First a short intro since I’n new here and to Tenkara and have been researching it a lot over the past few weeks. Always was interested in fly fishing for decades (not so much other forms of fishing…I tend more towards hunting), but it seemed expensive, complicated and required a lot of gear and tons of technique, so never pulled the trigger on it. Then I stumbled on Tenkara…the simplicity, packability (I love backpack camping and hunting) and more approachable nature of it got me interested.
Watched a ton of YouTube videos, with MostlyTenkara and Skiddy Fishing being the most interesting and educational for a newbie. Keegan of MT did a review of a new Tenkara book that just came out, Demon’s Game: The Oni School of Tenkara Fly Fishing. Available on Amazon (I’ll post a link at the end of this message), so based on his recommendation I ordered it.
At first, I thought it was rather expensive for a pretty slim paperback of about 160 pages and at just over $40 CDN (I’m a Canuck). Then I started reading it…
…and was instantly hooked. This book is really dense on information about all aspects of Tenkara, from the history through philosophy, a bit on gear though that is not really the focus and a lot on technique. Perfect for a beginner to start to learn what is needful. There is little to no fluff nor filler in this book, so you pretty much are drawn to pay attention to every sentence while reading. Gems of info abound.
I’ve finished the book and loved it. But am not putting it away! Going to re-read it on the commuter train into the city tomorrow. And expect it will be a well thumbed reference for a long time to come as I evolve from a beginner into a more proficient Tenkara angler.
Highly, highly recommended, for both newbie and experienced Tenkara afficionados. Buy it…you won’t regret it.
Amazon Canada link: Demon's Game: The Oni School of Tenkara Fly Fishing: Robert Worthing: 9798319715494: Books - Amazon.ca for other countries, just go to your local Amazon instance and search for the book’s title.
PS. I bought and received my first rod a week ago: a Dragontail Kaida, and have been practicing some casting in my yard. Using DT furled line to start since it’s supposedly easier to cast, but have some 3.5 level line to try out along with some kebari fron DT and other flies from Cabelas to get me started. Why the Kaida? Lots of recommendations on YT as a good zoom starter rod, and especially Keegan from MostlyTenkara. Seemed like a good all round rod to begin with but which has decent performance characteristics.
PPS. Why my sudden interest in fly fishing and Tenkara? A month or so a buddy and I went north (past Parry Sound in Ontario) to scout a logging skidder trail I noticed on OnX mapping to see if we could recover the trail and get to a great camping spot for hunting season. On the ATV ride in on the trails we stopped at a snowmobile river crossing…looking at the rushing water we counted dozens of decent sized trout! No rods to hand alas…but it got me to thinking, some rainbow trout on the smoker would go down really nicely (love my smokers and smoked fish!). Hope to get up there to test out my new Tenkara gear and nascent skills in the next week or two. The rest is recent history. 
PPPS. Also ordered the new Dragontail Hydra v2, which should arrive this Friday with some other goodies. Figured it would be complementary to the Kaida, providing some longer lengths in a zoom package that is still more or less packable. Hmmm…this Tenkara stuff is addictive. lol