When I designed and tested my tenkara lines, both the Tactical Tenkara Nymphing Line (TTN), and Tenkara Floating Line (TFL), I spent a lot of time on detail.  One of those details was the material I would use for the connection loop.  I wanted a really strong and grippy material that wouldn’t go limp and slip off the lillian.  I found what I was looking for, and by impregnating my connection loops with wax it made them even more grippy, keeping them in firm contact with the lillian, and more resistant to water and ultraviolet light. My lines are virtually ..read more

The Spring 2020 issue of Tenkara Angler Magazine went live this morning!  Many, many thanks goes out to our editor Mike Agneta, for his years of hard work on this publication!  Mike's contribution to the tenkara community has been immense.  I'd also like to send a big shout out to my fellow contributors, Rory Glennie, Bob Long, Jr., Jason Klass, Matt Sment, Steven Maichak, Chris Stewart, Alan Luecke, Jerry Tanner, and David West Beale. Be sure to check out my article entitled "Social Distancing", a chronicle of a long walk in a tiny canyon.  Happy reading ..read more

The end of a great day of fishing in the canyons, wearing my Frogg Toggs Canyon hip waders! I fish small water a LOT!  I guide small water a LOT!  A good pair of lightweight "non-chest waders" are a must, and the Frogg Toggs Canyon hip waders are as close to perfect as you can get. Here's just a bit of information to qualify my opinion on these waders.  I've been fly fishing backcountry streams for about 40 years now, and I've had a lot of time to test just about every wader available.  When it comes to lightweight hip waders, the field really narrows.  I ..read more

A half-dozen Tactical Tenkara Nymphing (TTN) lines, ready for action! Five years ago I designed two tenkara lines.  It was a long time coming, and it happened after considerable amount of testing, knot-tying, material sourcing, line builds, re-testing, and more re-testing.  It was worth it.  Here’s the story of one of them. The backstory:  I discovered tenkara, or as I like to say, tenkara discovered me, in 2009.  I was caught in the uptake created by two men…Daniel Galhardo and Ryan Jordan.  Both were tenkara anglers and lightweight backpackers, and both immediately earned my respect and ..read more

The DRAGONtail Komodo comes with a handy rod sock and a sturdy rod tube. I know, I can almost hear your thoughts..."no...please...not another tenkara rod review!".  Well, this isn't really THAT, it's more like "here's the gear I use, and why".  As with nearly every piece of gear in my arsenal, and I have a LOT of gear, there are nearly always other options that will do the same job.  The vision I have for the "Gear I Use" series of blog posts is to simply showcase certain pieces of gear that I find useful and let you decide beyond that. Enter the DRAGONtail Tenkara Komodo.  I'm a sucker for s ..read more

Here's a quick blog post to let you know the Tenkara Tracks Podcast is LIVE!  A big "thanks" goes out to all of my guests on the inaugural episode, "Trout, Beer, and Cheese Curds"...Shawn Larson, Dave Noll, Matt Sment, Zoan Kulinski, and Alan Leucke.  It was a pleasure traveling to the Driftless and hanging out with all of you!  I'm sure looking forward to it next year! You can access the Tenkara Tracks Podcast HERE ..read more

Spring and fall are my favorite seasons here in the canyons and the southern Colorado Mountains I call home.  This spring was one of cool weather, lots of snow in the mountains, tenkara in the local canyons, and one of the most perfect turkey hunts I've ever had! I started poking up into my canyons as soon as the weather permitted this spring.  One day in February I hiked down into one particular canyon with about a foot of snow on the ground to find miles and miles of the creek frozen completely over.  It's always comforting to know that below that ice in the deep bend pools there are brow ..read more