I was also absorbed in flyfishing when I was into Tenkara.

I did two different kinds simultaneously.

For example, if I do Tenkara-fishing today, I flyfish next day.

I still do not know why I got into Tenkara.

For flyfishing, preparation of flies is a kind of nuisance as  they have to be
tied so precisely and tippets are too fine and they get spider webs.

In the end, the tippet gets heavy with web and wasn’t cast well.

Also you have to change tippets too often.

It was troublesome to carry fine tippets.

The results were the same whether I fished in Tenkara style or  flyfishing style.

Tenkara was just for me. That’s probably the reason.

The rivers I often went to at that time, probably 1978 were located near my house.

The Ota River is a quiet river. It is a mid-size stream and easy to access.

Amago were found in a large number but were around 20  centimeter long on average.

In each pool were two or three.

The Kida River is a main stream and big fish are also found.

Of course, a quite a few amago of 25 to 25 centimeters  were everywhere.

I was very excited as there were two to thirty  fish in each pool.

It was my friend that made me go to the Touyama River,

the Mecca of fishing in Japan. which I end up fishing for 30 years by now.

He took me there.

In those days, we had to pass high mountain passes to get to  the Touyama River;

what was worse, the road wasn’t paved and the bottom of my car had to be brushed with rocks.

It also took three and half hours though it only takes two hours now.

It was awesome. There were so many amago.

I even wondered if this place were a fish farm.

The current was about twice faster than now.

Only 12 meter line could barely reach the opposite bank.

Maybe there were 100 to 200 fish in each pool.

But I was still beaten by fish.

I got skunked. Fish could notice my flies are fake.

They also noticed my presence.

After that, I had gone to this river every weekend.

This river told me how to fish and what nature is all about.

Amago in this river are awesome.

They have a great sense to notice fishers, agility, power to swim the fast current,
which all make them such dandy fish with big nose like salmon.

They are awesome. And beautiful.