I think I'm doing it wrong but I'm having fun

by Steve Brockwell
(Elgin, Oklahoma)

I've been fishing "Tenkara" style for a couple of years. I put Tenkara in quotes because I use a cheap Chinese knockoff collapsible rod 12 feet long without a cork grip. I usually use 10 feet of a red thin monofilament and 4 feet of #6 leader line. The fly I use the most is a home-tied Utah Killer Bug size 10. Sometimes I use a tiny black gnat but its rare. I have about $30 dollars in my rig. Add a necklace of para cord with medicine bottles for flies and a set of fingernail clippers and cheap forceps and I'm ready.

I like to fish ponds here in Oklahoma like the 3 little ponds at a roadside park not too far away. Yesterday I fished there for 90 minutes and caught 90 fish. I quit when I lost my fly. Its not unusual for me to catch 100 or more on a decent day. I catch crappie, largemouth bass, catfish, bluegill and sunfish. Most are small but when you start getting one pound Rock bass or a 2 pound largemouth you can really have fun.

No expensive rod (couldn't justify the cost when I started) very little variety in flies.

Like I said, I think I'm doing it wrong but I am having fun. To me its just fishing. Quiet, fun, genuinely relaxing.

Steve Brockwell
Elgin, Oklahoma

“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.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.

Seriously, all the hooks sold on TenkaraBum.com, whether packaged as loose hooks or incorporated into flies, are dangerously sharp. Some have barbs, which make removal from skin, eyes or clothing difficult. Wear eye protection. Wear a broad-brimmed hat. If you fish with or around children, bend down all hook barbs and make sure the children wear eye protection and broad-brimmed hats. Be aware of your back cast so no one gets hooked.

Also, all the rods sold on TenkaraBum.com will conduct electricity. Do not, under any circumstances, fish during a thunder storm. Consider any fishing rod to be a lightning rod! Fishing rods can and do get hit by lightning!