Tenkara a hobbyist's hobby

[brus903]

I recently got into fly fishing from baitcasting nearly 2 months ago. I've gotten several different fly rods (fiberglass, carbon fiber, bamboo, more fiberglass) and then branched out to tenkara rods. I wanted to learn how this form was different from fly rods/reels/casting/stripping/etc. What I've come to learn is that fly fishing is like driving a manual transmission car. You're casting with your right hand with a pile of line at your feet and your left hand to help guide the pile from the ground through the guides of your fly rod. Baitcasting is like an automatic you're lure is doing most all the work, you're just loading the rod and casting. Tenkara is like riding a scooter sure all three methods will get you where you want to be but I find fly fishing more versatile and in my case more enjoyable. I love driving manual transmission. It keeps me happy because I have something to do in between lights, slow down, speed up, shifting up/shifting back down. In other words, I keep engaged with the car, my surroundings and anticipation of my next action, which is a lot like fly fishing.

Tenkara is limited to casting looking at your fly...mending...mending...casting (repeat as necessary). Tenkara is a quick and easy way of catching a fish without having to work to hard at it. Sure it can be difficult and intriguing if you make it so. Sometimes that's all I want is quick and easy. Other times I'd like to be able to shift up when I want to just because I can.

 

[bushak]

Tenkara, like all forms of fishing, is what you want to make of it. The fishing is as nuanced as traditional western gear. Saying that it's a quick and easy way to catch fish, without having to work at it is equivalent, at least to me, as the guy who only uses his fly rod to throw streamers.

For example, stiffer and longer rods allow you to fish streamers or nymphs. You are able to impact action that is hard to replicate with western gear. I've replaced most of my fishing with tenkara rods whether it is in city ponds, mountain streams, big tailwaters, and a variety of water in Alaska.

 

[CutThroat Leaders]

Tenkara really came on strong some years back. The Tenkara Rod will Never replace my Fly rod, but it does have a place in my back-pack. I first started fishing Tenkara while testing our Tenkara lines/Leaders. I quickly realized it can be a blast…. As mentioned, it will never replace my western style rods, but I always have that small collapsible rod in my back-pack.

One Reason being: Last season I was fishing with my son. We were catching loads of trout. Not many huge ones, but the numbers were high. To change things up a bit, we broke the Tenkara rod. I remember I hooked into a 16” Cutthroat. A decent fish for the day, but this time, the fish was accidently hooked in the dorsal fin. It was extremely difficult to land this trout. There were all kinds of hooting and hollering while my son tried to net the fish. This 16” trout seemed like a 20lb steelhead on the Tenkara rod. It was huge fun. The fish was safely released, to fight another day, but that fight will be remembered for a long time to come.
My biggest fish on Tenkara, a Bull Trout a few years back. Again fishing with my son in the Rockies. He was small for a bull trout, but on a flimsy Tenkara rod, he was huge

 

[patrick62]

I've been fishing fixed-line rods for four or five years now. It's made me a better fisherman, because now I am much more conscious of where I am in the river. I realized I was getting lazy with the fly rod, opting to throw a longer cast or a fancy mend when the smarter play would be to shift position.

 

[mikechell]

Trust me, please, when I say I am not putting "Tenkara" down. It is, as has been stated, another way to catch fish.
What I am putting down, is the name, "Tenkara".
It's a collapsible "cane pole". Back in the '60s, my Dad and Grandpa taught me how to fish with bluegill popper flies by tying a few feet of fly line and a leader to a thin cane pole (not real cane, just the name). So, I was "tenkara" fishing back then.
I've often used a 16 foot fiberglass cane pole to dip a jig or Rapala into holes in weed mats.

It's called Tenkara to convince the soft minded that they aren't just using a cane pole in a nifty way ... but that's all it is.

 

[james w 3 3]

Trust me, please, when I say I am not putting "Tenkara" down. It is, as has been stated, another way to catch fish.
What I am putting down, is the name, "Tenkara".
It's a collapsible "cane pole". Back in the '60s, my Dad and Grandpa taught me how to fish with bluegill popper flies by tying a few feet of fly line and a leader to a thin cane pole (not real cane, just the name). So, I was "tenkara" fishing back then.
I've often used a 16 foot fiberglass cane pole to dip a jig or Rapala into holes in weed mats.

It's called Tenkara to convince the soft minded that they aren't just using a cane pole in a nifty way ... but that's all it is.

Actually, your post does come off as very much putting tenkara down. Would you be less condescending if we used the original and more descriptive kebari tsuri? (It means fishing with a feathered or fur covered hook.)
There are types of fixed line fishing using bait or non-fly type lures, but those methods are not called tenkara, so actually you could not call most cane pole fishing Tenkara.

And your last sentence is frankly insulting.

 

[mikechell]

Okay ... I guess it is putting tenkara down.

hmmm.

 

[goshawk87]

Okay ... I guess it is putting tenkara down.

hmmm.

Why do you care how other people fish or what they call it? If they enjoy it, more power to them! Frankly it’s toxic attitudes like this that drive people away from sites.

I will say, comparing Tenkara to cain pole fishing is like comparing streamer fishing to using Rapalas. There may be some similarities on the surface, but they are pretty different when you actually get into it.

 

[c web]

Trust me, please, when I say I am not putting "Tenkara" down. It is, as has been stated, another way to catch fish.
What I am putting down, is the name, "Tenkara".
It's a collapsible "cane pole". Back in the '60s, my Dad and Grandpa taught me how to fish with bluegill popper flies by tying a few feet of fly line and a leader to a thin cane pole (not real cane, just the name). So, I was "tenkara" fishing back then.
I've often used a 16 foot fiberglass cane pole to dip a jig or Rapala into holes in weed mats.

It's called Tenkara to convince the soft minded that they aren't just using a cane pole in a nifty way ... but that's all it is.

I thought exactly the same thing and caught a bunch of trout on a B&M black widow 10 foot "cane" pole. Then I bought a real tenkara rod with matched level line and realized that cane pole fishing has just as much in common with tenkara as a zebco 33 combo outfit has with a top of the line baitcaster.

 

[c web]

Oh and tenkara definitely will not replace my western rigs but my Nissin fine mode is hardly ever out of reach.

 

[mikechell]

You people can get mad at me ... I can take it ... but you seem to only read the parts you want to get upset about.
It's not the method, it's the name.
Your arguments of comparisons aren't proving your point. Yes, a tenkara rod IS a graphite or fiberglass cane pole. Perhaps it IS also the "top of the line baitcaster" rather than the Zebco ... but BOTH of those are still reels that do basically the same thing. We don't call a baitcaster a "Rīru" just because it's high end and made in Japan.
Fishing a line tied directly to the end of a rod is cane pole fishing. No matter what other name you want to call it.
And cane pole fishing can be a blast when you get a big fish on there.

Go ahead and hate me ... I'm okay with that.

 

[Rip Tide]

I'm with you on this one mikechell
I too have caught tons of fish on a cane pole while floating around in an inner tube on a summer day
It's loads of fun, but it's still nothing more than fishin' a cane pole no matter what you'd want to call it.

Our warm water fly fishing tradition began with native Americans fishing for bass out of canoes with a cane pole, dapping a "bob" fly. A bob being big hook-less ball of fur and feathers
So this is hardly new no matter how fancy the rod

 

[c web]

I certainly am not mad. LOL

A bit amused that it has to be cane pole fishing. I have drown plenty of worms with cane poles, and still do actually, none of them will cast a fly like my tenkara rods will. If you want to insist that anything you do without a reel, including fly fish, is cane pole fishing go for it. In order to differentiate between wigglers and flies tenkara works for me.

Forgot to say that most of my cane poles that are made in japan that I use to cast flies are not tenkara rods at all but seiryu rods. Which is japanese for a cane pole designed to fish bait. They work wonders on panfish and trout with waxworms, if you ever try one doubt you'll go back to buggy whip crappie rods, they also cast flies and nymphs like a charm.

 

[c web]

Oh and fly fishing with a made in Japan cane pole made to cast flies is a blast with small fish or large fish. HAHA

 

[Rip Tide]

Not "wigglers"
I've never fished with worms on a cane pole... only flies

 

[c web]

The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.” --- Horace Kephart

And your not a tenkara/cane pole fisherman, seems a man with that signature would love using nothing but a stick and a string?

 

[c web]

Not "wigglers"
I've never fished with worms on a cane pole... only flies

I am sorry to hear that, it is amazing fun, you really should try it.

EDIT: Rip Tide I would love to hear what your cane pole set up is and what flies you use.

 

[Rip Tide]

The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.” --- Horace Kephart

And your not a tenkara/cane pole fisherman, seems a man with that signature would love using nothing but a stick and a string?

Obviously I do fish that way on occasion
Only I have no need to "gentrify" it with a fancy rod and a Japanese title

 

[c web]

Obviously I do fish that way on occasion
Only I have no need to "gentrify" it with a fancy rod and a Japanese title

Love to hear all about your setup.

 

[c web]

Do you also fish bargain basement western style rods?