In the beginning of November we reached out to all of our tenkara vendor “friends” to see if they had any specific items, coupons, or deals they were particularly enthusiastic about for the upcoming holiday gifting season. Now that it’s less than a week before Black Friday, we pulled together all of their feedback into one complete tenkara holiday gift guide. So whether you’re buying for friends, family, or even yourself, here’s the “best of the best,” right from your favorite brands’ mouths. There’s so much interesting tenkara & fixed line fly fishing gear listed, the hardest part may be figuring out what not to buy!
Don’t miss the highlighted deals and coupon codes for additional limited-time savings!
Tenkara Gear Gifts:
DRAGONtail Tenkara
DRAGONtail Mutant zx380 Zoom Tenkara Rod: This Full-Flex, 3-Length Tenkara rod is so playful when fishing for those smaller wild trout in the mountains. The standard model has a cork grip, but for a limited time DRAGONtail has some rods with premium black foam handles. MSRP $159.99
DRAGONtail SHADOWfire 365 Tenkara Rod: Excellent general purpose tenkara rod to start that performs well beyond its price. MSRP $99.99
Tenkara Snap-On Line Winders: Our most popular accessory for 2 years in a row. The perfect line management system for quickly moving from spot to spot. MSRP $12/2-pack
If none of these items are exactly what you’re looking for, check out DRAGONtail Tenkara’s website for a wide assortment of rods, line, flies, and accessories.
Tenkara USA
Fly-tying kit: A complete tenkara fly-tying kit with all you need to start tying your own flies. To complement your kit, we have a collection of videos to teach you how to tie tenkara flies, and give you some inspiration. This kit is a great purchase for the beginner fly-tier, while giving the more experienced fly-tier all he needs to start tying tenkara flies. Pick the whole set, or just the parts you need such as the materials and hooks. Starting at $40 for the materials set.
Complete Hane Tenkara Rod set: The Hane™ is a super compact all-around tenkara rod that will quickly become your favorite adventure rod. Measuring just under 15 inches when collapsed, but extending to 10ft 10in (330cm), the Hane fits nicely inside a small day pack. Along with our starter kit, this makes a great gift for novice or experienced tenkara anglers. MSRP $210
tenkara – the book: This book is a complete guide to the techniques, gear, history and philosophy of tenkara, the Japanese method of fly-fishing. Written by Tenkara USA founder Daniel Galhardo, this books shows just how simple fly-fishing can be. This book is great for the first-time angler picking up a tenkara rod for the first time and the experienced angler looking for a simpler approach to fly-fishing. There are interactive resources throughout the book through QR codes leading the reader to how-to videos, podcasts. and other complementary information. MSRP $24
In addition, Tenkara USA will be having a sale November 20th-30th for 30% off on most Tenkara USA rods and other discounts throughout tenkarausa.com. Example: best-selling tenkara rod, the Sato, reg. $250, sale price $175. This sale happens once a year and is a great time to pick up a new tenkara rod or a gift for someone else!
Tenkara Path
Tenkara Path offers some really unique gifts this holiday season. Your angler will love the thoughtful angling and fly tying gifts available at Tenkara Path.
Use coupon code TENANGLER at checkout and get 20% off your entire order of $40 or more!
Tenkara Path Fly-Tyer’s Thread Snips: These incredible snips are arguably better than scissors. Maybe you have big thumbs and fingers that get caught up in the holes of scissors? Maybe you are a “lefty” and have trouble finding left handed scissors? These ambidextrous thread snips are the answer to your challenges. You will love how the spring action of these blades provide smooth snipping cuts while also giving you the efficiency of a straight blade for cutting feathers and thread tags flush to the fly. Carbon steel blades can be removed for easy sharpening on a whetstone too. MSRP $9.99
Tenkara Path Line Spools: Simplicity, practicality and esthetic style have made these spools a favorite for many tenkara anglers. Choose your favorite choice of fly keeping design (magnets, cork or spring). Next, choose from a variety of beautiful, responsibly harvested or recycled hardwoods. Finally, pick if you want one or two line tracks. Each spool is custom made to order and comes with a length of Tenkara Path braided level line. MSRP $40
Tenkara Path Gift Certificate: Not sure what to get the angler in your life? Tenkara Path is offering a classy, printed gift certificate that lets them choose the unique gift they really want. This bonafide $50 gift certificate is mailed to you. A $50 gift certificate is enough to cover any spool they make and Dennis will throw in a bunch of extra goodies too. You don’t have to tell them that you used the promo code TENANGLER to save 20% off of your purchase of that gift certificate either!
Tenkara Adventure Outfitters
Wisco II: Designed in the heart of the Driftless with small mouth in mind this rod has proven itself on big fish across the world. Salmon, pike, musky and carp just to name a few. Perfect time to add this rod to your collection. On sale at a 10% discount along with a free PVC level line and rod cap while supplies last. Over $35.00 in savings! MSRP $145
Classic: Proven performance from small trout streams to big bass at your local pond. This rod will cover just about any fishing situation while casting a variety of lines very well. If your looking to give the gift of Tenkara this holiday season you won’t go wrong with the Classic. Big savings at 20% off the rod. Purchase the Classic kit and save 25%! MSRP $119/$159 kit
Scout: A perfect choice for small to medium waters. Very light in the hand and presents a nice delicate fly. A large variety of anglers have found this to be very comfortable, capable and versatile rod. Holiday savings of 20% off the rod and 25% for the Scout kit. One of our favorites! MSRP $110/$149 kit
Check out these great deals along with the rest of Tenkara Adventure Outfitters’ holiday savings at taotenkara.com.
Zen Tenkara
Zen Tenkara Tri-Zoom Suzume Rod: This delicate and incredibly accurate tri-zoom tenkara rod is the shortest zoom rod on the market, fishing at 7’7″, 9’3″ and 10′ 8″. With a FRAE Rating of a 3wt, this rod is pure pleasure to cast and is exemplar of high quality craftmanship. Perfect for small creeks, blueline rivers, small ponds, and pool and pocket water. MSRP $230
Zen Tenkara Floating/All Purpose Lines: Lighter than furled lines, easier to cast than level line, Zen Tenkara Floating Lines delicately loads your rod, cuts through wind, provides solid hook sets and has almost no memory. Complete with a Hi-Vis Sight Indicator section, connection loops, tippet ring and an option for a loop-to-loop tippet attachment, these lines are supple and lay out beautifully. Available in 6 different lengths. MSRP $28-42
Zen Tenkara Spoolbox 3-n-1: It’s a fly box, tippet holder and line spool holder all-in-one. The unique design is perfect for the minimalist and will keep you organized without a lot of gear. Beautifully handcraft in wood, the Spoolbox works hard and looks good. That’s simplicity in innovations. MSRP $65
Zen has also launched a Holiday Special: Spend $50, get 3 Flies Free, Spend $100, get 6 Flies FREE, Spend $200, get 12 Flies FREE, Plus Spend $29 and get FREE Domestic SHIPPING! See zentenkara.com for more details.
Red Brook Tenkara
The RANGER: Red Brook Tenkara’s backcountry adventure rod for recon on smaller, tighter streams and rivers. Ideal for thin blue lines on topo maps where fishing is all about the adventure, chasing wild brook trout, and less about crowds and stocked fish. Pre-order now for delivery in December. MSRP $150
RBT ONE x GHOSTech Collab Kit: Red Brook Tenkara’s Starter Kit has everything you need to begin your tenkara adventure! An RBT ONE tenkara rod, your choice of furled casting line or #3.0 level line, spool of 5x tippet and 3 traditional kebari (tenkara flies) PLUS the GHOSTech strike indicator. Bill at RedBrook believes GHOSTech indicators to be the most compatible with tenkara rods. Whether you are a novice just learning or expert fishing the most challenging waters GHOSTech will increase your results. MSRP $165
Also, check out Red Brook Tenkara’s Black Friday Sale – with 20% off rods and kits, and 15% off apparel, flies, and accessories!
ZimmerBuilt
ZimmerBuilt has been creating packs and bags for the tenkara market for over a decade. Proprietor Chris Zimmer has let us know that many of his tenkara-specific product will be included in his annual Holiday Sale starting on Thanksgiving Day. He suggested the following three items as ideal gifts for any tenkara angler.
Tenkara Guide Sling: Co-developed with the Tenkara Guides, LLC this extremely popular tenkara specific sling pack can hold all your gear for a day out on the water. MSRP $134.99
HeadWaters Pack: The HeadWaters pack is a 30L pack weighing in at 13.5oz. It has multiple options for securing rods and pockets for carrying all your gear for those longer trips out exploring headwaters. MSRP $165
Tenkara Strap Pack: A great minimalist pack for carrying the essentials, it can be used alone or attached to any of the larger tenkara packs in the lineup. MSRP $29.99
Tenkara Angler
You read the website… you can also support Tenkara Angler by purchasing back copies of our original quarterly print magazine (high gloss paper or electronic PDF), logo apparel including short & long sleeve tees and hoodies, or fun stickers! All proceeds from the sales of these items go toward Jason’s Shetland Spindrift yarn addiction. 🙂
Royal Gorge Anglers
Tactical Tenkara Nymphing Line (TTN): A purpose-driven tenkara nymphing line, the TTN line takes advantage of a weight-forward taper to ensure smooth, efficient casting of weighted nymph rigs. The TTN line has been tested on small streams and larger rivers from Colorado to Alaska. Unique light-gathering “Depth Dots” along the length of the line provide hi-vis depth indicators, and used in conjunction with the sectional color transitions, give the angler enhanced visibility of the line on the water, and the ability to accurately control the depth of the nymph rig, getting it in the “zone”. The low-memory fluorocarbon line material has great sectional density, and gets your nymphs down fast! MSRP $29.95
Tenkara Weight Forward Floating Line (TFL): The new and improved TFL features an even smaller diameter zero stretch core, and non-PVC super durable outer coating in a stealthy olive green color, that makes this line float like a cork. It comes with an inline hi-vis sighter which tapers down to a transparent monofilament tip section, ending with a stainless steel tippet ring with a low-vis black nickel finish. All transition points along the line feature a streamlined coating. For use with mid-flex (6:4) or tip-flex (7:3) tenkara rods. Effective for tenkara fishing in windy conditions. Great for casting dry flies, terrestrials, or dry-dropper rigs. MSRP $29.95
Backcountry Tenkara Guided Trips: Royal Gorge Anglers’ tenkara guide, Paul Vertrees, specializes in backcountry trips in the canyons of Colorado’s southern Rocky Mountains, with a focus on small water effectiveness with fixed-line fishing. Paul can accommodate a wide range of experience levels, ranging from anglers who are just starting out with tenkara, to experienced tenkara anglers who are looking for new backcountry adventures. Your personalized trip can cover everything from traditional Japanese methods and fly patterns to cutting-edge American tenkara techniques such as nymphing, “matching the hatch”, and terrestrials to name a few.
Tenkara Guides, LLC
The Tenkara Guides, LLC of Salt Lake City, Utah are in the process of planning the next installment of Oni School for September 2021. With 2020’s event canceled due to COVID-19, this will be the next opportunity to learn directly from tenkara master, Masami Sakakibara in the United States! Space is limited and fills up quickly every year. Visit the Tenkara Guides’ website, or contact erik@tenkaraguides.com for more information.
Tenkara Art Gifts:
Art of Jim Tignor
Jim Tignor’s fishing-centric artwork can be purchased on your preferred paper, framed or not, and even on canvas through his Imagekind shop. Many of these prints have appeared over the years in the Tenkara Angler print magazine as well as the more recent comic strips “Loops” on the digital page form.
Art of Steven C. Cobb
Steven C. Cobb is an extremely talented artist living in upstate New York. Through his Quiet Raquette Studio, he paints mostly in acrylics and creates works that deal with his admiration of nature and the outdoors. The nearby rivers and mountains of New York’s Adirondack Park provide much of his inspiration.
Please check the “Single mat with backing” option and use coupon code: Tenkara1 for a $10 discount for the items below.
“Rainbow”: 11×14 signed print. Single mat with backing, ready for 16×20 frame. This original acrylic painting was developed from a photo courtesy of The Fly Fishing Nation. MSRP $55
“Rainbow Release”: 6.75 x 8.75 signed print.Single mat with backing, ready for an 11×14 frame. This original acrylic painting was developed from a video by Ryan Kelly. MSRP $45
“Heads Up”: 11×14 signed print. Single mat with backing, ready for 16×20 frame. This original acrylic painting was developed from a photo by Ryan Kelly. MSRP $55
General Fly Fishing/Outdoors Deals:
SPOT
Now through the end of December all SPOT tracking and messenger devices are $50 off!
Discounts include the recently launched SPOT Gen4, which brings enhanced functionality to users with a sleek new design. The SPOT X provides 2-way satellite messaging so you can stay connected to family, friends and colleagues whenever you’re outside of cellular range, including direct communication with search & rescue services in case of life-threatening emergency. Finally, SPOT also offers asset trackers, to help you keep your eyes on your valuables at all times. Place the SPOT Trace in an inconspicuous spot, like the rear windshield of your car or truck, and Trace will send you updates when movement is detected.
Riverbum
10% off $100+ with code RBS9QYF0 – ends 11/28. Coupon Code: RBS9QYF0
Offer: 30% off Site-Wide (Minimum $100)
Code: CYBERMONDAY30
Valid: 11/30
Restrictions: Cannot be combined with other offers min order $100; excludes Apparel.