How-To’s

Welcome to the seventh issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content created by Tenkara USA over the last 10 years in a fun-to-read format. This month features a look back at 10 years of sharing tenkara and building Tenkara USA. Enjoy!

Welcome to the sixth issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content created by Tenkara USA over the last 10 years in a fun-to-read format. This month features thoughts on simplicity, information on our Tenkara Summit, a story by TJ Ferreira, an article on line management and a new Up Tenkara Creek Comic…plus much more. Enjoy!

You can read the ezine in the reader above, or download the full PDF version here.

Welcome to the fifth issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content created by Tenkara USA over the last 10 years in a fun-to-read format. This month features an article on our first video, the “one-fly” philosophy, a story on Mr. Katsutoshi Amano, a piece that talks the ideas behind our Sato rod, a new Up Tenkara Creek Comic and much more. Enjoy!

You can read the ezine in the reader above, or download the full PDF version here.

Welcome to the fourth issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content created by Tenkara USA over the last 10 years in a fun-to-read format. This month features an article on tangles & snags, covers a trip fishing tenkara with Ed Engle and John Gierach, a piece on the versatile tenugui, a new Up Tenkara Creek Comic and much more. Enjoy!

You can read the ezine in the reader above, or download the full PDF version here.

Besides the blog posts below, here you’ll find the newest content from Tenkara USA:

mounTEN – the tenkara ezine

mounTEN brings to you the best stories and articles we have shared in the TEN years since we introduced tenkara to the US. Each issue contains TEN beautifully designed spreads, and is released on the TENth of every month. Click here to read all issues of mounTEN

• Tenkara Coloring Book

  Tenkara Coloring Book

  Our designer Jeremy just finished putting together the first Tenkara Coloring Book! We hope this may be a fun activity for you and your family, or something that will...

• mounTEN: issue 6, March 2019

  mounTEN: issue 6, March 2019

  Welcome to the sixth issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content...

• mounTEN: issue 5, February 2019

  mounTEN: issue 5, February 2019

  Welcome to the fifth issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content...

Tenkara Cast – our podcast

The Tenkara Cast features conversations about technique, gear and philosophy, and now also features conversations with Trout Unlimited chapters across the US.

Welcome to the third issue of Tenkara USA’s official monthly ezine, covering the best stories on the tenkara method of fly-fishing. mounTEN brings forth content created by Tenkara USA over the last 10 years in a fun-to-read format. This month features Ice Shelf Fishing, Bamboo Rods, Iwana Sashimi, a new Up Tenkara Creek Comic and much more. Enjoy!

You can read the ezine in the reader above, or download the full PDF version here.

We received some great feedback and a lot of downloads of the inaugural edition of mounTEN, our new ezine. So, we bring to you the 2nd edition, which has pieces on how to tenkara fish with long lines, a conversation with Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, a piece on the Manzanar fishing camp, and one on the snake-skin tenkara flies of Mr. Hirata.

Download the printable PDF version here

mounTEN is the official ezine of Tenkara USA, and its ten spreads will be published on the 10th of every month. So stay tuned for the next issue, which will be published on December 10th.

If you want to receive the magazine to your inbox, make sure to subscribe to our email newsletter:

Announcing our first issue of mounTEN! The official “e-zine” of Tenkara USA. Look for it on the TENth of every month, each issue is a collection of essays, interviews, how-to’s, and philosophical thoughts on the tenkara lifestyle in TEN spreads. At the end of the zine will be an installment of Up TENkara Creek, a new comic about the history and story of tenkara. We have designed the comic to be printable as a coloring page. Download it here and break out the colored pencils and crayons

Tenkara rods are very easy to use and are pretty strong. Some common problems with tenkara rods are very easy to avoid or deal with. In this video, John Geer from Tenkara USA’s customer service team, will walk you through some of the common problems seen on a tenkara rod, how to avoid problems while using your tenkara rod, and how to troubleshoot and fix any problems you may encounter with your tenkara rod.
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And of course, if your tenkara rod has the Tenkara USA name on its label, you can always count on our customer support to take care of you, that’s our Tenkara Care™ guarantee.
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To learn more about tenkara rods, or for help from our customer service team, visit www.tenkarausa.com or call 888.i.tenkara (888.483.6527)

Our 2-week long trip to Japan is now over. At the end of the trip we experienced the beginning of the rains that have been ravaging Western Japan. In fact, the night before we left we were at a guest house having dinner as heavy rain fell outside. Our hostess came to inform us that there was a chance the river nearby, the Maze, could flood and she explained the contingency plan. It was not likely she said, but just in case there was an alarm they would guide us to the school on the hill nearby.

The Maze, a river we had fished just the day before, didn’t flood, but much of the areas around where we were experienced landslides and devastating floods. The disaster has been hardest felt farther west from where we were. Our hearts are with the people as they deal with the difficulties of yet another disaster. We were lucky to escape unharmed. It has been bittersweet to get to the comfort of my dry home knowing people are suffering. But, as I review footage and images from another good trip to Japan I keep the Japanese people in my heart.

Today I worked on a short film where I was able to capture an epic fight Dr. Ishigaki had with a large rainbow trout in Hokkaido. I wish my microphone was closer to hear his tenkara rod singing, as I am sure it did. I hope you’ll enjoy the short film above.

If you’re interested in helping, here’s some information on relief efforts taking place.

If you have been following us on social media, you may know that I am currently on a 2-week long trip to a few areas of Japan. As usual, I have come here on my annual pilgrimage “in search of tenkara”.

The trip so far has been a lot of fun. My fishing has been concentrated in the northern island of Hokkaido, where we are finding some large fish and few anglers.

Throughout the trip, I’m planning to create podcast episodes and videos as time allows. So far I have uploaded two episodes of my podcast, the Tenkara Cast. I’m naming this series of episodes the “Japan Cast 2018″, where I share my experiences with anyone interested in learning more about tenkara or Japan. It is my hope to bring you through the journey of learning tenkara from the source, and really explore several concepts around the method.

You can follow the podcast here: Tenkara Cast, Japan Cast episodes

Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram, as that’s a very quick way to see the photos I take as I go.

Looking for things to listen? We got you covered with two awesome Spotify playlists and a new short episode of the Tenkara Cast.

We just launched some awesome Spotify playlists. The first one is a curated list, largely inspired by Takenobu’s music, who we feature in most of our videos.

Follow us on Spotify

#TenkaraTunes : Fishin’

#TenkaraTunes : Collaboration

Follow this playlist and then add your favorite songs!

Tenkara Cast : Short Cast, News

Today we celebrate the 9th anniversary of tenkara’s introduction outside of Japan and the inception of Tenkara USA!
On April 12, 2009, Daniel Galhardo launched Tenkara USA with the goal of introducing the concept of tenkara, a simpler way to fly-fish, to the world. Since then we have witnessed the growth of an awesome community of people who have been inspired to seek simplicity, share adventures and tell the story of tenkara. We would not be here today without your support, so thank you all very much for taking up tenkara and sharing the tenkara story.
While it may feel like it was yesterday that the first tenkara rods arrived and were put in your hands, today is a reminder that Tenkara USA has not been an overnight success, and the adoption of tenkara was not made in an instant. The last 9 years have been filled with incredible experiences, and milestones.

I’m an American tenkara angler that is influenced by Japanese tenkara and my own experiences at home. I initially learned about tenkara nine years ago from Tenkara USA (Daniel Galhardo) and subsequently deepened my knowledge from researching Japanese blogs and web sites. I used what I knew from my own fly fishing knowledge and by researching and interviewing famous Japanese Tenkara anglers. I shared many of those interviews with the community here.

What follows is a basic look into the equipment that I use to wet wade and fish my own home streams and as I travel around North America and beyond.

My primary tenkara rods are the Ito, Sato and Rhodo. I’ve been fishing these rods since they have been available. I own a couple of Japanese brand rods in my quiver but my Tenkara USA rods are my first choices to go fishing in my home streams. I think if I had one rod to choose, it would be the Ito. It is a rod where I can hunt small native trout in wild places and then further down the mountain where the stream flows into the high meadow lake, I can catch stacked up big trout coming from out of the lake. It’s a rod that has length and makes a small fish fun yet I can catch 20” fish with it all day long.

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