Tenkara on a shoesting

[pszy22]

I've become aware and been studying all I can find about Tenkara for the last 5 or 6 weeks. To be honest, I will probably end up purchasing a rod or two, I'm currently being held back from springing for a couple of reasons -

Reason 1, both my wife and I are currently unemployed with no prospects for employment any time soon.

Reason 2, I don't fish any small waters. My home river, the Muskegon in Michigan, is a brute of a river. Of course, one can always view it as a series of smaller creeks running in parallel with each other.

Reason 3, I need a new rod like I need a hole in the head. I've lost count about 25 years ago, however new rods always seem to show up.

Several folks had discussed using some of the telescoping "bream" poles as a poor substitute. I had thought about looking into this option, and taking a drive out to Cabela's, but for the reasons stated above, had yet to do so.

Today, my wife needed to stop in at Walmart, out of force of habit, I wandered back to sporting goods to see if they had any 9mm ammo in stock. (as usual, the shelves were empty). However, then out of the corner of my eye, I see a brand new rack of South Bend Black Beauties -



With a name like Black Beauty, and a cost of only $15, how could I pass it up?

So needless to say, I've spent the past several hours experimenting and playing. First thing was to figure out how to line the beast, I mean beauty. I knew I wanted to use a furled line/leader. Wasn't sure to try a light weight version, or something heavier.

First several experiments were brutal failures, was unable to get my line to straighten. For starts, I had just looped my leader thru the end of the rod. I tried both heavy and light leaders, same results. I came to the possible explanation that the line might be hinging at the tip.

I decided to take the plunge and permanently attach an extended leader I had just furled up special for this application -



Voila, cast like a champ. Line laid out nice but gentle. Worked great for overhead, side arm, and roll casts. Still not sure how well this set up will work for hooking and playing fish, nor how durable it's going to be. I'll find that out tomorrow and over the weekend. I do know I'm going to be able to get my fly out there and present it.

Of course, if all goes well I'll probably end up getting a Tenkara rod, and of course, if this fails, I'll probably end up getting a Tenkara rod. Probably would have been better just to pass go. Oh well.

[Ken Y]

NIce. What is the rod's action? I think a braided line would work better for it to be straighter. You might want to shop online for the line. If the rod casted nice, I would keep the furled line. Hope you enjoy your new rod.

[pszy22]

The rod is extremely tippy. The tip section is very thin, it will be interesting to see how it holds up. I like your suggestion regarding slipping a braided section on the end of the rod to provide a transition.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

I am a frugal tenkara angler, so is my 6 year old grandson, though he is not aware that he is!

You do not need to by a new Tenkara Fly Rod, just use the the fly rods you already have.

Do not install the reel to the fly rod, instead install a tapered leader or tapered furled leader to the the "Tip-Top" guide on the tip of the fly rod. If it is a 9 foot fly rod, use a 6 foot leader and a 3 foot tippet.

Casting upstream, and hold the rod angled so only a small segment of the tippet and fly are beneath the surface of the water.

As the fly travels down stream lift the tip of the fly rod so none of the leader of tippet is floating on the water surface.

As the fly passes your position, lower the tip of the fly rod.

When the leader is at it limits downstream, slowly raise the tip of the fly rod, to slowly retrieve the fly along the edge of the the stream bank you are on.

Do this three times, then move down stream about 10 meters and do it all over again.

~Parnelli

PS: Or you can sit on a dock on the edge of a pond or lake, casting to the sunfish, like my grandson and I do. Just lifting and lowering the tip of the rod to cause movement of the hackle in the soft hackle wet flies we are fishing with.

[CM_Stewart]

When I first learned of tenkara there were no tenkara rods sold in the US. I tried both of the "shoestring" methods described above, as well as "rescuing" my old cane pole from my parents' basement (last used over 50 years earlier!). They will give you a hint of what tenkara fishing is like with a real tenkara rod, but only a hint.

The rods have evolved over hundreds of years in Japan to be very light (an 11-13' rod weighs roughly 2.5 to 3.5 ounces), capable of very effectively casting what is essentially just a 12 to 18' leader, and supple enough to protect a very light tippet. There is a definite advantage to using a rod designed for the purpose you are using it for. In this case, longer than 9' (like your existing fly rod) and designed to cast a very light line rather than a bobber and worm (like a panfish pole, or worse, cane pole).

I'm a firm believer that people should fish any way they want to fish (as long as it's legal). I also believe that if you want to try tenkara fishing, you owe it to yourself to try it with a real tenkara rod. They really aren't all that expensive, and you don't have to buy a reel and expensive fly line. There's a post in another thread by a guy who used a cane pole and short line to fish flies many years ago, gave it up and moved on, and isn't interested now - been there, done that. Only problem is, "there and that" wasn't really tenkara. If you try to do it on a shoestring you might give it up because of the limitations of the "shoestring" and never realize that the real thing just isn't the same thing at all. Having tried the cane pole route myself, I can understand his ambivalence. Not having tried a real tenkara rod, I'm not sure he can understand my passion.

[JohnScott]

I thought about commenting along these lines in my response to dudley, but since I have never used a cane pole from over 25 years ago, I decided to avoid that kind of discussion.

Perhaps dudley will read this thread and your post and take the opportunity to reconsider whether his comparison has any validity at all, and whether it is now time for him to "move on" from conventional gear to Tenkara where that is a better tool for the kind of fishing he does.

John