Tanuki Tenkara and general tenkara comments

[Ants]

I first tried a tenkara rod 4-5 years ago and bought my Tanuki Ninja Tenkara Rod about 2 months ago.

My review comments cover the Tanuki rod and the tenkara community.

The Tanuki Ninja is 11 1/2 feet long, comes 8 segments and weighs mere ounces. I purchased a package deal that included a floating line (braided) for dry flies and a monofilament line for nymphing. The package came with a rod sack and a plastic tube. I opted for a heavier duty tube. The package is attractive and seems well made. The maker is starting up (relatively) and is very responsive to customer comments. Other accessories like the line holder are innovative with a flexible seal to keep line from unraveling.

The Kern is flowing too fast to use the rod so my first times were creeking and on the S Fork. Tenkara has its historical basis (idiosyncrasies) that vary significantly from rod and reel fishing. The 11 1/2 foot rod came 12 and 13 foot lines to that receives tippet length (of your choice (5X provided). A loop secures the fly line to an overhand knot on the rod. The procedure to protect the rod segments is to pull out smallest segments first while unreeling line from the holder. The system is very simple, but cumbersome in its simplicity compared to a reel.

The line casting is easily learned and accuracy could be easily achieved with some practice. The fixed line and length of rod creates a quick awareness of overhead clearances as well brush clearances. The length of the rod gives specific control over the flies, if clearances are available. The tip section is fine and delicate - any vegetation hookups should be persuaded to undo by hand only. For the creeks, the option to drop into pools was good, if there was no vegetation or wind.

The rod are very flexible and there is an unfamiliar way the rod flex is described. With dry flies, the visual takes were easily seen, but I wonder if a nymphing take would be felt with the flexible tips. It seems a multi-color or other sighter would be needed for visual confirmation of a take.

The rod collapse to about a two foot section when not fishing, but the slow procedure when moving from one clear creek spot, through brush, to the next clear spot encouraged me to work through bush with 11 1/2 feet ot rod to maneuver.

The tenkara community seems to be championed by folks who were not originally fly fishers. The descriptive language is as unrelated as English and Japanese. The designations that enable a rod and reel fly fisher to understand the difference between a 2-wt and a 10-wt rod are completely absent in tenkara descriptions. One comment I got was that any length rod used for creek trout would work equally well for salmon and steelhead. On some sense that may be true, generally it seems like a lack of experience.

The whole aspect of rod feel, line stretch, casting feel, the feel of a take, and how to change those variables is a mystery. The tenkara vocabulary only served to frustrate any descriptions or personal understanding. There was lot of reference to try it out so you can 'feel' it, but how much time can you spend trying and where can you try things on a fishing basis.

The ability to play more physical option to control the fly with a fixed length rod was useful to know. The challenge of tenkara-speak is not existent for a fly fisher that starts with tenkara, but the bridges to convert existing reel and rod fishers do not seem to exist.

Let me know what your perceptions are!

Ants

[Ants]

I saw this posted on the classic fly rod forum and thought it was too funny not to post here.

Buying a tenkara rod is like buying a monkey, it seemed like a good idea at first.

Ants

[Ants]

When I take a regular rod and a Tenkara out for fishing at the same time, the Tenkara gets seldom used.

However, for the 3rd time, I fished it again. There was some situation where the long reach was useful, but the overhead clearance takes a while to get used to.

It was cold when I started with ice common on the rocks along the river. I extended the rod and fished. Caught some trout also.

When it was time to collapse the rod for the hike back, the tip section was stuck extended. That was inconvenient and potentially damaging to the tip. The extended tip made it back without damage, but efforts to retract it were not successful. I was directed by the maker to a YouTube video where an elastic band is used to jar the lower section so the top retracts. The video showed results after about 5 tries. I repeated the effort 150 times and the tip was still stuck.

Thankfully, the maker (Luong Tam) was willing to send two new sections. When the sections arrive, I may try some more forcefull methods to see if it will loosen.

Thanks for the nice warranty.

There are some fussy details to be considered when using Tenkara.

Ants

[Gary C.]

Rick (AKA RSetena) had gotten really into Tenkara. As well as a couple of others. He might be able to advise you about it.

[fly addict]

Here is my experience with Tenkara fishing.
I bought one a few years ago. It sounded like a good idea at the time but in reality it was a mistake. I Euro nymph fish 95 percent of the time and I carry a rod designed for Euro nymphing. I figured a Tenkara rod would be a good backup rod to carry with me just in case fish began feeding on the surface. I thought I could quickly set up the Tenkara rod up and fish dries.

What was I thinking, they are too long for small brushy streams. On more open water where a cast might be 15’ to 45’ away I also found it limiting. It was hard to land fish with a 13 to 14 foot rod. If it was windy forget it.
They say they are simple but in reality they seemed complex and can be very frustrating.You almost always have to break it down to move. The tapered sections can sometimes get stuck in or out and that sucks. They feel way heavier than they really are when casting, we call it “swing weight”.
The rod I had was made by one of the better known Tenkara dealers and was one of their most expensive models. I gave it to a friend who wanted to try Tenkara fishing, he tried it and also found it to have too many limitations compared to a normal fly rod and passed it on to someone else.
If I had never used a traditional fly rod maybe I would have continued to work with a Tenkara rod because I didn’t know any better. But for me it was something that was more trouble than it was worth.

[tomsakai]

I’m not using my Tenkara rod nearly as much as I used to but it does have it’s advantages. I remember a late afternoon several years ago when Wildman and I came across a hatch with fish coming out of the water to chase bwo’s. Both Jim and I had direct contact rods BUT I was carrying a T rod in a holster on my wading belt. We had an epic hour or more casting and hooking rising fish. I also found that carrying a T rod collapsed to perhaps 18 inches was way easier going through the brush.