Fredy
SAY MY NAME!!!
Join us for our January meeting, Jan 17 at 7:30 pm at the Pequest Trout Hatchery as we welcome Chris Stewart “Tenkara Bum”
Chris grew up in Colorado and learned to fly fish on the St. Vrain River. This was long before John Gierach started writing about it. Back then people two counties over never fished it and people two states over never heard of it. It’s just a great stream for a Tenkara rod but Chris moved away long before he had become a Tenkara Bum.
He now lives in New York City, and like most New Yorkers he does not have a car. Chris mostly fishes the streams that run between the New York City Reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam counties and gets to them via the subway and then the commuter trains. The streams are small, the fishing is good, and most fishermen drive right past them to get to the more famous rivers in the Catskills.
Chris learned about Tenkara by accident. He had seen a photo of a North Country soft hackle fly on the internet and was struck by it's simplicity and it's almost austere beauty. He tried to find out all he could about soft hackle flies and how to fish them. Through reading both early and contemporary accounts, Chris decided he needed a longer rod. He then read David Webster’s book “The Angler and the Loop Rod.” Webster used a 13.5’ rod, no reel and a horsehair line tied to the rod tip even though reels and silk line had already been in general use for decades. As a professional fisherman, he had to use what worked. If a long rod and no reel worked for Webster, Chris thought it would work for him.
Researching horsehair lines is how Chris first learned about Tenkara because early Tenkara anglers used horsehair lines.
The more he read about Tenkara the more he thought he had found the best way to fish soft hackles. Back then, no one imported Tenkara rods and Chris didn’t know how to buy one from Japan so he started Tenkara fishing with telescopic crappie rods. He found it could be done with the crappie rods but later discovered it can’t be done very well.
Christopher Stewart started www.TenkaraBum.com in the spring of 2010, reviewing Tenkara rods, selling Tenkara lines and tying Tenkara flies. Now, almost three years later he is importing rods, still selling lines and too busy to tie many flies…except for Frank Sawyer’s Killer Bug, which is a wonderful fly.
We look forward to seeing you!
Tight lines,
Fredy
Chris grew up in Colorado and learned to fly fish on the St. Vrain River. This was long before John Gierach started writing about it. Back then people two counties over never fished it and people two states over never heard of it. It’s just a great stream for a Tenkara rod but Chris moved away long before he had become a Tenkara Bum.
He now lives in New York City, and like most New Yorkers he does not have a car. Chris mostly fishes the streams that run between the New York City Reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam counties and gets to them via the subway and then the commuter trains. The streams are small, the fishing is good, and most fishermen drive right past them to get to the more famous rivers in the Catskills.
Chris learned about Tenkara by accident. He had seen a photo of a North Country soft hackle fly on the internet and was struck by it's simplicity and it's almost austere beauty. He tried to find out all he could about soft hackle flies and how to fish them. Through reading both early and contemporary accounts, Chris decided he needed a longer rod. He then read David Webster’s book “The Angler and the Loop Rod.” Webster used a 13.5’ rod, no reel and a horsehair line tied to the rod tip even though reels and silk line had already been in general use for decades. As a professional fisherman, he had to use what worked. If a long rod and no reel worked for Webster, Chris thought it would work for him.
Researching horsehair lines is how Chris first learned about Tenkara because early Tenkara anglers used horsehair lines.
The more he read about Tenkara the more he thought he had found the best way to fish soft hackles. Back then, no one imported Tenkara rods and Chris didn’t know how to buy one from Japan so he started Tenkara fishing with telescopic crappie rods. He found it could be done with the crappie rods but later discovered it can’t be done very well.
Christopher Stewart started www.TenkaraBum.com in the spring of 2010, reviewing Tenkara rods, selling Tenkara lines and tying Tenkara flies. Now, almost three years later he is importing rods, still selling lines and too busy to tie many flies…except for Frank Sawyer’s Killer Bug, which is a wonderful fly.
We look forward to seeing you!
Tight lines,
Fredy
