As autumn marches into winter, I know it won't be long until the cold comes, bringing frosty mornings and a quick decrease in my own fishing. As I’m wrapping up the final bit of my project, I have been spending some time reflecting on the fishing over the seasons. This article started out as a different idea, and progressed into a little recap of some of the most popular, and a few of my favorite posts from this year. With that said, I think the best place to start would be at the beginning…
The Experiment
Over the past two years I have conducted an experiment inspired by the Shokuryoshi. I wanted to know how changing my approach to fishing could possibly help me to catch more fish. There was also a little inspiration to maybe understand fishing with a tenkara rod a little better in the end. If you’re interested to know more about the idea behind the experiment, you can read the full post by following the link below…
Prep Work
I wanted to keep the series of posts organized in a way that reflected my own experiences as I navigated my way through the two year experiment. Having started in the winter of 2022/2023, I spent a lot of time thinking on how preparation at home can lend to more productive fishing. Observations in weather trends taken into account when planning to fish helped me to really be prepared and adjust my gear to the conditions on the water throughout the seasons. I wrote about some of those considerations in a few posts, which I will link below…
Gear
I have changed many aspects of my own fishing over the past two years. I only started writing about the experiences at the beginning of 2024, though. One of the big changes that I talked of early on in the series of posts related to The Shokuryoshi Experiment was how I reorganized my pack, and the system I implemented in order to be more prepared for different situations. I think this played a bigger role in my success than I tend to give credit for. Simple changes that really cut down on down-time while on the river allows me to spend more time with the fly in the water. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, the posts below details a bit about the setup…
One little idea I had became something that is now a permanent fixture on my pack set up. It has saved me plenty of time on the water over the past few years, but does require a little bit of prep work at home once it has been used up. That is the “Emergency Tippet Reserve.” Some have called it lazy, while others have called it efficient. I’ll leave it up to people to decide for themselves.
Fishing
I needed a way to really figure out how well I was doing on the water. In order to create a metric to measure my success, I went back through some old journal entries and compiled some data to find my fish per hour rate for the first two years of my tenkara fishing. I then set up a spreadsheet and started recording outings once again. If you’re wanting to know more about this, you can follow this link…
There are plenty of aspects of fishing that one could write about, and it’s hard to cover every little detail that goes into my attempts to increase my catch rate. One of the biggest focuses for me over the past few years was movement, and covering more water. I wrote a bit about it in a few posts that I will link here…
One post that really seemed to be a reader favorite in the series was related to casting, and how changing directions could possibly help with hook-ups. I’m sure you already know that I’m about to post the link…
Monthly Recaps
While I didn’t do this regularly last year, I figured that it would be worth posting monthly recaps to keep anyone following along up to date with how the experiment was progressing throughout 2024. Within these recaps, you can find links to the “Journal Entry” post for each individual month. These entries record one session on the water in a short summary that talks about the experience. Below is a list of the recaps by the month they cover…
Resources That Helped Me Throughout The Experiment
There was plenty of research that went into this experiment. From the first inkling of inspiration, to the little details, there are several resources that I found helped me quite a bit. It's only fair to mention the big ones that really helped me refine my own fishing over the past few years.
Starting with the catalyst, the Discover Tenkara course featuring Hisanobou Hirata is well worth the money. I purchased this one, along with the other courses back in 2022, but this one in particular stood out. His style and approach to fishing is efficient - after all, he was a shokuryoshi at one point in time. If you're interested in checking the course out, follow the link below...
Another reference that I've mentioned a few times throughout these posts is the book "Shokuryoshi-den" by Hideo Tomon. This took a little digging to find a way to order it from Japan, and once it arrived it took quite some time to work my way through it. With the use of Google Translate, I was able to fumble my way through the book. I found it both interesting and inspiring the different ways they would approach the rivers, and how they would divide up different portions so that the shokuryoshi in the collectives could manage their work, and provide fish to their customers.
I also want to point out that the book "Tactical Fly Fishing" by Devin Olsen is worth the read if you're trying to dial in your own tactics a little more. What I like about the book is that he details the tactics he uses in the competition scene, and how he goes about changing his fishing to match the conditions he faces when fishing around the world. Of course, some of the material pertains to aspects of fishing with a rod and reel, but I think there's still plenty of information that translates over to tenkara. If you want to check it out, I would suggest purchasing the book from his site...
Along the lines of rod and reel fly fishing, another resource I would recommend is the "Troutbitten Podcast." There are several seasons out, and plenty of hours of listening. Each episode is either a round-table discussion on a particular topic, or sometimes a focus on one aspect of a certain tactic or topic when part of a series.
I'm looking forward to sharing a few more posts regarding this experiment. I should have this all wrapped up before the end of the year. With that said, I appreciate all who have taken the time to read the posts, and to reach out and share some of their experiences, and observations. It's been a fun couple of years of fishing, and it's been nice to share all these posts throughout the year.