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I'm interested because I spend a LOT of time fishing the high back-country. Just wondering--have any of you tried this style of fishing? Your reactions?
I'm always looking for ways to lighten my backpacking load, but I'm not so sure about this. Thoughts, ideas? I'm just looking for feedback from some of the most respected sources around... ;-)
John
If you're not familiar, this should give you an idea:
http://www.tenkarausa.com/
Imagine a fly rod with no reel...
Looks like a collapsible dapping rod to me. 11' for small streams?
If you really want a backcountry dapping rod, don't carry a rod at all.
Cut yourself a switch, screw in some eyelets, string it up and dap away!
Throw it away when finished fishing and find another the next day or use it again if the "taper" is to your liking.
I'm sure the tenkara rods are very nice, but personally, I would invest in a 3 or 4 piece packable rod if you don't want to go primitive.
Just my thoughts!
Bob
Jburge,
Intriguing method.
After reading through the site, I think it would be a very effective technique on any smaller stream. I can even envision where it might work on some larger waters too...czech nymphing at it's most refined, maybe?
In any event, at $130 to $180 for a rod, they aren't all that expensive. It's obvious, though, that you don't have to have their proprietary rods to use the technique. Those 'crappie poles' might be a bit longer to pack, but it would certainly be cheaper to 'try' the technique with. If you like it, then you could spring for the 'real thing'.
I might just have to get one of those poles and give it a try on the Animas in Durango next summer...the longer reach would let me drop nymphs into some areas I couldn't reach this past season...
Buddy
Yeah!
I tried this "technique" for the last season and a half.
I've used a Chinese telescoping rod in approx.-6' 5wt, that collapses to about 1.5ft.
I attached my fly reel to the two rings on the foam handle. It works good.
It has caught pretty much everything from Apache trout to Rainbows in the great State of AZ.
I even caught, and landed, a 3ft. carp on it last summer in AUG. I sure wish somebody other than family would have been there for the catches on this rod.
My brother-in-law got me the rod as a "kit" from China, because he didn't know that much about fishing, other than his new brother-in-law liked fishing. After a bit of re-fitting of the rod it has been my fav for such time.
anything here?
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...hlight=tenkara
This, for me, would come close to taking everything enjoyable out'a fly fishing....
Not for this cat. Good luck with this if it suits ya.
Diff'rent strokes...
Jeremy.
jburge,Quote:
Originally Posted by jburge
I've fished with a tenkara rod for two full seasons now, and based on your post, I think it would be ideal for you and I am certain that you would like it.
What the scoffers fail to realize is that tenkara is not dapping. You cast your fly, using the weight of the line to propel the fly, just as in fly fishing. However, the rods are so sensitive that you can cast a fly with an almost unbelieveably light line. Because the rods are very long and the line is very light, you can fish with only the fly and a bit of tippet in the water, so you can hit all those little pockets and eddies in small streams without the line dragging your fly out of the pocket. When you're done fishing, it collapses to easily fit in your backpack, and your whole kit - rod, line, tippet, flies, etc will weigh less than half what conventional pack rod and reel weighs.
Please don't try to use a crappie rod, even just to try it out to see if you'd like it. Before you could buy a tenkara rod in the US, that's what I did. I now have more crappie rods than tenkara rods, and more tenkara rods than fly rods. Tenkara rods have evolved over hundreds of years in Japan, just as fly rods have evolved over hundreds of years in England and the US. How many people would suggest that someone interested in taking up fly fishing buy a crappie rod instead, even one with guides and a fly rod style reel seet (who needs a Sage? Save money and buy one of these instead: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...233&hasJS=true
They're just not the same, and you would run a very real risk of not even trying what is a wonderful way to fish because the cheap substitute really didn't work very well (and it won't). Save your twelve bucks - the whuppin' stick won't cast a fly with a light line. I seriously doubt you could cut a willow switch bankside that would either.
Don't just imagine a fly rod with no reel, imagine a 0 weight (or 000) that casts beautifully, allows you to fish not just pocket water, but vestpocket water, makes an 8" fish feel much bigger, but has the backbone to land an 18 incher, fits in your backpack and weighs under 3 ounces.
Don't let the naysayers dissuade you. They haven't tried it.
edited to add: I'm a hard core fisherman. Head over to http://www.backpackinglight.com for a hard core backpacker's perspective.
I agree with CM. I have a close friend who helped in bringing this brand over to the US. It is far different than Crappie poling. It is like Cm said, more of a 0wt or smaller. This is for extremely tight mtn streams. Basically kinda like a fly rod, without the floating line. You are casting a braided leader, tippet and the fly.
Wow, you guys are great. I knew I could get some good input and info. I will definitely research this more. Most of the places I fish in the high Sierra are small freestone streams with an abundance of pocket water. Every once in a while, I work a lake, but it's usually because it's close to one of the streams. Anybody ever use this technique in a lake?
Here's another question for you all... what about landing the bigger fish? How difficult is that? CM, you mention the 18-incher. I can see no problem with the 9-10 inchers, but having a bigger and more aggressive boy out at the end... hmmm...
Thanks!
John
I can see tenkara fly fishing being a killer method for catching crappies, bluegills and even some bass when they are in shallow water. I used to use a 16 ft. telescoping graphite pole for a lot of panfishing. It was great; light as a feather, simplicity itself and I could used floats that would submerge with the lightest bites. A tenkara rod would only be better.
John,
I think there are some posts on the Tenkara USA forum from guys who have used tenkara rods in alpine lakes for trout and warmwater ponds for bluegills and small to medium sized bass. I've used mine mostly on streams, and I think the real advantages of tenkara rods over regular fly rods are most evident in current, and the limitation on casting distance is a bigger drawback in lakes. That said, the long rod and light line, and keeping the line off the water allows you to give poppers and small streamers more delicate twitches and direction changes than you can with a shorter rod and heavier line.
Tenkara is not a big fish method, and beyond a certain size, they're going to get away. I've caught several trout between 17 and 18" on 5X and 6X tippets, and other guys I know of have caught larger fish. With the rod held high, the angle of the line and the progressive bend of the rod forces a fish's head up as it tries to run (just like a swing goes up rather than straight out when you push someone), and they expend a lot of their energy splashing around on the surface. Also, 5x tippet is really pretty hard to break with a gradual increase in tension, like a fish pulling against a supple rod, especially if it doesn't have to drag 50 or 90 feet of flyline through the water behind it. Plus, I don't know how long it takes a trout to reach full speed, but with no drag to work against, it starts feeling ever increasing tension within a few feet when fighting against a fixed line. If the fish is big enough that you can't stop the first run, it will break your tippet and be free in a seconds. (You MUST use light tippet, otherwise it will break your rod and be free in seconds.) If you can stop the first run, it will tire pretty quickly and you can net it in a relatively short time - you never have to regain 50 feet of line against current and you now know you don't have to baby it. Either way, the fight is brief. Also, in my experience (admittedly limited) larger trout in relatively small streams tend to fight in the pool where you hooked them rather than take off for the next county. A big trout in a big river is probably different, and you're probably not going to land it.
Thank y'all so much! I am now stocked with more information, tips, sites, and videos than I ever imagined. I will definitely report back on my progress and fishing experiences. Gotta move fairly quickly though. Many of our trout streams are closed after Nov. 15.
John
For long hike-ins to small mountain streams, it is a great tool and style of fly fishing. And make no mistake: it IS fly fishing...not dapping. It is not a crappie pole, cane pole, etc. It is a DIFFERENT type of fly fishing. In the west, we define fly fishing as a style that requires a cast wherein the rod transfers energy to a line and the line weight propels a virtually weightless lure to the target vs the weight of the lure being used to launch it to the target. It is not required by this definition that one shoot line (line advancing beyond the rod tip during the cast). Well, Tenkara fishing definitely meets the requirements of this definition. And the greatest advantage has already been stated: the equipment allows one to fish with virtually no line on the water. Thus, it is an incredibly effective way to fish small pocket water...plunge pools, eddies, highly technical current seams with incredibly life-like action on extremely convincing (no excess weight or bulk required) fly patterns and smooth, slow-moving pools created by beaver dams and such.
I have been fly fishing Tenkara Style, ever since "Old Rupe' wrote, "Tenkara and the Fine Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"!
Tenkara and the Fine Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Back then there was only one site on the internet about Tenkara...
My Best Streams - Tenkara Fly Fishing and Fly Tying
I have had my Grandson Tanner, fly fishing for the past year, using a 3 weight fly rod, using only a tapered leader and a wet fly. Together we sit on the end of the dock, catching perch, crappies, and sunfish. When Tanner gets older I will add the reel and line to the fly rod, when he is ready to practice catching "Lawn Trout"!
Since when I started there are a multitude of Tenkara sites on the internet, but my favorite is still "My Best Streams"!
I even built my own "Tenkara" fly rod, san reel seat, and stripping and snake guides. I even started dressing "Tenkara Style Flies"! ~Parnelli
Well, I did promise a report back... I purchased and received a Tenkara rod 3 weeks ago, but it wasn't until yesterday that I was able to get up to one of my favorite Sierra streams to try it out. This was my first experience "Tenkara-style", and what a lot of fun! I tried to also simulate the ultralight backpacking mode, so I only took one small foam box of flies. The bite has definitely slowed, but with fish and scenery like this the days don't get much better ;-)
John
Streamside
http://takeahike.us.com/tenkara/IMG_4040.JPG
My first Tenkara rainbow
http://takeahike.us.com/tenkara/IMG_4046.JPG
The canyon on the way out
http://takeahike.us.com/tenkara/IMG_4047.JPG
John -
Don't know how I missed this thread until now ( must have been started when I was down in Idaho without my computer ) but I'm glad I found it with your current post. Some very interesting information.
Glad your first outing was enjoyable and successful. Will look forward to some more reports on how you do with it.
John
Wow...that's wierd. I found out about Tenkara today BEFORE I saw this thread. Interesting concept. Sort of like a Pocket Fisherman of fly rods. ;):lol:
I actually think it's pretty neat as it could go anywhere and be ready anytime, like on a geocache hike.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zhoyt
I'm weird when it comes to this stuff. I don't consider czech nymphing fly fishing (IF IF IF that is the only method you employ... no casting = no fly fishing.)
I don't know what to think about this tenkara. no fly line, no shooting cast, etc. etc. It just doesn't seem to be for me. But thank you for opening my eyes to a new form of fishing. I never knew it existed.
It's definitely different. Being my first time out, I kept feeling like my left hand had to hold on to something. And, casting the furled leader with about 2 feet of tippet was a new feeling too. I'm sure with more practice I'll get better with the presentations. For now, I am really pleased with the light-weight aspect of it all and can see how it can be used in some alpine creeks for little goldens. I may have also jumped into a new addiction--I built up a leader board yesterday and started furling on my own. Oh boy ;-)
John
If my only goal when FLY fishing was to catch as many fish as I can I might just dredge a run with 6 czech nymphs using a Tenkara FISHING rod.
As someone said, this Tenkara stuff would just take too much away from the FLY FISHING experience for me.
I gave up grannys cane pole and bobber 40-some years ago and ain't going back.
Ya'll enjoy though but PLEASE... don't include Tenkara as fly fishing. Even though they conveniently added a 'fly' for marketing to Americans, you might do better using Power Bait or just Super Glueing crickets on that 'furled' leader! :rolleyes:
Jackster, I appreciate your feedback and experience, and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, "...the FLY FISHING experience for me." That's how YOU see it. Great! Here's how I see it: to be standing in water that is brisk and gin clear, to feel the sun warming your face, to hear that symphonic sound of moving water, to smell the pines, to gracefully set up your loops and then artfully lay down your hand-tied fly in a pocket you just KNOW holds fish, to see the perfect dead drift, and then with a quick splash, watch as a bullet head rises up, takes the fly, and gives that wild and wooly tug--that's fly fishing for me. As you know, fly fishing includes infinitesimal amounts of equipment, myriads of techniques and traditions that date back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It really doesn't matter whether or not you're double-hauling, stripping, spey-casting, dapping, or nymphing, whether you have shooting heads, furled leaders, or fluorocarbon tippet. IMO bottom line is, we get to see, feel, hear, and experience more than most people will ever know--the ART of fishing with a fly. We're in it together and that's awesome. Fish on.
Joan Wulff casting a Tenkara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWt7uf4VyvU