January 12th Tenkara Fishing Results

[DanMarino]

Lets see if these videos loaded on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/shorts/odJysjV1-os?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/ngpZ6ByAoLc?feature=share

[J.A. Veil]

Tom -

I clicked on the highlighted text and got this message: "This playlist does not exist".

[DanMarino]

How about now John?

[J.A. Veil]

I was able to view both videos. Congratulations on catching local fish during January.

[dsaavedra]

Off to a good start with a variety of species. That one bluegill had some very red eyes, interesting.

[Mark]

Tom,

Congrats on your catches and variety.

Can you do a video showing how you cast a tenkara rod?

[DanMarino]

That’s a good idea Mark. I’ll see if I can film myself sometime soon.

[bignose]

It looked like that bluegill was enjoying being warmed up in your hand!
Gotta love the black wooly bugger!

[Mark]

Tom,

Last weekend I attended The Fly Fishing Show in Edison, NJ.

One of the things I enjoy the most at the show are the presentations and demonstrations by guides and fly fishing experts from all over the country and in some some cases, the world.

The first talk I attended was on Tenkara. I took a photo of the title slide:

Tenkara.jpg

The first thing the presenter said was that she did not catch the fish in the photo with her Tenkara rod. I didn't think so because she has a stripping tape on her right forefinger in the photo indicating that she used a regular fly rod.

However, she showed how a tenkara rod extends . Then she explained how to rig it with the appropriate line, leader and fly. She also showed how to activate the fly by tapping on the rod with her finger. And she had video of her casting it and catching brown trout. It was an interesting presentation.

I was thinking I could probably catch bass, bluegills and picks with one in my kayak. But I didn't buy one ... yet.

[DanMarino]

haha. That's dumb to show a fish not caught using Tenkara in the slide show. Makes no sense to me. For me Tenkara fishing has been fun. It's different and I like to be different. I like that it is pretty simple. I have been able to use regular flies on my Tenkara rod and I don't tap it with my finger when fishing. haha. I'm pretty sure my Tenkara rod is lighter than my 5 weight fly rod and that is mostly because there is no reel on it. So I like that the Tenkara rod is lighter weight. I'm pretty sure that Tenkara rod fishing is more limiting than regular fly fishing. With a regular fly rod and reel, you should be able to cast farther and you have more options for how you can fish the fly. With the Tenkara rod I do a bunch of do nothing casts. Cast the fly out and then do nothing. haha. If I am fishing in a pond or lake I'll cast out and let the floating fly just sit on the surface. If it is a sinking fly, I'll let it slowly sink. I might slowly move the fly back towards me by lifting the rod tip up or move it left or right. Most hits happen when the fly is slowly sinking, suspending, or floating on the surface. Doing nothing works great. In a stream or river I just follow the fly with the rod tip as the current or wind moves it around.

[Mark]

Tom,

I agree. Poor choice of title slide photo. But it did get our attention!

I think if I used one, I would be constantly reaching with my left hand for slack line that didn't exist to manipulate the fly.

The rod she demonstrated was 12 feet long fully extended. To that she added 12 feet of line and I believe a regular tapered trout leader.

There were two dealers present selling Tenkara rods.

This was first time I attended the show in two years due to the pandemic. I don't recall seeing Tenkara dealers there before. It's gaining in popularity.

[DanMarino]

I do way fewer false casts with the Tenkara rod and I believe my fly is in the water more often. So for me, Tenkara is more efficient. When I used my regular fly rod I was always stripping more line off the reel and doing a bunch of false casts to try and get extra distance. With the Tenkara rod I don't have any of that. The line is only so long, so I just cast out as far as it will go. No extra line to mess with. My fly is in the water more. The fixed length of line essentially forces me to only cast so far and see what I can catch. haha. I don't catch many large fish, but I can see how not being able to strip set with the Tenkara rod is a big disadvantage.