Tenkara

[bluegill576 0]

I found out about Tenkara for the first time and I am really interested in it. Anybody on the forum tie tenkara flies or fish with a tenkara rod? For those of you who don't know what tendara is like me a few days ago, it is the traditional japanese style of fly fishing and uses only a rod, line, and fly, that's right NO reel! The rods are usualy pretty long (11-15ft) and the line is attached to the end of the rod about a 14ft line that is furled but I forget what it's made of and some tippet at the end. They also have different style flies that look really affective. The style that intreags me the most is the sakasa kebari style which has the hackle reversed. It is a much simpilar way of fly fishing and there are lots of tenkara fly fisherman who only use one fly pattern! They believe in focusing more on presentation and overal shape of the fly than matching the hatch perfectly. Supposedly it is very effective and many people think it is more effective than the western style of fly fishing we all know. Here is a link to a website with some info: http://www.tenkarausa.com/ and a blog of some tenkara guides in Utah: http://tenkaraguides.com/Home/Welcome.html

[ikerajala 0]

Tenkara looks like fun!!!

I highly Recommend cutting a willow by a stream and using it as a fish pole like I once did in grade school.I recently read about people doing this in favorite flies and their histories.But that might take the fun out of tenkara.What I mean is some rod nut will want to by a tenkara rod.Why would we want to take this privilige away from them?

[bluegill576 0]

Tenkara looks like fun!!!

I highly Recommend cutting a willow by a stream and using it as a fish pole like I once did in grade school.I recently read about people doing this in favorite flies and their histories.But that might take the fun out of tenkara.What I mean is some rod nut will want to by a tenkara rod.Why would we want to take this privilige away from them.

Well I don't think making a rod from a willow is the sane because the tenkara rods are pretty advanced lightweight graphite that is also telescopic so it will go down to 20 inches

[Mickalo 0]

I was reading about Tenkara fly fishing a while back and it reminded me allot of my dad when I was growing up in WI 45+ years ago. My dad and I fished allot on the WI river and he always used a fiber glass telescoping rod, no reel, about 12-14 ft long with a line tied at the end about the length of rod, a bait hook, bobber, some weight and either chubs or worms, to fish for walleyes. Some of the largest walleyes, and some northerns, where catch on that rod setup. It reminded me of this Tenkara type fishing. I found it interesting that this Japanese style of fishing was the same thing my Dad did many years ago

 

Mike

[bluegill576 0]

I was reading about Tenkara fly fishing a while back and it reminded me allot of my dad when I was growing up in WI 45+ years ago. My dad and I fished allot on the WI river and he always used a fiber glass telescoping rod, no reel, about 12-14 ft long with a line tied at the end about the length of rod, a bait hook, bobber, some weight and either chubs or worms, to fish for walleyes. Some of the largest walleyes, and some northerns, where catch on that rod setup. It reminded me of this Tenkara type fishing. I found it interesting that this Japanese style of fishing was the same thing my Dad did many years ago

 

Mike

Thats a good point. It does seem to be the simplest form of fly fishing

[Horseshoes 0]

I came upon this rod once and I bought it and never knew what it was. one day I tied my fly line to the end and fished a river and caught perch, bass and trout with it.Itwas fun trying to bring in the catch. I did post a picture in the other fishing forum and asked if anyone knew what they were. It was not until tonight after reading your post did I not only find out what it was called but that I actually used it in the proper way. It is a different model and is 14 feet long. Thank you.

[H.Champagne 0]

that is freakin cool, great post.

[bluegill576 0]

I came upon this rod once and I bought it and never knew what it was. one day I tied my fly line to the end and fished a river and caught perch, bass and trout with it.Itwas fun trying to bring in the catch. I did post a picture in the other fishing forum and asked if anyone knew what they were. It was not until tonight after reading your post did I not only find out what it was called but that I actually used it in the proper way. It is a different model and is 14 feet long. Thank you.

Glad I helped!

[flytire 0]

Well I don't think making a rod from a willow is the sane because the tenkara rods are pretty advanced lightweight graphite that is also telescopic so it will go down to 20 inches

 

too bad they didnt have special rods that shrink down to 20" when tenkara first came about

 

some history

 

http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=688#more-688

 

http://www.tenkara.co.za/tenkara/index.htm

[bluegill576 0]

Well I don't think making a rod from a willow is the sane because the tenkara rods are pretty advanced lightweight graphite that is also telescopic so it will go down to 20 inches

 

too bad they didnt have special rods that shrink down to 20" when tenkara first came about

 

some history

 

http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=688#more-688

 

http://www.tenkara.co.za/tenkara/index.htm

Sorry you misunderstood. I meant in present times.

[Jolly Red 0]

Probably not the same, but we used to take a collapsible crappie pole, about 12' long, and use it to "dab" lures and flies for bass, bluegill and crappie in the heavy lilly pads and brush around the shallow lakes and ponds. Used a flyline for the main part of the line, with a mono leader. The fly line didn't blow as much in the wind. Caught lots of fish that way, sometimes even got a catfish. Didn't think it was flyfishing, just called it "dabbing".

[CM_Stewart 0]

I found out about Tenkara for the first time and I am really interested in it. Anybody on the forum tie tenkara flies or fish with a tenkara rod? For those of you who don't know what tendara is like me a few days ago, it is the traditional japanese style of fly fishing and uses only a rod, line, and fly, that's right NO reel! The rods are usualy pretty long (11-15ft) and the line is attached to the end of the rod about a 14ft line that is furled but I forget what it's made of and some tippet at the end. They also have different style flies that look really affective. The style that intreags me the most is the sakasa kebari style which has the hackle reversed. It is a much simpilar way of fly fishing and there are lots of tenkara fly fisherman who only use one fly pattern! They believe in focusing more on presentation and overal shape of the fly than matching the hatch perfectly. Supposedly it is very effective and many people think it is more effective than the western style of fly fishing we all know. Here is a link to a website with some info: http://www.tenkarausa.com/ and a blog of some tenkara guides in Utah: http://tenkaraguides.com/Home/Welcome.html

 

I learned about it several years ago, and since then all my trout fishing has been with a tenkara rod (bluegill fishing still some ultra light spin fishing, some tenkara). Some of the tenkara lines are furled, but not all. The furled ones can be furled from mono, tying thread or even kevlar thread. They also use level lines, which is what I prefer, and those are made from a hi-vis fluorocarbon. You could use nylon mono, but the greater density of fluorocarbon makes it much easier to cast.

 

The sakasa kebari fly pattern is a generic attractor type of wet fly. Even people who use only on pattern do tie it in different colors, although they might just limit it to "dark" (for example black thread, brown hackle) and "light" (gray thread, grizzly hackle). In Japan, tenkara fishing is done on high gradient mountain streams, where the fish don't have the luxury of examining their food carefully. If the presentation is good and it looks like it even might be food, they take it - not unlike our brookies. Tenkara patterns are very effective here for browns and rainbows as well, but much more so in riffles and pocket water than in long glassy pools. In general, matching the hatch is less important for wet flies, and particularly in pocket water.

 

The flies can be fished with a Western rod and reel, but you can get more out of them with a tenkara rod and line. Not only is a tenkara rod very long, it is designed to be able to cast a very light line. For that reason, it really isn't at all the same as the canes pole that people here fished as kids with bobbers and worms,m or even the cheap fiberglass telescopic crappie poles. You can easily cast a 14-15' line consisting of nothing more than 0X fluorocarbon, to which you add maybe 4' of 5X. The long rod and extremely light line allow you to keep virtually all your line off the water, nearly eliminating drag. The presentations you can get really are better, so you really do catch more fish (although of course, the fish you catch are all within about 20' of where you're standing. One other point on the rods, they are very good at protecting light tippets, so landing 20" trout on 5X tippet, even with no reel, is certainly possible and probably takes less time than if you had a reel because you never have to regain any line. If it doesn't break you off on the first run, there is no reason to baby it and you can land it pretty quickly.

 

The advantage is greater for streams than for lakes and ponds, because in streams casts tend to be shorter and drag is an ever present issue. For fishing ponds for bluegills, the only real advantage is that the soft rod makes them feel like they're twice as big as they are. Plus, if you're fishing from a tube or kayak, you don't have all that excess line catching on everything.

 

Give it a try. It really is a lot of fun.

[chrismartin 0]

Sorry guys, but to be totally honest, the Tenkara style looks incredibly limiting in my mind. I'll admit that if all you're doing is small stream fishing for small fish, Tenkara seems like a very "pure" and "classic" style. I 've had some great days casting soft hackle wets on a 2wt for small trout, but for me those days are few and far between. I would much rather chuck chickens on a 10 wt all day, looking for muskie, or pound the banks of a river with big articulated streamers trying to fool monster browns. Catching bait can be fun occasionally, but lets be honest... we all want to catch bigger fish.

 

Progress in fly fishing and fly tying has made the sport more exciting and opende the dors to sport fish that nobody thought fly fisherman could catch. I guess there will always be those who want to return to the roots of the sport, but for me, Bass, Muskie, Tarpon, Barracuda, Carp and other non-traditional fly fishing quarry are far more exciting than 8" trout. Now, who wants to go catch some shark on the fly? Is there a tenkara rod for that?

[TheCream 0]

Sorry guys, but to be totally honest, the Tenkara style looks incredibly limiting in my mind. I'll admit that if all you're doing is small stream fishing for small fish, Tenkara seems like a very "pure" and "classic" style. I 've had some great days casting soft hackle wets on a 2wt for small trout, but for me those days are few and far between. I would much rather chuck chickens on a 10 wt all day, looking for muskie, or pound the banks of a river with big articulated streamers trying to fool monster browns. Catching bait can be fun occasionally, but lets be honest... we all want to catch bigger fish.

 

Progress in fly fishing and fly tying has made the sport more exciting and opende the dors to sport fish that nobody thought fly fisherman could catch. I guess there will always be those who want to return to the roots of the sport, but for me, Bass, Muskie, Tarpon, Barracuda, Carp and other non-traditional fly fishing quarry are far more exciting than 8" trout. Now, who wants to go catch some shark on the fly? Is there a tenkara rod for that?

 

Not to get too sidetracked, but I don't know that I could agree less with your post. I also enjoy fly fishing for big uglies, the same bass and carp you mention, but small stream trout fishing still has something special about it for me. It's your opinion that you don't want to "catch bait," but don't make the mistake of assuming everyone thinks the way you do. I know a ton of folks who would rather wade a tiny stream in WV for brookies than set foot on a larger river holding larger fish where you'll likely be elbow-to-elbow with other fishermen. Do we all want to catch bigger fish? Not necessarily. I like catching big bass and carp and crappies and catfish, but I still make several trips to small streams every year to chase tiny brookies and bows. I enjoy it, and I know a lot of other folks do, too.

 

Back to tenkara...I'd never try it. I need the reel.

[H.Champagne 0]

yea, i see the point about bigger fish and the grab can be exciting. i enjoyed it more in my younger days of bass and pike fishing. I even lived in naples florida for awhile & caught some hogs, but i wouldnt trade it for a january weekend in southern minnesota tying size 22 midges in my hotel room and freezing all day long catching beautiful brookies and browns. Though i def will go out in the middle of summer and chase pike with a fly and it is a great time, it just lacks that feeling for me, that dark, smokey adventurous vibe achieved on cold rivers in the middle of nowhere with steaming coffee and such an acute silence that you can hear the paper burning on your cigarette. The point being, thats my fly fishing, its what got me into it, and we all have that thing about it, whether its bright sun on a beautiful flat or swinging intruders for steelhead, we all got our thing. But i dont view it as "classic or pure" for the sake of being classic. I try new techniques and new flies and new rivers, and though i know hardly anything about tenkara, i bet there are guys out there that see an advantage to it and try to make it better. But, if you dig chasing monsters, and like you said, we all do, do it up but progress in fly fishing is not just chasing bigger and crazier fish.

 

PS: i would be lying if i said i didn't go nuts when i catch a huge brown trout.....it just isnt my only goal