Gearing up with TenkaraUSA

Finally had a full day off of work today, so I decided to go up to Creative Sports in Pleasant Hill, they are currently the only retailer of TenkaraUSA in NorCal, to take a look at some Tenkara Rods. I already had in mind the one I wanted to get, the 12ft Iwana rod, from the reviews I saw that was pretty much the rod that majority of people purchased when first trying out Tenkara fishing. There was also a 9ft4in conversion handle for the Iwana model, which I was interested in, but the main TenkaraUSA website was backordered at least until the end of July. When I got into the shop, there was a pleasant older lady who helped me to take a look at all the gear I would need to start fishing, pretty much all I needed was a rod, main line, tippet, flies, and perhaps some line holders. I inquired about the 12ft Iwana model and she told me that they had just run out, which was kind of disappointing, so I asked if I could see the 11ft model, just to kind of get a feel of how the rod was in my hands. As she was going to pull the 11ft out, I saw a 12ft mark on a random rod case and pointed it out. She checked the tube and it turned out to be one, just my luck! I was super excited and for a moment felt that I was destined to get this rod today! To top that off they even had the 9ft4in conversion handle!

Top: 12' Iwana Rod
Middle: 12' Iwana cloth/hard case (I added the cord myself)
Bottom: 9'4" Iwana Conversion Handle

Now all set with the rod, I started to look at the main line, there are 2 types of line for the rods, one is a traditional braided line and the other is a more modern level line. Unfortunately the traditional line was backordered until mid-July, so I went ahead and picked up a pack of the Hi-Vis 4.5 Level Line, a pack of the older Med-Vis 3.5 Level Line (it was clearanced for $6), and two line holders. Once the traditional line becomes available I will definitely pick that up too with another line holder.

Top Left: Tenkara Catalog/Tip Book
Top Right: Line Holder
Bottom Left: Hi-Vis 4.5 Level Line
Bottom Right: Med-Vis 3.5 Level Line

For the tippet, I just picked up a pack of standard mono 4x and 5x, nothing really to go into here. For flies, I went ahead and got the Size 12 Ishigaki Kebari and Size 16 Gujo Kebari, just so I had 2 sizes to start with.

Top: #12 Ishigaki Kebari
Bottom: #16 Gujo Kebari

It definitely is a much simpler set up and requires much less gear when compared to the standard spin/casting or even western fly gear. I can't wait to get out and try out this new setup! ^.^ Will post more once I test it out.