Should I try Tenkara, or am I just asking too much from my kit?

In a word, yes. You'll be more likely to fish more with Tenkara in those circumstances.

I run a pair of EZ keepers from TenkaraBum.com on my rod. I collapse the rod, wind the line and tippet, hook the fly to the keeper, plug the rod, and put it in my pack. Take down and setup time are each well under a minute.

Here is what I do with my rods –

The keeper at the top can be made out of a paper clip and taped on, as shown, or wrapped and epoxied like a line-guide. Or you can buy a “drop shot” keeper.

If you don’t want to hack the butt cap, glue on velcro “hooks” –

I typically have two snug o-rings below the top keeper that I use to anchor flys. I roll the 0-ring over the hook and then wind the line. I end with a loop of line that I secure with a knotted rubber band.

When it comes time to fish, my fly comes off last, minimizing snags in the brush or the clothes.

This approach does put kinks in the line. You may want to stretch-and-straighten before you start fishing. Or not – the bend at the fly ends works pretty well as a strike indicator.

The rod is a Shimano Kozuka 39NT , which I re-finished in flat black. It is 16″ long packed, and 13′ when fishing. It is a keiryu rod, not strictly “tenkara”. That fly isn’t a typical “tenkara” fly either. And at the butt end you can see a dropper tag for a second fly – again not “tenkara”. But, it fishes just fine.

Gregory,

You might be interested in this – Tenkara USA have organized 'Boulder Creek Tenkara Takeover' for August 3rd. Now that Daniel's based in Boulder he's promoting his brand at the local level quite heavily. Might be a good way to try out some of his demo equipment, and learn some techniques.

Here's the announcement from TUSA's facebook page:

"With our tenkara rods in hand let's show up and takeover Boulder Creek for a day, on Saturday, August 3rd!
This is a casual outing and tenkara anglers are encouraged to fish up and down Boulder Creek at their own pace. Show up anytime, fish as late as you can. We just want to see as many tenkara rods there as possible.
Plan:
– At 9AM I will be across the street from the the first very large large parking lot in the Canyon on the North/Right side of the road going up (by the footbridge and "The Dome", the parking area is huge and can't be missed). I will assist anyone who may have questions about rigging and then do a short clinic on the water. I also plan on having some free giveaways like shirts and hats.
– Fish all day until whenever you want
– At around 3 pm anyone interested can head over to Upslope brewery on 1898 S. Flatiron Court
Boulder, CO. we may be hooked up with some free beer!
– If you're up for it, fish some more in the evening!"

If I can see another fisher, the river is to crowded.
Twenty five folks thrashing the water…
..thanks, but no thanks.

But for anyone in the Front Range this is a tremendous opportunity to learn a Lot about tenkara.

Too many Greg(ory)s on the forum. Greg Mihalik, I figured this would be horribly overcrowded for you. I saw that Gregory Allen is based in Golden, so it'd be an easy trip for him. Good learning opportunity for a noobie like me.

I wondered where the "Gregory" came from, but failed to look "up".

Didn't occur to me either till I saw your reply. I'll try the basics locally, then come and see how it's done in bigger water. I'll just keep my distance so you don't feel crowded :-)

David, Stuart, Greg, (and Greg?),

Thanks for the advise. I had no idea TUSA was now in Boulder! That's awesome. I had about decided on a starter kit from TenkaraBum, but I might reconsider and support "local", although many do consider Boulder a different country…maybe a different world. No malice intended for those living in or near the "People's Republic".

I will likely be at the "Tenkara Takeover – Boulder Creek". Sounds like a good opportunity to demo gear before I buy. Not many similar opportunities for Tenkara gear.

Greg (the other one)

Greg from Golden (and no, I won't hold that against you)

TUSA haven't moved – the business is still run out of the Bay Area – but Daniel relocated out here at the end of last year. He's done a number of talks locally, including at REI and Orvis, and last weekend he ran a demo session at McGuckin Hardware, who have just started carrying the full TUSA line.

Hope to be at the creek myself on August 3rd.

Cheers, Stuart

I may head up to McGuckin today to check it out. Should I buy now or wait till after the Aug 3rd event where I can try out the rods?

For the purpose of expense analysis and accounting here at the home office, this should fall under an existing hobby since I already fly fish, correct? There has been a freeze placed on expenditures for new hobbies.