Introduction to Kebari

“We exist to tell people that fly-fishing is much simpler than it seems. We exist because we believe that with more people taking up fly-fishing, they will more closely connect with their environment and help take care of it. We live because we want to share the fun of tenkara. The tenkara story tells us we can leave many things behind. And, after we know that we can leave stuff behind, what we then do is simply a matter of choice.”

- www.tenkarausa.com

Making his way along a small foot trail, a 16th-century Japanese commercial angler - armed with a long rod and a short line - is focused on the small mountain stream that makes itself known with the sound of rushing, cold water. The water is cold and clear – ideal for thriving populations of Yamame - which are known for their scrappy fighting habits. The trail runs alongside this stream, and this angler is looking for those deeper pools that have been carved out from the continuous flows of water fed by both deep mountain snows in the spring and the steady rains of summer and fall.

As he crouches low to keep his profile out of sight, he casts his sparsely tied kebari pattern into the air and allows it to drop and sink into the seam of water to the left of a large, gray boulder. Here, a 12-inch Iwana, consider a large fish in this mountain stream, sits near the bottom and watches closely for what meager amounts of insects might flow past the boulder. This anglers kebari – with its reverse hackle undulating and pulsing as the fly dead drifts in this seam of water – catches the Iwana' eye, and the fish moves quickly to make it a meal before it’s gone downstream. Our ancient Japanese angler raises his rod and immediately feels the fish's tension as he darts in and around the soft water behind the boulder – desperate to get the fly out of its mouth. Lifting the rod a little higher, the angler raises the fish out of the water and gently onto some moss-

covered ground. The battle is short-lived but typical of the mountain fishing that happened hundreds of years ago in many mountainous regions of Japan that continues to this day. My journey with tenkara began in 2009 when I saw a demonstration of this age-old Japanese fly-fishing technique at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum. It was there that I briefly met Daniel Galhardo –the person who almost single-handedly brought tenkara to the United States at that time. Until that time, very few had even heard about it or knew could what tenkara was, let alone explain how it could co-exist in the traditional, western-style, fly fishing world. Most of the traditional fly-fishing industry at that time (and still in some cases) wrote tenkara off as some short-lived "fad," but that was not so. In fact, from 2009 to date – it remains a growing option for those who love to fish and enjoy the easy-going simplicity and effectiveness of tenkara. In May of 2009, Galhardo had brought along one of the world's most noted authority on tenkara, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki to the Catskills region. The combination of Dr. Ishigaki's presentation of the history of tenkara in Japan and his on-stream demonstration of the technique, provided all I needed to hear and see about this simple but effective fly-fishing technique. Since that day, my use of western-style traditional fly fishing gear dropped to about 50% of my time on the water versus 100% before my introduction to tenkara. I was hooked. Galhardo started his own company specializing in tenkara gear, Tenkara USA, and from that point onward – tenkara became one of the fastest growing techniques in western fly fishing. I bought my first of many tenkara rods from Daniel, and I tested them on my favorite local Catskill waters to significant effect. Without a reel or heavy fly line, the traditional tenkara technique provides an angler with an opportunity to present a fly pattern naturally to almost confound you because of its simplicity. You can offer a fly pattern to a trout naturally with traditional western fly-fishing gear. That's not the point. The point is simplicity: a rod, a short line, and the fly. That's all that stands between you and the trout with any fly fishing, but the connection you get with tenkara allows you to feel closer to the water as it flows and the fish that lie in it. Motivated by my fascination with tenkara – I decided in 2013 to publish "Tenkara Fly Fishing: Insights & Strategies." At that time, it was only one of two books available in the English language on tenkara fly fishing in the U.S. (Galhardo has since published his own excellent and highly

recommended book on the subject, "tenkara," 2017, Tenkara Press). I was able to recruit several of the best tenkara anglers in the U.S., including Galhardo himself, to share their strategies and tactics using the tenkara method for successfully catching trout. Soon after publishing "Tenkara Fly Fishing," I started to put together another book on traditional and tenkara-inspired trout fly patterns. This book has been a continuation of my journey with tenkara and, during the last few years I've learned more about tenkara and the "kebari" patterns associated with it than I ever imagined. Although I wanted to publish this book a year or two after the first, I realized I had more work to do in researching kebari patterns and then tying and fishing them. Several years and lots of tying and fishing practice later – what you have in your hands or on your tablet is the result of hundreds of hours of effort and output. Tenkara continues to be a wonderfully simple journey for me as an angler. I consider it yet another highly effective way to fish for the wary trout I have continually sought out for much of my life. Hopefully, this book adds additional value and pleasure to your own tenkara journey, leading you to many productive and fun days on the water.