My wife and I have been really enjoying Tenkara style fishing lately. If you have not been paying attention to the fishing world for the last couple years Tenkara is the Japanese fly fishing method that is gaining more and more popularity here in the USA. At heart Tenkara is a minimalist fly fishing style. A telescoping tenkara rod, a line and some flies... that's about it. Being that Tenkara method is a minimalist dream it makes sense that it pairs so well with hiking and bushcraft.
There are a couple USA based tenkara outfits, most notably TenkaraUSA and Tenkara Rod Co. There are a couple UK places and of course the Japanese vendors. Our family has two Rods; A TenkaraUSA Iwana and a Tenkara Rod Co. Teton. These are very similar rods and either one will be fantastic for a beginner. In fact if you are on the fence, you can't go wrong buying the Teton kit. This rod is fantastic and has a swivel tip that really helps keep from getting tangled. A feature not common in entry level rods. My wife loves hers.
As for beginners if you have never touched a fly rod but always wanted to give it a go this is the style for you. I took quickly to the casting method for this simple fly fishing style as did my wife. I am talking great, accurate casts within 15 minutes of hitting the stream the first time out. None of this "It will take a full season to get a decent presentation" that I was told when I talked to the guy tying flys at the fly fishing department at Bass Pro.
So anyway this morning my wife I and woke up to a beautiful day and decided a hike at a local creek bottom trail was the perfect way to start the day. It was also the perfect chance to test out my latest piece of gear. So after a cup of coffee the three of us (No way my son was going to miss out) headed for the trail head.
We got to the wood line and the sight was beautiful. I love the colors of fall.
As we got out of the Jeep I strapped on my gear including the new piece of kit. A Trail Lite Ebira rod quiver. Special thanks to thomdarrah for getting me set up with this. I had been tucking the rod down in my Chest pack and shoving the line spool and fly box into the front pocket when I thought the opportunity for some fishing might arise. This worked but I wanted a better solution. The Ebira turned out to be the ticket.
As we headed down the trail I knew that the Ebira was going to be my new creek bottoms hiking companion. Once I put it on I couldn't feel it. It didn't stick out and catch on brush. It just carried my Tenkara gear until I needed it.
The Ebira is the perfect size. As the quote on the TrailLite website says "The Ebira rod quiver holds your rod and the gear you need on the stream. If it won't fit in the Ebira, you don't need it." That is the truth! Here is the Ebira with my gear laid out. In the quiver I had a TenkaraUSA Iwana rod. In the detachable pocket I had a line spool with my level line and spare tippet. It also fits my flybox and the retractable spool with my clippers. My forceps are a little large so I just clipped those onto the outside of the Ebira but I plan to get a smaller set that will fit in the clip on pocket. You don't have to take the Ebira off to get the rod or other gear out either which is great.
Setting up the tenkara rod is quick and easy. I quickly got to fishing. We have had a lot of heavy rain and for the last week or two this stream has been a torrent and too muddy and fast to really fish. I was optimistic that today might be a good day for it though.
You can see that the Ebira is very unobtrusive while fishing.
Even when perched out on a log where you wouldn't want any cumbersome gear.
It was a great morning down in the creek bottoms. The water was very murky and the only way to get a fish on was to drop the fly right in front of their face. Like the saying goes a bad day fishing is better than a good day in the office....
Chest packs have become a hot topic of discussion in the bushcraft community. Most notably the Hill People Gear Kitbag. I have carried this Kitbag on trips to the woods and/or fishing at least once a week for the last 6 months. In that time my gear loadout has evolved to a point that for day trips to the woods the Kitbag has replaced the need for larger packs. I do keep it pretty full, however it has remained comfortable and unobtrusive. I usually wear a USGI pistol belt with a couple canteens to hold water and if I want to bring an axe or other large chopper I find I can hang it from the belt and not really notice it.
Here is my review and current loadout that meets all of my needs. This is the HPG Original Kitbag. Weight: 1.00 lb Length: 2.00 in Width: 11.50 in Height: 7.50 in Dimensional Volume: 172.50 in3
I shot a video when in the woods this past weekend and it didn't turn out very good so I re-shot it in my shop so you can hear me better. I was hesitant to do a video at all, I am not good at talking to a camera but sometimes a video is better than pictures.
The original kitbag has 3 zipper pockets. I will go through the contents of each and how my gear selection has evolved to fit all my needs in this one bag. The only modification I have made to the bag (not much of a mod really) was the addition of a handle. The bag doesn’t have a good way of just picking it up. You can grab it by the straps but that just felt awkward to me. I made a simple handle by braiding the outer sheath of some paracord and attaching it to the GrimLoks. This makes a convenient carry handle.
I keep the front compartment pretty empty because I often will put my wallet and car keys in there when I head out. All I have in there at the moment is an emergency whistle, a lighter, a NiteIze clip light a pencil and one of Mr. Blacks Tacboards (made from a piece of venetian blind).
The middle pocket is where all the good stuff is. Here is a picture of the pack just as it opens and then with the gear spread out, followed by a list of the kit components. Kit Components Shelter: I used to carry a Bushcraft Outfitters Multi-Cam G2 MEST as my primary shelter option. That tarp is really too bulky to go in this kit so I had to find an alternative. I was going to get a UL MEST but they were not in stock. J-Loden pointed me towards the Go-Lite Poncho Tarp. It doubles as rain gear and shelter. This is another great piece of kit that I plan to review soon. In addition to the poncho tarp I also have two mylar emergency blankets. Water: Lifestraw filter, an aqua-pouch and some purification tablets. Cordage: A hank of bank line and a couple large hanks of Nano-cord. Fire: Large ferro-rod, Trioxine fuel tablet and a tin of petroleum jelly/cotton balls. Misc: Small first-aid kit, Small field repair kit, DC-4 sharpener, Lucky 1-2 map case, rite in rain journal, Silky Saw and a heavily oiled scrap of leather for fire prep and other misc purposes.
The pocket closest to my body is where my sidearm rides. I carry a Glock 26 in a MIC Holster connected to the internal loop. I also keep a spare magazine in this pocket.
All in all this has been a great piece of kit. It has become one of my favorite bushcraft purchases.
Cool weather is finally here. It is crazy wet out this weekend but that
wasn't going to stop me from getting into the woods. I pulled on my rubber slop boots and headed
for the woods. While I was out there I
shot some pics and a couple videos (The first of them is down at the bottom of
this post) .
Normally I find myself in creek or river bottoms. I am just drawn to areas with water I
guess. When I parked at the trail-head I
had in mind for the day I noticed barricades saying the trail was closed for
maintenance. “Please stay on established
trails for your safety.” What the
heck? Normally I would have just said
fine, the trail is closed and walked straight into the woods being careful to
stay away from the maintenance sites but I recently had an encounter with a
ranger at this location that made me think that doing so would invite unwanted
trouble.
Instead of getting frustrated which was my initial gut response
I chose to look at the silver lining of the situation and accept that this is
my chance to explore new territory. I
drove off to another trail-head that I have never hiked from before.
This area was different indeed. Not more than a few miles from my normal
stomping grounds yet way up on hills and nowhere near a running stream. The trees were a good deal different. Gone were the big Sycamore trees the dot the
river bottoms, replaced by conifers.
It turns out that having the rubber boots payed off even
though I was high up on the hills. With
all the rain this past week there was standing water everywhere. In short it was downright sloppy.
All of the water this year has made it an excellent year for
fungi. Here is a large horse hoof
fungus.
A couple years ago at the Missouri Hardwoods meet I won an
Opinel #12 folding saw from Bushcraft Outfitters. I have used it a lot, it was my primary saw
until I acquired a Silky Pocket boy a few months ago. I really liked the saw, it is a handy pocketable size and it cut
well. While it worked great it lacked
the feel I really wanted. This week I
put a little work to it in the shop. I smoothed
out the edges, stained and applied a couple coats of boiled linseed oil. This is more like it.
I took a little time in the video below to talk a bit about
this saw and show it alongside the Silky Pocket Boy with medium which in my
experience is the saw that is the closest to it in quality cutting ability.
Of course no outing would be complete without practicing a
splitwood fire. My Turley Green River
was the tool for the job.
I have had a habit of using either my hat or a bandanna to
catch my shavings when doing fire prep.
Of course the direct result of course is that many of my hats and most
of my bandannas have been cut up. I have
decided that it was time to try something new.
I took a scrap of leather I used a Sharpie marker to draw a 4x4 grid on
it thinking it might come in handy at some point. I then proceeded to treat the leather heavily
with mink oil. This worked great on the
day’s splitwood fire prep.
