This weekend we participated at the Wasatch Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo. It was very much a last minute decision to attend. The Tenkara Guides of Utah were participating, as was Craig Mathews from Blue Ribbon Flies (one of our dealers and very passionate tenkara angler). Also, Utah is one of the states with most potential for tenkara, with lots and lots of streams in the mountains nearby but where, by perusing the main online forum for fly-fishing in Utah, it seems like many people have the wrong ideas about the method. Thus I decided to come in and help tenkara take over the show. It turned out that we did make a big splash, and introduced tenkara to hundreds of people and “converted” a good number of them. It was hard to look at our corner and not see a crowd. Several people commented that we were keeping people in that area for too long. So, tenkara has now made big strides in Utah.
A big thanks to Josh Leavitt of Rutalocura.com and Holga photographer Brian Schiele who helped at the booth.
Also, a huge thanks to John and Rob of tenkaraguides.com for their enthusiastic participation at the show. Having their booth next to ours provided huge synergy.
It was also great seeing many advocates stopping by and talking tenkara to anyone who came near our booth. Several people said they came to the show specifically to see tenkara. If there is something that makes me truly happy it is to see those who adopted tenkara come to say hi and then hang out talking to everyone about their newfound passion.
The day before the show John and I went fishing at one of the Cottonwood canyon streams. We only had a bit over an hour of fishing time and I landed a beautiful brown trout. Using an ishigaki kebari of course. We fished a small stretch without a bite. The temperature the day before had swung dramatically: t-shirt and shorts weather when I arrived, but a nano-puff jacket and gloves when we went fishing the day after. Caught it by casting upstream and getting my fly to sink a few inches on a small plunge.
In a couple of hours we’re heading to a new-to-me stream outside of Salt Lake City, and I’m truly excited to see what that holds. The tenkaraguides.com couldn’t stop talking about it last night. I think they know something most people here don’t.
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9 Responses to Wasatch Fly Fishing Expo
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Way to represent out there in Utah!!! Hope to check out some fishing there thIs summer:)
Some of the most memorable interactions I witnessed were the one where a husband who had been fishing for several years and had been trying to get his wife into fishing. There were two different couples that I saw this happen to, and I am not sure who was the happier of the two the husband for finally getting his wife into fly fishing or the wife when she quickly and easily learned how to cast a Tenkara rod and knew she found something else new for the two of them to do together..
I am glad your last minute decision was to attend. Otherwise I and my granddaughter would not begin to know of the joys Tenkara will bring into our lives. We are excited with our purchase of a Tenkara rod and are looking forward to fishing our mountain streams with simplicity. There are other Granddaughters, boyfriends and girlfriends who will be coming into the world of Tenkara now.
Thank you.
Walksinwater
Michael, I’m happy we got to meet you! It was fun to see your granddaughter being interested in tenkara as well as you. I know you will enjoy it. We look forward to hearing your experiences with it.
I was one of the converted. It was a great show and an excellent fundraiser for TU in Utah. Erik at the Tenkaraguides booth gave me a great sermon on fishing Tenkara, and Daniel helped me pick out a rod from my local flyfishing shop’s booth. I was outbid on the Tenkaraguides trip package, but I’m excited to try out my new Iwana on my homewaters this week. Daniel, please come back to our show next year and maybe teach some classes. Also, would you mind if I use your booth photo on my blog if I post about this? Thanks again!
Hey Chadd,
It was great meeting you there. Absolutely, feel free to use the photo. Glad you took the plunge, and “joined the cult”! You’ll have a great time.
It was a great EXPO for Tenkara Guides.com also. It is always fun to hang out, fish, and spend time with fantastic friends like Daniel.
For those that attended the Utah EXPO and thought the tenkara stuff was cool, just wait until the 2012 Tenkara Summit in SLC this July. It is guaranteed to blow your mind!!!
See you all there.
John
Tenkara Guides LLC
Hi again — thought you’d like to know how my first Tenkara experience came out…
How Small A Trout.
Chadd, absolutely loved your writing. Very fitting you have a quote from Gierach, your writing style reminds me of his a bit.
Glad you enjoyed tenkara, and happy to read your perspective of “converting”.