I’ve tried my best to canvas the various tenkara-themed gatherings over the years. From North Carolina to Oregon, Wisconsin to Colorado, I’ve been fortunate to visit different “tenkara-perfect” locales and meet many people from the larger tenkara community in person.
The one event that had eluded me to this point was the White Mountains Tenkara Campout, a gathering organized by Bill Holleran of Red Brook Tenkara. Held at the Barnes Field Group Campground just south of Gorham, New Hampshire, I found it not only to be a wonderful setting for fishing with fixed line rods, but also to meet a ton of like-minded anglers. The turnout was surprisingly strong, with well over 70 folks in attendance. The vibe was great from the jump, and I found it to be very well organized and moderated.
But don’t take my word for it, I recently reached out to a few of the attendees to get their feedback on this event. Not only to let our readers know what’s going on in the tenkara community of New England, but also to show how fun it is to hang out and fish with fellow tenkara anglers.
Can you give a brief overview of the campout & format?
Michel Giroux – I was fortunate enough to be able to take a week off work before the event so I had ample time to explore the area by myself and take it all in before meeting all the group. When the event started, I got to meet some friends from past events and I met some folks that I knew from the online community and I also met new people. There were many activities planned for the weekend, dinner and raffles at a local brewery, casting lessons and competition, presentations on various subjects, and an awesome dinner prepared by Nate Camp.
Yev Tep – I would describe my experience as welcoming, educational, and fun! The main outline of the weekend for me was to meet some folks, learn more about tenkara, and do some fishing in New Hampshire with likeminded folks!
Jay Guarneri – The campout was great! A good blend of scheduled activities and unstructured “on your own” time. The registration period and dinner at Big Day Brewing were good opportunities to get to know other attendees. Fishing on Saturday morning let me strike out on my own and learn the area, followed by some nice activities on at the camp. The group cookout was a highlight. Sunday morning I helped pack up and said goodbye to my new acquaintances. I squeezed in one last fishing session before heading back home.
How was the atmosphere?
Amy Delaney – This was my first experience with tenkara and I’m hooked! The weekend was awesome. The people were so friendly and so helpful. I went out with the angler whisperer Nate Camp on Saturday and learned so much and caught fish. He is an extremely knowledgeable guy and the passion he has for the sport is contagious.
Yev Tep – I honestly believe all the people I interacted with were real great folk; Very friendly and open to sharing their knowledge and passion for tenkara! I did make a number of new friends. 😀 The group activity I enjoyed most was the campfire hangouts where I was able to walk around and speak with different anglers about all sorts of different topics.
Jay Guarneri – The people were great! Made some new friends and acquaintances that I look forward to seeing again.
Michel Giroux – Everyone was friendly and ready to share their knowledge. The fly tying community that attended were great at sharing tricks, flies and also tying materials as usual. A guy (Jay) even handed me over zenmai that he picked himself, this is to me a great gift to give a stranger considering the time it takes to pick it!
How was the fishing?
Yev Tep – Fishing on Saturday was good – real good! The brookies were definitely picking up what I was putting down (kebari)! 😂
Jay Guarneri – The fishing was great! I didn’t make it to any of the brookie-dominated waters, but all the streams I tried had an abundance of wild fish with a few stockers for good measure. Most spots the fish were eager for any decently presented fly. A couple of the larger river spots had slightly pickier fish. It was just enough to make you work for it a bit. This gave me an opportunity to practice matching the “loudness” of the fly to the noisiness of the conditions.
Michel Giroux – The fishing was awesome all week long, the fish were willing to bite and were plentiful. What is great about this area is that you can tailor your fishing day as you like. You can hike a few miles up the trail to target wild brook trout or stay near the road to fish for a mix of stockers and wild trout in an honryu type setting. On most days I hiked in the morning, came back to camp for a late lunch and went back fishing near the camp in late afternoon.
What was the highlight of the weekend?
Michel Giroux – Of course there was awesome fishing to be had but meeting all these like minded people was the highlight of my weekend. As a tenkara angler, I spend most all my fishing days by myself and being able to share the passion with all those awesome folks is what makes these events so great.
Jay Guarneri – The best part was getting to see other anglers in action, both in practice and on the stream. I’ve only ever met with other experienced tenkara anglers once before, so I haven’t had much opportunity to learn from folks in person.
Amy Delaney – The cookout on Saturday night was my favorite part. Getting to meet new people and make new friends and new connections was very special for me.
Yev Tep – My favorite part of the weekend was the fireside chats with fellow tenkara enthusiasts (and the fishing of course).
Any closing thoughts?
Yev Tep – I would just like to say that I had a really great time and I hope to make even more new friends on the blue lines and by the campfire next year! 😎
Amy Delaney – As a veteran, since entering recovery for PTSD and substance abuse 2 1/2 years ago, I’ve been very isolated. Through Project Healing Waters I have been introduced to amazing programs and incredible people and am learning to love the outdoors. It’s become a huge part of my therapy. I can’t wait for next year. I’m truly grateful for the experience!
Jay Guarneri – Related to the fishing and seeing other folks in action, this was a great way to both confirm that I have a decent baseline and identify concrete areas where I can improve my casting, presentation, and stream reading/stream presence. I typically only get a few chances each year to fish for trout, and not in particularly great spots. That makes it hard to tell if what I’m doing isn’t working or if it’s just the day. The Whites provided a target-rich environment to help me figure out what’s working and what I need to improve on.
Thanks to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors for putting on a great event. I made a point to stop by North Country Angler on the way out and thank Steve Angers for sponsoring the event, for the good advice, and for advocating for tenkara angling in New Hampshire.
But before we go, I asked the event organizer, Bill Holleran, how he thought things went this year…
Bill Holleran – I am blown away by how well this year’s event went. Our first year we were just hoping to put together a small tenkara community event. We kept it simple, not knowing how many people would be interested. Since then, we have tried to keep the “grass roots” feel and not be too commercial. It was never about making any money, as all the funds raised go back into the event. In fact, we end up spending a little more than we take in.
The growth has been awesome! We had to cap it at 75 tickets because we didn’t want to overfill the campground and lose the spirit of the original event. One of the biggest surprises was how far some of our campers were willing to travel.
Overall, I think everyone had a great time. The feedback has been excellent. One of the coolest things is the number of friendships that have formed at the event.
I’d like to thank our sponsors for their generous donations that are raffled off for free. This is an exciting part of the first night. A great way to cap off the presentations. Most of all, I would like to thank our volunteers who made this event what it is. Each year we get together several times over Zoom and plan the next event, trying to make it even better than the year before!
Interested in creating your own local tenkara gathering?
Check out this post by Dennis Vander Houwen on how easy it can be.
Level Line Podcast with Bill Holleran, Amanda Hoffner, & Nate Camp following the 2022 WMTCO
Do you have a story to tell? A photo to share? A fly recipe that’s too good to keep secret? If you would like to contribute content to Tenkara Angler, click HERE for more details.
This is far and away my favorite summer activity. I love the community that shows up to this event and the setting is spectacular. Thank you to everyone involved in putting it on and thank you to the Tenkara Angler crew for making the trip out and hanging out with us, it was really great meeting you guys!