Today I decided to try fishing with my Yamame tenkara rod out on the tube. I was very happy with the results. I used a small size 12 bluegill popper most of the time and found this fly easy to cast and control. I caught several bass in the 8 - 11 inch range as well as some bluegills. My hit to fish landed ratio while using the popper was much better than is usual for me and I liked only making one backcast all the time. Fishing this way was much less stressful and relaxing as well as effective. I’ll be doing this again.
Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing 
Thanks Gig. I always thought tenkara fishing from a tube or kayak would be a great way to catch bluegills, crappies or other tenkara sized fishies. When bluegills or crappies are bedding the simplicity of the tenkara system should let me really rake 'em in.
I’ll have to give this a try. What length rod were you using?
I was using my 12 ft. rod. I have used my 15 ft. rod from the kayak but it seemed a little clumsy especially when launching and landing…might have been just because I’m not used to it.
Which 15’ rod do you have?
I would think that the ones that only collapse to 40"+ would be a bit cumbersome in a kayak or tube.
CM Stewart,
My 15 ft. tenkara rod is the kasugo-4509 from allfishingbuy.com. It’s a decent rod but the Yamame I have from Tenkara USA is a lot nicer.
Last Sunday I decided to try using the 15 ft. Tenkara rod and see how that would work from a tube. The verdict? It worked great! I got around the clumsy launch while managing a 15 ft. rod by leaving it collapsed with the line attached until I got out on the water. I did the reverse when landing.
I really, really liked the way it fished. I could probe little pockets and corners in weeds, fish in and around tree branches and cast with far more precision and control than I ever could with conventional fly tackle. I even trolled. The net result was 17 bluegills and two crappies brought to hand out of a pond whose water was about the color of pea soup but thinner.