Written by Amanda Hoffner
Self-reflection is a phrase that I have heard thrown around since I was in high school. I would use it later in healing after my brother passed away in 2014 and now I use it in my tenkara practice. I self-reflect on patterns of flies that I tie, and how I go about picking my gear to fish with. Should I have used that many hackle wraps on the kebari? Could another hook profile be better for hooksets and holding a fish? Would a different rod have fared better in fighting a certain fish? Should I have taken that much time to bring the fish in?
To me, it is a sign of maturity. As I am driving home from a long day on the stream, I am often on autopilot and finding myself culling through each hole or run that I fished, hookset I missed, fish I couldn’t bring to net, or fly that I did or didn’t use. There are many more examples of things that I contemplate and ponder over, but there is something about this time of the fishing day that brings me peace and happiness. It is the “stretching of the mind,” if you will, after a day of exercising the mind while fly fishing with a tenkara rod.
I have said several times that "Tenkara is simple." I probably say it to anyone who is thinking about tenkara as something they might be interested in. But in the simplicity, there are intricacies and complexities to the madness that makes tenkara much more than "simple." As they say, if it was simple, everyone would do it, right?
Thanks for your share on your thought. I often think similarly about the simplicity. They say “less is more” in general contexts. I think it applies to tenkara too. I think everyone do it once if it is simple but then they would not stick around doing and talking about it if it is just simple.
You’re not alone. I’m an endless ponderer too. I love the phrase you use by the way, it could be a new way to describe Tenkara: “…more than simple”.
Nice article Amanda