Any Furled line jigs?

[Kytroutbum]

Santa is going to bring me a Tenkara Rod for Christmas. I do a fairly decent job of furling leaders and was wondering if anyone has a procedure or plans for a Jig to make a tenkara line?

Randall Sale
the Kytroutbum

[JohnScott]

... for furling regular leaders and Tenkara line / leader combinations. Here is my set up, as posted in a thread on the Furling Forum.

"Occasionally some one asks for ideas on furling jigs / boards. Thought a thread devoted to various models would be useful, or at least interesting.

Mine is pretty much cobbled together with stuff from Home Depot. The table is simply a plywood sheet rested on a couple collapsible sawhorses. The wings on the far ( left side in photo ) side let me extend the two boards in my basic jig to 14' and let me furl lines / leaders up to about 12' long for Tenkara rods.



The sliding carriage at the tip end is connected to a tension device and allows for reduction and relaxation of the leader during twisting and furling. On my original jig, a tension devise was the most difficult problem to solve. The carriage was the only solution I came up with. The tension devise is a length of stretch cord and a box end wrench of the appropriate weight. The fish hook on the post facilitates incorporating a tip ring before furling begins.



The posts or pegs are dowells set at spacing 40% of the distance from the butt to the tip on one side and 70% of that distance on the other side. This results in a configuration of 40% butt section, 30% mid section, and 30% tip section. Changing the spacing / configution would require a couple seconds with a drill to relocate the posts anywhere along the board. I chose the 40-30-30 configuration after reading a number of articles on leader construction. There may be better configurations, but this one works for me.



The gear system consists of two driven gears turning hooks for twisting / furling and a driving gear at a 5:1 ratio. Found the gears on an internet site. They were the most expensive component of the jig, but should last for quite a while.



Power by Ryobi as in a low end variable speed reversible drill. Since I use formulas for making leaders rather than using the "reduction" or "pig tailing" approaches, a lower speed drill is necessary so I can count revolutions / twists. Since I power furl rather than let the twisted leader material relax under tension, the reversible feature is essential to my system.



John

[Kytroutbum]

Thanks, I thought for some reason that the techniques were somewhat different than for leaders. I noticed both mono and thread on your jig. Which one do you prefer to use for your tenkara and what size thread or mono do you recommend using?

[JohnScott]

My approach was to build a line / leader combination which was essentially a leader with a tip section comprising about 15% of the starting length ( 14' ), the mid section also comprising about 15% of the total length, and a butt section comprising the remaining 70%.

I used the same 10-8-6 configuration as on my leaders - 10 strands in the butt section, 8 strands in the mid section, and 6 strands in the tip section. So basically the finished line / butt section is about 9' of ten strands and the mid and tip sections are about 2' each, stepping down from 8 to 6 strands. A tip ring was incorporated before the twisting began.

Danville 210 Flymaster Plus tying thread had been my material of choice for about eight years, and that is what I used for the Tenkara line / leader combinations. ( I recently found some 140 Danville which has become my standard for furled thread leaders for dry fly fishing, but I haven't used it yet for a Tenkara line. )

I've not used mono - just happens there is a spool on the desk. I have used 2# Berkley fluoro for some leaders, for nymphing with my conventional fly rods, but don't recall if I made a Tenkara leader out of it at any point.

Overall, the line / leader described has worked well on my TUSA Ayu. Chris has used one and a couple other folks reported back that it proved a satisfactory line / leader for them. But that was a couple years ago, and I am sure there have been a bunch of new products brought forth since then, and more serious attention and testing done to improve the performance of furled lines.

John

[Kytroutbum]

Thanks- I've got a lot of playing for right after Christmas. Randall

[Fly Goddess]

I have sold a bunch of Tenkara lines. I do make mine in two part, but once together, no hinging what so ever. Repeat business tells me they work

[pszy22]

As with most things Tenkara, the key thing to remember - "Don't sweat the small stuff".

Tenkara rods aren't very fussy, they will cast and fish a broad spectrum of line types and tapers. It really comes down more to personal preference rather than what will or won't work. You won't have any problem coming up with one or more options that will work great.

[Fly Goddess]

As with most things Tenkara, the key thing to remember - "Don't sweat the small stuff".

Tenkara rods aren't very fussy, they will cast and fish a broad spectrum of line types and tapers. It really comes down more to personal preference rather than what will or won't work. You won't have any problem coming up with one or more options that will work great.

That is the first I have heard this. the People I make the leaders for are quite avid as to what is needed, but out of five different users and 5 different states, they all agree on the weight and the taper.

[pszy22]

That is the first I have heard this. the People I make the leaders for are quite avid as to what is needed, but out of five different users and 5 different states, they all agree on the weight and the taper.

I have come to the conclusion - Fly Fisher folk, by their nature, are naturally drawn towards complexity like a moth to a flame.

[Fly Goddess]

True, but a set of wrenches can do the job better than a single crescent wrench although you can make it work.
The right tool the more effective and easier the job. Taper matters.