tenkara style fishing

[jburge]

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...

[Dave E]

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0037320120340a.shtml


Best, Dave

[bobbyg]

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

[Buddy Sanders]

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

[Daniel J]

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.

[Normand]

anything here?

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...hlight=tenkara

[Jeremy]

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.

[CM_Stewart]

I spend a LOT of time fishing the high back-country.


I'm always looking for ways to lighten my backpacking load.



Imagine a fly rod with no reel...

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.

[zhoyt]

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.

[jburge]

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