Tenkara Rods Now Sold in Hawaii

[Stan Wright]

For those of you who have been thinking of joining the swelling ranks of Tenkara anglers... good news. The Patagonia store down on the makai end of Ward Avenue (next to Wahu Taco) is now selling the Temple Fork line of Tenkara rods.

http://www.patagonia.com/us/shop/fly-fi ... fgod0IQAAg

I've never tried the Temple Fork Rods. Most of mine are the Tenkara USA rods.
http://www.tenkarausa.com

I also have a few from All Fishing Buy.com. These are the least expensive, but great little rods. If you put one side by side with the Tenkara USA rods you can see the difference. Plastic instead of aluminum, quality of cork handles, no aluminum case. Just little things... to cut down the overall cost.
http://www.allfishingbuy.com/Tenkara-Rods.htm

So if you've been thinking of trying Tenkara... fly fishing with only the rod, line, and fly, no reel... there is a place in Hawaii where you can walk in and pick one up and hold it in your hands. Compared with the cost of Tenkara rods in Japan, the Japanese tourist are snapping up these Temple Fork rods like crazy.

[robg]

Great to see tenkara in Hawaii! I've been fishing tenkara exclusively in the Central Texas Hill Country (Austin area) for the last year and a half using Tenkara USA gear and have a FB group Tenkara Texas. My wife and I have visited the islands a half dozen times in the past 16 years. I recently heard there was some tenkara trout fishing in Kauai (one of our favorite islands), but was curious if there are any islands supporting trout in some of the upper stream? I realize freshwater fishing is highly regulated in HI. I was especially curious about the streams above Hilo and the streams in the Molokai Forest Reserve. We really liked Molokai on our last visit. Mahalo!

[Stan Wright]

If you Googled: "trout fishing on Kauai" you will get some hits as to the many guides who are available for freshwater and saltwater fishing.

This site gives a lot of information on what's available in the way of fishing…
http://www.grandslamflyfishing.com/countries

I know there are local guides available. I'm not sure when the trout season is. It's been many years since I was there. The Hawaii TU site guys would know. They have a place there in the mountains and it's usually visited by many of the Oahu members during trout season. LOL
http://www.tuhi.org

All of the "lower" streams on Kauai have smallmouth bass.
Just go on YouTube and write in: "Kauai Smallmouth"
Same for Peacock bass. Most all of the peacock bass are in lakes and ponds on private property… so you need to know someone or go with a guide.

On Oahu we have smallmouth in some of the streams… mostly we fish Lake Wilson in Wahiawa. It's kind of hard to fish it from shore… you really need a boat. We also have flats on Oahu and some pretty good bone fishing. My son Chris does guiding. I haven't tried bonefish with mm Tenkara rod, but the smaller barracuda, papio, and assorted reef fish are a blast on Tenkara. At the lake… its non-stop fun.

Let me know the next time your on Oahu.