I don't know that I have ever done a roll cast with a tenkara rod - and that's after 3 1/2 seasons of fishing nothing but tenkara rods (or similar poles with the line tied to the rod tip). I generally fish with a line that is about the length of the rod, plus about 4' of tippet. If I tried to do a classic roll cast, there wouldn't be enough line still in the water to give you the anchor for the cast. I mostly fish streams, with my back casts going downstream between the streamside trees, and casts going upstream. If I'm in a really tight spot, I'll use a bow and arrow or slingshot cast, which works very nicely with a tenkara rod.
On ponds I always fish from a canoe, and a tenkara rod is so much nicer than a regular fly rod in a canoe that you wouldn't believe it. My fly line always used to catch on everything from my paddle t-grip to my fly box to my water bottle, etc. The tenkara line doesn't ever get into the canoe. For this, you'd want the longest rod, either 13 or 13.5 feet, and probably a 6:4 or 7:3 action.
I have broken a rod by using tippet that was too strong for the rod, although it wasn't a tenkara rod. It was a cheap panfish pole, but it only took 6.4# test tippet (and the biggest trout I've ever hooked in my life) to break it - and it didn't break in one of the tip sections you can get replacements for, it was in the lower butt sections, where the stress is concentrated if you are trying to stop a big fish. If you tie good knots and your tippet isn't nicked or abraded, it is surprisingly hard to break your tippet if there is a bend in your rod - which of course there would be if you had a fish on. Tenkara fishing is not like regular fly fishing where any good sized fish is going to run and you've got a hundred feet of line being pulled through the water and around rocks by the fish. You have a short line from the fish straight up to your rod and the rods are very good at protecting your tippet. I don't catch big fish (only up to about 17" on tenkara rods) but since I broke the pole, I've never used or needed tippet stronger than 5x. If you're going to be catching panfish and small bass, you won't either. (Stripers and redfish are a whole 'nother story.)
Reply With Quote