Skating kebari on the surface is the best way to get fish to take on some of the smaller streams I fish, started doing it this way on purpose when I first hit the water. Still working on the right hooking technique, I miss most fish the first time or three, I’ll change position and or rod angle till I get it right. Sometimes I never hook em but it is sure a hoot.
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Wow, this was a vigorous thread!
The growth has peaked? Ok, probably not relevant to those not engaged in the business end. Maybe that will cull some of all the marketing (some pretty dubious) we see? I remember when the Tiger phenomenon exploded golf, that’s what happens, then interest returns to its sustainable level.
Reducing social media use? I’m on board with that. I’ve reduced the breadth my use of F/B pretty substantially, and other than a little Instagram and the local fly club, this place is it, and frankly I lurk more than post. I’m happier for sure.
As for the reply comments above about the various evolving methods of Tenkara fishing, ok, whatever anyone wants to do is fine. I’ll just share something I was told when I began fly fishing a decade ago by a grizzled old guy who helped me a lot… “I fish the way I do because this is the way I like to fish.” A couple years after that I discovered Tenkara, and that’s been my Tenkara motto too.
This has been an interesting and entertaining thread, thank you for starting it!
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I think one of the reasons tenkara has peaked is because the company that introduced us and most other people to the method has been on cruise control since 2014. TUSA has been using recycled content and living off of their reputation for a while now. Minimal effort doesn’t promote exposure, engagement, or excitement.
Sweet, yeah I didn’t really get the point the way you meant it probably. I think that the issue is specifically about when people say they are “practicing Tenkara” and otherwise its just a good way to catch fish with a fixed line rod anyway… my whole “campaign” or whatever you’d call it to try to teach japanese tenkara and definitions and to kind of shift the misunderstandings as much as possible into new learning is based on differentiating between those two situations… fishing for whatever with a fixed line rod that says “tenkara” on it, or actually "tenkara fishing. You’ll learn and improve your fishing either way. I just think people should care if its more than just fishing when the context is there for it. Tight lines to you.
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Never been in facebook, have no idea about the bullshit, super passionate and full bore tenkara right now. I could give a crap what anyone thinks one way or the other.
I agree with you man, I think the peak was actually earlier on, a few years ago.
I decided to join the forum to do just what you mentioned… get away from the groups and talk to the more intermediate and advanced/like minded anglers in a forum setting.
Glad to see you kind of come back around full circle… if you ever even truly left that perspective to begin with 
To your point about BFS or Spinfishing or both… it helps me keep my Tenkara more “pure” so to speak, and also is a new challenge in familiar waters. I get why so many mountain stream anglers in japan fish different styles so much better now, and I think a lot of us are discovering this now after getting to focus on Tenkara for the last bunch of years.
Its also a refreshing change of “crowd” in some ways… letting go of my groups, disbanding some of them, unfriending the people I don’t even know and who never took the time to fish with me or have substantial conversations, etc… its good. It removes frustration, saves time, and makes room for new experiences and connections. New inspiration.
I feel like some of us have hit proverbial “walls” or “plateaus” in some ways (not all ways,) in our Tenkara casting/skill levels and its almost more difficult to progress now without actual full out expert instruction from skilled Japanese anglers.
Soon enough we’ll have good translations, maybe a documentary or two… just like some of us predicted - the Tenkara that survives will be the real deal because there’s more to learn, more to keep people interested, and more satisfaction when learning and doing it right.
Selling cheap chinese copies without the right mandrels, without any real knowledge, in most cases without even traveling to Japan… its just dumb. Its a fad. Mostly about impulse purchases or selling a dream. It could only be like this because of the internet, really.
Hell just the idea of tenkara for profit to begin with doesn’t really add up when you look at it, all these years later after it “began” here in the west. I think you used to say that years ago. We should all have listened to just that one thing.
Just my two cents anyway.
Yeah that was great. We learned that Tenkara fishing includes many more techniques than I had previously thought when we went on that trip.
Learning more about the regional flies, and how some of them were fished dry was definitely something I looked at afterwards in more detail. I was kind of happy to see that at least I had correctly surmised that beadheads were not a part of Tenkara… and had to even prove to myself in one of those pools that I couldn’t coax a fish from down deep to my bead head by high stick nymphing it. Fail.
Also we learned that tenkara was super regionally different before it was named tenkara and organized into a modern sport in the late 70’s or 80’s or something (can’t remember when they said that actually happened.) Good times.
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Jay, I agree.
Best I just leave it at that.
Adam? Beads have been a part of tenkara as long as they have been bending needles to make hooks.
Please research it.
If you need help, I can introduce you to an old Japanese tenkara angler and you guys can talk about it. Cut fly lines are too, I know another old Japanese tenkara angler that can help you with understanding that one.
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I went to the Misako Ishimura presentation at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and she presented some beadheaded kebari patterns.
I will not pretend to be an expert but my impression was that these beads did not have the same attributes or purpose that we consider modern beadheaded flies. The flies that were presented were more bead like than actual beads, whose purpose was to attract the aristocracy. I have some pics somewhere I will try to dig up, but they almost looked like an oversized tied head that may or may not have actually been a bead at its core. There seemed to be some sort of glue covering that then had gold leaf applied to it. Its purpose was explained to make the fly more ornate to attract the customers…the aristocracy.
Probably need more information but this is a perfect example of how important archeology and general history might prove to be a necessary component to the conversation and correlation between past and present. Those beads may have had very little additional weight. They definitely did not seem to be a solid metal bead…and certainly not brass or tungsten.
All of it makes a lot of sense as we are talking about a group that were peasants. Fashioning hooks out of sewing needles. Metal beads seem some challenging and unnecessary engineering for a peasant. The presentation was sort of interesting and there were a lot of things shared that I did not expect.
Of course there are plenty of contemporary tenkara anglers that may throw a beadheaded fly. It is well documented, but as the Notorious one notes there are plenty of techniques that are more effective and can free us from the “need to bead”. I have beads in my box and every season I try to not using them. Do they work…yes…but part of the challenge is to do more with less. I know you are a champion of that idea. Not having beads in the box… simplifies the box and the tying table.
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Jay,
I personally do not hold them responsible for the peak and general what has happened to the market or what has happened to the community. If you consider even in your statement how they have not been relevant or visible in years…5 years, it sort of illustrates how they did not really create the monster the community has become or the decline. Have they tried to capitalize on the warm water fishery and market? Yeah…well they are a business and they would be fools not to. They employ folks and they want to keep their jobs and prosper.
That is business…no different than every other commercial entity out there. Consider this…I buy a lot of tackle. I cannot think of a single instructional video or anything that has helped me ever…presented from Shimano or Diawa or Van Staal or Company X. Those companies only feed propaganda and sell me stuff I dont necessarily need. It is business and feel it is not realistic to expect anything else from them. Consider that…TUSA to me…have gone above and beyond the norm. Nissin and suntech has not provided me anything to me as a customer but their product. I am thankful for TUSA, Nissin, and suntech. They have some great products and they all have some mediocre ones too.
In general, what has happened to tenkara is not anything unusual or abnormal or the fault of a single entity. It is an organic thing on its own and does not have a scapegoat. As @jamezu notes with golf, post Tiger there was a bloat and surge of interest. The mob does what it wants to do. It does not have to make sense and sometimes it is not rational. The boom in golf was not Tigers fault…he was just playing golf. Tenkara’s path and decline was not TUSA’s fault. Did they participate, yes…but not at fault for anything. Those guys on facebook are just nuts…hahahahaha.
My statement about TUSA has nothing to do with bluegill or warm water amerikara. I also said they are one of the reasons, not the reason for the peak. Perhaps a lost in translation moment the internet often provides us.
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Right on, but you have to admit your statement alludes to blame that may not exactly be fair.
TUSA somehow gets a bad rap and really for little legitimate reason if we consider their contribution in the scope of tackle companies in general. I feel the need to stick up for them as they were my gateway to tenkara and I honor them for it.
I feel your statement is a common sentiment with TUSA and other rod companies we have here. Of all of them I hope that TUSA has longevity. Most of the other companies are just feeding the beast whatever it wants and that is the nature of business…giving the customer what it wants. Is it the best education…no. Consider the motion picture as a product. The public wants crap and producing it is what makes the world turn. Consider it an economic stimulus… a good thing…variety. If you do not like a product a rod company makes…dont go see that movie.
As a follow up on reflecting Jay’s notes.
In general who’s responsibility is it to educate the community to tenkara?
I do not think it is a tackle company’s responsibility. In general it creates a conflict of interest. Lets face it, education is always poorly funded and people just do not want to pay for it. It just does not have any commercial value unless the consumer or the author can profit from the education financially.
I have heard comments like…the DT footage is too expensive…or it should be for free. Putting footage together is very expensive. I challenge anyone to try to put educational footage together on any topic.
Learning about fishing has a heritage and it is largely word of mouth and hands on. I suspect this will continue in our future and is natural and good. Frankly, I do not think tenkara or any fishing technique is an appropriate subject as an academic form. It is something to be explored and shared between friends and like our brothers in japan an opportunity and excuse to run off into the mountains together to enjoy nature.
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We all owe TUSA gratitude for making tenkara popular outside of Japan. No sense of honor to them will change the fact that they are minimally engaged in tenkara these days. I think that’s a legitimate reason to be upset with a company that I too wish will succeed in the long term.
I owe Tenkara USA nothing.
Nobody owes me anything.
Daniel did what he did and is part of the timeline.
Henry Ford?
Do you owe him anything?
Wilbur and Orville Wright?
Daniel isn’t even on that scale.
But he did what he did and I appreciate what he did.
Far as I’m concerned, I’m with you on this Jay, Daniel lost his way. Tenkara USA rods are now expensive cheap rods, that’s the business end of it. I actually feel bad for them too. But they sell more rods than any company and their person to person trade show presence you don’t see.
Beads?
Nothing changed there. Even if the bead is a insect silk thread wrap metal coat, it’s still a bead. You aren’t the expert, or Japanese and neither is Adam or myself. Misa is and there are other Japanese tenkara fishers that use beads and know the history.
This is what sucks about the Internet.
It’s what you make it.
Thanks Adam… I thought we were Japanese, I stand corrected somehow, even though I never claimed we were experts or Japanese…hahahahaha. It doesn’t take an expert to realize that a weighed bead does not have the same utility as something that just looks like a bead and might be made of thread. I dont understand how I find myself in these types of debates, and yes this is the internet.
Weren’t you a TUSA rep last year? I guess you guys had a falling out.
Curious what happened between now and then?
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Every year we have this very discussion.
Unless we are Japanese, in Japan, bringing mountain stream trout to market, we are fishing some form of dilute tenkara.
There are many Japanese tenkara fishermen that use beads.
Falling out is what you might call it.
I still introduce people to tenkara through his equipment, book and media content. Daniel has a wonderful way of selling tenkara while telling the story. I am grateful for getting started with tenkara from him.
He did what he did, he is a part of the timeline of the growth of tenkara outside of Japan.
I wish he and his company all the best. However, I don’t owe him anything.
I have nothing against you, I wish you all the best yet I owe you nothing.
I took the Hane to Hawaii and caught wild trout there, it was awesome.
The Ito to Japan and caught Iwana, epic.
I do not use their rods anymore.
I have a three rod quiver, all different makes, one for honryu, one for tenkara, the other because it’s just too cool not to own.
And the link above, if I didn’t like what Daniel does, he wouldn’t be there.
Dude, if I didn’t enjoy what you do, I wouldn’t be here.
The bead argument gets kind of old though.
Last month (Aug.), Yoshikazu Fujioka-san added a couple of updates about the origins and relevance of the traditional kebari in the Hakusan Mountains “The mystery of Kebari in the Hakusan Mountains”. The kebari labeled the Hakusan Shirmine is a bead head kebari, and its use seems to go back about 85 years. Long enough to be traditional, at least in some regions.
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/updated2-2019.html
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/b-streams/flytying/pdf/HakusanchiKebari-EF.pdf
Back in the spring I purchased some beads & hooks, but have yet to tie any kebari using them. Just haven’t been in a mood to tie kebari, I guess, and its been a busy summer thus far. Maybe during the soon arriving colder weather that will change.
Oddly, I am not a one fly guy, but for the last month I’ve fished on the same fly. No 8 hook, I think, yellow thread body, bushy hackle. [kind of an Oni type fly I guess]
The fish’s teeth would rip up the thread. I’d cut off the trailing bits, over wrap the body with new thread of closest similar color I could find, thread from a small sewing kit (I did not have any tying materials or tools with me), repeat as needed. The rattier the hackle looked the more the fish seemed to like it. (mostly some version of bass, as the trout are gone from the larger river in the heat and low water).
Then I made a mistake, I changed my tippet – the last time I went fishing I decided I ought to replace the tippet as it had been dragged over stones several times, I didn’t want to lose this productive kebari, and too the tippet was a little shorter than I prefer. Caught 3 fish with it, then had the knot to the fly pull out and I lost it. Serves me right for using a different knot than what I usually use, or I just failed to tighten the knot properly. At least it felt like I had hooked a bit bigger fish than the average size I’d been catching. If plans hold I get another go at it Monday.
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I coat the threadwrap with Sallys Hard as Nails.
One thing about my bead flys, I do not make the bead a distinct part of the fly.
I’m blending it in. I could use wire, I don’t, I want the weight in one specific area. I’m designing the fly to swim a distinct way, to present a certain way. The hackle I use a little smaller. I try to minimize the “bead” part.
People get so whiny about beads and tenkara, they go together like peas and carrots.
But as I’ve said before, beads aren’t even in the conversation about the description of tenkara, not even close, has nothing really to do with it. One of the myths of tenkara that has been created internet community wise.
Nice to see you here @dwalker (@Peder taught me that)
Re: tippet, I buy the best fluorocarbon tippet I can find. It matters only to me, I don’t care (or owe) anyone a reason why I do what I do but the nice tippet comes in smaller sizes that is tougher, tippet is important to me. I use tippet rings to conserve tippet. A 60m spool is $30, I use three sizes, it’s more than a $100 for tippet (from Japan) and I usually have a back up at home. But tippet? The difference between a lifetime fish and a pissed off bad story.
I think tenkara has hit it’s (fad) peak.