Patagonia founder Chouinard explains fly-fishing technique

Making an artificial dry fly flitter and hop on a stream to tempt a feeding trout is challenging for most fly-fishing anglers. Water current and wind conspire to thwart a good cast, and it always seems the best spot is located just a bit out of reach.

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, believes there’s a better, simpler way to put that tiny Elk Hair Caddis in the right spot to do its tempting dance. I met Chouinard while working on a newspaper article for the Ventura County Star that ran Saturday, April 19, 2014. During a Thursday, April 17 evening talk at Great Pacific Iron Works Patagonia in Ventura, Chouinard, 75, explained the concept of tenkara, a nearly 2,000-year-old Japanese fly-fishing system. Tenkara is similar to fly reel-and-rod fishing with one important difference: There is no reel.

“People fish like this around the world,” said Chouinard, author of the new book “Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel.” “They use a pole with a line on the end. That is how I learned to fish and it’s very simple.”

Read the entire article: VC Star.YvonChouinard.Tenkara.April19.2014