Keiryu Flashback

by Herb S.
(Southwest Michigan)

I was looking through my fishing log books and ran across a forgotten entry dated December 30, 1999.

I was soaking bait with a spinning rod off the public dock on Cedar Key, Florida when a young Oriental couple arrived and extended a short, maybe six foot, telescopic rod. I thought they didn't know what they were doing, fishing right off the end of the dock with a too-short rod and too-short line. But when they hauled in a sea robin it got my attention and I asked them about the rod. They were from Taiwan and brought the rod from home. Unfortunately their English wasn't too good (or they didn't want to be bothered) and I didn't get any more information. I now realize that was my first encounter with Asian fixed line fishing and it wasn't until 2010 that I discovered Tenkara and 2014 when I found Tenkarabum and bought my first Keiryu rod.

Yesterday I ordered my most recent keiryu rod, a Shimotsuki Kyotaki 18. Maybe it's because there's a real need for a very short rod for the little trout creeks that run through the cedar swamps and tag alder jungles of northern Michigan. Maybe it's partly nostalgia for that day on the dock so many years ago.

Happy fishing,
Herb

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.