Tenkara Fishing, really?

[riverdep]

I believe the year was 1949 when with the help of my dad I discovered Tenkara fishing. Really. I had a nice, thin bamboo pole, a long piece of string (level line) with a hook tied on the end with an impaled "wormfly". Little did I know that 67 years later major fishing manufactures would validate my little country-boy outfit, modernize it, and with a bunch of accessories sell it for around $250.00. Add to that, guides who specialize in Tenkara fishing, and you can see where all of this is going. I am all for simplicity and glad that some of my fellow fishermen enjoy it by getting back to basics; and of course those ancient villagers who had very limited resources had to make due with what was around them in order to fish. But to be true and honor what the tradition of Tenkara really is, shouldn't it be practiced in its most purest form? To me that means how you do it and what you do you do it with. Modern equipment, telescoping rods, 5X tippets and fluorocarbon lines seem to be getting away from what those ancients really had to use. I don't have my original bamboo outfit up in the attic somewhere. And if I did, I surely wouldn't use it as it took me way too long to to save up from my paper route and get one of those newfangled fly fishing outfits from the Sears & Roebuck catalog.

[Eric-WD]

I'm sorry, is there a point to this?

[Paul Arnold]

Indeed, riverdep, you arrived early at the tenkara party. 1949. I'm curious as to what flies you used with your thin o bamboo pole and piece of string. But, aw, c'mon. There is no need to mock something that others enjoy. How's about a little live and let live? ~Paul

[James Smith]

Down South, many people still use cane poles for fishing, albeit most of the time with a bobber and bait. I also know that the Native Americans employed a similar method of using a long thin branch with twine of some sort tied to the end of it, with a hook tied with a bunch of feathers dabbled along weed and brush lines for LM bass. I believe that Tenkara fishing as we know it, originated in Japan over 200 years ago. My two points are, 1. There are not a lot of actual "new" ideas as much as old ones reinvented. -and- 2 People can enjoy this type of fishing anyway they want to. If you prefer the way you learned it from your dad come on down South, you'll have plenty of company. Just bring along your five-gallon bucket to sit on and keep your fish and enjoy the company.

Jim Smith

[1hook]

I never got the point of tenkara, seems like having a reel just make sense, to each there own

[FishnDave]

The REEL problem (pun intended) is that good, straight, thin, flexible sticks are rather hard to find these days. Especially so for city folk. So we buy 'em. ;o) We pay good money, because somebody had to research and manufacture a good product for us to enjoy.
I don't currently own a Tenkara Rod, but I've certainly had fun many times fishing the same way Tenkara rods are used. I can appreciate the allure.

[philip43]

Italians used tenkara style rods in mountainous regions too. They were market fisherman. That also goes back a couple of hundred years (who knows, maybe more). Adios Philip

[CM_Stewart]

So did the British, the Germans, the French, the Spaniards... basically, anywhere anyone fished before reels were invented, and perhaps more importantly, before knotless fishing lines that would slide through rod guides were invented.

Strange that the original post didn't suggest that fly fishermen should honor the tradition of fly fishing by going back to greenheart rods and gut leaders. Same difference.

What most people who have not tried tenkara do not grasp is that the long rod and light line allow you to keep your line off the water's surface, so you get much less drag and you never "line" a fish. You really will catch more fish. For smaller streams, where you don't cast to your backing, and where fish don't run to your backing, not only do you not need backing, you don't need the reel to hold the backing you aren't going to use.

Fortunately, we don't get as many ridiculing posts as we used to, but there will always be people who put down things for which they are unable to see the benefits. Maybe they don't fish moving water. If they do, it's their loss.

[Rick Z]

Also it is good to use when there is no room to back cast.
The voice of experience.

Rick

[1hook]

cm Stewart, is it just the benefit of the longer rod? I wonder why they don't make regular fly rods long too, it seems like most don't go beyond 9ft

What do you do with your line when hiking in back country mountain streams?