The Fly Fishing Show - Pleasanton

My son and I got to the show at 10:30 (Opened at 10:00) with no line at check in just as I planned. The first stop after a 2 hour drive was the bathroom. As we were crossing the room, I noticed this booth and ran into this guy you all know, Daniel from Tenkara USA. Flash on the camera was off. More on that later.

Shoreman & Daniel

We wandered around the four rows of vendors and stopped in to talk with Frank Pisciotta from the California Fly Fishing blog. Frank and I had met a year ago at the ISE show in Sacramento, but I wanted him to meet my son. Turns out that when I mentioned that Ken was the Maintenance Manager for In-N-Out Burger, they had eaten there the night before. Nice to know your friends are supporting company your son works for.

Anther person I wanted to say Hi to was John Hazel (Deschutes Angler Fly Shop in Maupin, Oregon) who I met during the ill fated trip to the Deschutes River for Steelhead in 2009, but John was busy, so I passed.

There wasn't as much in the way of vendors as I expected (4 rows). The rest of the show was Seminars, casting demonstrations, and the guys tying flies. All I saw from the guys tying flies was a bunch of yakking and not much tying, at least while we were there.

Back to Daniel from Tenkara USA. We chatted about Tenkara rods  and he showed me the Iwana 12' rod, line, and flies. I told him about the last trip to New Melones and the surface feeders. When he told me I would be able to catch fish in the 10" to 20" range, that was it. How hard can it be using a really light rod (2.7oz.), line the length of the rod, and you only have 4 flies to choose from, AND the flies are big enough (size 8 to 16) that even my fat fingers should be able to tie them.

Since Mike from Troutrageous! has been bugging me to go Tenkara, I took the plunge. I got the Iwana 12' rod, line, line holders, and a little bottle with 3 flies. Another factor in doing this is with the lack of rain this year (unless we get creamed in March & April) all the creeks and rivers upcountry are going to be small streams and perfect for Tenkara.

Disclaimer: Howard Levett from Wind Knots and Tangled Lines had no influence (A little private joke, here) in my purchasing this Tenkara rod.

It took us just over a hour to cover the whole show and we were back on the road home by 11:45. 

Here is another WOW. KCRA Channel 3 did a piece on the DFG stocking the little ponds in the Sacramento area with trout to encourage the "Urban" fisherman to get out and fish. Can you say "Combat Fishing?" They did mention that those over 16 need a fishing license, but with the lack of Game Wardens, who's going to check?

Well, that's it for this post. Shoreman goes Tenkara. We'll see how it works the next time out, if the opportunity presents itself.

Mark