Oni School – A Participant’s Perspective

I have been fishing with a tenkara rod throughout the four seasons for more than two straight years now. I fish mostly by myself in the woods and through mountain streams. I don’t watch too many YouTube videos and rarely read too much besides researching for places to fish and random different things that catch my eye. This is a downfall of mine, so I have been stuck in my own tenkara world and intimidated by certain aspects of tenkara that are beyond my knowledge and reach.

I am also a visual learner. So, you would think videos on YouTube or websites would help build my knowledge, but my attention span is too short, and I am easily distracted. I need to interact with the information as well as see it in person and then I can be more in tune and responsive to following along and learning with instant feedback from instructors. Oni school is just that with an emphasis on Masami’s specific techniques, philosophy, and style.

With Oni school happening in the Midwest and Western parts of the US over the past several years that didn’t have days that aligned with my work and travel schedules, I was unable to attend until this year. I actually just got back from attending the 3 night, 2 day school in Western North Carolina and was so impressed with the content provided that I wanted to write this as a recap for myself and also to possibly encourage other people to attend Oni school.

Instructors

Rob Worthing and Matt Sment were the leaders of my session’s class. They are both phenomenal casters and teachers. Matt has become a confidante and mentor to me in terms of a friend and angler. We have similar styles in fishing and in life and can talk about anything. I met Matt a few years ago at a campout. Even though we fished together for the first time in Wisconsin just last summer I felt like we could continue to fish together literally anywhere since we traverse the waterways practically the same way. With experience in the field and being a nomad and quite spartan like myself, he is great to bounce ideas off of and get some encouragement in tenkara and life along the way.

As far as Rob goes, I hadn’t had too many interactions with him one on one before this school, but when I got the chance to pick his brain and show interest in his obvious passion and dedication to the art of tenkara and nature, then I knew we would click instantly. I love seeing and listening to people’s heartfelt messages and teaching of their skills, hobbies, and passions, and he gave us that throughout the whole time we were there. Also, he has a sense of humor that makes himself relatable and humble. He may even laugh at his own jokes more than his audience in which he is speaking to does, which might make him even funnier.

But back to the tenkara education, Rob is a student of Masami Sakakibara, or Tenkara no Oni, who the school is named after, but he is a master in his own right. I do look to most tenkara anglers for any advice, knowledge, and information they may be willing to pass up to enhance my own obsession with tenkara in the mountain streams of the Appalachia Mountain range. Everyone has something to teach someone even if it isn’t particularly your own style. However, Rob is on another playing field of most.

Luong Tam of Tenkara Tanuki describes Rob as the “best tenkara angler in America” and, honestly, I have got to see many, many people fish with a tenkara rod all over the United States and can attest that sentiment as well. The “best” can be seen as a relative word in tenkara fishing since there are no competitions or metrics in tenkara that measure “greatness”, but Rob is definitely to be revered as on the top tier of tenkara anglers that I have had the honor of learning from, fishing alongside of, and observing fish.

Daily Itinerary

To start from the afternoon of the first day into the evening/night, there was time for camaraderie and introductions amongst the instructors and students. We lounged around the shared quarters in a 5+ bedroom retreat house on a private lake and river and shared our backgrounds and stories on how we ended up at the Oni school in Western North Carolina.  We built a rapport and connection between the seven students plus the staff before the lectures, hands-on casting practice sessions, and on-creek fishing time even began.

The first and second full days included two 4-5 hour sessions of fishing with the instructors. This was preceded by demonstration lectures with Oni specific casting and fly presentation techniques. Throughout the day there was always time for questions and answers, but the conversations and discussions always carried on late into the evening. Of course, life, fishing, and tenkara stories were shared well past my bedtime and I was in system overload from the information being shared by Rob and the gang.

Education

Without spilling Oni school “trade secrets”, there really were no secrets between Rob and the students. Everything was on the table in terms of questions answered and information was readily given to create and enrich each student’s own style of tenkara. This allowed people to use their own pre-built tenkara foundation or create a foundation of casting and fly presentation at the school without feeling any certain way of being ahead or behind anyone. Rob met everyone on their level and everyone was really on the same level because there was no level. We started at “Casting 101” and ended with more advanced techniques that everyone was able to use on the water to catch fish more effectively and efficiently. Without a doubt, everyone had their casting and fly presentation critiqued and improved upon at this school. Both are vital to catching fish with a tenkara rod.

Takeaways

Personally, I am a more confident tenkara angler. Masami’s tenkara philosophy emphasizes casting long rods with light, long lines. This encouraged me to gain skills and confidence with using these long and light lines to catch fish in a way I never had. I could also tell the other participants of the school were able to develop their skills and had light bulbs go off over their head as they caught a fish or were able to perform some of the more advanced casting techniques more consistently. It was honestly very helpful to see others cast tenkara rods so I could better myself and I hope others felt the same way as they could watch me.

I also have more confidence in using a level line to catch fish. It still is hard for me to see a level line, but I am more certain I can manipulate a line in the air more easily and place the fly where I want it to go so that I can catch fish. Up until now, I have been using a ~375cm micro tapered nylon line with a Tanuki 350 length rod to fish. At Oni school, I was casting a ~425cm line on the same 350cm rod consistently and caught fish!

This really was reassuring to see since I was much more confident in casting the other line. Just like confidence flies, I have a confidence line. However, that has all changed dramatically. At Oni school, I caught a fish for the first time on level line. I hooked 8 fish and brought to hand 4. I was impressed since I wasn’t used to fishing such a long line consistently catching larger fish than I am used to.

Along with confidence, I am taking home some at-home ways to practice catching more fish. These tips can allow me to continue my current tenkara abilities and to build on them! So, the education continues after the school ends.

Conclusion

Confidence on the stream in tight quarters is something that cannot be underrated. Making purposeful casts is the first step to not losing your fly into a tree or being able to cast the way and to where you want the fly to go. This will very likely result in more fish caught since, to me, the presentation is a strong component of fish catch rate.

The philosophy of Masami and his tenkara practice is also an inspiration to me. I am into relaxing away from the normal day’s craziness by fishing tenkara, but I was inspired to hear a tenkara master use the phrase “play tenkara”. We often take ourselves too seriously and I try not to so I cannot take everyday happenings to heart and turn into an anxious and nervous ball of a human. I will continue to “play tenkara” in my own way and grow on the stream as a tenkara angler.

I encourage and fully support everyone attending Oni school not only to increase their tenkara abilities, but also fishing knowledge. I learned about reading water, fly presentations, casting, and other nature and fish-y stuff that I cannot even remember. In fact, there was so much information crammed into those two days that I was exhausted by the end of each day, and I could go again and again to continue to learn and still wouldn’t get it all. Those 8-hour days are long enough to share and gather information, but the human attention span can only retain so much information in a few hours. I plan to go again to learn and hopefully, retain more information. I hope you consider it as well.

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