Guest Report post Posted March 13, 2016 I just don't get it. Watched a guy wade all over the stream tryin to cast work the fly. Then when he caught one that miraculously hadn't been spooked bent his rod all the way behind himself after backing up forever...then grabbed the line and hand lines the fish to a goofy looking net! Old timers tied 10' of cat gut on a cane pole and worked riffles but tryin to fish w 20' of line with a jazzy telescopic crappie pole is a comedy...I don't get it!! What's with the hackle backwards on the flies? The whole deal looks retarded... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave G. 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 We don't need to know the why part really. What I know is It stems from a different culture, some people like it. I don't get it either FWIW, but the ones doing it find some sort of satisfaction, I imagine, or they wouldn't do it. My cousin fished a fixed length of line on a glass rod in stream pools many moons ago ( although from the edges of the pool), back when we were kids around 1960ish. Did well on native brookies. The flies were traditional dry flies, I don't recall the hackle being on backwards. But backwards hackle says "so much for the perfect traditional tie" LOL ! It Doesn't Matter in the big scheme of things. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Poopdeck 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 I think fly fishing has become to mainstream for our tweed wearing brethren so they take up the ancient Japanese art of tenkara fishing. I hope tenkara does not catch on to the point where we have to scrap all the Latin bug terminology and replace it with Japanese bug names. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave G. 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 I think fly fishing has become to mainstream for our tweed wearing brethren so they take up the ancient Japanese art of tenkara fishing. I hope tenkara does not catch on to the point where we have to scrap all the Latin bug terminology and replace it with Japanese bug names. So the Tickle Me Elmo form of fly fishing then. I can't keep up with the existing names for traditional flies never mind learn a whole new set to accommodate the tweed bunch. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
josephcsylvia 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 While we might think its weird, im sure we look quite strange to guys who dont fly fish at all but cast from a dry bank and catch more fish a day because they can cover more water Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 LOL ... This discussion gets some people more riled up than politics or religion. I don't get a lot of things about most fishing styles. $55,000.00 bass boats, $1000.00 rods and reels in fly fishing, using jugs or trot lines and calling that fishing ... I just fish for fun, and don't get all the push for more expensive equipment, etc. So, when I first saw anything about Tenkara fishing ... I thought back to the cane pole with a few feet of fly line, some mono and a popper that my Dad gave me before he let me use a fly rod. I just figured "tenkara" was Japanese for "cane pole". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
josephcsylvia 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 Im still amazed that a rod can go from 6" to 13' and not break lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kentuckysteve 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 Tenkara fishing started with cane poles originally.In the world we live in today i think people were too embarrassed to fish with cane poles because they looked too cheap so they took a telescopic crappie rod and tied a line on the end and now call it a tenkara rod.Too me it is still a crappie pole.Just like everything else in the fishing world...the cheap stuff still works great but theres always the market for the folks who don't want to be seen using the cheap stuff.I'm not knocking tenkara fishing because i have a couple really small streams where you cant cast a fly rod and i think a fly on the end of a cane pole...er excuse me...a tenkara rod would work great a be a lot of fun,I dont see me buying an expensive rod to do it though.Walmart sells telescopic rods for $7 and they will work great.I am another one of those guy's who dont believe you have to spend a ton of money to fish and have a great time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 Well, if there's ever a lag in fly fishing, and someone wants to "revive" it ... we'll just call it "Cyclorrhapha halieutics". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flytire 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 People seem to ridicule other individuals methods of fishing because its not the way they fish Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
josephcsylvia 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 This is an interesting artical. Tenkara is there word for traditional fishing with a feathered hook line and pole. Doesnt say it needs to be telescopic ect and im sure it was just a peice of cane or bamboo originally, then like anything else it became commercialized. http://www.tenkarausa.com/kebari-tsuri-and-the-name-tenkara/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 People seem to ridicule other individuals methods of fishing because its not the way they fish I have never "ridiculed" other forms of fishing. In fact, I DO most other forms of fishing. I do have a problem with giving simple fishing a fancy name just so they can charge more money for things like cane poles. And I have a problem with "fishing" with trot lines or other mass catch forms of harvesting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kentuckysteve 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 I wasnt making fun of the tenkara fisherman.To each his own.I would even try it myself.I just would not put a lot of money into equipment to do it with but if that's your thing then by all means go for it.A lot of you guy's that are 50 or older like me started out fishing this way.Heck ...my dad put a tenkara rod in my hands when i was 6 or 7 yrs old.Only back then we still called it "cane pole" fishing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
josephcsylvia 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 People seem to ridicule other individuals methods of fishing because its not the way they fish I have never "ridiculed" other forms of fishing. In fact, I DO most other forms of fishing. I do have a problem with giving simple fishing a fancy name just so they can charge more money for things like cane poles. And I have a problem with "fishing" with trot lines or other mass catch forms of harvesting. Mike, it wasn't giving a fancy name, its just another countries translation of "traditional" In fact for small tight streams most of us fish the same way, with just a length of line out of the rod tip and roll casting it. Like anything else though someones always trying to make a buck lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hatchet Jack 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2016 Tenkara, one definition - "from the sky". Given a people with access to wonderful bamboo combined with a deep appreciation of art, it's no surprise to me that this form of fishing has evolved for fishing their tiny mountain streams. For around $150 (??), one can rig up a Tenkara rod with a few retarded flies and have at it. I can see its place on certain types of trout streams that I fish. It's lightness and simplicity has an appeal to me; with some hip waders, a pocket tin full of flies, maybe a bottle of Sapporo? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
