Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

I

havebeenfishingforsometime
now,havingstartedat 10or11.
Mygrandfathertaughtmeto
castandI wouldspendhours
onthelawnwithhisold9ftsplit-cane
rod,tryingtolandmyfly onhisflat cap
placed 20 orsoyardsaway.Seventeen
yearsonandI amstilllearning— many
a fishhasbeenspookedormissed
PICTUREBIKEover the years by a wrong cast.

44 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

I wasrecentlysittingona sunny

riverbankinDevonwitha couple

offishingmuckers,cursinganother

shoddycastthathadresultedin

anothermissedopportunity.Freddie

suggested,ina rathercraftytone,that

maybeI shouldtrytenkarafi s h i n g ,

a muchsimplerandeasierversionof

ourtraditionalflyfishing.Unwilling

to admit I had never heardoftenkara,

I tuckedintoanotherpork pie and

changedthesubject.

Hissuggestionintriguedme,

though,andI begantoreadupand

learna bitmoreabouttenkara. It

translatesliterallyfromJapanese

as“fromtheskies”,reflectingthe

techniquethatoriginatedinJapan

a fewhundredyearsagoandis

quintessentially Japanese; elegant,

st? Try

tenkara

The ancient Japaneseart of

tenkara flyfishingis growing

inpopularity,soon a soggy

day inJuneJamieTusting

decided to try his hand

Averyjapanesefishing

techniqueona veryEnglish

river complete with weather