Interview with Daisuke Tsuruta

Mr. Tsuruta, Welcome to Tenkara Fisher. I have been making web sites on small stream fishing since 1997. I started out as a fly fisher and in 2009, while I was searching for a taper to make a split cane fixed line rod, I was introduced to Daniel Galhardo and bought my first tenkara rod from him. I have known Yoshikazu Fujioka since 1997 but I didn’t understand what tenkara was at that time. I have been doing tenkara only since I got my first rod and I’ve been to Japan to fish with my friends there. Many of them are experts and specialists in the type of tenkara and fly fishing. I love tenkara. Maybe almost as much as Ishigaki sensei, maybe not, I don’t know. But I have asked you to be a part of our collection of interviews because of your interests.

I write the interviews in whole; I write it after thinking of what a good interview should be and I suggest that you read what I send you first, then help me make it “flow” by doing your part.

Thank you so much for joining me.

It’s time to begin.

Mr. Tsuruta, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How old are you, when did you start fishing and what is your favorite kind of fishing?

Daisuke Tsuruta: 1975年生まれの48歳です。8歳の時に初めて釣りをしました。初めての釣りは近所の川でのフナ釣りです。日本ではフナ釣りに始まり、フナ釣りに終わると言われています。年老いたらまたフナ釣りを始めると思います。子供の頃から魚が好きで、学生時代、名古屋大学ではアマゴに関する研究をしていました。その研究の合間にテレビで瀬畑さんのテンカラを拝見したのがテンカラを知ったきっかけで、すぐにテンカラ竿を買いに釣り具屋に行ったことを覚えています。私のテンカラの原点は瀬畑さんですね。そこからテンカラを始めて今年で25年目です。

その他、テンカラ以外ではハンドメイドルアーでのトップウォーターで狙うナマズ釣りも好きですし、真夏にフローターでのフライフィッシングで狙うブラックバス釣りも好みです。日本では「エギング」と呼ばれている「エギ」というルアーで岸からイカを釣るのも好きです。

I am 48 years old, born in 1975, and I fished for the first time when I was eight years old. My first fishing experience was crucian carp fishing in a nearby river. It is said that in Japan, fishing for crucian carp begins and ends with crucian carp fishing. I think I will start crucian carp fishing again when I get old. I have loved fish since I was a child, and when I was a student I did research on amago at Nagoya University. I remember seeing Sehata-san's tenkara on TV during a break in my research, which is how I got to know tenkara, and I immediately went to a fishing tackle shop to buy a tenkara rod. Mr Sehata was the starting point of my tenkara. I started tenkara from there, and this year is my 25th year.

Apart from tenkara, I also like topwater catfish fishing with handmade lures, and I also like black bass fishing with a floater fly-fishing in midsummer. I also like to catch squid from the shore with a lure called 'egi', which is known as 'egging' in Japan.

Adam Trahan: I enjoy tenkara very much. Even after experiencing fly fishing for so long, making bamboo rods and building rods for myself and others, I think I still like tenkara more.

It’s more about fishing than ownership of equipment.

I’ve always said that tenkara is about skill, it isn’t about the equipment.

“What do you think about that?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 私も同意見です。テンカラの腕は道具の良し悪しではなく、テクニックによるところが大きいと考えています。もちろん、全く張りのない竿だったり、ただの硬い棒のような竿では自在に毛ばりを操ることは難しく、良い釣果をあげることができません。自分の好みにあった竿を見つけることが大事になのではないでしょうか。私の好みのテンカラ竿は少し硬めの張りのある竿で、ピンスポットで狙ったポイントに毛ばりを落とすことができます。

I agree with you.I believe that tenkara fishing skill depends on technique, not on the quality of the equipment.Of course, if the rod has no tension at all, or if it is just a stiff rod, it is difficult to manipulate the fly freely and you will not be able to get good results.I think it is important to find a rod that suits your taste.I prefer tenkara rods that are a little stiffer and taut, so that I can drop the fly on a pinpoint spot.

Adam Trahan: Where I live in Arizona, I am surrounded by desert. Good trout fishing in the mountains is at least a two-hour drive away by fast highway. In our mountains, we can fish for Apache and Gila Trout, Brook, Brown, Tiger and Grayling. We have a diverse cold watser fishery. In our tailwaters, we have large river rainbows. I think I like honryu tenkara best. Genryu tenkara is beautiful and the fish that live there are too but there is nothing like fishing a small stream for the beautiful fish found in a high alpine meadow.

“Can you tell us a little bit about your favorite type of tenkara fishing?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 私は本流テンカラも源流でのテンカラもどちらも大好きですが、どちらかと言えば源流でのテンカラの方が好みですね。テント泊ではなく、すべて日帰りの源流釣行です。山奥まで行かなくても探せばイワナがむちゃくちゃ沢山釣れる谷はありますよ。一人で釣る時はゆっくり自分のペースで釣り上がり、テンカラを満喫しますし、仲の良い友人と釣りに行く時は自分の釣果よりも彼らに多く釣ってもらうことを心がけています。

I love both honryu tenkara and genryu tenkara, but I prefer genryu tenkara. I don't stay overnight in a tent, but go day-fishing in the headwaters. You don't have to go deep into the mountains to find a valley where you can catch a lot of char. When I fish alone, I take my time and fish at my own pace and enjoy tenkara to the fullest. When I go fishing with my good friends, I try to let them catch as many char as possible.

Adam Trahan: My area is very diverse. In our desert, we have large lakes made by dams. Lots of warm water fishing. Below some dams are cold-water rivers, big big rivers and nice sized trout. In the mountains, we have spring creeks in the alpine environment.

“Can you tell us a little bit about your area where you fish?

Daisuke Tsuruta: 自宅から車で30分から2時間くらいのエリアで釣りをしています。石川県または富山県での釣りがほとんどで、イワナを中心に釣っています。一番近くでは自宅から2kmでヤマメが釣れますし、ブラックバスやナマズも家の近くの池や川で釣れます。イカ釣りも車で30分の場所で釣れるので釣りには恵まれた所に住んでいます。良いでしょ？

I fish in areas between 30 minutes and two hours drive from my home. I mostly fish in Ishikawa or Toyama prefecture, mainly for char. The nearest place I can catch yamame 2 km from my home, and black bass and catfish can also be caught in ponds and rivers close to my home.Squid fishing is also available a 30-minute drive away, so I live in a blessed place for fishing. Nice, isn't it?

Adam Trahan: I sometimes travel with tenkara. Like I said, I traveled to Japan a couple of times but one of my favorite spots to travel and fish, Kauai, Waimea Canyon. It was quite an adventure figuring out the trout there. It is an exotic place to fish, a very rainy jungle place but the day I got to fish, the clouds were hiding, the sun was shining and I got to realize my goal of catching the wild trout there. It’s not an easy place to fish, many things work against the Waimea Canyon fisher.

I don’t carry much.

I’ve been called a minimalist.

I don’t really consider myself a minimalist because I have everything I need. I don’t need much though. I think a lot of stuff takes you away from experiencing the moment outdoors. I don’t have a problem picking out something I like that I may not need but want to take. It's something I do so that I enjoy my fishing.

I have a small bag that has a wooden compartment box, a spool to hold my mainline, a spool of tippet, a nipper and a hemostat. I might have an extra line or a thumb drive that has a lot of tenkara stuff on it for people that I meet that are very interested. All of my different types of tenkara are based on that small bag.

“Please tell us about your tenkara and how you prepare and what you take on the stream?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 私もそんなに多くの荷物を持って谷へは入りません。テンカラ自体がシンプルな釣りなので、竿2本（1本は予備竿）、2種類のライン、数種類のフライ、ティペット等です。源流釣行や単独釣行の場合は、ヘルメットは必須です。その他、クマ避けの海難救助用ホイッスルも必須です。

I don't go into the valley with that much luggage either. Tenkara itself is simple fishing, so two rods (one is a spare rod), two types of line, several types of flies, tippet, etc. A helmet is essential for headwaters fishing and solo fishing. In addition, a sea rescue whistle to avoid bears is also essential.

Adam Trahan: I have a couple of local zones that I fish in the summer and fall. In the winter, I tend to stay at home and fish the stocked urban ponds. It is a break from having to travel hundreds of miles by car just to get to the fish. Although I would not call this type of fishing “tenkara” I am using all the skills as I would fishing in an alpine stream.

“What do you think of urban ponds and using tenkara gear and tactics?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 自宅近くには釣り堀はないので、行くことはありません。仮に都市部に住んでいたら、冬の間は釣り堀でテンカラをすると思います。源流テンカラとは違いますが、釣り堀のテンカラも面白そうだと思いますよ。

There are no fishing ponds near my home, so I don't go there. If I lived in a city, I would probably do tenkara at a fishing pond during the winter. It is different from genryu tenkara, but I think tenkara at a fishing pond would be interesting.

Adam Trahan: In the winter, when our streams in the high country are blocked with snow, I sometimes fish the urban ponds, most have a bar or pub very close and fishing takes on a little bit different meaning, it’s more of a social event. Speaking of social events and fishing, social media outside of Japan has been important to the development of tenkara.

This web site, although not part of social media, will be available to link through social media. I met you through social media.

“What do you think of social media and tenkara?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: ソーシャルメディアがあったおかげでアダムとも知り合うことができたし、多くのテンカラ友達ができました。この友達の輪はさらに広がっていくと思います。コロナ禍においても気軽に連絡を取ったり、お互いの近況等、情報共有ができましたのでソーシャルメディアは必要だと思います。

Thanks to social media, I got to know Mr.Adam and made many tenkara friends. I think this circle of friends will continue to grow. I think social media is necessary for the Corona Disaster because we were able to easily contact each other and share information about each other's current situation.

Adam Trahan: In the beginning, I did not know much about tenkara. Yoshikazu Fujioka and I have been friends for a long time online, however, I did not know tenkara then. I knew it was some sort of fixed line fishing yet he and I, back in the 90’s was sharing our love of small stream fly fishing.

That’s where we meet.

But then I learned about tenkara and quit fly fishing for about 15 years to learn tenkara, in the best way that I could by total immersion into it.

I learned that many, if not most expert tenkara fishermen in Japan have done or do fly fishing. I think fly fishing and tenkara are the same type of fishing yet are very different.

“Can you tell us what your view of fly fishing is in relation to tenkara?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 広い意味で言えばテンカラはフライフィッシングの一種だと思います。しかし流れの緩やかなヨーロッパの河川とは違い、急な流れの多い日本で発達したテンカラは、フライフィッシングとは全く別の釣りと私は考えています。日本の渓流で釣りをするならテンカラの方が釣りやすいので、これから釣りを始める人にはテンカラをおすすめします。私自身、フライフィッシングでブラックバスを釣っていて、フライフィッシングの面白さも理解しているつもりです。テンカラとの共通点も多く、フライフィッシングの技術をテンカラに応用できています。

In a broad sense, tenkara is a type of fly fishing. However, unlike European rivers with their gentle currents, tenkara developed in Japan, where there are many steep currents, and I consider tenkara to be a completely different type of fishing from fly fishing. Tenkara is easier to fish in Japanese mountain streams, so I recommend tenkara to those who are just starting out. I myself catch black bass by fly fishing and I think I understand the fun of fly fishing. There are many similarities with tenkara and I am able to apply my fly-fishing techniques to tenkara.

Adam Trahan: I have researched a lot in tenkara books from Japan. Most of the books include fly fishing (Western type) and I believe both are like brothers but different. I personally believe that the best tenkara fishers are made from fly fishers and that tenkara fishers that become fly fishers will go on to become very good at fly fishing. This of course if that person loves tenkara.

In America, tenkara was started by a company that wanted you to sell your fly-fishing gear to “get into” tenkara. I advised this person that this was not the way to grow tenkara. I told him that for people that learned to fish using a tenkara rod, many of them would go on to learn fly fishing. Things happen for a reason, and he didn’t listen to me but he sold his company and walked away from it. So it does not matter.

I believe the two forms of fishing are both a greater part of a fisher's choice.

The next time I travel to Japan, I am bringing a fly rod. It won’t be the reason I visit but I’m never going to leave my fly rods again.

“Speaking of travel, do you like to travel to fish?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 釣り旅行は好きですよ。子供が大きくなって私の自由な時間が増えたらまた行きたいと思ってます。車にテンカラ竿からルアーロッド、キャンプ道具まで色々積んで、出掛けた先の状況で臨機応変に釣りを楽しむスタイルです。

I like fishing trips. I would like to go fishing again when my children are older and I have more free time. I load up the car with everything from tenkara rods to lure rods and camping gear, and enjoy fishing as I go, depending on the conditions at the destination.

Adam Trahan: It’s one of my favorite things to do, explore with my tenkara rod. Just like I wrote above, my trip to Kauai was probably my favorite even over Japan as it was filled with adventure, failure and success. Bouz or skunked, blanking or not catching fish is not seen as a failure in my book. It rarely happens but it is a necessary ingredient in the meal of my fishing. It keeps the days that I catch fish tasty. It’s like shio (salt) I don’t want very much on my meals and I won’t eat it alone but used correctly, it makes my fishing very special.

Shioyaki trout! And then Kotsuzaki afterwards is a ritual that is very special too. In America, we have people that will not eat their catch. Strictly catch and release, that is what I practice most but I feel strange if I don’t eat my catch every once in a while.

“Can you tell us how you look at catch and release and do you eat your catch?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 渓流釣りでは基本的にリリースします。持ち帰るのではなく、写真を撮って記録に残すだけですね。家族からの依頼があった場合だけ数匹持ち帰りますが、もう何年間も持ち帰っていません。「エギング」においては釣ったイカはすべて持ち帰ります。数が多く、資源が枯渇しにくいと考えられることと何よりむっちゃ美味しいからです。家族にも大好評です。

渓流でリリースする理由は、釣りに集中しにくくなるからです。せっかく食べるなら新鮮な状態で持ち帰り、美味しく食べたいですので、保冷ボックス等が必要となります。荷物が増えると機敏に動けなくなり、源流釣りには不向きだと考えています。

In mountain stream fishing, I basically release the fish. I don't take them home, I just photograph them and record them. I only take a few fish home if my family asks me to, but I haven't taken any home for years. In the case of 'egging' , I take all the squid I catch home with me. This is because there are a lot of squid and it is thought that resources are not easily depleted, and above all because they are extremely tasty. They are also very popular with my family.

The reason for releasing fish in mountain streams is that it makes it difficult to concentrate on fishing. If I want to eat them, I want to take them home fresh and eat them well, so I need a cold storage box or something similar. The more luggage I carry, the less agile I am and I consider it unsuitable for genryu fishing.

Adam Trahan: By the nature of this type of writing, it is a little difficult because I have to imagine what you are going to say. I write it in one piece, send it off and hope for the best when I get it back because I do not change anything after I get it back. This makes me change the subject a little more to keep things interesting and topics separate.

I am finishing the interview at a Subaru dealership. I am waiting for the first service to be done.

My new Subaru Forester is a great car, it is perfect for me to explore the area close or even a thousand miles away, I am able to take my fishing very far without worry.

“How do you do it? Do you travel by car? What kind of car do you have? Or do you take the shinkansen or both?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 私の家族は皆スバルファンで、妻の車はCROSSTREKです。私も以前はスバルの車を乗っていましたが、現在はスズキのエブリイです。エブリイはminivanなので車体が小さい割には荷物も沢山乗りますし、身長176cmの私でも荷室で足を延ばして寝ることができます。細い道でも走りやすく日本国内での釣り旅ならこの車がベストだと考えています。新幹線や電車では釣りに行きたいと思いません。駅からテンカラのポイントまで遠いことが多くて不便だからです。

My family are all Subaru fans and my wife's car is a CROSSTREK. I used to drive a subaru car, but now I drive a Suzuki Every. The Every is a minivan, so it can carry a lot of luggage for its small size, and even at 176 cm tall, I can sleep with my legs stretched out in the cargo area. It is easy to drive even on narrow roads and I think it is the best car for fishing trips in Japan. I don't want to go fishing by bullet train or train. It is inconvenient because it is often far from the station to the tenkara point.

Adam Trahan: Everyone that I have interviewed has things they do besides fishing. I am 62 y/o and am starting to become an old man. I still ride my bicycle very far and I love to do some hiking but things like my dog and flying radio control gliders, sailplanes are piquing my interest.

“What other things do you like besides tenkara?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 学生の頃からバイクが好きでホンダのモンキーに乗っています。大学生の時にはバイクにテントやシュラフを積んで2,3週間かけてキャンプツーリングに出掛けたこともありました。当時はテンカラを知らなかったのでもったいないことをしたと思ってます。また、魚を飼うことも好きで熱帯魚等を家で飼っていました。自宅に湧水の池があり、水温は年間を通して常に摂氏19℃もあります。子供のころはその池でグッピー等を飼っていました。現在はテンカラや他の釣りで忙しく、魚は飼っていませんが、将来、大きな水槽でナマズを飼いたいと思ってます。

I have loved motorbikes since I was a student and I ride a Honda Monkey. When I was a university student, I once went on a camping touring trip for a couple of weeks with a tent and a sleeping bag on the bike. I didn't know what tenkara was at that time, so I think it was a waste of time. I also liked keeping fish and kept tropical fish at home. I have a spring-fed pond at home, where the water temperature is always 19 degrees Celsius all year round. I used to keep guppies and other fish in that pond when I was a child. Now I am busy with tenkara and other fishing activities and don't keep fish, but I would like to keep catfish in a big tank in the future.

Adam Trahan: I have been giving the interview subject space to ask me questions about anything they want.

“Please take this opportunity to ask me any questions that you like.”

一年の内、何日くらい釣りをしていますか？ここ何年かは仕事が忙しく年間25-30日くらいです。かつては一年間で200日釣りをしたこともありました！

釣りをしていて、「この瞬間が最高！！」と思う時はどんな時ですか？私の場合は、他の釣り人がおらず、自分のペースで釣りができ、無風で釣りに超集中できる時です。

How many days a year do you fish? For the last few years, I have been busy with work, about 25-30 days a year. I used to fish 200 days a year!

When do you think " This is the best moment!" when you are fishing? For me, it's when there are no other anglers, I can fish at my own pace, there is no wind and I can concentrate on fishing.

Adam Trahan: Like you, I used to fish quite a bit. This year, I think I have fished about twenty days so far. I am about to go fishing for a few days and will probably fish another couple of days before the end of the year so about twenty-five to thirty days. This has not been a good year, I had responsibilities at home and a couple of trips got cancelled due to weather.

On moments; I think my best moments fishing are often when I am walking spot to spot. I am deep in the forest alone or far up a canyon and I get this feeling of how small I am in relation to the earth, the sky. But I feel like I am a part of it all. Sometimes I can hear the wind in the tops of the trees and I start to see the overview of where I am fishing, like if I were a hawk.

I remember moments much more than whole trips. I think it is the moments that are so important.

It is this type of daydreaming while I am fishing that I have my best moments. 

I appreciate you. I like what you do. I was a guest with a group of fishers in Japan that took me fishing. They said it was light genryu fishing, but I felt that they were describing it that way just for me. I think what they called light really wasn’t hard at all.

I understand you do genryu fishing or maybe sawanobori.

“Can you tell us about your adventures doing this?”

Daisuke Tsuruta: 私の源流釣りは、日帰り釣行です。険しい谷や険しくない谷といろんな源流に行ってます。車を降りて30秒で釣りを始められる谷もあれば、崖を降りたり、ダムを渡って入る谷もあります。

私が源流釣りをする理由は二つです。

一つ目の理由は、他の釣り人が入らない谷を知っているので、自分のペースでゆっくりテンカラができるからです。他の釣り人の存在を一切意識せずに魚との対峙に全神経を集中することでテンカラを満喫できます。

二つ目の理由は、むちゃくちゃ沢山釣れるからです。一日の釣行でイワナは70～100匹、その内、“shaku-iwana”（30.5cm over）は、5～10匹は釣れるので、楽しくて仕方ありません。本州で日帰り釣行のテンカラでこれだけ釣れる人は少ないです。何日もかけて山奥まで行けば沢山釣れますが、日帰り釣行だとこんなに釣れないことの方が多いです。

沢山釣るために私が一番重要視しているのが、釣りをするタイミングです。1年の内でむちゃくちゃ沢山釣れるタイミング（日）があります。そのタイミングは谷により違います。前年の積雪量、春から夏にかけての気温の推移、降水量、直近1週間程の水位の変化等です。一時間毎の水位の情報をインターネットで収集し、その数値を2回微分することで土壌の水分量を推定できますので、直前に雨が降ってもどのくらいの時間で元の水位に戻るかもかなり正確に分かります。学生時代に学んだ数学をテンカラに生かすことができました。20年間同じ谷に通えば、経験上ある程度、状況を予測することはできますが、計算でも予測できるのは心強いです。

My genryu fishing is a day trip. I go to various headwaters, some steep and some not so steep valleys. Some valleys I can get out of the car and start fishing within 30 seconds, others I enter by descending cliffs or crossing dams.

I fish the headwaters for two reasons.

The first reason is that I know the valleys where no other anglers enter, so I can tenkara slowly at my own pace. I can enjoy tenkara to the fullest by concentrating all my attention on facing the fish without being aware of the presence of other anglers.

The second reason is that I can catch a lot of fish. In one day's fishing, I catch 70 to 100 char, of which 5 to 10 are "shaku-iwana" (over 30.5 cm), so there is no way to avoid having a lot of fun. There are very few people in Honshu who can catch this many fish on a one-day tenkara fishing trip. If you go deep into the mountains for a few days, you can catch a lot of fish, but on a day trip, it's more common to not catch this many.

The most important thing for me in order to catch a lot of fish is the timing of fishing. The timing is different in different valleys. The amount of snowfall in the previous year, the change in temperature from spring to summer, the amount of precipitation, the change in water levels over the last week or so, etc. Hourly water level information can be collected on the internet, and by differentiating these figures twice, the soil moisture content can be estimated, which also gives a fairly accurate idea of how long it will take for the water level to return to its original level after a previous rainfall. I was able to use the mathematics I learnt as a student in Tenkara: if you go to the same valley for 20 years, you can predict the situation to some extent from experience, but it is reassuring to know that you can also predict it by calculation.

Adam Trahan: I am too late to that party. I wish that I knew about it as a young man. This would have been perfect for me to quit hang gliding. I used to fly at an advanced level and I enjoyed it very much.

“Is there anything else in the world of Japanese fishing that you want to do or are going to do?

Daisuke Tsuruta: テンカラでサケ科魚類以外の魚を釣ってみたいです。とりあえずナマズを釣りたいですね。ナマズはルアーやフライフィッシングで釣ったことがあるので、釣ることはできると思います。その他、自分で作ったの“egi”でイカを釣ってみたいです。

I would like to catch non-salmonid fish with tenkara. For a start, I would like to catch catfish. I have caught catfish by lure and fly fishing, so I think I can catch them. I would also like to catch squid with an "egi" that I made myself.

Adam Trahan: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate what you do and I look forward to meeting you one day in your country.

Daisuke san, please close the interview with anything you would like to say to our readership.

Daisuke Tsuruta: テンカラを通じて多くの友人ができました。いつか海外でもテンカラ釣りをしたいと考えています。海外でも多くのテンカラ友達ができることを願っています。日本に来た時は私がご案内いたします！

I have made many friends through tenkara. I would like to do tenkara abroad one day. I hope to make many tenkara friends abroad. I will guide you when you come to Japan!

Interview with David West Beale

David West Beale is a fishing artist that paints with his words. He has the ability to create pictures filled with feeling from a fishers perspective. The stories he builds are descriptions of his interests in tenkara and fly fishing. They evoke memories that I have had, complex memories of a fisherman that bring those skills to life even with the layman. The knack he has with his writing reaches deep, not just your everyday description of fishing, although he writes of that but things that we may not pay attention to, he writes about things that create moments of importance from things overlooked.

Without going on about his work, I hope we are able to share the magic of those moments here.

Adam: Thank you so much for accepting my invitation.

“Is there anything you want to say before we get into the conversation?”

David West Beale: Hello Adam. I want to say thank you for inviting me. I’m truly humbled and delighted to be asked to speak in such good company. I’ve been aware of Tenkara Fisher for quite a while and have enjoyed quietly dipping in and out of site. What strikes me is the generosity of spirit found in the pages here - both from your contributors and from your good self in gathering and curating what has become a wonderful resource. So thank you for including me, it really is my pleasure. I would also like, if I may, to ask a question of you.

Through your journey along the path of tenkara you have gathered much knowledge from classic sources in Japan.

“How has this influenced your emotional experience of fishing tenkara?”

Adam: Emotional experience… Let me think about that. I’m from Phoenix, Arizona, 5th largest city in America, busy, dusty, spread out, 100 miles across city and my city borders the Sonoran Desert. I go outside and the mountains are rock, brown, black, cactus and trees with tiny leaves. The flora and fauna of the desert is the exact opposite of the pine forest of my home streams. It’s a contrast to the desert, fishing those streams, dreaming of new experiences, planning, executing the plan, doing it again.

I go from a super big ugly city to quiet beautiful mountain streams filled with clean air and beautiful wildlife traveling through everything between.

I explore the mountain states around Arizona and share the enthusiasm for tenkara with a global community. My friends in South Africa, Russia, Canada, Europe and where tenkara developed in Japan and I travel there. I travel to Hawaii and catch fish there in Waimea canyon, tenkara is mountain stream fishing and there are mountain streams in Baja, Mexico. Sky islands surrounded by gnarly deserts. My fishing is a dream compared to where I live.

Emotions come from changing the scenery, meeting distant friends, realizing my dreams.

Back at you.

“How do you write so well?”

David West Beale: I’m not sure that I do - you should see what goes in the trash!.. but it’s very kind of you say so. I do write a little about tackle and techniques but above all I’m a story teller, and my stories are from the heart and as honest as I can make them. I think that’s what my readers at tenkara tales respond to.

This endeavour we call fishing is fertile ground for the story teller, and while we are all individuals, as anglers we share a common experience too. This is what I am trying to convey. Not the biggest fish or the most fish (although a few monsters do swim through the pages), but the magic that is waiting there for all of us if we have an open heart and eyes to see.

I try to bring the experience of being there to the page. Little cues can bring a scene to life with a resonance that feels familiar to the reader. Sounds, smells, textures, colours, changing atmospherics, all of these things are a part of how we experience the external environment. So I try to bring my own experience of these things into my writing. Psychologically, our ambitions and insecurities, our successes and our failures all play out on stream, so really the stories in this way write themselves.

Adam: I’m not classically read regarding fly fishing. My research into tenkara is historical. My interest in fishing is research and review of the experts and their techniques both fly fishing and tenkara. There are quite a few classic books on fly fishing yet I choose books by Gary Borger and his nymphing, Gary LaFontaine and his entomology. John Gierach and his stories, I’ve read a few but I prefer his story lessons on small stream fly fishing.

Soseki Yamamoto, a Japanese Keiryu writer and author of many fine books on our subject has written stories about fishing as well as books on technique. I’ve had a couple of books translated that were more about the people, equipment and techniques that were not well received. Sure, there were a few people that enjoyed them but for the most part, there are not that many people that study deeply into the rich history of tenkara and the tenkara secrets found within these books.

Here in the English reading world, we are thin on books about tenkara. There are a few and in those books are vignettes, short stories about tenkara but this type of story lesson writing is practically non existent.

For me, it is enjoyable to read your stories. You do both western fly and tenkara which I find desirable.

“In your view, how does the two go together, tenkara and fly fishing?”

David West Beale: The one is seasoning of the other. When I discovered tenkara I learned that now I could do all of the things I’d wanted to do with western fly fishing but couldn’t, at least not as easily or effectively. I’m talking about ultra-finesse presentations and fly manipulations. These things unlocked for me the secrets of the river which until that moment had remained hidden and unknown.

But it isn't just the tenkara method of fly delivery that has opened up my fishing, just as important is the Japanese philosophy of kebari design. Form defined by function. An escape from Victorian entomology-based fly design, codified into the ‘matching the hatch’ approach. I believe that we seldom if ever really match the hatch. Those types of flies are an aesthetic conceit of the fly tier. Don't get me wrong, I love the craft involved, but I’m something of a heretic because I believe most if not all takes are induced. Dr Ishigaki’s work on the limits of trout vision gave me 20/20. A revelation.

So more than anything, kebari design has been the biggest influence that’s crossed over into my western fly fishing. That and the understanding of previously overlooked places - tiny places - where it turns out that fish can be. It’s been said before and it’s true - tenkara makes you a better western fly fisher.

On the reverse of the coin, tenkara has made me appreciate the joy of fly line casting and the simple pleasure of feeling a rod load and laying out long tight loops with a western fly rod. The biggest contrast is the way I now have to revise down my catch expectations for those I times when I’m not with my tenkara rod and kebari. But I believe in matching the right tool to the right job. I love all forms of fly fishing, so if for example I’m chasing pike then it’s an eight or nine weight western fly rod with big streamers. I must admit I’m a sucker too for good design and engineering, so I love a nicely machined reel and a finely made rod. These things bring me pleasure whether I’m catching or not.

Adam: My fly fishing small streams before tenkara consisted of long rods and lite lines. When I found tenkara, the rods got longer and the lines lighter, steps I enjoyed in a direction that I liked. I initially learned Japanese tenkara from Kazuya Shimoda. He promoted a method that the simple fly fishing of Yvon Chouinard follows now. History is not always kind, “Simple Fly Fishing” will be attributed to Yvon and Patagonia but the fact of the matter is, Shimoda-san was doing this type of tenkara long ago. For the most part, people do not know about the history of fly fishing in Japan. “Headwaters” magazine (Japanese) detailed the timeline by its content through the years starting in the mid 90’s. Sort of interesting, this type of tenkara is how I learned but many tenkara purist Americans would not call this tenkara!

I’ve always said since day one, “tenkara is easy to learn, hard to master” and the more I learn, I realize that there is still so much to learn from the Japanese.

As I gained a little knowledge, before I knew about the different schools in Japan, I thought the level line school of Hisao Ishigaki was it. That everything else just didn’t reach the level that Ishigaki sensei had developed. I was so naïve to think I had it figured out but I should have known, I knew just enough to be dangerous.

I think that is where we are at now in the general tenkara community outside of Japan, naïve. Arguments within our ranks of what is and what isn’t tenkara.

“What do you think about John and Paul’s direction with Discover Tenkara and the Japanese that help them tell the story?”

David West Beale: Discover Tenkara has undoubtedly brought a great deal of quality content out into the light of day here in the West. I love John and Paul’s passion for tenkara. Most interesting to me is Paul’s insight into fish behaviour and fly design from his perspective as a freshwater biologist. I do have some of the Discover Tenkara instructional material but I tend to stay away. That’s more a reflection on me than on Discover Tenkara. As my friends will attest, I’m something of a contrarian and like to figure things out for myself on stream. For me this sharpens the instinct and sweetens the taste of success. It is fun though to dip into their instructive texts once in a while and find out that the little wrinkle I just figured actually has a name!

Adam: I have not read the complete works of the Discover Tenkara guys. They enlist the help of the Japanese experts and I appreciate that. Daniel at Tenkara USA has exposed a couple of different schools, the level line of Hisao Ishigaki and Eiji Yamakawa that represents Harima Tenkara Club and the school of Hiromichi Fuji with his tapered multi strand lines. But both teachers (Tenkara USA and Discover Tenkara) outside of Japan have largely missed out on the excellent work of Shimoda-san. I don’t think anyone did anything wrong, I’m not pointing fingers, nothing like that. I just think the field of view in tenkara that the community places on it isn’t so small, it’s much more broad in scope. Patagonia and Yvon Chouinard are actually doing a good job with their methods. Although that is not my school, it is tenkara and Patagonia is very popular in Japan.

I believe as more and more people research the history of tenkara inside of Japan, we will find that tenkara, as small as it is, there is a much broader scope of practice.

“You are a talented fly angler and I enjoy your expertise in tenkara but does any of this matter?”

David West Beale: It matters if it matters. We all have different perspectives. For the practioners of those schools and those who study and celebrate them, I have the utmost respect. It is vitally important to celebrate the pure essence of our sport and keep its flame burning bright. At the same time, any cultural export is liable to local interpretation, evolution, dilution even. This will sound contradictory, but at this time I follow no school of tenkara but I’m so happy that others do. I’m completely in a bubble of my own making, but the bubble is permeable.

Adam: Fly fishing has roots in your area. I’m afraid I have only scratched the surface in researching its history. I’m a little embarrassed about it but I understand enough about it to be able to hang in there a little. My research is into the history of the fly fishing rod! I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to handle some of the oldest fly rods made. Beautiful, gorgeous wood and bamboo fly rods from your area.

“Do you have any interest in fly fishing history or bamboo fly rods?”

David West Beale: I’m no great collector but I do have a few cane fly rods, and I love fishing with them. They feel alive in a way that only an organic, artisan-made rod can. I have one old cane rod that I fly fish for pike with - there is something wonderfully earthy and gothic about that. When it comes to fly rods my taste is for a slow action, and cane, I think, does this best of all.

I am interested in the angling heritage of the British Isles, more so in fact as the years advance, and some of the foremost works on fly fishing originated here. In the 1600’s, in The Compleat Angler, Charles Cotton describes casting simple hackle wet flies to trout in upland streams, using long fine lines fixed to long flexible fishing rods. Sound familiar?

Earlier still, in 1496 a Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle was published containing fly recipes and advice on how to fish them using fixed line fly rods. I’m sure that if we could build a time machine and go back to visit these anglers, our tenkara gear wouldn't seem that unfamiliar to them. So for me, tenkara, as well as providing a wonderful window into a sublime Japanese fishing method, has also given me a means to explore the near lost tradition of fixed line fly fishing here in my homeland. Perhaps that’s why it felt, the first time that I fished with a tenkara rod, that I had reconnected with an old friend. Such resonance is important, I think, to our wellbeing, whether we know it or not.

I’m very fortunate to live close by to some of the rivers talked about in the works just mentioned. So for me, when I take my tenkara rod and fish the river this way, the river that Charles Cotton fished, the river is made of time and we are connected. Tenkara gives me chance, in modern terms, to fish as my forbears did and share something of their excitement and the challenges they conquered.

Adam: I’ve read about English chalk streams and gillies that take care of their beat. In your area, this is where fly fishing has really developed and moved outward from there.

“Can you tell us a little bit how tenkara is received in your area?”

I don't know about other countries outside of Japan, but I will say that in comparison to the U.S, tenkara here in the British Isles is very much a fringe pursuit. To put this in perspective, we have a population of around 66 million and angling fraternity of around 3 million. The last time I looked on the British Tenkara FB page there were just 286 members and many of those are from overseas! Similarly the UK Tenkara Forum has an online membership of just 180. So I believe it’s fair to say the British tenkara angler is a rare animal indeed, even possibly an endangered species.

Those putting themselves at the centre of our small stage could do more to remove the perceived barriers to participation in tenkara. I hope that, in small ways at least, my writings help, and I’m always delighted when a reader asks me for advice on getting started with tenkara. I have no skin in the game, no vested interest other than my hope that if I inspire others to enjoy and love their rivers as I do, then nature has more people on her side, and that those people will be happier anglers for it.

As to how tenkara is received by the wider angling community here, this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand I don't think we are a big enough blip on anyone’s radar for any prejudices against tenkara to have really taken hold. On the other hand, If you are a gregarious tenkara angler then it is a lonely existence. As to how my own tenkara has been received by other anglers, well it’s varied from being politely humoured, to being the subject of mild curiosity and even to outright ridicule. That is until I start to out-catch the doubters! However, personally I’ve never been received by any river keeper or other controlling authority with anything other than the warmest of welcomes and in many instances I have been positively encouraged to bring my tenkara along. So I’m saying that the low uptake of our sport in Britain has little to do with any lack of good rivers to fish, in fact we have an abundance.

Adam: It’s interesting, I have a friend that was fly fishing before we knew each other. I taught him tenkara and he really likes it. He reads social media and sees what I share with the community, he is acutely aware of my participation but he does not participate.

Not his gig.

But he does talk to me about it.

It’s funny, he teases me about the whole thing.

“David, do you have friends you fish with that read your work and know what you do?”

David West Beale: I fish a lot on my own but I have regular fishing buddies too. Yes, they read my work, some more than others..and yes like you I sometimes come in for a bit of good natured ribbing.. I can get my own back by writing about them though! I have also made one or two good friends amongst my readers, and we sometimes meet up and fish.

Adam: Over the years of fishing, writing, traveling and sharing common interests, I’ve found myself wondering, “Where am I going with this?” Even as I write the content for my book on tenkara, I still find myself wondering, “Why?” I read very few English language books or magazines any on headwater fishing. I think the renaissance period of small stream fly fishing is over. Yet tenkara is filling the void and it adds in a new dimension of badassery. Is that even a word? (laughing) The kind of climbing and fishing that Sebata-san, Kazuya-san, Okushi-san and many more people that I have not mentioned from history and the groups of people doing it now.

That’s the draw for me, there is a steady stream of this in social media. Those people, their groups, they want to share what they are doing yet the type of terrain they have is unique to their area.

On my last trip to Japan, I was taken on a pretty mellow adventure and there were a couple of times where I was thirty feet up on a vertical wall of dirt and mud held together by grass roots, shrubs and trees. On a thin path, starting to slip and everyone had to go up and up forever, might as well been forever and we all had heavy packs on… drenched. It was intense.

If I lived there, I would be in the thick of it with them pushing it but I was a visitor and nearly over my head on a pretty easy fishing adventure miles up a wild Japanese stream valley, all in possible self rescue mode if someone fell.

Only canyoneering in America approaches it and in all of my research into that here, I haven’t read any canyoneering people doing it to go fishing.

You have to go to Japan to understand that grade of adventure fishing.

“Any thoughts on genryu fishing? Do we have to do that in order to be good at tenkara?”

David West Beale: Yes and no, but there again my reality is just that - my reality, not someone elses. I have no experience of genryu fishing so I have to use my imagination here and a little experience I have from younger days when I climbed mountains in Cumbria and Scotland.

So, I think back to those times and think too about the adventures in Japan of Yuzo Sebata and others that I have read about, and what I imagine is this: the visceral experience and excitement of overcoming physical and psychological challenges to access new and remote places to fish must in some way heighten the experience of fishing and imbue those moments with a different meaning. Would I be doing the extreme stuff if I were younger and physically there? Yes I would if I could.

But do these things make you a better tenkara fisher? Well ‘better’ is a subjective, relative and qualitative description. So I’ll limit my answer purely to the technical aspect of fishing tenkara and on this level - yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that, if through genryu fishing you encounter unfamiliar fishing scenarios and/or different types of fish than are available to you lower downstream, then this new challenge will undoubtedly expand your technical repertoire, should you be open to that.

But qualifying that with a ‘No’, in that all rivers are different and the requisite skills that could be gained through genryu can doubtless be gained on some rivers in some places at lower elevation. But I see the attraction of genyru and I’m open to that seduction. Isn't it a natural impulse in the angler to be drawn ever upstream in search of enlightenment? It’s certainly something that’s been calling to me with a louder voice of late, and I have plans of my own here at home to address that.

Adam: I don’t think so. I do think that with anything we do, there are going to be people that push the limits of adventure. In mountain stream fishing, I think the Japanese are leaders by far. I think the guys I have mentioned, their friends and peers are the stand outs.

“David, I understand you are on point with the fishing you do in your area, can you describe a sporty fishing trip?”

David West Beale: For a variety of reasons time has been quite limited over the last year, but on the other hand I like best to fish tenkara on rocky, high energy rivers and streams. Living in a lowland area this means I have to drive to a different type of geology.

So a typical jaunt for me is mostly there-and-back-in-a-day road trips - up at 4.30am, drive three hours, to say for example the Peak District National Park, on the water by 9am and fish through to 5pm with hardly a break. Then back in the 4x4 and home by 8pm. It’s quite a gruelling schedule, especially as I’m usually so excited the night before that I stay up late and don't sleep!

But hopefully in the middle of all this will be some time wild brown trout, sometimes some rainbow trout (yes we do a have a few wild ‘bows over here) and maybe a few grayling. On the way home I’m already planning the next trip.

Adam: I’m in my late 50’s, a little overweight but still hike and enjoy a several mile jaunt up a steep mountain stream. I figure I have a few seasons left where I can feel comfortable in pushing it a little.

I’m taking it a season at a time trying to write checks with my head that my legs can cash.

I do a little pack rafting on rivers with some fly fishing thrown in. I have plans to visit a friend in New Mexico to do some bike packing to tenkara in the mountains.

“Do you have any other disciplines that you mix in with your fishing?”

David West Beale: I like the sound of all of that. I will be pushing my limits the next couple of years too, searching out mountain trout so I’m starting training for that. It will be hiking and scrambling and climbing and camping wild, with just bare essentials and of course a tenkara rod and a few kebari. So yes, genryu fishing in an English kind of way..

Adam: I’ve done quite a bit of fly fishing in streams, rivers, lakes and in the ocean.

“Do you do any salt water fly fishing?”

David West Beale: The short answer is no, I’ve never cast a fly into the salt. Which is strange for an island dweller who fly fishes. I can’t explain for sure why that is but it is definitely something I will get around to. Rivers though, wild rivers, that’s my passion and time is so limited that other types of fishing get pushed aside I guess.

Adam: My work is in cardiology, I do all kinds of testing on the heart for a group of cardiologists.

“What sort of work do you do to pay the bills?”

David West Beale: Well in comparison to that, maybe something less meaningful, but I design and build gardens for private clients - big, beautiful English country gardens. It’s something I’ve been involved with for almost twenty years, and last year I launched my new design business which is going really well. But it’s like an infant that needs constant feeding, so I’m still trying to get the work/life balance right.

Adam: David, I really appreciate what you do, your writing.

“What is next for you?”

David West Beale: Thank you, that’s very kind. I plan to take my tenkara to ever more remote and wilder places in the British isles, and rest assured I will be blogging about that! One project I have in mind is the pursuit of the highest altitude wild brown trout that I can find in England, possibly land-locked Arctic char too. They were stranded in some of the hill corries (mountain lakes) here after the last ice age retreated. That would be a tough gig but pretty cool with tenkara. I also have a couple of ideas for novels based around fly fishing if I can ever decide whether it’s two stories or three I have rattling around in my head.

Adam: Thank you so much for your participation. I appreciate who you are and what you do.

“Is there anything else you want to add in before we close?”

David West Beale: Well yes - thank you for having me over, Adam, it's been fun. Looking forward to your future posts here. Learning that you too may have a book in the pipeline, I’d like to wish you every success with your project and look forward to the fruits of your endeavour. Respect.

David West Beale web site, "Tenkara Tales"

Interview with Michael Agneta

I’ll just cut to the chase, Michael has been practicing tenkara as long as anyone here in the states. He has been following along tenkara-fisher since day one and for anyone that has been doing that, you know quite a bit about the rich history of Japan and all about the American tenkara experience. Early on, I helped him one of the first Japanese tenkara rods imported at the start of the first wave of interest, the Sakura Kongo, and it has quite a Japanese pedigree. 

Collectively, our entry into tenkara is nearly the same. We found out about it from Tenkara USA and quickly gravitated to open our approach to the Japanese and all that they offered but I want to be clear, although we are both Americans, we are individuals and our tenkara experiences are individual. In no way is this negative, it is what it is and I think that’s what makes the world of tenkara go round.

Diversity.

When I asked Michael to sit for this interview, he said something to the effect of yes, but,”I am a vanilla flavor of tenkara.” I’m not sure what he was thinking when he said that. Now that he has been producing “TENKARA ANGLER” online magazine, I am happy to expose his vanilla flavor of tenkara through my lens.

Adam: Michael, I’ve made enough mistakes with these “one piece” interviews to know, getting straight to a question isn’t the way to go. I’ve tried that and nearly all the responses have been, “Thank you for asking me to…” so instead of getting right to the questions…

“Is there something you want to say first?

Michael: I suppose like those before me, I’d like to thank you for considering me for an interview. As you’ve mentioned, I’ve been following along with the content on Tenkara-Fisher for quite some time, I always find the interviews interesting. I hope I live up to that precedent.

Adam: I’m still hung up on the vanilla comment you made to me. Let me explain. Being an editor is not easy if you are putting out a quality publication.

You are doing a great job and I appreciate what you do.

It’s important to remain grounded, be free from the politics of whatever you are reporting on, know your subject and understand the direction and current trends. I’ve always questioned “marketing” since day one in my fly fishing, part of the reason I enjoyed tenkara so much in the beginning. There were no magazines, nobody tilting at me for my money., That forced me to research what it was in the country of origin. Marketing seems to be such a big part of a selling point. I don’t see “TENKARA ANGLER” “marketing” anything.

I see it as a sampling of the community.

Anyway, I think you have done well with TENKARA ANGLER.

I see you aren’t forcing an editorial direction. If you are focused on one aspect, specializing in it, you will miss the other flavors. Tenkara is comprised of many colors, sorry for the cliché yet for the lack of a better term, it is wide open for interpretation. I read the “experts” and how they know what it is but they miss the mark every time. This is in short because they missed the many different experts along the way In Japan. Tenkara teachers that have come and gone and their students that are still practicing. Tenkara is a little more than what all the experts outside of Japan say and a lot more. The sport of tenkara in Japan encompasses the common man too and there is a lot more people that practice it than there are tenkara masters, the few that are in the Japanese media now.

Michael, having a Western, vanilla view, its a positive attribute for an editor in my opinion.

Hopefully my point will get across here, in the long run, it doesn’t matter.

“Can you help us to understand your position on presenting TENKARA ANGLER, your online magazine?”

Michael: Sure, I’ll try my best. I may meander a bit, so bear with me.

First, let’s address “vanilla.” When I mentioned that I view myself as a “vanilla” subject for an interview, it was because I’m just a normal guy who works a 9 to 5 and gets out fishing a few times a month. I’m not a guide, I don’t design tenkara rods, I don’t have a ton of great fishing stories, I don’t consider myself even an above-average angler, and I’m not particularly outspoken in social media. There are a lot of vocal, Type A personalities in our sport, I’m more of a Type B. I suppose if I have a “hook” that people might find interesting, it would be my long-running fishing blog, and of course Tenkara Angler magazine. So let’s touch on those now...

Going back quite a few years (2011) on my blog, Troutrageous!, I wanted to begin to create a place where I could tell the stories of my fellow early adopters, the “American & European tenkara anglers” in their own words; what they were up to, where they were fishing, what they were learning about, that sort of thing.

I reached out to several “personalities” in our fledgling tenkara community and surprisingly received quite a few replies. Responses from many names you’d still easily recognize today. Jason Klass, Anthony Naples, yourself... and those posts became the first installments of what I coined “Tenkara Tuesday.”

I was hoping those guest posts would gain momentum and I would need to do less solicitation of content in the future, but they never really caught on. I subsequently repurposed the “Tenkara Tuesday” moniker for semi-regular posts I’d personally make on the topic, timed to (almost) every Tuesday.

Fast-forward to Fall of 2015 and I was playing around with some self-publishing software on my computer I had downloaded for my daughter, and the thought popped into my head about trying to revive the original concept I had for my blog, but more in an online magazine format. At the time Tenkara USA was publishing an annual, physical “Tenkara” magazine, but in doing so I felt there was a bit of a content gap, not only in frequency of publication, but also in the need for the content to be non-brand centric.

From there, Tenkara Angler took shape. The first issue was a simple repurpose of “Tenkara Tuesday” posts previously published on Troutrageous!, but at the same time I put out a call to action for independent, “crowd-sourced” content. There’s so much good information and storytelling out there, but it’s all very spread out across (mostly) the internet. Facebook, Instagram, blogs, forums, it’s not the easiest thing to consistently or conveniently consume.

I was hoping by providing a common platform for the community to express themselves freely about whatever topics they wanted, (given they were tenkara or conservation themed), I’d be able to harness many of those loose ends in one place. Both seasoned and new tenkara anglers, (along with competing retailers and brands), would have the opportunity to share their experiences with an equal voice, with the side-effect being the general documentation of what was going on in the evolving tenkara community both inside, but primarily outside of Japan.

It must have struck a chord, because Tenkara Angler is now a quarterly publication with fairly large reach and is on issue #14 of 100% tenkara community-submitted content. I’m also proud that can all be consumed for free by our readers online. It’s the community’s magazine, I try not to impose my personal views on the selection of any of the material.

Adam: We are about 10 years into it. I’m a “plan your work and work your plan” sort of guy. I quit fly fishing to learn tenkara. I did that until recently, after nearly ten years, I’ve decided to pick up fly fishing again. It’s really my time to get back to what I am, a fly fisherman with a specialty in tenkara.

My perspective in anything I do, pick out the best teachers that I can and go from there. To that effect, I have done well.

But what I have learned in tenkara is that it is varied in equipment, a broad scope but still quite limited in numbers of people that are doing it. It’s small, tenkara at its best is a niche of fly fishing in Japan.

Without going any farther in that direction, “what do you think?”

Michael: I’m not certain I fully understand the question. I’ll assume you’re asking me about my thoughts on tenkara in general, so I’ll go there.

I really enjoy tenkara as a small-stream fly fishing tool. I think any water you’d normally fish with a 3-weight fly rod or lighter also excels with a tenkara rod. Over the last nine and a half years it’s been fun to grow as a tenkara angler in all senses of the definition. Fortunately, I’ve been documenting a lot of those experiences on my Troutrageous! blog, so it’s easy (and sometimes cringe-worthy) to look back in time.

For the first 2 or 3 years of fishing with my tenkara rod (my first was an 11’ Tenkara USA Iwana) I used a furled line, some sort of beadhead nymph, sometimes in tandem with an elk-hair caddis that served as a top-water indicator. I lived in Pennsylvania, and was able to fish for wild trout regularly. It was a blast.

Over the years, as tenkara grew and information exchange did as well, I’ve been able to learn both online and in person from many different people. Each one of them - from Daniel Galhardo to Paul Gaskell to Yuzo Sebata to Robert Worthing - have had an influence on growing my knowledge base and subsequently, the way I fish.

It could be small things like swapping out that furled line for a level line, or perhaps the Copper John nymph for a Takayama sakasa kebari, to bigger concepts such as learning casting or fly manipulation techniques and the situations when it might be best to use them.

Tenkara has presented a whole new world of opportunities to my fly fishing, not to mention enriching the quality and quantity of my life spent in the outdoors. It’s taken me places I had never been and created new friendships I intend on maintaining over the long haul. I’ll be forever in debt to Daniel Galhardo for introducing tenkara to the United States in 2009, I have a feeling my life would be very different without it.

Adam: I have a book of Sebata-san that is about fly fishing. Many tenkara books have fly fishing in them. I could write about how tenkara in Japan is practiced along with fly fishing.

I’ve started reading some of the Discover Tenkara material. The fact that these guys are fly fishers and have studied Japanese tenkara is enjoyable for me. Fly fishing and tenkara go together well and I hope to see more of the two co-exist together.

Already I’ve seen Sage, a prominent American fly fishing rod manufacture use simplistic tenkara wording in their advertising, “rod, line and fly.”

Anyway, I’m so excited to be fly fishing again!

“Do you do any (western) fly angling?”

Michael: Absolutely! I live in northeast Florida and quite honestly prefer using my tenkara rods to chase trout in the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, (and when I’m lucky) Colorado. So when I’m not doing that, I have a collection of “western” fly rods I use to locally pursue bass, bream, and on occasion saltwater species such as sea trout and redfish.

One of my favorite local trips each year is the annual shad run that takes place in central Florida in late January and early February. The shad travel up the St. John’s River, and there’s an excellent place to catch them (somewhat) near Orlando. I suppose you could try to fish the run with a really heavyweight fixed-line rod, but between the frisky shad and the occasional (and powerful) Sunshine bass bycatch, it’s best to have (at minimum) a 6-weight rod and reel with a solid drag. It’s simply the right tool for the job.

Plus, I’m not going to lie, the things I miss while fishing tenkara are the tactile actions of peeling off line, stripping in streamers, hearing the audible “tick, tick, tick” of a nice click & pawl reel… I’d go batty if I didn’t break out that sort of tackle every now and then just to scratch those itches.

Adam: In Key West, I’ve caught juvenile tarpon under the lights of a dock after drinking, deep into the night. It was an amazing adventure, my wife and I were not married at the time and she was just excited to watch me fly fish in the ocean, at night, after drinking at Sloppy Joe’s. I love Florida for other species too. I forget where it was but somewhere near the “Mosquito River” where I caught my first Redfish. Florida is the bomb for SWFF.

In Colorado, we meet for the first time. I’ll have to apologize, we did not get to spend much time together. I was overwhelmed by the proceedings at the Tenkara USA summit. 

“What do you think about this type of gathering?”

Michael: I really enjoy gatherings such as the Tenkara Summit, and I’ve been fortunate to attend quite a few over the years. I’ve attended four Tenkara Summits - Colorado twice, Utah, Virginia, three Midwest Tenkara Fests in Wisconsin, two Tenkara Jams in North Carolina, and the first Tenkara Bug Out in Oregon. Not to mention a few informal get togethers thrown in there for good measure.

While the scheduled programs are really well executed at these gatherings, and all of the organizers deserve a ton of credit and respect, I really don’t go for the presentations or “classroom” style lectures anymore. The real reason I enjoy attending these events is to put faces to names and spend a little bit of real time with all the people I’ve “met” virtually online over the years. Online friendships are great, but there’s no replacement for shaking someone’s hand, exchanging a few flies or stories, perhaps sharing a drink or meal, or even better… time on the stream.

While the turnouts to these events are typically good, our community is fortunately still relatively small and very approachable, helpful, and friendly in person. It’s just too easy to meet and chat up just about anybody you’d like. “Hey, there's Jason Sparks… is that Matt Sment… can you introduce me to Karin Miller… what's Adam Klags like in real life…” All of those questions are easily answered if you’re outgoing enough at these events.

Plus, they give me an excuse to travel to fish waters I know I never would under normal circumstances. I mean how often does somebody fly from Jacksonville, FL to Coon Valley, WI or Oakridge, OR?

Tenkara gatherings of any size are a win-win in my opinion and so many positive and lasting relationships have resulted from attending.

Adam: I’m seriously considering attending the Oni School. I want to practice with a Japanese expert that will critique, talk about and spend time with up close and in a personal setting without having all the hassle of communicating for months, expensive tickets and lodging, time off from work, all things that must be done in order to get the instruction over in Japan.

Masami Sakakibara and the Tenkara Guides are really doing us a service and I appreciate that.

“What do you think about the Oni school?”

Michael: The Oni School is probably the only major U.S. tenkara event I haven’t attended, and I would like to get to one in the future (if time allows). It’s one of those things I’ve shamefully taken for granted, thinking, “oh, I’ll go next year,” and still haven’t. I really need to smarten up, because who knows how many more years Oni will be making the trip to the United States.

When you really think about it, it is such a rare opportunity to get personalized, one-on-one teaching from a Japanese tenkara “Master” such as Masami Sakakibara without traveling to Japan. If you take being a student of tenkara seriously, you have to strongly consider attending one these sessions.

Not that it’s anywhere near the same, but back in 2012 at the Tenkara Summit in Utah (also hosted by the Tenkara Guides) I got to spend about 10 minutes fishing alone alongside Dr. Hisao Ishigaki. (I actually got to net a fish he caught too). I simply thought watching somebody of his casting and fly manipulation skill for even that short amount of time was an amazing learning experience, I can’t imagine what spending a day or two interacting with Oni & the Tenkara Guides might be like in a setting with like-minded anglers. 

 
Adam: There is nothing like having all that experience guiding your cast, it’s amazing.

“Michael, what do you do? Can you tell us about your day job?”

Michael: I’ve worked in e-commerce for almost twenty years and it’s been a wild ride to watch the industry grow & change so rapidly. Besides Amazon.com, it’d be difficult to name too many popular websites that are still around from when my career started in 1999. Back then Netscape was still a widely-used browser and Alta Vista was a popular search engine… that is if you weren’t on AOL or checking out Lycos.

For the last 10 years, I’ve been the Divisional Merchandise Manager for a company called Fanatics, who is the largest retailer of licensed sports merchandise in the world. (Think t-shirts, hats, and jerseys of your favorite sports teams). I oversee our NFL & NASCAR businesses. I’m in charge of the buyers who create the apparel assortments you see and shop on prominent websites such as NFLShop.com, Fanatics.com, or FansEdge.com.

Being in the licensed sports business can be very interesting because much of your sales success is at least partially dependant on the on-field/court/ice performance of the various teams, which can be extremely unpredictable. As such, you find yourself watching games differently than most; rooting for teams you’d never traditionally pull for, or for that rookie to win the starting job over the veteran player (so you can being selling his jersey). When a player or team emerges out of seemingly nowhere (like the pre-season trade of Khalil Mack to the Bears which took them from 5-11 in 2017 to 12-4 and Division Champs in 2018), you have to be extremely quick and agile to try and maximize the opportunity and make the fans (our customers) happy. There’s always that “super fan” who wants that new piece of merchandise first, and fortunately, one of Fanatics’ major strengths is speed-to-market.

Being somebody who grew up loving sports and goofing around on computers on the early internet, I consider myself fortunate to have landed in the place I did professionally.

Adam: Hey, you have been following the “tribes” since day one. I think that’s a good way to look at it. Being an editor, receiving content from all the different people, the tribe members.

“Do you have any interesting stories in making the magazine? Something interesting or funny?”

Michael: I can’t say that I have a ton of funny stories producing the magazine, it’s usually just me pecking away on my computer when I have spare time at night or on the weekends. A lot of people call me “Mr. Agneta” when they turn in their articles via email. I know it is just folks being polite and a type of formality, but I still find that sort of funny. Little do they know I’m probably sitting on my couch in sweatpants and an old t-shirt reading their email.

I will say it has been an absolute joy working with the various contributors over the past few years. The tenkara community is one that is extremely talented both on and off the water and I really look forward to reviewing the yield of each quarter’s “call to action” for material. They honestly make my job as (amateur) editor really easy, as the quality is typically high as-is, I don’t have to really change much or turn many submissions away.

One of the things I didn’t expect when I started the magazine was the inherent responsibility related to how the articles and information within were presented to the reader. As the issues went by, I noticed that more and more of the content being submitted was centered around fly fishing with tenkara rods rather than tenkara fishing. There’s a small, but noteworthy distinction there if you pay close attention to the semantics.

I only mention this because as the editor of what might be the only independent, regularly published tenkara-themed magazine in the United States, I need to make sure that I’m presenting the differences between what would be recognized as tenkara the sport (fixed-line fly fishing for trout and char in high-gradient mountain streams) and “tenkara” the homogenized marketing term used in the West, which has evolved to represent basically anything and everything someone can do with a fixed-line rod.

Before I ruffle any feathers and re-ignite the “definition of tenkara” debate, I have absolutely no issues with how anybody uses their tenkara rods. They can toss streamers for smallies, cast foam bugs for panfish, or even take them into the salt and target bonefish if they’d prefer. Today, I live in Florida and use my tenkara rods to catch largemouth bass in warm water ponds and it’s a blast. Tenkara Angler has featured articles about all of those subjects in past issues and definitely wants to be inclusive and celebrate everything taking place in the larger fixed-line fly fishing community.

As such, I’ve started dividing the magazine up into segments so “Fixed-Line Fly Fishing” has its own spotlight aside from the traditional trout & mountain fly fishing techniques that would be recognized as “tenkara” in Japan. Based on this, I will also commonly make small edits to articles when an author turns in copy that reads, “...using tenkara to catch bass...” I’ll change it to say “...using a tenkara rod to catch bass...”

When you’re publishing a magazine called Tenkara Angler, one that you hope people take seriously, you owe it to the readers, especially those that might be new to the sport, to portray what people are doing, and what your magazine is championing accurately. There’s no judgment taking place, it’s not snobbery, just simply a distinction to help educate and inform the readers. I truly hope nobody takes offense, because in the end, we’re all part of the same larger tribe, even if we use our tenkara rods in different ways.

Adam: As I said, I enjoy what you do, Tenkara Angler is a neat thing to look forward to.

I’ve spent so much time and effort collecting Japanese “Headwaters” magazine. It took so much money and time collecting, researching, buying, but I always look forward to each issue.

“Do you think you will ever break out farther with the magazine that what it is now?”

Michael: Oh man I love Headwaters magazine. I have my own collection of issues sourced through Keiichi Okushi (tenkaraya.com) and only wish I could read Japanese to get their full benefit. Even without that ability, the photography is stunning and you can learn so much by studying some of the simple diagrams within. Headwaters was one of the inspirations for Tenkara Angler, hence the quarterly format.

I think there are two directions I’d eventually like to take Tenkara Angler. The first relates to content, the second is more commercial in basis.

Ideally, I’d love if Tenkara Angler evolved to be a little less trip report, gear, and “how-to” focused, and more of a lifestyle based, story-telling magazine. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional instructional article about “How to Catch Big Fish With Your Tenkara Rod,” but I really get excited when people turn in essays about their experiences out on the water while fixed-line fishing. If you’ve ever consumed content from The Flyfish Journal, you’ll understand what I mean.

Read any essay from regular contributors such as Melissa Alcorn, Brittany Aäe, Isaac Tait, Adam Klagsbrun, Sam Larson, or Brad Trumbo and it will become clear that great storytellers can romance the sport like no other. They take you along with them, to familiar yet foreign locations, and while they write a little bit about the actual act of fishing, the articles are mostly about their thoughts, surroundings, and the overall context of the experience. Heck, even the “Ratskin Canoe” guys turn in great short stories and photos about their group campouts... and of course, brookies & beer.

Commercially, I’d eventually like get to a place where I can make a profit on the magazine and pay the contributors for content, even if it’s only a small sum. It kills me that Tenkara Angler is built on the back of uncompensated content.

I currently make a little bit of money (about $3) for every on-demand print issue sold or PDF copy downloaded through Tenkara Angler’s Blurb.com store, but that all goes to offset the costs of web hosting and publication. Since the preferred method of quarterly delivery will always be via the free online flipbook on Issuu.com, selling advertising is really the primary opportunity to create a revenue stream under this business model.

The main issue I’m running into is that the tenkara industry is still relatively small. I could attempt to charge all of the tenkara brands for ad space in the magazine, but let’s face it, they are all already well known within our community. Does Chris Stewart (TenkaraBum) really need to pay for advertising in Tenkara Angler to create awareness for his retail site? What would be his return on investment?

I think the next step might be to craft a proposal with a clear value proposition and reach out to some of the companies from the larger fly-fishing industry to see if they have any interest in advertising with Tenkara Angler. Everybody in our community may already be buying their rods from Tenkara USA, TenkaraBum, Badger, etc… but who are they buying their fly tying supplies from, or wading boots? What lodges or guide services are they using when they travel? I figure if I could get a dozen paid advertisers an issue to chip in a nominal fee I would have enough critical mass to begin compensating contributors in some fashion. I’d really enjoy being able to do that someday.

Oh, and I’ve been thinking of extending the magazine to a podcast. Seems to be the trendy thing to do these days...

Adam: Michael, I have so many other interests besides fishing and tenkara. I really enjoy when I get to mix two of them together. I think my favorite is “travel and tenkara.” That would be, picking out a destination, researching it, creating a plan, getting on the plane, and executing the plan. After that, I really like packrafting and biking.

“Do you do anything else with tenkara like I have mentioned?”

Michael: As previously discussed, I do a ton of traveling with my tenkara rod. Living in Florida, there are no real local opportunities to fish for trout. There is simply no appropriate cold water sources and no mountains in the Sunshine State; the closest wild trout habitat in Georgia is about 6 hours away by car. It takes real effort and scheduling to find time to fish for trout, so I make it a point to set aside time to travel about a dozen times a year to cold water locales. Plus, it’s just too easy to bring a tenkara rod and a small fly box along on a business trip if I know I’ll have some downtime.

One of the good things about where I live in Florida is that it’s relatively flat and it’s extremely easy to get around (via bike lanes) for cyclists. As such, I keep a tenkara rod tube tethered to by hybrid bicycle at all times. It’s a fun activity to take a morning or afternoon and just ride around from retention pond to retention pond looking for bass and bluegill and getting in a little bit of exercise at the same time. It’s far from the hardcore fishing I do when I go on a dedicated trip, just a bit of fun and a different way to get a line wet.

Adam: Tenkara-Fisher in it’s last form was attacked by a malicious hacker. The site was run on software that was always having to be updated and patched. Finally, someone planted code and no one could fix or find it without spending a lot of money. For me, it was a money pit. The community took care of that but I don’t like asking for money…

You asked me if I wanted help.

What ended up happening was that you really streamlined the site, helped me put it back together.

I really appreciate your help with that, probably more than you know.

Thank you.

“What do you think about forum based sites, blogs and social media in the tenkara community?”

Michael: First off, you’re very welcome. I really enjoy playing around on the computer and building things. I think it sort of fills the creative gap in my life. Be it Tenkara Angler, Troutrageous!, the Tenkara Calendar, whatever, I’ve always found those projects very fulfilling. I built my first website back when I was in college in 1996, so by now it’s somewhat second nature. Plus, while I don’t really participate in forums much anymore, I really value the way they catalog and categorize content. When the opportunity popped up to help you preserve some of the compromised Tenkara-Fisher database, it was a no-brainer to get involved in some small way.

Back to your question… I don’t think there would be an awareness for tenkara today if there weren’t forums, blogs, and social media. Let’s face it, when larger media outlets occasionally pick up on tenkara, they all do the same page or two “introductory” story on roughly what it is and that it came from Japan, and that’s about it. I’ve yet to see a major fly fishing magazine or website, something that could influence anglers in a large way, do a deep dive into tenkara. In a vacuum, the closest thing to mainstream coverage was when Patagonia did PR rounds to introduce Yvon Chouinard’s “Simple Fly Fishing” book and TFO-built line of rods in 2014.

In my opinion, tenkara is successful in its niche solely because of social media. Tenkara USA started (and grew organically) on the back of self-produced YouTube videos and a website forum that was “the” destination for early discussion and discovery. Sales were initially e-commerce based only.

The initial excitement from the first rods in hand and forum chatter gave birth to the initial batch of tenkara-specific blogs such as Tenkara Talk and Tenkara on the Fly. Heck, even TenkaraBum started out as a blog that reviewed different rods before it became retail site, much like Tom Davis does on Teton Tenkara today.

While blogs and forums still exist, most have given way to the popular social media of the day, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it. No matter what the format, social media is extremely important because it’s the place where “we” can all gather and learn about tenkara. It’s where we “meet” the Japanese masters, it’s where we learn the history of the commercial fishermen that laid the foundation for our sport. It’s where we exchange kebari patterns that have become ubiquitous such as the Ishigaki kebari or the Utah Killer Bug, it’s where we discuss techniques and ask “do you even Tomizuri, bro?” It’s where Jason Klass can “invent” using EZ Keepers as on-rod line storage almost ten years ago and have it become commonplace. it’s where you can organize meet-ups, Summits, and Fests. Without social media, there’d be no efficient way to rapidly spread and exchange tenkara knowledge. Just the occasional magazine article or perhaps book.

The only peril, much like the one I face with Tenkara Angler, is social media content is all crowdsourced and unfiltered. People can just as easily spread bad information or unintentional mistruths and there’s nobody to play the role of editor or arbiter to keep us all honest. Those that try are usually met with aggression resulting in arguments, infighting, and all the ugliness that can come with social media exchanges gone awry. While it’s not the norm, the tenkara community is not immune to this, and has seen far too many unnecessary flare ups over the years.

I also wouldn’t discount that social media is also an inexpensive way for many of our smaller tenkara brands to effectively market their products and create a brand presence almost overnight. WIthout the ability to spread their messages socially, you probably wouldn’t have as many tenkara gear options to choose from as you do today.

Adam: “Do you have any questions for me?”

Michael: Yes, I have few questions for you.

You’ve been into tenkara as long as I have, just about ten years. We’ve followed somewhat similar paths in creating and curating content along the way. What do you think of the state of the tenkara today - be it the quality of the new products that brands are bringing to the market, or even the quality of discussions and information exchange that are taking place in our social media? And where does what you call #untenkara fit into the equation?

Adam: Tenkara outside of Japan grew because of Tenkara USA popularizing tenkara online. When Daniel started selling rods, we bought them, started using them, we shared our experiences together in this tight little community that had a really nice feel. It was fun and I enjoyed it.

But that changed.

The business of tenkara stepped in and we started to fragment and divide into the tenkara clans.

Depending on your perspective, tenkara could be many things, traditional Japanese fly fishing or simple fly fishing or it was an American guy standing in the river with a Japanese robe and hat in front of a video camera talking about tenkara and or everything in between. Tenkara grew into sub-communities and it divided.

Quite a few rod sellers followed the formula that Tenkara USA used to sell their own goods. Many of them replicated the best parts of different companies and created their own brand. People bought this equipment without knowing the timeline that you and I have watched unfold.

This type of growth is not unique to tenkara. It happens all the time in other sports, same thing, same nice people getting things started, same business people doing what they do.

From my perspective, the current state of tenkara isn't anything like what it started out. 

Do a search of "tenkara" on google and post your findings on social media and what do you get?

As I have said before, tenkara in of itself is this enjoyable way of fishing a mountain stream. The techniques work in other waters too and it's a lot of fun. 

Social media? 

#untenkara?

The term #untenkara was coined by a guy I know to differentiate mountain stream tenkara and fixed line fishing using tenkara equipment and techniques by tenkara anglers in non-tenkara water on tenkara social media.

Michael: The second question I have for you is probably a bit out of left field, but it has to do with your collection of Japanese tenkara books. I know you own or have owned quite a few over the years. I think there’s a wealth of information out there we still haven’t tapped into yet, just waiting for somebody to unlock with the ability of translation.

In particular, I’ve always heard a lot about Soseki Yamamoto being one of the primary people who popularized tenkara as a sport in Japan, sort of reintroducing the old techniques to a modern generation of anglers back in the 1970s & 80s (I hope I have that timing more or less correct). He did this through writing books and placing articles in popular magazines on the subject that not only explored the “how to” side of tenkara, but also romanticized it through tales of the outdoors, mountain life, and even (for those interested in cryptids) tsuchinoko.

While I’m certain a lot the information contained in his technique-based writings have been passed down to the modern “Masters” we learn from today, I’d still love to read his collection of stories and essays someday.

How many of your books have you had fully translated, and what do think about this concept in general, especially when it comes to the “rediscovering” of authors from the prior generation such as Yamamoto?

Adam: I've had two Soseki Yamamoto books summarized here. The books are historical Japanese tenkara interpreted by an expert Japanese angler. It takes an incredible amount of time for the interpreter. 

The summary translations were pretty much overlooked.

Moving on.

I know that my interview with Jason Sparks went long, I had a lot I wanted to discuss with him, the same goes for you but for your sake, lets wind this up.

“Michael, thank you for being who you are, I appreciate you. I dig Tenkara Angler and I wish you all the luck in the world with it.

Please use this opportunity to close the interview.”

Michael: I’d just like to close the interview by thanking you for finding my flavor of “vanilla” tasty enough to take a larger bite. This was really fun, hopefully I wasn’t too wordy, and I hope we’ll be able to share a little time together on a trout stream in the future.