Tenkara Fly Fishing

[JVenezia]

Anyone here dabbled with it?
Looks very interesting.

 

[geebee]

It's a fad. Although its bare bones and so very zen it's not very flexible.

IMHO a 10 or 11 ft 3wt makes far more sense.

I do think the reverse tied flies have some merit though - they definitely work

 

[firandfeather]

I guided a gent. that wanted to try his T. rod. I used and it could not see how you could land a 4lb. trout even though he was telling me they said it could when he bought in. I had a hard time getting a 12 inch trout in. You can forget heavy nymphs and streamers with them. Kinda gimmicky to me.
M

 

[jeremymcon]

I bought one and used it a few times. I thought it may be fun to try. I ended up not really caring for it, though. You can certainly cast dry flies and get a really great drift, but that's really it. If the stream you're fishing is brushy or has any overhanging branches, you can forget about it. Unlike with a regular fly rod, side arm casts don't work, so there's no way to cast under anything, and your back cast is always big and open, so I always was catching branches on the back cast as well. Managing the line is also a hassle! It's long, and you can't just reel it in when you want to move to a new spot.

I never hooked any sizeable fish, but it is really tricky to bring in even smallish fish because of the length of the rod.

I also think it would be great for fishing for sunnies or something - basically just using it as a dapping rod. It may also be fun to have on a backpacking trip because of how compact it is when it's collapsed.

I never tried nymphing with it, but I could see high stick nymphing working. Only problem there is that the rods are really flexible, so chucking heavy nymphs may be a problem.

 

[BrookieChaser]

I watched a video on it. They claimed it was "the only way to small stream fly fish". I laughed at that.

I saw nothing they were doing that I couldn't do with my 3wt or my 5wt.

Funny related note, my 3 wt was listed online as a tenkara rod.

 

[mikesl]

I am just a beginner at flyfishing, but i have a 8' 4wt, 7'6" 3wt and a 11.5' tenkara rod

for a while my biggest trout on a dry was caught with the tenkara, due to the lightness of the line and the ability to get a nice drift with a small dry.

landing the fish was tough. you have to hold the rod waaay back at an angle and it is hard to move the fish close enough to grab the line.

I will say it is definitely fun for sunnies.

tried fishing a small brookie stream- very hard with cramped quarters - reasons mentioned above... hard to make nifty side and back casts to avoid trees.

also find it less easy than advertised to pack and move.... with 20' of line, and a 12' rod, it is not as easy to take to hand and move to the next spot... my 7' 3wt i just reel in the line, hold fly in my hand or on the hook ring, and i can walk through dense brush to the next spot.

But, it IS a very portable way to have an alternate rig along - when nymphing, i had the tenkara along with a dry, and it can be a nice second rod since it is so light and compact to carry when folded and stowed.

 

[jdaddy]

JVenezia wrote:
Anyone here dabbled with it?
Looks very interesting.

Protip: Type "Tenkara" in the box to the left of the search button in the upper left section of any screen and you will get hundreds of posts on the subject. It has been discussed quite extensively.

Edit: Tried it and there are 494 posts on the subject of Tenkara. Enjoy the next few hours. :-D

http://www.paflyfish.com/search.php?query=Tenkara&mid=19&action=showall&andor=AND

 

[crs2006]

I honestly think its only practical use for fly fishing is czech nymphing or 'high stick' nymphing. If you are a hike/wade fisherman like me I could see having a very packable high stick rig in the pack being useful for a quick change from dries or streamers to a weighted two fly nymph rig when you hit good high stick water.

I use a poor man's tenkara rig to catch up some baitfish when bass or catfishing. just 8 foot of fly line and a little tippet tied to the tip section of an ugly stik with a dry fly on it.

 

[denovich]

I do. It works for me. I've fished about 100 days since April, all tenkara, all with flies I've tied.

I fish lakes and rivers, wading and from a kayak. I've caught carp, catfish, largemouth, small mouth, trout, and sunfish.

My daughter (3.5) caught her first fish using my shortest tenkara rod.

I find it no worse than my 6wt on brushy creeks.

It's deadly if used within it's design parameters. Frustrating when it isn't... although I keep finding new ways to make it work. Portability is unmatched. The lightest rods make catching tiny fish seem sporting. The length of the rods allow one to control fish far larger than you would imagine, like a 30" carp on 5x.

Over hearing people say: "Look at the size of that guy's rod!" is priceless.

 

[gentleshepherd]

I have fished Tenkara for the past 2 years and have found it to be not as frustrating as regular tackle fly fishing can be. I don't have much of a struggle in tight quarters if you use the slingshot method of casting, pretty accurate as well. LEarning new ways to utilize it as a tool to catch more fish is why I use it.
I still use my traditional fly rod as well when distance casting is needed.