Bridge. Spey. River Sai. 20ft #12 weight. mp4
Maki Caenis. Fly fishing artist.
Started fishing as a child, taught by his father, and caught almost all species of native Japanese fish.
Started fly-fishing after lure fishing in junior high school. He was so absorbed in fly fishing that he used to draw illustrations of mayflies in class. As an athlete swimmer, he wanted to join a swimming club, but he didn't like not being able to go fishing on Sundays, so he chose to join a brass band where he could go fishing on Sundays. He has played the trumpet since primary school and now prefers to play the Flugelhorn.
When he was in junior high school, he mainly commuted to Yukawa in the Karuizawa area by train and his father's driving. He caught a big trophy Yamame on a wet fly, but as it was beginner's luck, he caught nothing for a season after that. Even so, I enjoyed fly fishing and never fished with bait or lures again.
When I was in secondary school, I learnt about fly fishing from Ken Sawada's books because there were no specialised fly fishing shops. I learnt about fly fishing from Ken Sawada's books, from the basics of casting to tying.
My favourite book was 'The Master's World', which I still read today. The local fishing tackle shop was owned by Ken Sawada and a Daiwa dealer in Japan, so I got a Daiwa glass rod.
I got a Daiwa glass rod, a 6-weight rod. I prefer wet fly fishing, so the material and action of this rod suited my fishing very well. I love bamboo rods because of this basic and backbone of bamboo rods.
In 1986, he met his mentor, Mr Char, and joined a salmon and steelhead tour to B.C. Canada organised by his shop. We stayed at the Dolphins Resort. Campbell River, Vancouver Island.
Thanks to my guide, I caught a 19lb salmon.
His mentor, Mr Char, guided mainly Japanese clients on steelhead in B.C. for 10 years in the 1980s with the help of a professional guide in Canada.
I really enjoyed reading his articles in the colour pages of the magazines of the time. He was friends with Mr Ken Sawada. and Mr Nodera the owner of C.N.D., and had contacts not only in Japan but also with shops and professional fly fishermen all over the world.
Then I studied in Canada after high school.
He graduated with a degree in both Canadian nature studies and business.
After returning to Japan, he worked in a first-class hotel employing 20,000 people, learning mainly about service.
After returning to Japan, he moved to New Zealand for a year to fish for brown trout.
In 2004, after working as a professional tyer, he set up an English-speaking fly-fishing guide service in Japan, a rarity in Nagano Prefecture, where no one else does it. At this time he rented a room by the river and spent more than 200 days a year on the river. The room had a tank for aquatic insects and I kept all the aquatic insects in the river and observed their hatching. These days were spent studying the ecology of the aquatic insects that inhabit the river, the main food source for Yamame and Iwana ( char). The Yukawa River is home to many species of aquatic insects, so it is important to know what the fish are eating at different times of the year. This data is a very important key and asset.
I collected the stomach contents of the fish I caught using a Stomach pump without killing the fish, put them in bottles, and used the samples as the basis for tying flies for each season. These flies are still used as original flies for Yamame and Iwana's Match the Hatch.
Fly fishing is his whole life.
One day, I met by chance on the Karuizawa Yukawa River, and through the introduction of the late New York photographer, Keifumi Miyamoto, I started guiding clients of the New York pro shop Urban Angler in Japan.
At that time, I was financially poor and drove a rickety car, drank spring water and fished every day, but my heart was truly rich. I was confident in my dreams and hopes.
From that day on, the number of overseas clients increased rapidly. I am truly and sincerely grateful.
2016. 18 July at my favorite river, the Saigawa River.
Baptised by Pastor Nishioka of Karuizawa Horizon Chapel. Many church friends were present.
2017. Returned to New Zealand for 20 days to fish for brown trout.
2018. Solo one-month fishing trip to Russia where English is not spoken; caught a 19lb Atlantic salmon without a guide. During a month of fishing for Atlantic salmon in Russia under the white night, from high water fishing in May to low water fishing in June, I was able to learn the basics of Atlantic salmon fishing. With local Atlantic salmon fly fishermen's and Murmansk pro shops help.
My stay in Russia was originally planned for two weeks, but the clerk at one of the three local shops said that if I could extend my stay for at least one more week. The size may be lower than in May, but there is always a new school of Atlantic salmon coming back, so you should definitely postpone your stay. So I immediately went to a travel agency in town with the hotel owner, Elena, and with her help as my interpreter, I postponed my return to Japan. After my extended stay, I moved to a room in a house on the property that was a faithful reproduction of the homes of the indigenous people of Russia. It was usually used for tourist viewing. In this house, which had no running water, I bought a tying vice from the town shop, a wide range of materials and strong hooks, tying flies for Atlantic salmon, and walked to the river to fish. I had a three-month visa to stay in Russia, so I would have stayed there for the summer if I could have. It was that comfortable. The hotel and all the food was delicious, Coffee and even the water was very soft and tasty and rich in minerals. Everyone was very considerate to me and treated me well. The fishing every day in the white night was great. Thankfully, however, I had to return home at the end of June because my clients had already booked me guiding in Japan in July.
These fundamentals are an asset for me and I share them with my clients, not only when fishing for cherry salmon and big rivers in Japan, but also when fishing for ITO in Hokkaido.
2019. November 1 week Solo fishing trip for Japanese endangered ITO to snowy Hokkaido, Japan by British car. Fished ITO on the first day without a guide. At big river not at lake.
2021. Professional debut as a custom bamboo rod builder.
2022.
Spring.After the development of 2-weight and 1-weight bamboo rods, a 0-weight bamboo rod is developed. The current main rod for Yamame is now a 0-weight.
In the summer, a 6-weight 2 hnd bamboo rod was devised specifically for underhand casting use.
In autumn, the 14ft 7-8-9. the Cherry Salmon is launched.
2023. Model Sai, 12ft #8 spey for river Sai is announced.
All models are hollow-built and splice-jointed.
He is now learning to fish with underhand castings by split cane bamboo rod made by himself, the casting style which does not tire him out.
December 2022-January 2023.
Really grateful to be given the opportunity by April Vokey to learn online about Canadian legend Bob Clay's Bamboo Rod Building. I listened to her interview with Bob seven times, and their conversation was as pleasant as listening to music. If you are interested in learning about bamboo rod building as well as considering buying one of Bob's rods, I highly recommend you become an Anchored Outdoors member of April's and watch the videos. You can also watch various other fly fishing main programs.
48 years of freshwater fishing
38 years of fly fishing experience
38 years fly tying experience
21 years of spey casting experience
19 years as a English speaking fly fishing professional guide
Places fished
Vancouver Island, Canada. 3+ times.
Prince Edward Island Canada.
Yellowstone National Park.
New Zealand. South Island.
Murmansk. Russia.
Background on rod building.
Bought and assembled his own fly rods from kits since junior high school. Then mainly repairing and restoring antique 2 hand GREENHEART and bamboo rods imported from Scotland and the UK by himself. These antique tackles were tested by myself in real fishing situations and then sold mainly to clients in Hokkaido, Japan. They met the needs of Japanese anglers who were looking for two-handed big game. He liked antiques and even owned a 1960 British motorcycle abroad, a BSA B40. He changed the plug, adjusted the carburetor and set the ignition timing all by himself.
In 2007, he started designing fly rods exclusively for Yamame in Japan, designing blank materials and tapers from scratch. A range from low resilience carbon, IM6 to 46 tonnes of high carbon was selected and used according to the fish and application with my original tapers. The model Yamame was a popular rod with Japanese clients. Also designed nymph rod based Yamame, Light weight switch rod and light weight trout spey rods for 3 to 5 weight, using smaller flies with 7x to 10x tippet and salmon spey rods for big river. Also designed fly lines for mainly Yamame at this time, Maki Caenis Signature fly lines.
Used these rods, Each fishing trip to New Zealand brown trout and Russian Atlantic salmon. He has fished successfully on overseas expeditions, each time with an original rod of his own design. In the Japanese market, he has sold out the model Yamame, a fly rod designed by himself exclusively for Yamame and highly appreciated by his clients, as he was not satisfied with the fly rods on the Japanese market. These rods have also been used by clients from overseas during guiding services and have received a number of positive reviews.
Started making my own bamboo rods after Mr Namiki, who was in charge of my bamboo rods, passed away. I learnt about building from my mentor Mr Char.
My father passed away and I wanted to put a rod in his cremation. I started fishing only with bamboo rods after that.
A rod designed by someone who is only good at casting is only designed to cast far. The rod is like a stick without suppleness. It is useless for Japanese fly fishing.In fly fishing, casting is not just about throwing the fly far.
It requires balance in all aspects, including the posture of the fly as it falls to the surface, the way it flows, the way the line tension is felt, the hooking and the fight that follows. Bamboo is still a great material today because it does not lose its power rapidly and can be used for all of these elements.
My mentor told me about his experience in Iceland, "Atlantic salmon are watching the fly from the moment it hits the water. So if your line and leader don't turn over perfect and cast it properly, It looks like rubbish to the fish."
A rod designed by someone who is only good at fishing is designed to catch fish close by, like bait fishing rods, and is therefore far removed from the original fly fishing. The action of these rods, which are not designed for casting, causes wrist, elbow and back injuries in the worst cases. Fishing becomes painful.
It is similar to learning to play the trumpet or flugelhorn and feeling the pleasure of playing loud and forcefully, and then learning the real pleasure of playing so quietly that you can't be heard. Even if it is two-handed fly rods. Relax and unwind; it's a quiet fly fishing style of playing in pianissimo.
In my opinion, a good fly fishing rod is a rod that has a balance of both. It is also a pleasure to own. It should be a rod of a higher level than yourself, a treasure of a lifetime.
When I produce any bamboo rod, it is conceived in such a way that I can comfortably continue 12 hours of casting and fishing in a foreign country for a month on end.
That is my rods.
Tonkin Cane ,
In case there are any misunderstandings, I will explain.
We Japanese use knives, forks and spoons in addition to chopsticks when we have meals.
Regarding bamboo, we do not use Japanese bamboo because we are Japanese and fish are small.
Japanese bamboo has not been used for a long time because it recovers too slowly and is prone to habituation.
Japanese bamboo rod builders have been using Tonkin Cane for a long time because it is very dry and of good quality and is available at specialised shops in Japan.
My rods are also made of the same high quality Tonkin cane.
