Thanks for the tag,
ErnieW . That's a solid video series. I have watched some of them more than once, and particularly like the VISION one. Trout are amazing animals.
I'm really glad you chose to "go Tenkara." I hope you get even a fraction of the satisfaction I have from it, however you choose to enjoy it. I think you might find value in Chris Stewart's
www.tenkarabum.com/ website. He is the Old Sage of fixed-line fishing, micros, and other non-mainstream techniques. His Tenkara landing page, alone, has a rich description of the why's and wherefore's of Tenkara. He's also a good source of equipment and supplies. And he lives in NYC! His trip reports might give you good info about your area, which I know nothing about. (I can find my way around the wilds of NYC, but that's as far as I've gotten.) I love one of Chris's signatures:
The hooks are sharp.
The coffee's hot.
The fish are slippery when wet.
Beware of the Dogma.
I know you've discovered DragonTail and TUSA, both good companies and resources. As we've discussed, the basic cast and technique will come quickly -- you are probably already ready to go catch fish. For inspiration: After you have milked Daniel Galhardo's videos, the best US-based source I know on more advanced casting is Rob Worthing. I call him the Butch Harmon of Tenkara casting coaches.
tenkaraangler.com/2020/07/24/video-rob-worthing-tenkara-trout-from-cast-to-hand/ This isn't really an instructional video by Rob (though it's annotated), but shows what's possible with a Tenkara rod in a relatively large, fast stream with nice-sized fish. You can find instructional content by him and by Matt Sment, who filmed this, all over the interwebs. Rob studied with "Tenkara No-Oni," who has come over from Japan each year to provide this county's best opportunity for a master class...https://www.tenkaraguides.com/oni-tenkara-school. Again, I'm just downloading all of this and framing it up for you because you seem to be a sponge for it -- do with it what you like! You can ask me questions -- or not --as you go.
As you know, Tenkara's become a real focus for me and a motivator to get out into the mountains and canyons. When I started 5 years ago, like you I pretty much fished whenever and wherever I could for any kind of fish -- or no fish at all, just for the practice and experience. Over the years, I've defined my preferences for water, experience, fish, and my approach. A goal for me is to be as amphibious and adaptable as possible to my environment. To be able to follow any Blue Line I want to explore.
Toward that end, I've designed my gear over time to go as light and simple -- but functional, for me -- as possible. I have a "day fishing" gear set up and a "multi-day" one, which is lighter and simpler yet, for backpacking. I pursue catch and release 99% of the time. When I am backpacking, I eat fish sometimes if I can have a fire, which has been iffy for us here in the West lately. (I carry an alcohol stove that only does hot water.) When I cook them, I wrap a whole (gutted) trout in foil, add spices of choice and a little oil if I have it, and put it in the coals for 20 mins or so. I wrap the leavings in the foil and pack it out (storing it in my bear bag or can with my other trash as appropriate to my location). I generally eat fish in the 10" range as a side to a dehydrated meal. Current favorite=Good To-Go Herbed Mushroom Risotto!
I'm attaching a pic of my gear set up. From the ground up:
Simms Vapor wading boots. Simms has recently redesigned these and now calls them Flyweights. I hope they didn't ruin them. I love them. Because I am almost always in and out of water, these are my go-to hiking boots as well. They have performed well for long miles on the trail and as waders. If it's warm and I am going light, I will wet wade in them with two pairs of socks, a liner and a thick hiker. Most of the time, to wade I wear:
Chota Hippies with a liner sock. I can hike long distances in these, particularly good if bushwhacking, but if I know I am going to just be hiking I'll pack them and hike in socks. Then put them on to wade. They also serve as great rainwear! They have held up pretty well. I pre-tape the neoprene socks with Gorilla tape to protect common wear points on the heels and toes.
Gossamer Gear fanny pack. For additional gear like extra tippet/line, water filter, a bug wipe, my thermometer, etc. This also gives me a belt no matter what pants I am wearing. My Mountain Hardware light hikers, for example, don't have a belt or loops to hook my waders to, or hang my flybox and other tackle....
A small flybox (holds more than enough for any trip, though I sometimes cheat with an extra in the pack), small forceps on a retractor (key for me to release fish and also is a line clipper), small knife/scissors, safety whistle to help find my bumbling fishing buddies.
Net. Pictured is my day net. I also have a light folding net for backpacking. Both from DragonTail. I really like having a net! Makes it so much easier to handle fish, more carefully. Pro tip: If you use one, ALWAYS have it on a tether -- I just use a stretchy cord looped to my belt. That way, you can just drop the net after fish release and it won't float away while you put yourself back together.
Wading staff. One of the great things about Tenkara is that you have your non-casting hand free! I almost always use a staff. It's saved me many times, and I use it to help get flies unstuck, fend off attacking dogs, etc. When I am packing, I use one of my hiking sticks. Again, I always loop it around my wrist so I can drop it without penalty. So far, no losses...knock on wood.
Gloves. I really like wearing a fishing glove to protect my hands, which are wimpy. There are various findings on their effects on fish (as there are about nets). I have come to the conclusion that the main thing is to make sure anything that comes in contact with the fish is WET first, and to keep the fish as wet as possible during release. I have had very little problem with keeping fish healthy by doing this, and using sharp, barbless hooks. Always.
My favorite rod, the TUSA Ito 13'/14'7" adjustable. This was my dream rod for a long time, and I finally scored it last summer with some birthday money. As I told you in another post, I started with the TUSA Iwana, very similar to your DragonTail Shadowfire, which I also have. Perfect rods to start with, and could easily be all you will ever need. I usually rig my rods with 3.5 level line about the length of the rod + 3-4' of 5x tippet. I also have furled nymphing lines if I want to go deeper. Well, if I NEED to go deeper. I prefer to fish a Kebari or a Western dry if I can, and have found it surprising how often that works fine even if fish aren't rising. My go-to fly is a #14 or #12 Parachute Adams. I have learned to tie them myself because I go through so many of them! I like the way they sit on the water, and the way I can SEE them. Oh, and the way they catch fish.
When day tripping, I wear a roomy Camelbak for water, food, clothing, additional gear. I always carry a Garmin inReach and a phone. For multi-day backpacking, I have fished with my pack on, or drop it, or if I'm doing an outing from camp, my Granite Gear Crown 38 breaks down into a nice size for a day, along with a water bladder.
So that's the rig that got me 55 days of joy on the water in 2020, 20 nights out, and countless fish from 3" to 20"....Brookies, Bows, Browns and Cutts! Tiny creeks, large rivers, and lakes.
Hope some of that's helpful and inspiring. It was constructive for me to get it all down and captured -- and something to do while Alabama runs away with the Rose Bowl.
Happy Trails and Tight Lines! I look forward to continuing our dialogue as you like.
Steve