What is this Madness!

by Tariq S.
(Saint Paul, MN)

I'm in love with Tenkara and am enjoying it soooo much. I think the reason I like it because I started feeling that fishing had become a sport of absolutely overpowering the bloody fish.

I fish for catfish with some nice heavy duty whisker seekers, I have my rod with a baitfeeder line, 60lb test, I can throw 4-6oz river sinkers..yadi yadi yada.

Then I randomly saw a tenkara video on youtube. I bought myself a cheap Chinese knockoff from maxcatch, and I have no regrets, I understood how to hold the rod, how to tie the line, tested and played with level line as well as the furled ones. The Japanese rods are definitely eye-openers.

Regardless, I ended up catching a few of the following and I couldn't be happier that I've found this method of fishing. Planning on going to Washington State and Oregon next year to do some trout fishing!

Thank you for introducing me to this lovely sport!!!

~Shimotsuke Kyodai 3.6~Nisshin YuyuZan 3.3-3.8~Shimotsuke Kiyotaki 210~Soon a Suntech fieldmaster II 44 but I might have to tell the wife that I'm buying it for her :D~

“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.