Tenkara in Japan
 | Bio Isaac Tait splits his time between managing gear reviews at Seattle Backpackers Magazine and blogging for his site Fallfish Tenkara. When he is not writing he can be found guiding Tenkara trips and exploring the mountains of Japan. He also enjoys skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing. |
We are excited to share this guest post by our friend Isaac from Fallfish Tenkara. One of Badger Tenkara's favorite things about fishing is the unique places that it takes you, and this trip report highlights that sense of adventure! It features some interesting tactics, great pictures, and an immersive video. Enjoy!
This past week my friend Tetsuya and I met up with our guide and friend, Kado-san (Kado-san is the owner of Kadoya Outdoor Shop in Yokosuka; he is also a Tenkara sensei) for a few days of camping, Tenkara, and onsens in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture.
Niigata Prefecture is a place of immense beauty surrounded by rivers and nestled beneath mountains blanketed in cedar and snow. It is hard to believe that it is a mere four hours north west of Tokyo. After a caffeine-fueled late night road trip, we arrived at the camp-ground where the deer were whistling to each other and the crickets and frogs were chirping and croaking away. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the Milky Way shimmered majestically through the trees. We stayed up awhile talking and sipping on whiskey, and about 2am we turned in for the night.
The sun rose bright and early and by 5:30am it was too bright to sleep anymore, so I reluctantly got up and made breakfast (and lots of coffee).
Kado-san and Tetsuya were already up and after a lazy morning we departed just a little before 8am. As we hiked up the road to our fishing destination, Kado-san pointed out the plethora of mountain vegetables or Sansai 山菜 growing next to the road. After about 4-5km of walking we came to a bend in the road and on the opposite side of the valley we had been hiking up was a majestic waterfall.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
After about 4-5km of walking we came to a bend in the road and on the opposite side of the valley we had been hiking up was a majestic waterfall.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Once at the valley bottom we put on our helmets and began the scramble up the side of the waterfall. We left our helmets on for the rest of the day as there was much scrambling, hair-raising traverses high above the creek, and even a few sections of climbing up and over huge snow blocks!
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Kado-san was a patient teacher and not only taught me much about Sansai but showed me a cool Tenkara technique I had never seen before.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Kado-san was fishing with a very long zoom rod. Fully extended, it was 530cm, then 490cm, and 470cm. At first I thought it was a keiryu rod because of how long it was, but he assured me it was a Tenkara rod. Where it got really unique though was how he rigged his rod. He attached about 1.5 meters of 2x tippet directly to the lilian, with one of his beautiful hand tied flies on the end! His flies were tied with chicken feathers and pheasant feathers and a few had the eye snipped off and replaced with a bright yellow cord loop.
There were only dry flies in his fly box. The rod’s long length allowed him to stay far back from a promising looking pool and lightly plop the fly into the water. Within a few seconds, a fish would slam it and if it stayed hooked he would collapse the rod to bring it to hand. I found this technique to be wildly effective, especially because there was so much low overhead foliage. A traditional Tenkara cast would have limited us to fishing about 20% of the pools. Using this technique there wasn’t a pool we could not fish. I switched to my Badger Tenkara Classic Rod to this setup to mimic Kado’s and I ended up catching the first fish of the day, which just happened to be my very first Iwana!
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
We spent the day leap-frogging our way up the creek. When one of us would catch a fish, the other would take point and work his way up the creek until he caught one. We continued in this manner for about one kilometer, catching or seeing fish in nearly every pool.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
I had started out with a nymph and it was working pretty well but Kado’s catches were much more exciting as the Iwana would heartily rise for his dry flies. So, I switched over to my largest kebari. It was a good choice - the fish went nuts At one section of the river we came across the remnants of an avalanche that had spilled into the valley bottom over the winter. The creek had cut a tunnel through the glacier and inside the glacier was a nice looking pool.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
I figured it was worth a shot, and with water dripping off the glacier all around me, I began to fish this subterranean pool.
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Within a few seconds I had a nice sized Iwana on the line. I brought her to hand - she was the most beautiful fish I had ever seen. Between her radiating spots, orange tail, and the location where she lived, she is a fish I will remember for a long time!
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Within a few seconds I had a nice sized Iwana on the line. I brought her to hand - she was the most beautiful fish I had ever seen. Between her radiating spots, orange tail, and the location where she lived, she is a fish I will remember for a long time!
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
Photo Credit Tetsuya Ishida
After about three hours of fishing it was time to turn around. It had been a very successful and unforgettable day. When we arrived back at camp, in what I believe is Japanese tradition, the whiskey, vodka, beer, and wine flowed ceaselessly. We prepared the day’s catch and sansai foraging next to the roaring campfire, traded flies and fish stories, and reminisced on an exceptional day. The Tenkara portion of the trip was over but we still had waterfalls to see, pools to cliff dive into, and onsens to soak in. It is a trip I will soon not forget.
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