Patrick's First Tenkara Trout

[Sawtooth]

Patrick and I just spent a few days in the canyons and had a great time. We were blown completely out of one canyon on Monday, enduring 70 mph winds, blowing sand, and low visibility because of all the dust in the air. We finally found it nearly impossible to walk or stand up in the wind. We bailed, regrouped, and descended into another slot in the earth and spent the rest of the week exploring and tenkara fly fishing. In short order Patrick got the hang of it, and here's his first ever tenkara trout! Yahoo!

[Vernon]

Congratulations Patrick on the first of many.

[billybass]

Now he will be hooked! I love the simplicity of Tenkara. Our season opens in 2 days!

[Vernon]

Open season here year round . We haven't had fishing seasons since the 50's or 60's.

[Yolla Bolly]

All right! Adapt and overcome, hey!

[mgutman]

He looks as happy as a kid who just caught his first fish. It never gets old does it?!

[sab]

Sawtooth/Patrick:

Congrats on Patrick's first Tenkara trip! Sawtooth, you'll be happy to hear that I finally caught my first tenkara fish (a tiny bluegill) on Saturday evening! After seeing your Tenkara "demo" at the BCR, I decided to give it a try, despite the fact that I've never been much of a fisherman. We don't have many trout in these parts, but there's plenty of other species to catch! It sure is a fun way to spend a few hours.

Scott

[MikeB.]

Nicely done, Patrick!

I'll soon be giving it a go myself... just ordered an 11' Tenkara rod for some of my favorite high mountain streams. Sawtooth's Tenkara evangelism got the best of me!

[Sawtooth]

MikeB,

My 11' Iwana is my favorite rod! I also have a 12' handle for it, but hardly ever use it. That 11' Iwana seems to nearly cast all by itself! It's really a pleasure to raise my arm and feel that rod load up for the forward cast. Patrick caught his first fish, shown in the photo, on that rod. He was using a 10'6" G2 furled line by Tenkara USA. Given the very breezy conditions I can only wonder how well he would have done with a hi-vis fluorescent orange fluorocarbon level line from Tenkara Bum. I was testing a new rod, yet to be imported from Japan, with a #4 level line and it did quite well. Patrick also used my 9'10" Backpacking Light/Tenkara USA Hane with a #4 level line and his casting was even better than it was with the 11' Iwana. The learning curve with tenkara fly fishing is great...it's very intuitive.

[MikeB.]

My new Iwana showed up a few days ago & I've fished it once so far. Wow! It consistently lays a fly out with the precision & quietness I can only achieve on my very best casts with western gear. I'm an average caster with western gear, at best, but this Tenkara rod really makes it easy. I fished the only open water close to home, which is a big river (4000 - 9,000 cfs in the spring). Didn't hook up, but found it easy to drift nymphs & dries in fast & slow sections. Can't wait to get onto the small streams & alpine lakes this summer!