patrick62
Well-known member
I toyed with calling this "Whither Tenkara" but then I'd have to get all lyrical.
This all started when my cousin's husband, an accomplished and ecumenical angler (he could catch fish with a piece of clothesline, a stick and a a hook bearing a piece of last week's meatloaf) sent me the 10-foot six-inch Temple Fork "Soft Hackle" rod for my brithday.
(His wife, my cousin, got him started with whatever Tenkara rod Orvis sells.)
I had no idea what to do with the thing so I waited until early this summer when Ian was around to show me how to rig it.
He did something complicated with a piece of braided line to the lillian, and then a long length of 20-pound fly line backing.
I found this arrangement lacking, somehow, so I lost the backing, retied the braided stuff, and deployed a 6-foot furled leader I had sitting around. With a length of 0X mono tied to the tippet ring, I was ready to go.
I must emphasize that my method was completely improvised with the materials at hand. Your mileage will most decidedly vary.
The first thing I learned was that the phenomenon of the free hand grasping for a non-existent line takes about an hour to go away. And it can reappear at any time.
The second and far more significant thing is this: Using a Tenkara rod has made me a better fisherman.
WHy? Because I wasn't paying enough attention to my position in the river. Especially lately, as I have gone whole-hog into the long nymphing rod mode.
With a fixed-line I can't compensate for being in a less-than-ideal spot by making a longer cast.
I have to move.
And to do that successfully, I found myself paying far more attention to currents and rocks and keeping a low profile.
So when I'm out with a regular fly rod, I find my approach has changed.
And I am catching more and better fish.
I'm all for the simplicity and portability aspect.
I enjoy the quizzical looks from other anglers.
And I have taken to calling the fixed-line stick a "Yoda rod."
But the primary benefit is that using the fixed-line rod forced me to relearn everything I had forgotten or ignored about my overall approach to moving water.
“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
This all started when my cousin's husband, an accomplished and ecumenical angler (he could catch fish with a piece of clothesline, a stick and a a hook bearing a piece of last week's meatloaf) sent me the 10-foot six-inch Temple Fork "Soft Hackle" rod for my brithday.
(His wife, my cousin, got him started with whatever Tenkara rod Orvis sells.)
I had no idea what to do with the thing so I waited until early this summer when Ian was around to show me how to rig it.
He did something complicated with a piece of braided line to the lillian, and then a long length of 20-pound fly line backing.
I found this arrangement lacking, somehow, so I lost the backing, retied the braided stuff, and deployed a 6-foot furled leader I had sitting around. With a length of 0X mono tied to the tippet ring, I was ready to go.
I must emphasize that my method was completely improvised with the materials at hand. Your mileage will most decidedly vary.
The first thing I learned was that the phenomenon of the free hand grasping for a non-existent line takes about an hour to go away. And it can reappear at any time.
The second and far more significant thing is this: Using a Tenkara rod has made me a better fisherman.
WHy? Because I wasn't paying enough attention to my position in the river. Especially lately, as I have gone whole-hog into the long nymphing rod mode.
With a fixed-line I can't compensate for being in a less-than-ideal spot by making a longer cast.
I have to move.
And to do that successfully, I found myself paying far more attention to currents and rocks and keeping a low profile.
So when I'm out with a regular fly rod, I find my approach has changed.
And I am catching more and better fish.
I'm all for the simplicity and portability aspect.
I enjoy the quizzical looks from other anglers.
And I have taken to calling the fixed-line stick a "Yoda rod."
But the primary benefit is that using the fixed-line rod forced me to relearn everything I had forgotten or ignored about my overall approach to moving water.
“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
