BFFI 2014

[daves]

The 2014 BFFI was great.

Brilliant talk from PG & JP on Tenkara & Dr Ishigaki's visit with superb video clips to illustrate the simple prey image that fish usually have & the great value of manipulation. Very well done guys!!!!!!

Interesting new lightweight 12' rod on the Tenkara Centre UK stand. It felt nice but competition is hotting up with the TRY rods from Tenkara Times, the Sato from Tenkara USA & more & more top line Japanese offerings becoming readily available. Tenkara Centre UK also had a nice backpack with attachments for 4 rods at a very reasonable price.

We had a fair bit of interest at the Italian Casting stand with several forum members attending the 'teach ins' on the 3 basic casts. Italian style casting with a short 7' 6" to 8' rod is a great addition to Tenkara when it is not possible to fish Tenkara effectively due to the distance involved or wind.

It was great to meet quite a few of you face to face.

All the best for the 2014 season & hope to meet some of you throughout the year.



Dave

[fishingcane]

Yes it was/is a great show and a good place to meet up with like minded people. I would urge anyone who is yet to visit to do so next year.

Steve

[Paul G]

Cheers Dave - great comments and much appreciated.

Please do pass on my thanks again to all the Italian guys (and UK friends/apostles!) - it was great to hang out and exchange ideas with them; and I really enjoyed my Italian casting lesson with Massimo, Ian and all the crew.

PS - I was delighted to learn that one of the timing drills that the Italians use for a high line-speed/continuous motion cast is exactly the same as the drill independently developed by Dr. Ishigaki

[flatsghost]

Really enjoyed meeting with Tenkara faces old and new especially Phil, Steve,Seth, Simon and Sonia, Richard and the DT boys. Not much time to chat with DT boys who were very busy indeed. The new TUSA Sato looks a good piece of kit and extremely versatile.
As always the time flies at BFFI and I left without seeing most of it!
Good showcase for Tenkara what with Mike Roden, Right angle fishing and the DT boys. This is the premier fishing show for sure and deserves support from us all.
PLEASE stop raining soon as I am going stir crazy at the minute!
Glyn

[mspaddler]

Had my first visit to BFFI on Saturday. Met Seth to pick up my pretty new Tamo, bought a tenkara sling pack and a Furled Leader from Mike & Brian, a Stuart Croft Furled Leader from Luke Bannister and two DVDs from JP and the Fish on Team. Did my bit for the economy! and met a some good friends. The Czech fishing holidays looked very interesting and a bargain at BFFI if you had 3 like minded folks ready to book up on the day. I had to be back in York in the late afternoon for a celebration with my youngest daughter so missed out on the Italian Casting. No fishing today so maybe I'll watch Paul G & JP's DVD later.

[daves]

Glyn, I can vouch for the versatility of the Sato. It's great on my local, heavily tree lined Yorkshire Derwent thanks to the zooming. It's also very light on the scales & in the hand. Furthermore it copes well with good sized fish; my biggest on it so far is a rainbow of a bit under 2lb.
I'm a Lancastrian by birth, but have lived in Yorkshire for 40 years so I've developed the thriftiness of a Yorkshire man. As a result I've not seen Paul & JP's excellent video, but will be watching the one my friend Tony bought after being hyper-impressed by PG & JPs' talk at the BFFI. I'm popping round to Tony's tonight!!!!!

[phil]

I can only echo all the sentiments and comments above. What buzz compared to last year. Super to meet you guys on the Saturday. Apologies to JP, just didn't get time to say hello. Whenever I looked a Fish On's stand you guys had a great crowd so left you too it.

Had a blast (blowing a houli outside) with Massismo and FFM Casting Italia boys, that includes you Dave. They appeared the only folks willing to brave the adverse conditions to accommodate the interest in Italian Casting. Went out with the boys again in the afternoon. Massismo would like me to come to Italy to do the instructors course. When I told my Helen when I got home I've never seen such an enthusiastic reponse to me taking a fly fishing trip

Great preamble to the forthcoming season.

Tight lines folks and happy tenkara.

Phil

[daves]

It would be brilliant if you joined us on the FFM team Phil. The trip to Italy this last November was brilliant. The Italian guys were unbelievably hospitable. The accommodation well priced. They guys would not let us pay for transport costs & the course was free, plus the food just blew my mind & I "eat to live" whilst my better half "lives to eat"; she couldn't believe it when I got home & talked about the food & not fishing!!!!

I love my Tenkara & do it over 60% of my fishing time but Italian Casting compliments Tenkara very well & is so different yet it evolved to cope with many of the presentational problems that Tenkara deals with, but NOT the precise manipulations that are such a big part of traditional Tenkara (& also for me in the way I fish Western flies, both dry flies & nymphs which I often apply subtle movements to).

[Paul G]

A few surprising things struck me about the unusual similarities in the casting styles between tenkara and Italian style - yes there are differences (with the shorter rods, associated different casting arc and more emphasis on the "thrust"); however consider the following things:

Both styles incline the forward cast downwards towards the water

Both styles aim for a "fly-first" landing/presentation

Both styles - because of the light lines involved - major on generating high line-speed

This high line speed enables both styles to be "continuous motion" casting strokes that maintain tension throughout the cast

The delightful thing for me was when I was showing Ian Dr. Ishigaki's circular/eliptical casting "drill" for getting the timing/acceleration right for tenkara casting and he said "Oh - that's exactly how Massimo teaches the timing for Italian casting!"

Convergent evolution!

[phil]

Super points Paul.

Two groups of people from different parts of the globe faced with the same problem: how to catch trout from hard to reach places under similar conditions. Although, the tackle differs the solution or solutions they arrive at bare striking resemblances to one another.

Joan Wulff's, 'Circles, eights and straights,' provides a super exercise with tenkara rods for students to gain the feel of continuous tension in the cast.

There's much to be gleaned from Simon Gawesworth's book, 'Single Handed Spey Casting', with his clear descriptions of continuous motion casts. Not that I would advocate anchoring the line in tenkara although it can be done.

Good stuff.

Cheers

Phil

[daves]

I've actually tried the Italian Totally Under the Tip cast with a Tenkara rod & it works!!!! However you need plenty of room to sweep the rod through the much extended rod stroke.

[mspaddler]

2 photos from BFFI with Fish On booth and Italian casting, I tried to get a snap of Tenkara Centre UK but too many folks around!

Attachment DeletedAttachment Deleted

[Deleted]

Many apologies for the fact you couldn't get a photo but too many people around our stand is a problem I can handle everytime.!!