Tenkara, now everybody will want one

[FrequentTyer]

It looks like tenkara is about to be pushed into the mainstream:
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=7Y33
I've got to wonder how many critics of these rods will now buy one at the higher Orvis price. I have a tenkara rod, and enjoy using it a few times a year, but think of it more as a diversion than an alternative to more standard gear. I would have never guessed that Orvis would be selling these rods.

 

[jayL]

The more I hear about it, the less I want one. WHich is saying something, because I never wanted one.

 

[Ramcatt]

orvis further stakes its position as the scarlett letter of fly fishing

 

[FrequentTyer]

I just don't see how it makes business sense for either company. It's like a Mercedes dealer selling bicycles.

 

[Ramcatt]

it shows that no matter how lispy your voice and femine your approach, how many cups of strange tea you make, how many ugly flies, or how much you want to talk about the historial/tradition ... the goofy ginger is just in it for the $$$$$$$

it makes perfect $$$ snese for orvis
is not just another componet.... but rather an entire system

 

[FrequentTyer]

Ramcatt wrote:
it makes perfect $$$ snese for orvis
is not just another componet.... but rather an entire system

I get that, but every "system" they sell for him they miss out on an opportunity to sell a higher priced Orvis rod, reel, line, etc.
Any company is in it for the money. That's what companies do. But this deal seems to go against that somehow.

 

[salmonoid]

Nothing wrong with a company cashing in on a niche while the fad component of it lasts. I own a Tenkara rod but do consider it a niche (or maybe more of a diversion, as the OP described it); I do consider SOME of the Tenkara hype a fad, which will eventually subside, but I don't think it will completely die away.

From Orvis' perspective, if you have the money to drop on the more pricey setups, why not try to extract another $215.00 from you? For some people, thats a drop in the bucket. I don't think that they are looking at this as trying to sell you a Tenkara setup as your only setup; they're banking that you're already have a western setup, have heard about Tenkara, and they're your one stop shop because you buy Orvis...

 

[Smike]

This sucks!

Well it was fun while it lasted being the only one nailing it during the trico's using a Tenkara rod... Getting tired of the" hey what are you using?" questions.

Haters... please keep hating.

 

[BelAirSteve]

I watched the video - how is what they are doing with the Tenkara rod any different than what I could do with a 10' 4wt rod and reel?

 

[Smike]

I watched the video - how is what they are doing with the Tenkara rod any different than what I could do with a 10' 4wt rod and reel?

Nothing... time to move on.

 

[gfen]

No, smke, please explain. I won't even hammer at you relentlessly for nonsense if you can answer without invoking any thing reeking of "simplicity" or "zen-like."

Go for it. What IS the difference between a fancy tankarrra rod and a 11' 3wt?

About 4oz of reel? What else?

 

[Smike]

Go for it. What IS the difference between a fancy tankarrra rod and a 11' 3wt?

Easy, about another 2 feet, no guides, something to attached a fixed line to at the end, and oh at least $350 less than a ‘mid’ grade fly rod.

11' tenkara rod would be pretty inadequate on any but small brushy streams. Not that you can’t use 11’ 3wt rod in the same manner, but about as good as adding a bunch of lead weights to a floating line to fish deep under instead of a true sinking line.


But I hope it doesn't catch on, I don't want to pay $600 for a graphite stick with a well-known name brand on it. If that happens you can then call it 'fancy' until then I like to think of it as a ghetto way to catch big fish without forking over $1000 and looking like I just stepped off the set of a ESPN outdoor show.

Don’t worry my 4 other western fly rods are safe from ebay...

 

[gfen]

Smike wrote:
Easy, about another 2 feet, no guides, something to attached a fixed line to at the end, and oh at least $350 less than a ‘mid’ grade fly rod.

So, then, what you're saying is the fly rod is actually more useful by dint of having guides and an actual line I can extend, or shorten, beyond the fixed length?

So, without the mystical zen qualities all you've really got is a non-adaptable piece of equipment, eh?

Oh, but it costs much less? Yet, oddly enough, I can go to Cabela's and buy an 11' fly rod for $199, $40 more than the cheapest one from TenkaraUSA, which I think is fair enough considering the work involved in all those pesky guides.

So, uhm, I'm confused... its not really any cheaper, it sure is alot less flexible and I don't have to deal with any extra nonsense from Western ( :roll: ) fishermen.

Yep.

 

[salmonoid]

I bought a very useable new Tenkara rod for $75.00; I'm OK if it doesn't have a TenkaraUSA label on it.

You can essentially duplicate all the functions of a Tenkara rod with an 11' 3Wt rod, perhaps not quite as simply, and with a little extra weight because of the reel. But you can't duplicate all the functions of a western 11' 3Wt rod with a Tenkara rod, as a western combo is certainly more versatile. However, I don't think anyone is trying to argue that (or if they are, they're arguing from a pretty weak position). The Tenkara rod has given me the ability to cast the most delicate presentations; this could very well be because a western rod and shooting line amplifies my lack of casting prowess, and perhaps a Tenkara with a fixed line minimizes it. A Tenkara rod also allows you to feel the most subtle of takes because your line is attached directly to the rod.

In the end, for me, its just another tool in the arsenal and a different kind of challenge to try and sometime eventually master, on any given stream and fishing condition. Seems I must be one of the few moderate Tenkara rod owners; everyone else either seems to love them or hate them and I really just like changing things up every now and again. I wonder how many haters have actually fished them?

gfen wrote:

Smike wrote:
Easy, about another 2 feet, no guides, something to attached a fixed line to at the end, and oh at least $350 less than a ‘mid’ grade fly rod.

So, then, what you're saying is the fly rod is actually more useful by dint of having guides and an actual line I can extend, or shorten, beyond the fixed length?

So, without the mystical zen qualities all you've really got is a non-adaptable piece of equipment, eh?

Oh, but it costs much less? Yet, oddly enough, I can go to Cabela's and buy an 11' fly rod for $199, $40 more than the cheapest one from TenkaraUSA, which I think is fair enough considering the work involved in all those pesky guides.

So, uhm, I'm confused... its not really any cheaper, it sure is alot less flexible and I don't have to deal with any extra nonsense from Western ( :roll: ) fishermen.

Yep.

 

[gfen]

Salmonoid: You're 100% right and your position is essentially unarguable.

The problem is too many people are hung up on all busy work of being tenkara simpletons.

 

[pcray1231]

I have/had a Tenkara rod. Won it at the jam. Darn thing broke while yard casting, before I even got it to the stream.

Certainly not a fan, but I don't exactly hate it either. I saw it as a novelty. I sometimes like novelties. Yes, with how skinny and whippy that thing was, so light, and with the line attached to the end, I could see it being very sensitive for high stick nymphing, so long as your not using tons of shot to do it. You'd be sacrificing a lot of flexibility to get that sensitivity. And that's pretty much all there is to say.

I didn't see it as simpler or anything like that. Simpler in form, maybe. But without flexibility to adapt to situations, fishing becomes more difficult, IMO.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

I never knew I was a trend setter?

I used to use a Tenkara rod to catch crappies and bluegills when I lived in Florida 30 years ago. Only thing is, it said Uncle Buck on the side.

I might dig it out and try it again, you could torture fish on their beds by dropping a foam spider or a weighted Wooly Worm on their heads. Plus it was awesome for slinging live crickets or minnies into brush piles.

http://www.basspro.com/Uncle-Buck-s-reg;-Crappie-Poles/product/15098/141525?cmCat=CROSSSELL_THUMBNAIL

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Smike]

gfen wrote:


The problem is too many people are hung up on all busy work of being tenkara simpletons.

Ah don't let all that zen bs get your panties all in a bunch. Its not taking over the world anytime soon… or ever. As said the 2 legged hominid holding the rod is the biggest obstacle to catching trout. (western, eastern, or somewhere south of Tijuana)

I’m cheap, its ghetto, it catches fish (at least on these sewer effluent enriched LV streams) I’m in to catching fish, how I get there doesn’t concern me much. My other rods still see the light of day, when... I feel like it. Just now the mass muppets can buy into it and pass around the coolaid too (via Orvis)


I better stop, my post count is gonna hit 30, might start to seem like I care.

 

[sandfly]

what ever happened to to European nymphing (high sticking), thought that was the big craze !! now its cane pole and bobber ????

 

[bikerfish]

I'm gonna get mine now, cause I know this is gonna be the hot thing in a week or so!!
https://www.ronco.com/products/pocket-fisherman.html