Pike on a Tenkara Rod?!?!? R U Nutz?

[cycler68]

Found this stories about a couple of guys who were truly pushing tenkara rods to the limits!http://www.eatmorebrooktrout.com/201...ater-wolf.html

[Donald Nicolson]

Very interesting, but definitely crazy.
But one thing, old Izaak Newton fished for pike on a rod with no reel.
A lot of working people right up to the early 19th century couldn't
afford expensive reels and fished the old way with a horsehair line
fixed to the tip of the rod.

[EdD]

Googling "Tenkara" and "pike" gave me a response that Google had found approx. 23,800 matches in 0.18 secs.
You do realize that at some point Kaboom1 is likely to see thread, don't you.
And to think that there are people out there who worry about a Zombie Plague striking Planet Earth...

Ed

[CM_Stewart]

The rods have a lot more capability than most people give them credit for. I've caught 17 and 18 inch fish on rods that realistically were designed for 8-10 inch fish, and I know of people that have caught fish over 20 inches on slightly more substantial rods.

If you can keep a bend in the rod, a fish pulling against the progressive resistance of the rod will tire pretty quickly, and will also be unlikely to break the tippet (except a large enough fish on the intial run).

I haven't caught any pike on a tenkara rod, but I have no doubt that a smaller pike would come to hand fairly easily. A larger pike, on the other hand, well that's why you don't go over 5X on the tippet. You need a weak link in the system.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Donald is correct that back in Izaak Newton's time, most fishing rods had no reel for holding fishing line...

Back then fishing rods were 18 feet in length, made from a composite of various woods and other material.

For those who are really hook on Tenkara, below is a wonderful site on Tenkara, that I have been reading over and over again since 1998... by Yoshikazu Fujioka. a Japanese Tenkara Fisherman that is devoted to this form of fly fishing. ~Parnelli

http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/index2.html

PS: There are wonderful Trout pictures that Yoshikazu Fujioka painted on various trout that many of which are only available outside the U.S.A.

[CM_Stewart]

Fujioka-san's site is also perhaps the best source for information about regional tenkara fly styles in Japan. http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/b-strea...g/tenkara.html They do not all have the forward slanting hackle, which is the one tenkara style of fly that has caught on here.