Tekitou

Written by Martin Montejano

There’s a Talmudic saying that has stuck with me since I first heard it years ago, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” I find this saying to be true in many facets of life, and fishing is no exception.

We all fish different ways, and have different styles. Much of our style and approach is molded by the conditions we most often fish in. The gear we choose to fish with is based on our personal preferences, and these preferences are often built upon our experiences. Our experiences are unique to each and every one of us.

A few years ago, I made friends with someone in my area who I’ve had the opportunity to exchange information and share ideas with. This gentleman spends a bit of time in Japan for work, and has shared his observations of what he sees trending in the tenkara scene there. Along with discussions about our practice of tenkara, there has also been some exchange in philosophy - as usually comes with fishing. In one discussion about hooks, he brought up a Japanese term, “Tekitou." He went on to describe it with the preface that Japanese is a very contextual language, and that many words have several meanings. This word is no exception. In his description, he summarized it like this: “There is a word that does not translate well:  てきとう   or   適当   pronounced tekitou . Written in hiragana it means half-hearted. Written in kanji it means properness. In casual verbal use though it means sort of more like ‘as you see fit, or as you like,’ and it is often used in combination with the idea ‘how you feel when you are making something important.’”

Around the time when I had met this friend, I was doing some experimenting with different hooks in my own fly tying. I wanted to try to find out if different hook sizes, shapes, and wire would fit my own style of fishing a little better, and I spent some time on the water putting some ideas and observations to the test.

The amount of time I had put into trying different hooks, observing the characteristics and function of those different hooks, and what I liked about some of them was something I felt was important to myself. I wanted to share my findings and observations with my friend, so I sent him an email to start a conversation. On the other side of the discussion, my friend didn’t necessarily say he disagreed with some of my points, but I think he found it wasn’t something he wanted to put that much of his effort or thought into. At least, that’s the vibe I got from the conversation. I can’t fault him for that. But, it was this conversation that introduced me to the idea of “Tekitou,” and by the end, had me asking myself, “Do my experiences with these hooks really change fishing for me?”

The answer isn’t quite cut and dry. In short, I would say no. At the end of the day, the hook serves a function, and if it can pierce the lip of the fish without bending to a point where the fish gets off the line, then do the characteristics of the hook really matter? There’s still a little more depth to the answer though.

To a degree, finding a hook that better matches my fishing style is important to me. My curiosity had led me on a path to try to understand the role that different characteristics of hooks may play in my personal angling practices, and to find a few different hooks that I feel serve my approach to fishing.

Echoing what I wrote earlier, we all practice fishing in different ways and place value in details of fishing that we find important to our individual selves. Our personalities come into play, and we choose what we spend our time on. 

I believe the amount of time and effort put into these different facets reflects the value that we hold in them. Whether you’re a perfectionist when it comes to tying flies, or someone who could care less about how neat the fly is, a hungry fish may not pay any mind to those fine details. But, if it’s something that you feel is important to your fishing, then indulge yourself in it.

At the end of the day, we make things what they are. We make fishing as simple, or as complicated as we want. We all choose which aspects of fishing we find important, and those aspects should be ones that help us enjoy our time on the water.