I am sorry … I really don’t want to upset anybody. But I have got to get this off my chest.
What is all this hoopla over Tenkara? I guess I was really a trend setter in the 60’s and didn’t even know it. But back then, we just called it jigging a fly with a cane pole. There are some major differences that I don’t like. With the cane pole, we always used a stout line, and the line length was usually no longer than the pole. This allowed one to quickly land a big fish for releasing if desired.
With these Tenkara poles and the light leaders, you have to hand line the fish in. If you catch a large fish, you’ll have to exhaust the fish before you can bring it to you by hand. I fear this will result in more fish kills due to over exertion.
Am I the only one who sees this … or am I somehow mistaken?
Except for steelhead, I find myself hand lining more often than reeling a fish in regardless of using a Tenkara rod, or a rod and reel. It is pretty hard to reel up 10, 15, 20 feet of stripped line when a fish takes the fly. You adjust the size of the Tenkara rod to the size of fish you expect to catch. The light tippet guarantees a fish bigger than you can handle breaks off before you exhaust it. This should be true for Tenkara or rod and reel. Good catch and release techniques would have us protect the fish until it is capable of swimming away on its own regardless of equipment used. (See other threads on catch and release mortality…)
So, based on my experience, I don’t see much diference between raising a Tenkara rod up and swinging the line to you as opposed to high sticking a rod and reel, stripping in line and eventually taking the line in hand to land the fish.
And, to top it off, I was fishing with a cane pole last week, too. They’re made of fiberglass now…
Your mistaken. This subject has been beat to death. I have landed trout to 24 lnches and released them successfully. There are similarities but you are using a rod that weighs about 2 ounces not one that weighs two pounds.
It’s pretty easy to become informed. Just follow the link and read what a lot of inexperienced people ( like me, at the time ) and a lot of experienced people had to say about Tenkara.
As indicated above, the subject has been beat to death ( almost, anyway ) and it’s not likely this thread that you have started will take on any life. So it would probably be more productive to go where you can get some answers to your questions.
“it’s not likely this thread that you have started will take on any life. So it would probably be more productive to go where you can get some answers to your questions.”
He DID come to the right place … he’s here isn’t he??? Don’t put him down for asking.
I’m sorry fishingfiend … I failed to welcome you to FAOL! Glad you’re here! Ask ANYTHING you want, about anything … some of us will surely answer! New guy brings the donuts!
Since we are discussing rudimentary Tenekara, several years ago, I cut off about 10 ft. of level fly line added a leader and tied onto an extendo fiberlass pole. What is the difference in that and a Tenekara pole (rod).
Okaaaayyyy!!! I’ve gotten all kinds of answers, and thank you all for helping me “get informed”. I simply must respond to some of the above, or I won’t have any self respect left.
Bill Houk, I agree with most of your answer. However, the videos I watched, showed the angler with line about twice the length of the rod. He would get a hold of the line and the hand over hand the fish in. Fortunately for him, or the fish, everything he caught was small. If I tried to do that with a largemouth, I’d lose the fish or get a line burn that would take a week to heal.
Newtyer1 … Scott. While I do admit we kept a lot of fish … My Dad always taught me to only keep what I could eat that day. We would only start keeping enough to freeze when winter started threatening. So, I have been doing catch and release my entire life.
Betty, thank you for the welcome. I have been “message boarding” and chatting for about 15 years now. I have long since learned to NEVER take anything personal online. I can’t be offended online … and rarely can I in person. Thank you for defending me from JohnScott, though …
JohnScott … I tried going through the Tenkara posts, but there were way too many. I gave up after failing to see reasons why it is such a phenomenon. Truly, I am not attempting to change anyone’s mind … if you like it, more power too you. I just don’t get it, myself. Seeing a good fly rodder sail a long line through the air is a beautiful thing. Whipping a line a few feet at the end of a cane pole is … reminds me of my childhood, that’s all.
In closing, please please please … do not take offense at anything I am typing. I am a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy and very little that spills from my mind is serious.
Bottom line, from my point of view, is that Tenkara rods, which are quite different from cane poles and possibly very different than “an extendo fiberglass pole” mentioned by Jesse ( but I’m not sure exactly what an extendo fiberglass pole is and I have no inclination to find out ), is that Tenkara rods offer an option for certain situations where they have clear advantages over conventional fly angling gear. Perhaps if you had read further in the linked thread you would have picked up on that ??
As to Tenkara being a phenomenon, if it is, and that is your word, Fishingfriend, and not mine, that is likely due to the recent availability of Tenkara gear. Probably like the automobile was a phenomenon shortly after it became available to a public that was used to the horse and buggy.
I don’t think anyone around here is trying to change anyone’s mind. Just folks making information about various experiences available to those interested in using the resources.
My apologies for not recognizing you as a new member. Welcome!
Typically, a Tenkara line is one to one and one half the length of the pole. Some folks choose to push the envelope. If you saw video of people using longer lines they were not being consistent with the spirit of Tenkara. Of course, there are those who claim true fly fishing must be dry flies. I think you are required to wear a twead jacket with leather patches on the elbows too.
I too want to welcome you. I also did not notice your status. First off, Tenkara was and still is in Japan used in high mountainous regions because of the fact that these poles are extremely light and they collapes down to 20" or so. The lines be it level or furled(I prefer furled) are much shorter 1 to 1-1/2 times rod length than the conventional western style lines and there is no reel. They biggest plus to this style fishing is the simplicity and the lack of all the equipment we tend to take in Western style fly fishing. There are Tenkara nets that you can buy or make that range from 9" baskets to as large as you want but, a typical net I would assume is going to be smaller as generally you are catching smaller fish but, larger fish have been taken.I watched a Tenkara video the other day and the guy caught and released sucessfully a 9lb Brown trout. So just like a larger western style rod would be used for Salmon and larger rivers and smaller western style for small streams, this is just another tool in the toolbox per se. The reason I like it is because, I can take the pole, one line, a spool of tippet, net and a select set of flies and all this can fit in one pocket and take off up a stream in the SNP and for an older guy like me, lighter is better.
Thank you, Bill and Scott.
Your answers satisfied my curiosity. Where I live, there’s no rocky streams. There are shallow ponds, and sometimes you can follow a narrow stream through a tightly vegetated forest, but nothing like the beautiful mountain waters of trout country. So i was looking at this fishing style thinking, why would I want to do this from my boat or in a pond?
Now I understand what the deal is. I might look into the Tenkara pole. As light as you make it sound, it might be a blast to catch a 1 pound bluegill on such a rod.
Again, thank you … for the welcome and the explanations.
I’m not into Tenkara at all, but I did a lot of reading in the forum to get an idea of what it’s about. For what it’s worth, I found that:
Most people like it because it is different and they enjoy learning new skills.
Many like it for the practical tool it is for specific situations.
Many are attracted to the simpler nature of it.
A very few assign a higher value to it than any other form of fishing(the classic “Elitist” viewpoint that all fly fishers are accused of at some level).
A small subset of the “higher value” group hold it as a near religious truth not to be questioned in anyway. (Not so much on this site, thankfully.)
To sum it up, the appeal of Tenkara is much like the appeal of standard fly fishing. The concerns about stressing fish etc are valid, but they are valid in any kind of fishing, and Tenkara I don’t see as posing any higher risk. When done correctly, it actually seems less of a risk to me.
Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?
The dapping issue has been raised before. It depends on what you call dapping. If you are referring to dapping as described in Robert Boyle’s book Dapping The Exciting Way of Fishing Flies that Fly, Quiver and Jump, then no not at all. If you call using a fixed length line dapping then maybe.
As for being “modernized”, Boyle’s book is copyrighted in 2007 (Stackpole).
“like me,