glance, to know how deep the water is -- before I step in.

The top of the staff, down to the silicone tape, is protected with spar varnish -- three layers. Below the silicone tape, where most the the water exposure occurs, I use tung oil. Tung oil is natural, non-toxic and food safe. The oil penetrates the wood, then hardens to form an impermeable hydrophobic layer (repels water) up to 5 mm into the wood.

I made a container out of PVC pipe, into which I pour the tung oil. I then insert the staff up to the silicone tape and let it sit over night. After that, I remove the staff and let the tung oil dry. I do this every few months.

The only downside to my wading staff is that is does not collapse. This is not an issue for me, since I need stability, not compact storage size, as the main function of the staff.  If I'm going to go into the backcountry, hiking off trail and cross country, I use standard trekking poles and wade with one of them. Otherwise this staff is always at my side.

If you hate the harmonic oscillation of hollow collapsible wading staffs when wading in fast, deep water as much as I do, consider making your own wading staff. It's easy to do, does not require power tools and is very inexpensive.

Here's a short video of me using the staff to retrieve snagged flies:

Casting Practice

Like many of you, I frequently need to unwind after coming home from work. One of my favorite ways to unwind is to do a little casting practice. That's hard to do in the winter, but now that the snow has melted off the lawn it's a lot easier.

Some have suggested using an empty tuna can or a cup as a target. That works great, but rarely do I get to practice when there is no breeze. I can hit a cup, but I'm not that good and remember, I'm doing this to unwind, not get more frustrated. So instead of a cup I use a pie tin.

I use an inverted aluminum pie tin. Every time I hit it, it gives me a wonderfully positive reinforcing "ping". The raised portion of the tin is 7 inches in diameter. A cup is a very noble target, but 7 inches is good enough for me and far more realistic.

Here's my target:

I use a dummy fly, which is a killer bug, tied in fluorescent orange, and with the hook cut off.  When I practice cast, I concentrate on making sure that the fly, not the tippet, hits the target, or ground, first . I'm not just trying to hit the target, but improve my cast from hand to fly and everything in between.

Here's a very short video of me practicing yesterday afternoon. It's sort of boring, but it's short and perfectly illustrates why I like the pie tin. As a point of reference, I'm using a 360 cm rod, 11 foot line and 3 feet of tippet.





I'm sure many of you practice. You may use a cup, or tuna can, or maybe a wooden trout game. However you practice, I hope you find it as relaxing as I do.

Tenkara April 4, 2016

I had a chance to visit another of my favorite small creeks on April 4th. The snow was still covering the road, so I had to walk in a ways but it was worth it.

I usually catch rainbows in this creek but I caught 3 native wild cutthroats that day as well. I couldn't believe it! Two were pretty small, but one was about 9 inches. Not big by any standard but for this water not that bad of a size either.

This creek is really small; you can step across it at a number of places. It does widen out and get some depth in certain pools, but there is a lot of riparian vegetation that makes casating interesting. I mostly use a Kiyotaki 24 but in the more open spots I go up to a 310 cm rod.

Here's the video. Again, no music. This video is mainly just to document my trip.

April Fools Browns

I fished a creek on April 1st that is one of the most difficult I routinely fish. I say routinely, but in fact, I only fish it in April or November. The creek is small, moderately high gradient and is very technically difficult due to the over abundance of vegetation. Every time I fish it there are new cottonwood trees that have fallen across, new vines climbing from one side to the other, and because of this the creek is never the same. Sometimes I can fish a stretch and not even recognize familiar features.

Still, I keep coming back. I guess it's for the challenge; to test my skill. My wife says it's good for me as this creek keeps me humble!

This year I fished it on April Fools Day, April 1st. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but even though I hooked a number of browns, I brought to hand only a few. Because of the tight quarters it's very hard to set the hook and fight the trout on a tight line. Still...I love it!

Here's the video of the fish I hooked and lost. I do get a few to hand, but the best came off.