TiF - Tenkara no Oni Review

by Les Albjerg
(Caldwell, Idaho)

I wish I had seen this video when I first started Tenkara fishing last year. THIS IS A MUST HAVE!, in my opinion. The training wheels came off today. It is worth twice the price, just for the instructions on casting.

My first Tenkara experience was with a pre-selected package from another source. I rigged up and waved the fly around a little to get a feel for things and went to fishing. On the 4th cast, I caught a fish. I thought, "This is easy." I have watched several videos and improved my techniques, but nothing like this one. Tenkara no Oni's casting method and rationale are extraordinary in my opinion. I went out in the backyard with 3 of the rods that I use for tenkara with my portable computer and practiced several of the techniques in this video. My accuracy was tremendously improved. My efficiency was improved drastically. I found that I had control that I didn't think possible. This video package should accompany everyone's first rod. One of the reasons I have enjoyed two handed tenkara more than one handed is that my spey casting lessons and experience directly translated to the long rods. Now I feel great about the shorter rods. The casting techniques are worth the price of this package. But there is more!

You get a lesson in reading the water as well. I found this valuable too. I have over 40 years of fly fishing experience, and have fished with many of the Western Fly fishing masters. I am not going to name drop here. That is to say, I am pretty good at reading the water. Tenkara no Oni taught me several new things that also make this a valuable video and PDF lesson.

I have been fishing with lots of other people of late due to the flooding in our area. I get lots of questions and interest in Tenkara fishing. Underlying many of those questions is the thought, "Why would you limit your line length, by not having a reel?" This video gave me the answer to that question. Tenkara fishermen and fisherwomen have control and connection that you can't have in other types of fishing. Following the techniques learned in this lesson, I was able to place fly into a coffee cup of water 10 out of 12 times practicing yesterday. This video has raised me to a new level. If you want to improve your fishing you owe yourself this video. To quote Chris Stewart, "Whoever said tenkara is simple lied."

“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.