If you’ve been following Tenkara Rod Co. on social media, you may have already seen the buzz around their latest Kickstarter campaign. Following up last year’s successful Backpackr campaign, the Idaho-based tenkara company is back with their 10th Kickstarter project. It’s called the Anytimer, and the pitch is pretty straightforward: a fully functional 10-foot tenkara rod that collapses down to just 12 inches and weighs 1.8 oz.
For context, that’s roughly the length of a standard TV remote. It fits in a jacket pocket, a glove box, a backpack hip belt pocket, or a desk drawer. The rod extends to a full 10 feet and is described as ready to fish in under 30 seconds.
The concept behind the Anytimer is less about backpacking or minimalist kit and more about eliminating the friction that keeps anglers off the water entirely. Founder Drew Hollenback puts it plainly in the campaign: life gets busy, and even tenkara, one of the simplest forms of fishing there is, still tends to feel like something you need to plan a whole day around. The Anytimer is designed to take that excuse off the table completely. Mountain bike ride near a creek? Lunch break by the river? Road trip through trout country? The rod is already with you.
It’s a compelling argument, and honestly not a new one. The pocket rod concept has been floating around the tenkara world for years. What Tenkara Rod Co. is claiming, though, is that they’ve cracked the performance problem that has historically plagued rods in this size category. Like the Backpackr before it, the Anytimer is manufactured in South Korea, which has quietly become a respected hub for high-quality carbon fiber rod production. Tenkara Rod Co. says they’ve partnered with one of the most experienced rod factories in that market, and that the action on the Anytimer fishes the way you’d expect a proper 10-foot tenkara rod to fish, not like a novelty or a toy.
That’s a fairly bold claim for a rod that fits in your palm when collapsed, and one we’ll reserve judgment on until we can get one on the water. But it’s worth noting that this rod has been in development for over two years, which suggests Tenkara Rod Co. wasn’t rushing it out the door.
The Anytimer is being offered as a complete ready-to-fish kit, which includes the rod, a 10.5-foot tenkara line, 12 hand-tied traditional tenkara flies, a spool of 5x tippet, and a wood line holder. For anyone who’s been on the fence about trying tenkara, that’s about as low-barrier an entry point as you’ll find. And for experienced tenkara anglers, the kit is familiar enough to be immediately fishable.
Are you interested in the Anytimer? If so, take a look at their Kickstarter campaign here while some of the “early bird” discounts are still available. As of the time of writing, the project had 136 backers, and far exceeded its $10,000 funding goal.
Note: The Tenkara Angler crew hasn’t cast an Anytimer yet, so we’re passing along the campaign details as presented for now.
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