Oni Blog

 

We are happy this year too to be able to have an Oni school that was

planned by Tenkara guiders LLC and Eric John.

First we would like to sincerely thank those two organizers and the

participants.

Our only regret was that we could not meet Rob this time.

Also we really thank FLY Ninja Grant who showed us western

flyfishing techniques and Sun Dance Resort which cooperated

for our event.

We were very happy to know that so many people now enjoy

Tenkara just as one of conventional fishing methods even

in the country.

Thank you, all the people who came for this event. All of them were nice fishermen.

At the river on the first day where some trees and plants are lined and fishing line can be easily tangled. For such a case, you should cast from the side.

I caught it. You should point to rod to the side so that the line does not touch the trees.

Wild brown trout. It bit as Japanese fish do. There is no boundary for fish.

Because everybody was using bead head, I changed to KEBARI.

Acceptance of Tenkara which is my beloved sport to American fishing

culture can be greatly attributable to Tenkara USA, Tanuki, Bum and

other Tenkara gear manufacturers and dealers. Without them, you

cannot enjoy Tenkara. In this sense, I would like to thank all of them.

It was a bit surprising that some American fishermen didn’t know

we have bait fishing for stream fishing in Japan.

With bait you can catch fish easily, because you have what you want

to eat. Of course some bait fishing techniques are quite profound,

but you can definitely catch your fish on the first day when you start f

ishing; therefore meat fishermen use bait fishing without hesitation.

Ayu or sweet fish fishing is also true of this. Fishermen of such fishing

also does not practice catch and release. Since native ayu do not exist

any longer in most of Japanese rivers.

They released stocked fish and fish side by side and eat them. It is still

considered a Japanese summer pastime.

I still do not take any interest in this as it does not have any fishing

excitement.

What I think is beautiful are those native fish that live in streams.

What surprised me when I was there was that different rods were

sold depending on the size of nymphs; rods for small nymphs and

rods for big nymphs.

If you buy rods according to the fly size, you may have to have so

many rods. That was not thinkable.

All you need is actually the casting technique that can be done for

any fly size.

Oni Rod TYPE I designed had no problem with beadhead flies both

when I cast and my wife cast.

We cast well without problems and also caught well.

In fact I caught a 14 inch brown on beadhead and my wife also hooked

one. How to use the rod is more important.

On the first day of school, fishing with my students, I caught more than

they. Why?

While the students hit the surface with tippet, which is normal to western

fly fishing, it is important to let your fly land on the surface softly and

quietly even when you use a heavy fly like bead head; fish might escape.

There are some techniques for that. I would like to show on YouTube

one day.

Everybody was looking at where I drift the fly for fish.

Fish on! You do not break the rod if you land the fish in this low profile position.

I helped my students cast a lie with my hand assisted on their hands.

For fishing, there is no boundary in techniques between western

and Asian.

Fish behaviors are the same everywhere; so are the techniques.

Even we have difference preferences on flies, unless we use them properly

we cannot catch the game.

It is not just simple like dropping a fly on the water.

You actually have to be more sensitive on where to put, which current

to use. These thoughts all change the odds of catch.

I am sure that those who attended my class should have understood

my casting method and where I choose to put a fly in the water.

Flies are important; if you care too much, it will end up just like western

fly fishing.

What matters for Tenkara is not fly pattern but how to drift it, where to

put it and how to make it attractive.

I understand you may want to show your fishing identity but Tenakra

does not have boundaries. It works anywhere in the world.

You may find it interesting both Tenkara and Japanese chivalry are

the same. If possible, we need to leave a lot of fish to next generation

by practicing C&R.

We enjoyed outdoor lunch for school. Fishing school should be complemented with this.

Eric’s mother helped it. It was so delicious. Thank you so much.

Grant from FLY Ninja was such a versatile guy. He showed us fly tying techniques.

Japanese KEBARI do not require a number of tying tools.

We tasted American food. They tasted good.

Newly-released ZEROSUM Oni Honryu 395 can securely catch big games; of course it handles big head fly with no problem.

On the last day of our American trip, we were taken to a river with a lot

of browns over 40 centimeters.

There are a lot of tall plants like reeds and the wind was blowing; ling

can be easily tangled.

Under the circumstance, if you use Oni Honryu 450 or newly released

395, both of them are long enough and easy to handle big fish because

their length can prevent the line from tangling with plants.

I used a recommended bead head fly. The fishing style ended up almost

like a bait fishing but it was easy as you can use SASOI or teasing just in

front of fish and they cannot resist to bite it.

Yet, as quite a few people were fishing and most of them were using the

same bead head, hooking was shallow; fish were probably very cautious.

That’s why I changed the fly to KEBARI. Different fly was flesh to fish

and more effective. Soon brown looked up, and I caught it near the surface.

It was such a fun. They jumped onto the fly on the surface. Really exiting.

Sometimes you should use a different fly from what other fishermen use.

They might bite it. Using a different fly is also an effective option.

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