Recently, Amanda Hoffner posted about her experience at the 2026 Wyoming Tenkara Campout. She wrote about the campout from her perspective, talked about some of the people she met, and some of the fishing that she did. As with everything Amanda does, her write up was excellent.
Also recently, Keegan Uhl posted on the Mostly Tenkara YouTube channel a wonderful interview with Amanda. They talked about Amanda’s backstory, focusing on her tenkara journey, as they fished up a section of one of the nearby creeks. They were joined by Conrad Estrem, (co-organizer of the 2025 Idaho Tenkara Campout). I know Conrad quite well. He’s an excellent tenkara angler in his own right. It’s a wonderful interview. and I highly recommend watching it.
How the Wyoming Campout Came Together
The campout was centered around the Greys River in western Wyoming. This venue was chosen over a year ago, when I approached Brent Auger of DRAGONtail Tenkara about hosting a tenkara gathering on the eastern side of Idaho and taking in some of the wonderful waters in western Wyoming. Brent and I talked about various places to center the campout, but it seemed that a good spot was near Palisades Reservoir. This location afforded the attendees to fish both eastern Idaho and western Wyoming with its many rivers, streams and creeks all within a short driving distance. The region is so well known for its incredible fly fishing that it was recently chosen the site for the 45th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship. Sectors and beats were chosen on the Greys (sector 5), Teton (sector 3) and Henry’s Fork (sector 1). BTW, Team USA secured a historic first-ever team gold medal, finishing ahead of teams from France and Belgium.
Brent and I also chose the region due to its convenient location next to Alpine, WY. Attendees who didn’t want to sleep in a tent or camper could get an Airbnb and procure food from the many bars, restaurants and stores that are available. It isn’t wilderness camping, but it seemed like a nice option for many.
The Water
As far the campout itself, it seemed well attended. As Amanda states in her article, “over 55 people from at least 12 states attended throughout the event”. Most attendees were from the Utah-Idaho area, but others traveled from states such as North Dakota, California, Montana, Kansas, Oregon, New York and Florida. Most of the days were spent by the participants exploring the region and fishing the many waters available. The most popular water seemed to be the Little Greys. Maybe it wasn’t as intimidating as the Greys itself, being smaller and more intimate. Unfortunately, the weather was uncharacteristically rainy with many passing thunderstorms. I say unfortunate, but in reality, we had had such as dry summer any precipitation was welcome and I couldn’t begrudge it. Nevertheless, these storms clouded the water of the lower Greys which was off-putting to some of the attendees. However, if the participants drove further up the Greys, they were greeted with clear water and great fishing.
Saturday Morning: Technique Talk
Saturday morning there was an informal gathering and discussion regarding tenkara techniques. Because it was informal and unstructured, I hoped that it would be less intimidating and more welcoming to those in attendance. There’s nothing worse than an overly structured didactic lecture when you want to be out fishing! As far as I could tell it seemed well received. As I looked around the circle of attendees, nobody looked bored or detached. Everyone appeared interested and engaged. Brent led the teaching, focusing on proper casting and line control. Others, such as Amanda, Keegan, Bill Robichaud, and Alan Luecke contributed by making well placed remarks to clarify and enhance the discussion. I might have made a few comments as well.
After the group discussion, we broke into groups of 5-6 persons and had rod-in-hand practice sessions to help both experienced and novice anglers with their rod handling questions.
On Hosting
As for Brent and I, we spent most of our time hosting. Or I should say Brent did. I would slip away every once and a while to reset, as hosting is exhausting work. Neither of us spent much time fishing, as that was not our intent for this gathering. We wanted to make sure everyone else was having a good time and had the information and opportunities they needed to do so. But that’s OK. These are our waters. We know them well and we’d be back another day to reintroduce ourselves to the resident fish.
As for me, I enjoyed the gathering. I struggle with feeling inadequate in groups, but everyone was friendly and that put me at ease. Everyone seemed pleased to meet likeminded anglers. Talk flowed from “where are you from,” to “what is your favorite tenkara gear,” to “where do you plan on fishing,” and so forth. It was pretty fun to watch old acquaintances re-establish, as well as new friendships form.
One More Day on the Water
But back to fishing. Although I didn’t fish during the campout weekend, I did go a day later, by myself, and fish the same section of the creek that Keegan recorded with Conrad and Amanda. Like them, I had very little action until about 1 PM, when the Gray Drake hatch started. As some have stated, the Gray Drake hatch is what is called a super hatch… large, prolific mayflies that trout feed on with reckless abandon. This was just the case the day I was fishing.
While a #10 or 12 Parachute Adams is perfect for the Gray Drake hatch, I prefer to fish subsurface. This is quite typical of all my tenkara angling. I’m not against fishing dries, in fact, I’ve gotten back into it a little bit this year. But when I do, I use a 4 weight bamboo fly rod (BTW, the Nirvana Drifter furled leader is excellent!). With tenkara, I prefer fishing subsurface, and the fish did not seem to mind. So this time, I fished a #10 Soft Hackle Gray kebari. It worked great! Most cutthroat were in the 14-15 inch range, but a couple were 17, maybe pushing 18 inches. I even had to use a net for once!
This year I’ve been slowing down on my on-stream video journaling, but I did use my camera that day. Here is my outing and some of the fish I caught:
Will I See You Next Year?
All in all, I enjoyed the 2026 Wyoming Tenkara Campout. Brent did a great job hosting and as I said earlier, I think everyone had a good time. I plan on attending more of these type of tenkara gatherings in the future. I’ll try to overcome my natural reluctance, screw up my courage and get off my keister. I know it’s good for me. So, maybe, just maybe, I’ll see you at one of next year’s gatherings. Cross your fingers, we’ll see how it goes!
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