is tenkara catching on?

[DrLogik 0]

Ben Bell,

I got started on Tenkara this year and really like it. Will it replace my fly rod? No. Conventional wisdom would suggest that it is fading and may fade away. Conventional wisdom also told us that nobody needs a computer in their house.... Not only do we have them in our house we have them in our "Computer bags" and in our pockets too! Am I suggesting that everyone will own a Tenkara rod? No. Well, we really don't know, do we?

[JSzymczyk 0]

 

. Well, we really don't know, do we?

 

we kind of do know... look at the way kayak fishing has exploded over the last decade. Roughly the same time frame that the tenkara goobers have been trying to sell their mysticism to the fishing population. If it was something which had broad appeal and functionality, it would have taken off. (and I freely admit there are a TON of people out there in kayaks who should not be doing it, but that's another story.)

 

[ben bell 0]

have any of you used tenkara from a kick boat and if you hook up to a large bass, can you chase and keep up with him as he makes a run..

[Fisherboy0301 0]

have any of you used tenkara from a kick boat and if you hook up to a large bass, can you chase and keep up with him as he makes a run..

 

I've never done this but I've hooked a lot of bass in my life. I've caught a lot over 6lbs. They run far, strong, and fast! You can't keep up with a trolling motor! How fast can you kick before your line or rod kicks the bucket?

[Saltybum 0]

A little searching reveals little about what tenkara means. I'm guessing poor Asian fisherman who couldn't afford fancy expensive American/British fly fishing hobbies came up with a cheap version and then figured out to make dumb yanks drop $300 for a fancy cane pole. Hmmm, maybe tenkara mean "canepole with ferrules" which were the high end multi piece cane poles you could get when I was kid 50+ years ago.

 

Today dumb yanks will drop $1000+ for a fancy fly rod with a name most people can't pronounce ( or know what it means either )either...but it's guaranteed to catch you more fish.....maybe...but I gotta have it just cuz!

[Saltybum 0]

Tenkara before tenkara was cool or pricey? Including a multi piece one.

 

[ben bell 0]

high fisherboy..i,m hoping the big bass will kinda drag me with him. lol.

[Gene L 0]

Not tenkara, or even flyfishing, but a buddy of mine was fishing for crappie with a crappie pole and 6# test line and caught a 30 pound striper. He followed it in his boat until it tired out.

[ben bell 0]

thanks gene..so there is hope..lol.

[mikechell 0]

One of my (previously) favorite ways of fishing, when I first got to Florida, was to scull my boat along a weed line with a cane pole in the other hand. I use an 18 foot fiberglass rod from Walmart, with 4 feet of 20 pound braid and a lead head jig. I would slowly move along the weed line, the the pole extended out in front of the boat, the jig swimming a foot or so under the surface. Many times, I would get a strike and a hook set, but the fish would swim directly away from me and snap the braid. It's a very exciting way to fish.

 

If you have time to react, you can probably keep up with or turn the head of most fish you hook ... but not if it takes the fly and immediately runs straight away from you.

[dflanagan 0]

have any of you used tenkara from a kick boat and if you hook up to a large bass, can you chase and keep up with him as he makes a run..

I fish from a kayak a lot of the time so there's no way for me to keep up with a fish when I hook one. Even one and two pound bass drag me around in a ten foot boat. At that point I imagine it's a lot like tenkara fishing. I only have 15' or so of line out and I'm trying to keep the fish from taking any more. It's a lot of fun.

[Gene L 0]

I thought about tenkara but rejected it as a fad and not something I couldn't basically do with my 9 ft.3wt GL 3 and high sticking. I love catching fish, even small fish but playing fish is my thing and the low end of tenkara rods doesn't allow for fish above 2 pounds. Hook 'em and haul 'em. That's a pretty good size trout, but tenkara is to me like fishing with a cane pole which I did as a kid and it was hook and drag 'em in.

 

So I'll save my $300 for a tenkara rig and leave it to those who love it.

[JSzymczyk 0]

A little searching reveals little about what tenkara means. I'm guessing poor Asian fisherman who couldn't afford fancy expensive American/British fly fishing hobbies came up with a cheap version and then figured out to make dumb yanks drop $300 for a fancy cane pole. Hmmm, maybe tenkara mean "canepole with ferrules" which were the high end multi piece cane poles you could get when I was kid 50+ years ago.

 

Today dumb yanks will drop $1000+ for a fancy fly rod with a name most people can't pronounce ( or know what it means either )either...but it's guaranteed to catch you more fish.....maybe...but I gotta have it just cuz!

 

not really- it was(and is) essentially a method which fit a niche- smallish waters and smallish fish. My attitude about it is not negative toward the method, it is negative toward the marketing and silliness of people who push it as something special. It's not.

[mikechell 0]

From what I can find ... "tenkara" is like "google". It's an invented word. Someone in marketing found a word that sounded Japanese (making sure it wasn't actually a word), and used it to describe a product. "Google" took off because it is a constantly viable product. "Tenkara", as a name is dying off, as more people realize it isn't all that special.

 

From "Tenkara U.S.A.'s own website.

 

"Tenkara was not always “tenkara” everywhere in Japan. Before it was widely known as “tenkara” throughout Japan, this method of mountain stream fishing was most commonly known as “kebari tsuri”. You see, “tsuri” is the Japanese word for fishing. “Kebari” literally means “feathered/haired hook”, and is the word for an artificial fly."

[j8000 0]

Salty bum. That looks like my two. But with more age on mine though. Actually one was modified into a fly rod with a reel holder and all. Both cost me $3 each and the makeshift fly one actually caught the same amount as my very expensive $150 rod! I had to use it last fall when I broke my main rod. Got me through the season.