These rods can do whatever you want. To actually roll cast, you need to use something heavier than the standard lines like a section of fly line. Here is something I wrote on the TenkaraUSA site on a thread on the weight of tenkara rods:



"Okay guys. Ever the contrarian, I have to agree and disagree. As many of you know if you read my posts, I do a lot of non-traditional tenkara fishing. I don't always relate my exploits here because sometimes I use rods that are not tenkarausa rods and out of respect and admiration for Daniel, I do not write about other available equipment.other than lines and flies.

Okay, for the topic at hand: I suspected that tenkara rods are underated as to strength so I have been experimenting a lot to see for myself. I have since the beginning used 4x to 0x tippets and have never broken tip because I was landing a fish on heavy tippet. Today I took a perfectly good 1 wt forward Orvis line and cut off the first 30 feet. I did the same with the first 30 feet of a DT 6 wt line. I put leaders on both and then attached a backing loop to the rear end of both. First I tried the 30 feet of One weight line. No problem casting the whole thing except when in the wind. I changed and used the 30 feet of double taper six weight. It was a revelation!. The rod that casts the lightest of lines with ease handled this 30 foot traditional line with ease. Not too surprising to me, my 11 foot Iwana performed even better as did another manufacturer's 6:4 rod. I suspect a 7:3 rod could probably handle even heavier lines. This is important because it means fewer limitations and much more flexibility with all tenkara rods. The rods roll cast this heavier line with ease. There are only two limitations that are readily obvious. You have to hand over hand the fish in at the end (I do this all the time because I already fish longer lines with heavier tippets). If you can't back up on a river or shoreline, then a fish swimming right at you can be a problem (less if you are using a barbed hook which I do sometimes if I have every intention of eating the fish (warmwater and saltwater situations for me-it has been years since I purposely harvested a trout).

I thought about this because I have had both bamboo and fiberglass and graphite regular fly rod and reel combos that would collapse under certain line weights and then perform exceptionally well with a line two or sometimes even three weights heavier than rated under certain conditions and vice versa.

The reason for this is because rods perform differently based upon what part of the rod is doing the work. With long light tip sections, tenkara rods can cast very light near weightless lines. This is perfect for stream situations traditionally described and taught on this and other sites. But because of the length of these rods, they have tremendous butt strength. It takes a very heavy line to bend the rod deep enough to get into and exploit this strength. Once you realize this, however, it greatly expands your horizons. With the right line leader combination I can use all my tenkara rods from 9 footers to 13 footers and other rod/poles that are even longer and cast 1/0 Clousers and big bass bugs and 1/8th ounce hand tied jigs. I can use lighter spinning lures, bass worms, baits, etc. just by adjusting lines and tippets.

The lifting power of these rods is amazing but just as with traditional fly rod and reel setups, you do have to be careful with over stressing the rods by the bend you put in them when you snag or when you lift a heavy fish.

So there you have it. I don't know what weight my tenkara rods are but they will handle fish at least as well as a six weight traditional fly rod and reel, and I routinely used to land steelhead up 35 1/2" on my 5wt 4pc 8'3" Sage DS fly rod configured with a 6 or 7wt line (always heavier than rated) and old Pflueger Medalist fly reel. I don't know yet if I can do that on a tenkara rod because I haven't hooked one yet to know. I do know that have landed bigger fish than I thought because the long rods can absorb the shock of big fish.

Experiment. You might be pleasantly surprised."




If you go to the Allfishingbuy site and look at the Customer's Gallery, you'll see a lot of the fish I have caught with rods he sells although as of this writing he doesn't have my latest submissions using my Wakata 13'. You can see I do a lot of warmwater fishing with my tenkara rods and other rods/poles.

Randy