Tenkara Rods

[oldsparkey]

I have fished all my life. Either with a casting reel and rod , a fly rod , a spinning rod and even a cane pole or a branch cut and rigged for fishing.
I have never fished with a Tenkara outfit and was wondering if anyone on here has tried one of them. From what I can gather it's a cross between a fly rod and a cane pole. My reasoning , the line in a fixed length ( cane pole ) but the action is soft ( Light action ) since you use Fly's with them. They appear to be a good idea for stream work where a extended back cast is a bad idea .
( I have some Bett's Bream Getter's { spiders } and a couple of Bett's Bee Pop { Bumblebee } Poppers ordered ) When I locate the sponge bodies ( or material ) for the spiders I'll tie my own flys.

Any advice ( Knowledgeable ) is appreciated since I will be trying one in the very near future for pan fish ( Bream , Blue Gill and even Stump Knockers ). Who knows might even stumble onto a Bass now and then.

 

[jdupre']

Chuck, I never fished with one but I kinda like the idea. If you really think about it, the majority of casts you make with a flyrod are sub 30ft. I think that's pretty doable with a tenkara outfit. I tie what's called a Cap Spider.....basically a bream killer with a tiny, tiny jig head. Very simple to tie and I catch much more fish with it than any popping bug I've ever used. In Japan, tenkara fishermen only use two or three types of flies. Their challenge is to make the fish want what they have. LOL>

I've read that 80-90% of what a bluegill eats comes from below the surface. I like those odds.

 

[Kayak Jack]

When I fished in Japan, we used short cane poles and dough balls. No problem getting the fish to want my bait. The problem was to hook one in the act.
I never caught a fish! My Japanese friend, however, caught 4 or 5.

 

[oldsparkey]

Joey...
I am thinking the same thing , a 12 foot rod with 12 feet of there line and a 2,1/2 or 3 foot tippet.
The Brown bream killer or the Black ones are what produces around here. The bumblebee with ( Black with yellow stripes ) yellow and black striped tail feathers and the rubber legs works for bass and large bream.
When fishing either of them , flip it out and let it sit for a minute or two , give it a small twitch ( enough to make the rubber legs move ) and get ready to hang on.
Vince and I camping ( a long time ago ) on the Econ River used some branches with lines and hooks , using small pieces of some venison he had we hit the jackpot on bream. Did the catch and release with them.

Jack....
Dough balls works great on Bream down here. I have caught a lot of bream when I was a kid using dough balls. Also caught shiners with the dough balls and then used the shiners to catch Bass which ocassionaly ended up as supper.

Several years ago a friend had a house boat and after breakfast he would dump any left over grits in the water. The grits made a great chum for Bream , apparently the bream thought a dough ball was a oversized grit. lol , might be that grits only work on southern fish.
Irregardless , today I'll keep the grits for myself since I prefer to use artificial lures.

 

[Kayak Jack]

I think that you are right, Chuck. Northern fish don’t respond to grits. They hold out for bacon (extra crispy) and eggs (over medium, please?)

Kinda persnickety, I think. ;-)

 

[PeteStaehling]

Back to tenkara... I loved the idea of it and tried it a little without much luck. I thought the idea was especially great for backpacking. I packed it for a backpacking trip in the Sierras, but on the way there bought a regular 4 piece fly rod outfit a Cabelas on a whim. I tried it out at a creek by the roadside on the way to my backpacking trip. I found it worked better for me and I had so much fun that I took it leaving the tenkara in the car. I never took the tenkara out again. I may give it another chance sometime.

BTW, I caught a LOT of trout on that trip and could have had them for every meal if I had wanted to. They were small, but hungry and plentiful.

 

[oldsparkey]

My preferred rods are fly rods and have used them for over 60 years , not the same rod all the time.
There is a river here that's overgrown in parts and narrow in other areas. Using a normal fly rod the best cast is a roll cast. With a normal back cast I could get arrested for fishing for Squirrels without a license. There's a lot trees along the bank of the river. The upside is that the river is full of Bass and Bream since it's not fished a lot.

Floating the river when your bait lands next to the bank you can get ready for a fight. Good fish habitat where they like to hide Tree roots , Cypress knees , Weeds and even brush. A spinning rod and a black worm is the prefered outfit when floating.

The Tenkara should let me get a fly next to the bank then the Squirrels can get a break while the Bream and Bass take a licking. Plus the Tenkara ( in it's case ) fits in my backpack like it's made for it. Camping and fishing , a nice combination. Who knows I might even get to do some fishing from the bank. Now I only need a little decent weather to give it a try.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Out of curiosity, do you often fry up the fish there in camp?

 

[oldsparkey]

Out of curiosity, do you often fry up the fish there in camp?

If I'm camping and get one that's damaged ( Example ----hook in a gill ) I will cook it in camp. If it's a day trip then the fish is filleted/cleaned and taken home.
Most of the time it's day fishing ( thinking about supper ) no more then two fish at the most , one for each of us. If there are some nice fillets then one fish will surface.
Remember it's called Fishing and not called Catching Fish. A lot of the time I think the fish have this saying on a underwater log ..... "Even a fish stays out of trouble if it keep's its mouth shut."

The exception are the camping trips to the Everglades , those are a everyday fishing and camping with fresh fish ( Baked Beans , Hash Browns , Salad's ) for suppers if the fish cooperate. ( They Usually Do with a wide variety. )

I fish with barb less hooks and believe in the catch and release principal.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Keeps you out of trouble.