Tenkara

[pszy22]

John,

I'm envious of your ability to take self portrait fish pictures. Unfortunately for me, this is how most of mine come out looking -


gonetomorrow.jpg

That's not a staged picture, a couple of seconds ago, there was a fish in that hand. By the time I got my camera in position and clicked the shutter, that's what was left.

I think Tenkara is a very fish friendly way to fish. Fish are almost always safely hooked in the jaw, and they are landed very fast (or break off quickly). I think that's why I have troubles with my pictures, the fish still have alot of energy and are tough to control one handed. I'm usually fishing waist deep, so all it takes is a good wiggle, and they are gone.

To be honest, other than a blow to my ego, I can't get too upset. Since I always fish catch and release anyway, landing a fish isn't a top priority. I've always played fish fast and hard, and I find I'm able to land fish even faster when fishing Tenkara. I would like to be able to get at least an occasional fishy picture, but all in all, that's a good trade off.

I may have to start showing my disbelieving friends and family members some of your pictures. I'm betting I can pass your hand off as mine so be sure to take off your watch and any other jewelery in any future photos. You can help this Tenkara brother out.

Keep up the good work, those are some great shots.

[Marco]

pszy22,
NICE HAND ! he says, unfortunately throwing the thread off in a tangent

Mark

[JohnScott]

I don't know how far you are from the Blackfoot, And this is off your topic, but I would really enjoy a trip on the Blackfoot threw your reports... Sorry to jump off topic.......

... is one of those bigger rivers, not exactly suited to Tenkara. But since you asked, Tim, here you go.

Upstream.


Downstream.


In between.


For good measure.


The first fish of the day was a 13-14" cutthroat that put a real bend in the Iwana before it broke off just as I was preparing to land and release it. Had another smaller fish in hand to go with the two pictured, and had several hits.

About ten days ago, I was in George Kesel's Four Rivers Fly Shop in Missoula. We were just shooting the breeze while George worked at setting up a new 5 wt switch rod rig, putting backing on the reel, adding line, making adjustments, etc. Since the amount of backing seemed more important for the intended application than having the full fly line on the reel, he proceded to cut off a length of the butt end of the running line and threw it in the trash.

In an instant, it occured to me that that piece of line might make for an interesting experiment. George graciously retreived the line from the trash and handed it to me. Later that day, I added a loop made of some backing he also provided before I left to one end of the line and put a perfection loop in the other end. 16' of floating line to fish off a Tenkara.

The Blackfoot proved to be the right testing ground. With the Iwana 12' rod, 16' of floating line, 12' of furled Tenkara line / leader, and 4' of 5X tippet, my reach would extend to the best part of 40' if the rig was castable. IT WAS CASTABLE. It took very little time to find the casting stroke that would fully extend the line / leader / tippet and turn over the fly, and once I found it, it was most enjoyable casting and fishing this set up. Between the floating line and a fly that floats well was that good old Danville 210 submerged and doing its part to maintain a good drift.



Not that the fishing was fast and furious or anything like that, but the point was to see if the rig would work, and it did.

This is a really limited rig, however. First of all, you have to fish it at close to its full length to have a chance of hooking the fish when it hits the fly. That eliminates fishing a lot of water directly upstream or downstream or close in. The most effective presentation was somewhat up and across at close to the full length of the rod, line, leader, and tippet. Since you can't adjust the length of the rig, wading is key to how much water you can cover and how effectively you can fish it. **

The other issue is how much hand lining you have to do to land a fish. Something like 20' plus of line, leader, and tippet. Not my prefered way to bring in a fish, but it was kind of interesting to have such a direct connection to them and feel the way they moved about as they approached the landing.

Anyway, if you have been thinking that a Tenkara rod is too limited to fish the kind of water you like to fish, be aware that the Iwana 12' and certainly the Yamame will handle quite a lot of line very nicely.**

John

** It occurred to me while on the Blackfoot that setting up the tip end of the floating line with an overhand knot and using a girth hitch to connect the furled line / leader makes for a simpler set up. It just dawned on me that with girth hitches on the lillian at the rod tip and the tip end of the floating line, it would be easy and quick to change out lengths of floating line to adjust to the size of the water you are fishing. DUH !!

[WarrenP]

John,

I have had this idea in my head and since you are experimenting, I thought I would "throw it out" and see what you think. It may be a crazy idea and may not be worth trying, but, since I do not own a Tenkara rod and you do, I will let you decide. As I was watching a "you tube" video of a young man fishing a Tenkara, I noticed that each time he hooked a fish he would reach up towards the rod with his left hand like he was reaching for the fly line to strip the fish in as you would with a regular fly rod set up. This got me to thinking....

If you put a fly rod tip on the Tenkara and a line guide at each section on the end of the "female" end of the ferrule and a hook keeper in front of the cork handle, you could fasten the fly line you used to the hook keeper and run the fly line through the guides and out the tip. This would allow you to strip in line to land a fish and make it easier to cast all that line. With the line guides on the "female" end of each section, you would still be able to collapse the rod down to the line guides. I know that each section would not be able to go inside the others, but, it would still collapse to a pretty short length.

Just thinking out loud and nothing more....

[CM_Stewart]

John,

If you put a fly rod tip on the Tenkara and a line guide at each section on the end of the "female" end of the ferrule and a hook keeper in front of the cork handle, you could fasten the fly line you used to the hook keeper and run the fly line through the guides and out the tip. This would allow you to strip in line to land a fish and make it easier to cast all that line. With the line guides on the "female" end of each section, you would still be able to collapse the rod down to the line guides. I know that each section would not be able to go inside the others, but, it would still collapse to a pretty short length.

Did that with one of my crappie rods before I could get a real tenkara rod. It works, after a fashion, but you are then far enough away from the "fish close" connection and simplicity of tenkara that in my opinion you might as well just stick with your fly rod.

[JohnScott]

I'm not interested in changing the rod - just trying to explore the possibilities and limitations of the Tenkara rod as it is.

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that the things that you experience / learn fishing one of these rods translate to fishing your conventional gear, just like the things I learned while playing around with a spey rod translated to how I use my regular fly rods, and some of the things I do with the Tenkara actually trace back to the experience with the spey rod.

John

[Ron Eagle Elk]

John,

Not to change the subject or anything, but are you still bringing one or more Tenkara Rods to the Idaho Fish-In? I was hoping to have one by then, but things happen. Would love to try fishing one for an afternoon.

REE

[pszy22]

I'm not sure how well the tip top/guides would work out on a Tenkara Rod. The top most 4 or 5 sections very flexible, the rods bend in quite an extreme arc when under load, they may not be able to handle the different way the force was applied to them via the line and guides. The Tenkara rods have a different set of design assumptions then are used on rods which employ guides.

Regarding line length, I've found the Tenkara rods will cast a very wide range of line weights and lengths. I tend to fish a long line/leader (i.e. 25 - 30') when fishing still water environments where I don't have to be concerned with drag and such. I usually fish a shorter line on moving waters just to have better control with regards to fly manipulation.

[CaseyP]

just got a tenkara as a gift today. fished a creek that usually sneers at me. lost count early on and had a ball. even that venerable old war horse, the Royal Wulff, brought me fish (plural!)

however, my shoulders are killing me! what am i doing wrong? holding the rod too far out or too high, maybe?

also, i lost an awful lot of fish because i set the hook too delicately at first, or they came off when i grabbed the line to try to land them. gotta practice this. how very cool to have such problems!

[pszy22]

Sounds like you had a great first time out.

I do have some fish come off when I grab the line, but since I fish c&R, I view that as an advantage.

Regarding your shoulder, when I first started, my arm got tired after a few hours of fishing the longer rods (13' +). I actually now prefer to fish an 11' or 12' rod. They almost seem weightless and I can fish all day with them.

Have you been extending your arm to try to get more range/reach? You may want to try to lengthen your line or leader to add a bit of range to you cast. Just a thought.