Just bought a Tenkara rod

[mandm1516]

I stayed at Red Canyon Lodge by Flaming Gorge this past weekend where they had a copy of the High Country Angler's magazine in the living room of our cabin. There was an ad about Tenkara rods that intrigued me so I started doing some research & watched the videos on their site (www.tenkarausa.com). It looks like a very cool way to fish our small streams and take on backpacking trips so I bought the 12' Iwana rod.

Although the rod is really long, I'm hoping because of it's simplicity and light weight that it's not just a fun alternative way to fish, but also a good way to break my 8 year old daughter in to fly fishing. She and I are going on an overnight backpacking trip to the Uintas this weekend, I'll report back how it goes.

Anyone else try one yet? What has your experience been?

Mike
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[flygoddess]

I have been making leaders for them for the past year. Cool sticks and I think they can be allot of fun on OPEN AREA small streams. But, there really is allot of places to use them.
It would be a great way to get a child into watching the line and not worry about stripping or reeling.
Look forward to new reports on this.
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[mandm1516]

Well, report number 1 is the customer service so far is very good. I emailed them after my order early this morning to see if it would ship out today so I'd get it in time for my backpacking trip on Saturday. Daniel, the owner emailed me back saying they don't have the ability yet to ship same day so he upgraded it to 2 day shipping so I'd have it on Friday.

Mike
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[kochanut]

i used one in northern japan while i was staioned out there, alot of fun. of course i looked like a monkey doing unheard of thing to a football because of my size compared to the japanese gentleman that taught me how to use them. we caught Masue (sp) trout with them and they were a blast
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[ParrMark]

It looks like a very cool way to fish our small streams and take on backpacking trips so I bought the 12' Iwana rod.

Be sure and let us know what you think of that rod. I recently did a backpacking trip in the Wind River range with a friend that had a Tenkara rod. I'm thinking I need to get me one and the 12' Iwana is what sounds about right for my needs.

It's a very interesting concept and super convenient for hitting the small streams/lakes while hiking. My buddy has his rigged up with line clips on the rod so he could just wind up the line around the edge of the rod instead of having to spool it making it the stiletto of fishing rods. Very cool for certain situations and so simple. I see myself wetting a line in a lot more of the little potholes that I wouldn't otherwise fish because I wouldn't take the time to rig up a regular outfit.

Good luck with your new wand![cool]
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[mandm1516]

Finally took some time to get on the water with my new 12' Tenkara Iwana rod today. I had some things to do for work in Layton--they finished early and nobody expected me back so I ran to Ogden to fish the Ogden River just below and through the canyon. I was surprised how high the water was running--It's been a long time since I fished the river and I couldn't find a spot I loved so I decided to move to the South Fork above Pineview toward Causey. One note about the Ogden--at the mouth of the canyon and half way up the canyon there were hundreds of medium and big hoppers in the grass next to the river.

I didn't take my conventional fly rod out of the car--just the Tenkara this time.

Setup was super easy. I have a 11' long high visibility leader with about 4' of tippet--you make a slip knot in one end of the leader and cinch it down on the string that comes out of the tip of the rod. Tie on a fly, extend the rod (it's telescopic) and cast. To take it off I collapse the rod, wind the line onto a spool & loosen the slip knot to remove it from the rod. Setup and takedown takes less than a minute--I have a spool to hold the line--I can see having 2 lines, one set up with a nymph, one with a dry fly, and you can switch between the 2 in less time than it would take to switch flies.

I fished only dries today just to be able to see where I was casting and get used to the technique. Its similar to conventional fly fishing but a slower rhythm. With a nice slow pace the line would lay out perfectly, and the size 16 caddis would land very softly on the water. Because the rod is so long I could get flies into small pockets behind rocks and hold them there by keeping most of the line off the water. Drag free floats were pretty easy too for the same reason. Because the line is fixed my drifts were shorter than with my conventional rod, but I had the fly over the 'spot' more because it was very easy to drift it, pick it up and flick it back to the top of the hole.

I didn't get caught up in any bushes, trees or myself--probably the first time ever for me. Back casts go almost straight up and with a fixed casting distance I could get it up close to obstacles or the bank. What I do sometimes with my conventional rod is feed out just a little too much line trying to hit a spot which gets me into trouble. I could just use the right amount of line with my fly rod but it seems with more available I tend to pull out too much sometimes.

With a 12' rod, there were times where over hanging trees was a problem--either for casting or trying to keep line off the water during a drift. In those spots my 7' 3 weight would have been easier to use. On the South Fork there weren't many spots that were an issue, and there was always another hole a few steps away so I just move on but on some streams that have much more dense vegetation, it could be a challenge.

I caught 4 brown trout and missed another 4 fish due to slow reflexes and/or bad technique. Landing the fish was easy. Average was about 8" with 1 fat 12".

Overall I enjoyed using the Tenkara a lot. It is a very simple way to fish flies and I found I was much more focused on the fly and getting a good drift than line management.

As for the South Fork of the Ogden--I think it's just a beautiful little creek. The flows were pretty good and very clear. There were dozens of caddis cases on every rock, thousands of them in every hole, dark green and probably size 14-16. I'm sure I would have had a lot more success with nymphs or even a dropper but I wanted to stay strictly with dries for the practice. There was what looked like the beginnings of a caddis hatch starting at 3pm when I was leaving. I didn't see any fish rise except to take my flies.

Mike
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[flygoddess]

Thanks for the report. Now I really want one! Plus it would help me experiment with leaders I am making.
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[macfly55]

Ill second that want sis... :-).. it would be perfect for drifting flies on those small streams in TN... and in close bank fishing around reeds etc on the reservoirs here.. :-)

MacFly [cool]
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[mandm1516]

Fly Goddess,

I'm more a reader than poster on here--I've learned a ton from reading your posts. I live in Sugarhouse--if you ever want to take the Tenkara out and put it through the paces, you're more than welcome to borrow it. I'm going to try to take it out again tomorrow early before work, but otherwise it's all yours.
Mike
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[mandm1516]

Second time out with the Tenkara rod this morning--middle Provo (first time fishing this river).
More impressions of the rod:

I fished dry flies again all morning--size 14 caddis mainly. Caught 8 fish with the smallest being around 6" and the biggest being around 15". The rod handled the bigger fish without any problem. You can't just haul them in, but with just a little patience they're easy to land/release.

The casting limitations are much more apparent on this size of river where on the South Fork of the Ogden it was perfect. You have to wade into position to fish a spot vs. just stripping out more line and casting to it. But the counter point is I caught fish in very tight spots that I'm sure I would have had more difficulty catching with a conventional rod. There were a few small seams between rocks and the bank I was able to cast to from very close that I wouldn't have been able to hit with 9' of leader and very little line out--maybe more due to my skill than the rod, but with Tenkara I could drop the fly right where I wanted it to get the rise. Being close I also could hold most line off the water and get a nice drift, or hold the fly in the pocket behind the rocks.

The wind was pretty calm, and when the breeze did blow it was from behind but a few times I tried casting into it and could tell a head wind would be really hard. Even a side wind required some pretty big offsets to get the fly where I wanted it.

Another thing I noticed but am not sure if it was the day or the rod yet: I had a few fish spit the hook on me--2 as I was netting them, another right after setting the hook, and I missed a few that felt like the hook should have set. I'm wondering if because the tip of the rod is so much softer than my conventional rods if the set is just a little softer too.

Mike
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