Wetfly Komodo Creek review

[patrick62]

Sierra Trading Post had this eight-foot Tenkara package for $65. I took a flyer on it, and I'm glad I did.

In the box were the rod, in a sleeve, in a tube; six flies, one spool of tippet, and a line that feels to me like repurposed fly line, two or three weight.

I tried it and decided to use a furled line instead.

The rod itself is a nice size for creeping arund brook trout streams, but I've also used it for bluegill, crappie and smallmouth on the Housatonic.

The action is on the stiffer side of things.

The flies include two Tenkara style and four run of the mill offerings.

I liked it enough that I bought the 12-foot version via Amazon for full freight, which was about double the STP price -- $130 or so. Same package, different rod.

I really like this one. I wanted somethng in between the giant Maxcatch 13-footer and the 10 1/2 TFO that got me started.

Second fish I caught with this was a) on a big heavy weighted fly and b) a smallmouth that was determined not to be caught. So lots of drama.

At the regular price it's a good deal. At the closeout price it was irresistible.
Either way, if you're looking for an inexpensive fixed-line rod then these are worth considering.

I have one fancier Japanese rod, a Nissin Air Stage 240, and I like it very much, but it's a fragile thing. I can see snapping it in half when it's in my day pack and I'm scrambling through a thicket of laurel.

Plus I like a cork grip and a little heft.

I'll probably grow out of this but that's how it is. Hell, in high school I used to listen to Genesis. Voluntarily.

 

[opus]

Hell, in high school I used to listen to Genesis. Voluntarily.

Say it aint so!

 

[patrick62]

Haha it's true.

Today I used this rod for catching smallies, rock bass, crappies and eighty bazillion bluegills.

In the process I pioneered Tenkara Bassin' Drop-Shottin'

"Huh?" you say.

Starting with a 10-foot line with a sinking tip. I didn't know there was such a thing until recently.

Attached to the ring was about two feet of 3X mono, which was what was handy.

Then using two-pound fluoro, tied two droppers. The top two had official Tenkara flies, those odd-looking soft-hackly things. On the bottom was a piece of split shot.

The idea was to see if these fish would take the flies and to get them down into the somewhat swollen and murky river. One pool at the bottom of the falls, to be precise.

It worked -- on everybody except the smallies.

So after a while I swapped an isonychia nymph, tungsten head on a jig hook, for the split shot. That took the whole megilla down into smallmouth territory, and by the end of the afternoon I had hoisted three nice ones out of the maelstrom.

I am quite sure this is not standard procedure, but so what. It was fun and kept me off the streets.