For many years now, I have enjoyed fishing two rods from TenkaraPrim. The rods I have the Professional 315 and the Professional 400. Both rods are excellently made and a pleasure to use. The Professional 400, is lightweight, very well balanced, has a low rotational moment for a 4 meter rod, and has proven itself time and time again to handle good sized trout.
TenkaraPrim is a well established tenkara company located in Russia. It was founded in 2012 in Vladivostok by the owner, Sergey Guryev. A series of rods were initially introduced, but in 2014 re-styling of rods was performed and the new line of rods was released. Sergey personally designs the TenkaraPrim line of rods. Daniel Galhardo introduced Sergey to Dr. Hisao Ishigaki and he visited Sergey in Russia. Ishigaki’s book was published in Russia, in Russian, in 2013.
Up until recently it has been difficult for tenkara anglers in the US to obtain TenkaraPrim rods, due to political sanctions placed by the US Government. Mail will come from Russia without any issues, but the problem was all forms of money transfers have been blocked. I have used a proxy purchasing agent located in the EU, but the process is slow and a little cumbersome.
However, I just received an email from Sergey where he states that now there is a way to securely pay for Russian goods in USD. He states that some of his European friends have been using that process without any issues. I purchased a second Professional 400 about a year ago and it took about 14 days to get through the mail system and US Customs.
So, If you are interested in obtaining one of TenkaraPrim’s excellent rods, or other tenkara accessories, contact Sergey by email for details. He can be reached at serg-vladivostok@mail.ru. I’ve really enjoyed his rods, and use the Professional 400 as my main euronymphing rod during the winter.
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Umm… those restrictions on Russian money transfers were implemented after Russia sent troops into Ukraine, raping women and kidnapping children. Is our need for a nice rod so dire that we should find a way to circumnavigate the laws?
No to russian aggression, and no to sanction work arounds.
Ditch Putin.
Then let’s talk.
Tom, this may be fraud of some sort. I received several suspicious letters from people I knew over the last two years. I think they were coming not from them, it is either fraudsters or some sort of intelligence operation. They came from Russian mail servers like mail.ru… Please be careful.
Next… It is very sad to see the comments above. Russia is not a democracy, it does not function like western states. Putin can not just leave, losing political power means physical death for him. The main actual reason behind the war is not what you think, it was needed for Putin (and people around him, but let’s not complicate) to strengthen his power and eliminate opposition. “Average Ivan” can do nothing to stop Putin, you need the elite involved to make organized resistance. Sanctions did nothing to stop the war, but they severely backstabbed the elite by hitting businesses. As a result everyone who was capable of leading resistance were forced to leave the country or were “suppressed” one by one. Sanctions were in Putin’s interest actually, the situation was badly mismanaged.
If you recall the beginning of the war – Russians had failure on top of failure. Reason for that was that all sorts of orders were sabotaged. Most people in Russia did not see Ukrainians as their enemies, they really did not want to fight and they did not fight for real. You probably did not understand that – but it was the maximum resistance you could hope for. It was not organised, and eventually it was broken. Now we have a different picture on the battlefield. The shift happened in Russia, they do not see this war as a war against Ukraine any more, they see it as a war against the US and western world in general. This is a very dangerous shift. Putin is a problem, but the bigger problem is what will come after him.
This war must be stopped ASAP. There is a lot of BS about red lines, deals, conditions, etc. I do not take sides, I do not support Russia, I do not support Ukraine. There is a bigger picture, and it is scary. I’m against the war, war must be stopped. All sorts of problems should be resolved after it.
Igor. Te garantizo que NO es un fraude.
Yo soy uno de esos amigos europeos, concretamente de España que ha conseguido comprarle 2 cañas Tenka-Prim Professional 400 a Sergei.
Y todo ha sido gracias a su interés y profesionalidad. Y estoy convencido de que no ha sido por hacer negocio, sino por el interés de dar la posibilidad de tener acceso a sus cañas a los entusiastas del tenkara.
Y, por supuesto, después de haber probado la caña, la recomiendo muy mucho y para mí está entre las mejores cañas de 4 metros que existen actualmente.
Sin entrar en discusiones políticas repecto a la conveniencia o no de comprar algo en Rusia, solo diré que creo que no conviene juzgar a las personas por los actos de otros. Y a mí Sergei lo que me ha demostrado es que es una buena persona que fabrica unas cañas estupendas y que se preocupó por buscar una forma de pago para que yo pudiese tener acceso a ellas.
Igor. I guarantee you it’s NOT a scam.
I’m one of those European friends, specifically from Spain, who managed to buy two Tenka-Prim Professional 400 rods from Sergei.
And it was all thanks to his interest and professionalism. And I’m convinced it wasn’t about making money, but about giving tenkara enthusiasts access to his rods.
And, of course, after trying the rod, I highly recommend it, and for me, it’s among the best 4-meter rods currently available.
Without getting into political discussions about whether or not it’s advisable to buy something from Russia, I’ll just say that I don’t think it’s wise to judge people by the actions of others. What Sergei has shown me is that he’s a good person who makes great rods and who took the trouble to find a payment method so I could have access to them.
Igor. I guarantee it’s NOT a scam.
I’m one of those European friends, specifically from Spain, who managed to buy two Tenka-Prim Professional 400 rods from Sergei.
And it was all thanks to his interest and professionalism. And I’m convinced it wasn’t about making money, but about giving tenkara enthusiasts access to his rods.
And, of course, after trying the rod, I highly recommend it, and for me, it’s among the best 4-meter rods currently available.
Without getting into political discussions about whether or not it’s advisable to buy something from Russia, I’ll just say that I don’t think it’s wise to judge people by the actions of others. And what Sergei has shown me is that he’s a good person who makes great rods and who took the trouble to find a payment method so I can have access to them.
Oh… Jesus is a nickname, right? I’m sorry, but you better use something neutral (or your first name), your choice of nickname may be offensive for religious people…
Honestly it would be a lot better to have a US based seller for these rods. I’m not a customer for this rod (I finished my rod collection, I do not have plans to buy any more), but if I were a potential customer I would hesitate purchasing. Everybody knows there are sanctions, but nobody knows what exactly laws are and how they work. Try google it – you would have a hard time… But you can easily google the cost of an average lawyer consultation in the US. Next thing is “fentanyl story”… This rod is made in China, right? So it does not qualify for “de minimis” exception from US customs point of view. There is an import procedure including customs duty and brokerage fee. I personally do not know how to do it, and I am not willing to spend time figuring it out… I do not think the average person in the US is different.
And this is all just business questions, I’m not touching politics and morale at all (I wrote everything that I wanted to write in the post above)… You have to do business differently, it would not work this way.