Looking for advice on Tenkara Rod for small mountain trout streams

I?m trying to decide on my first Tenkara rod to use mostly in the small mountain trout streams in the Blue Ridge of Virginia, but possible occasional use on my backyard warmwater stream and others. My desire for a tenkara rod is both for the simplicity and (perhaps more importantly to me) to reduce what I carry when backpacking. To see what kind of streams I'm referring to, see my other post here.

What size Tenkara rod should I get for these small mountain trout streams? There are Tenkara rods sold for ?small streams? but will I be losing something with a 9? rod? On the other hand, do people really take a 13? Tenkara rod into the thicket, where there is rarely 13? between the overhanging branches on either side of the stream?

Also, what length of line should I use? It is often impossible for me to lift my 8? western rod directly overhead to land a fish or grab my fly because of overhead branches. Should I use a line that is equal to or shorter than the rod? Or should I use a longer line to compensate for a shorter rod?

I have a 12' Tenkara rod that I bought from Three Rivers Tenkara; threeriverstenkara.com/. I have used it on some spring creeks here in IA and on a trip last fall to CO. Most people starting out use a line (without tippet) the length of the rod or 2' + longer than the rod. Anthony Naples, who owns Three Rivers Tenkara fishes a lot of small streams in western PA. His blog Casting Around;castingaround.anthonynaples.com/ has some good reads on it. And I know he would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Chris Stewart aka Tenkara Bum, who frequents this forum, is also an excellent resourse. He also fishes small streams and would be an excellent resourse. tenkarabum.com/

Good luck! Tenkara is a lot of fun.

Dave

I have used both long and short rods on the same streams you are looking at. The rod that I have found to be the best for me is the TenkaraUSA's Rhodo. 81/2 to 10 1/2 ft.
For line I would recommend an 8ft furled line to start with. Then go to a level line once you get used to fishing the rod. For the Rhodo a size 3 or 3.5 would work great. As far as length start out at about 8ft with 3-4 four feet of tippet and lengthen the line out to fit your needs. When fishing a furled line with dry's I dress about three feet of the line with Otter Butter so it will float. These are just my opinion's

Every rod is a compromise. With a 9' rod you will find spots where you'll wish it was longer. Looking at some of your photos on the other thread, I think there'll be places you'll think even the 9' rod is too long.

It seems most of the people who write books about small streams compare them to rivers like the Madison or Delaware, and figure if you can't take a drift boat down it then it must be a small stream. They don't write about streams the size of yours because they assume most of the guys they want to sell books to would think they are unfishable.

In Dave Hughes book, he does talk about fishing with short tenkara rods, including the Kiyotaki 24, which is 7'10".
http://www.tenkarabum.com/kiyotaki-24.html Tom Davis, of Teton Tenkara, has done a number of Youtube videos of fishing small streams with that same rod or the Nissin Fine Mode Kosansui 270, which is in the TenkaraBum Small Stream Starter Kit http://www.tenkarabum.com/small-stre...arter-kit.html Both links will take you to pages that have Tom's videos.

Those rods will allow you to fish relatively tight streams. For the little wild brookies in your mountain streams, I would choose the Nissin Air Stage 240 http://www.tenkarabum.com/nissin-air...iryu-rods.html over the Kiyotaki, though. It is a much softer, more sensitive rod, and better matched to the 5-8" fish you probably catch.

I would choose a line no more than a foot longer than the rod, though. The longer the line the more you will get snagged on your back cast. You will have to be exceedingly stealthy, though, to catch much with an 8' rod, 9' of line and maybe 3' of tippet.

One other choice that few people here have tried is to use a very long rod and extremely short line and just drop the fly into eddies and seams - essentially dapping. It is called "lantern fishing" in Japan and is used in the extreme headwaters there. You will not be able to raise the rod to bring in a fish. You have to collapse the rod instead. I've done it a couple times and have caught fish that way. It is very, very different from standard tenkara, though.

I have several Tenkara rods but when fishing the small tight streams in the Smokeys which is about 95% of my fishing I use my Tenkara USA Rhodo with 6' of number 3 level line and 3' of 5x tippet. Works great the rod is light and casts well and will handle a 12" fish with ease. narcodog put me on this rod he knows his stuff.

Tom