Tenkara Smallies - Small, Low, Flow

[DanMarino]

Caught over 20 sunfish. 2 smallies.

Foam cylinder poppers was the fly today. Caught that one big sunfish on a black wooly bugger.

[Red_Beard]

I need to do more of this kind of fishing.

[DanMarino]

I really enjoy it. The months of August and September are my favorite for wading our small flows in Maryland. Catching fish is fun, but the best part was that I did not encounter another person. I had the river to myself the entire time. Solitude is my #1 goal. Catching fish using my method of choice is the #2 goal. Yesterday, that meant topwater poppers in knee to ankle deep water that was crystal clear.

[DanMarino]

I'm not a Tenkara expert, but I am really enjoying it. It is working great for me and I don't have any desire to cast a regular fly rod with a reel. What is working great for me is using a pvc line, then attaching a length of about 6 or 7 feet of mono or P-Line CXX Premium, then using a small foam cylinder popper, or a idaho killer kebari fly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRVPT0Niyqs

https://239flies.com/products/gary-k...RoC2wkQAvD_BwE

I use a Dragontail Tenkara Mizuchi rod like this one. This Tenkara Addict guy makes great videos and I really like his style and where he fishes out west in Utah, Idaho, California, Colorado.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrlyzAZnnRM

With my rod, I'm not able to cast flies with lead eyes. It can be done with my rod, but isn't fun and the rod doesn't seem to be made for it. If that is the type of fly fishing you enjoy the most, you will probably need to research what type of Tenkara rod works best for heavy weighted flies.

This is the type of floating pvc line I use. It comes in 20 foot lengths, so I cut it in half. I guess people might be able to use longer lengths, but I haven't tried yet. I use a tippet ring to connect the mono to the pvc line. https://dragontailtenkara.com/products/lightpvcflyline

Anyways, I like it. If you are into fishing streamers, Tenkara fishing might not be very enjoyable for you. If you love fishing surface flies, small poppers, wooly buggers, and killer bug/killer kebari flies, then it's lots of fun.

Cast. Let the surface fly or popper sit. Twitch it a little if you feel like it. Raise the rod or sweep to the side to set the hook. You will get the hang of lifting your rod tip to reduce the amount of slack in the line.
or
Cast. Let the idaho killer kebari sink and drift with the current. Watch the end of the pvc line. Look for a sudden twitch of a fish strike. It's like watching bright colored braid line when fishing a senko or tube. When you detect a fish eating the fly, pull the rod up or sweep to the side.

It is very simple fishing. I keep all my stuff in a small chest pack. I would like to figure out a crayfish type pattern that is lightly weighted that will work and cast well. Probably something with bead chain eyes.