Post by Tony T on Jun 16, 2015 21:11:35 GMT
A few weeks ago the DT guys Paul Gaskell and John Pearson put on a Tenkara group tuition event and made the day very enjoyable and informative for all that took part.
For starters we all received a free mamushi kebari, quite an expensive fly as the mamushi (pit viper) snake is only sought after by a hand full of tenkara anglers in Japan. Very generous of Paul and John to spare some of this precious material, it does make a nice kebari body.
The first part of the session was rod testing, there were 29 rods to try out from different manufacturers. Rods really are a piece of kit that you have to try before you buy and to have access to that many, attach a casting line and put it through its paces is something you'd struggle to get anywhere else.
Everyone there really appreciated the opportunity to try out all the rods, I especially liked the Tenkara centre Hayase and of course the superb Oni rods, these were just a delight to hold and cast.
The second part of the session was a casting clinic/tuition. The group consisted of various ability levels, Paul and John catered for us all a bit like golf professionals, adjusting posture, stance, casting arc, speed etc. where necessary and got us all on the road to better casting. As an addition we also got to try different casting lines from furled horse hair styled lines to tapered nylon and the usual level lines.
Fish playing Techniques... The guys were very animated and gave a practical demonstration of fish playing and landing which was quite funny, I'm sure someone was videoing it too.
Great advice though as it clearly showed how to use the rod as a whole to buffer the lunges of bigger fish rather than holding it high and just using the top section.
It was great to meet like minded people passionate about Tenkara and to discuss the various aspects that make up this delightful branch of fly fishing.
Thoroughly enjoyed the day.
JP & PG ...keep up the good work.
For starters we all received a free mamushi kebari, quite an expensive fly as the mamushi (pit viper) snake is only sought after by a hand full of tenkara anglers in Japan. Very generous of Paul and John to spare some of this precious material, it does make a nice kebari body.
The first part of the session was rod testing, there were 29 rods to try out from different manufacturers. Rods really are a piece of kit that you have to try before you buy and to have access to that many, attach a casting line and put it through its paces is something you'd struggle to get anywhere else.
Everyone there really appreciated the opportunity to try out all the rods, I especially liked the Tenkara centre Hayase and of course the superb Oni rods, these were just a delight to hold and cast.
The second part of the session was a casting clinic/tuition. The group consisted of various ability levels, Paul and John catered for us all a bit like golf professionals, adjusting posture, stance, casting arc, speed etc. where necessary and got us all on the road to better casting. As an addition we also got to try different casting lines from furled horse hair styled lines to tapered nylon and the usual level lines.
Fish playing Techniques... The guys were very animated and gave a practical demonstration of fish playing and landing which was quite funny, I'm sure someone was videoing it too.
Great advice though as it clearly showed how to use the rod as a whole to buffer the lunges of bigger fish rather than holding it high and just using the top section.
It was great to meet like minded people passionate about Tenkara and to discuss the various aspects that make up this delightful branch of fly fishing.
Thoroughly enjoyed the day.
JP & PG ...keep up the good work.
