Fishing Forum

[#005028][font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3]Perhaps I missed a post on this subject, but I will mention the subject [size 3]anyhow[/size]. Tenkara fly fishing [Japanese term] means that one fishes with a rod, leader, tippet & fly. Rods maybe be as long as 14' or so. Anyone into Tenkara fishing?[/size][/#008000][/font][/#005028]
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No but I keep thinking about it.. :-)...

Have you checked out tenkarausa.com yet?

MacFly
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#005028][size 3]Likewise I haven't did any myself. I guess one could just use a regular long fly rod[size 3], [/size]tie on a leader, etc and accomplish the same thing. BTW the winter issue of Trout Unlimited has a feature story on Tenkara fishing.[/size][/#005028][/font]
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:-( I dont subscribe to that magazine...

You are right though .. you could just tie a leader and line to a standard fly rod but from I understand the biggest draw.. or one of them anyway.. is the portability.. the rod collapses to about a foot long or so .. so it can be carried literally anywhere and set up in seconds ready to fish.. :-)

MacFly
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You don't want to tie a line on the end of your regular rod. The reason is that with the line fixed that way, a sharp pull by a fish may take your rod apart. You don't want to see your rod tip swimming off with the fish! That is one of the reasons a Tenkara rod is telescopic.

Besides I think you would be disappointed in the results. Most regular rods aren't long enough. Tenkara is about sneaking up to a pool at short casting distance and dancing a nymph through the pool. The longer rod helps in reaching over conflicting currents and in controlling your nymph. Somewhat like high stick nymphing, but with a longer rod. It looks fun. There are lots of YouTube videos on it.

No, I haven't tried it you, but I am going to if this lousy weather ever lets up!
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3]Actually my comment was said with in cheek.
You are right about the stealth approach. Also [size 3]o[/size]nes line never touches the water for the fly is the only point of contact. I have an old, old cane pole [ab. 12'] that would work just to get the feel of Tenkara fishing. Doubt if I would ever invest in another rod. BTW [size 3]o[/size]ne of my favorite way[size 3]s of [/size]fishing is on small streams with [size 3]a 7' 2 wt. Catching those small wide trout is a lot of fun.[/size][/size][/#008000][/font]
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I'm with you on that. I love small streams. They have so much variety and can be very challenging to fish. I get excited to see around the corner what the next pool bring will bring! [laugh][laugh]

Winter GO AWAY!!

I generally use either a 6 1/2 ft or a 7 1/2 ft 3wt on most of the ones I fish. Many of them are too brushy to to use a longer rod on. But I know of some that are more open, and I think I would enjoy trying some Tenkara techiques on them.
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I have one. It is Tenkara USA AYU II. It is 13' long. It is about 22" long with a a 1" plug for the end to protect and keep the sections from sliding out till ready, making it just 1" shy of two feet in the collapsed form. Sorry Mac, the handle is about a foot long, then the rest of the rod.
I make my own leader and add tippet. The line and tippet can be up to 20' long, just requires you to grab the line to land a fish.
I use 6' of tippet on a 10.6" leader and that works well for me.
The idea is as Cpierce mentioned, to dance the fly on top the water. You typically do not want the line laying on the water like conventional fishing. If you look at the flies, they are designed for this (like a Klinkhammer).
Of course the US has changes Tenkara fishing to suit their own needs, but I bought it for the use that it was intended for.
It is tip heavy, but again 13' long. Not balanced like a traditional. It is designed to pick up and lay down a fly constantly.
You don't want to go heavier than 5X on the tippet. They are for smaller fish however they can handle bigger fish.
They aren't great for casting long distances or stillwater nymphing, but you can do both if you want. with my rod and leader I can get out almost 30'. Makes rivers and streams a blast.
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I want one.. :-(
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