anyone out there doing tenkara style fly fishing?

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Pester

Sergeant
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Minuteman
Nov 20, 2012
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Northern CA
#1
More and more I have been fishing smaller western streams( the kind you can almost step over) and ran into a guy doing tenkara fly fishing. Light rod, no reel, small selection of flies. He seemed to really like but I was trying to get back to the truck before I lost all light so we did not talk long.

Anyone experienced with it?

Thanks in advance.....
 
#3
We don't find fish in streams where you can step over. They suffocate either in the lack of water 2 months a year or the ice when the puddles freeze for 6 months.

So I've never seen or heard of it.


But I'd bet you can tie a string to a piece of bamboo and fish without a reel like the did for hundreds of years....
 
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#4
chevy_man said:
But I'd bet you can tie a string to a piece of bamboo and fish without a reel like the did for hundreds of years....
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It seems like that is about what Tenkara is but with a more sophisticated rod/line. I can see it being used in some of those small creeks where the water is cold, fast, clear and not very wide. Just not sure what you do if you happen upon a beaver dam and hook into a bigger fish that may want to run. Maybe its just sort of a niche thing....
 
#5
chevy_man said:
We don't find fish in streams where you can step over. They suffocate either in the lack of water 2 months a year or the ice when the puddles freeze for 6 months.
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1729138884389.png
 
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#7
Don’t know why I’d limit myself to a glorified cane pole. Perhaps in very small water it would be ok, but I don’t see the point. I hooked a 14” cut bow in a stream I could step over several years ago. It was a shockingly big fish for such a narrow run. I suppose I could have horsed it in with no reel, but I don’t quite get why I would try.

Increasing the challenge? Is that the motivation behind the trend? I’m open to the concept, but it doesn’t quite resonate with me.
 
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#8
ma smith said:
View attachment 8526108
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Fished many a stream in those areas where the water was not more than 2-3 foot across.....may have been a 5 foot deep hole, or something so shallow you'd swear a fish couldn't live in it.....
Many a trout was slain and made a fine meal.
A certain crick just west of Big Pine holds a place in my soul, don't know the name of it, but many a 16-20 inch rainbow died via a chunk of power bait, a few salmon eggs, or a mepps spinner in near to no water with only 10 foot of line at most from the tip of my rod.
Makes for an exciting tussle :)

Baker creek.....had to look it up, for you know, reasons :)
 
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#10
Modoc said:
I’m farther North and still fish streams like that. Leader and tip it only, or the one weight with a roll cast are used. It’s just a fact of life in the West.
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The vast majority of my fishing is in the northern part of the state also and, at least for me, I dont think it would work on the bigger sections of the Feather, Truckee, Sac, etc. However, once you get above the west slope from Chico north there are a bunch of small streams where I could see this working.

Admittedly the lightest rod I use is a 4wght so when I get to those smaller streams I use a shorter leader/tippet and sort of dab it.

Not against it.......it was just new to me and I could not exactly see the point.
 
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#12
I’ve always wanted one for a hike or trip with the family that is NOT a fly fishing trip lol. They weight nothing, telescope into a tiny package and few things to go wrong. Add a nymph, adams parachute, wooly bugger, clouser and done.
 
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#13
Consolidated said:
I’ve always wanted one for a hike or trip with the family that is NOT a fly fishing trip lol. They weight nothing, telescope into a tiny package and few things to go wrong. Add a nymph, adams parachute, wooly bugger, clouser and done.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation and I can see how that could make sense in certain cases. Maybe I just need to try it.

But then again, last fire we had burned up a big chunk of the area I liked to fish so there is that......
 
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#14
Pester said:
Thanks for the explanation and I can see how that could make sense in certain cases. Maybe I just need to try it.

But then again, last fire we had burned up a big chunk of the area I liked to fish so there is that......
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Yeah, too many streams are in fire recovery. 😢

I’m trying to get back into the wilderness areas, but it’s taking a lot more research than before.
 
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#15
Not really my jam as I'm a steelhead guy: spin gear, fly (swing and dead-drift), bait-cast drifting yarn/corkies. But, I know a guy that's really into this very small stream/Tenkara, and he loves it. It is totally the way to go for those small creeks/streams where you'd probably just dab all the time anyway, as there is no real way to cast into it anyway.

I can see how it would be fun, but again, I go for the full-blast explosions/fights from a 2'-6" chromer a couple weeks in from the sea, but I also have a dozen options for that. For those that are surrounded by small trout steams out in the back country, this light approach could make for a fun outing with minimal gear.
 
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#17
I fished a lot of skinny water in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. One of my best friends has an isolated pond on his land in Montana with native cutthroats. His wife will fish that pond and some really small streams with a tenkara and land some decent sized trout.

All in the presentation. Little fish want to be big fish in a limited feeding season.
 
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#18
Yes. I was doing it 52 years ago, i still do it from time to time for nostalgia. My ancestors did it for many centuries before me.
Its called a cane pole with a line and hook. When they couldnt find bait, im sure they tied feathers to the hook.

Only in recent history, has the world become so full of pretentious cunts. The End is surely near.
 
#23
armorpl8chikn said:
Yes. I was doing it 52 years ago, i still do it from time to time for nostalgia. My ancestors did it for many centuries before me.
Its called a cane pole with a line and hook. When they couldnt find bait, im sure they tied feathers to the hook.

Only in recent history, has the world become so full of pretentious cunts. The End is surely near.
Click to expand...
There will be no bait.
YEW VILL EET ZE BUGZ!
 
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#26
Fished with Tenkara a bit, small streams with dries and nymphs are fun. Different technique to land a decent size (respectively) fish. Always seemed to revert back to my regular fly rods, I got longer swings with a couple mends vs the stick and line. For me it was a novelty or for the insane purist.
 
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#27
Supersubes said:
Never played with a tenkara rod, but when i need to fish like that, i put the front three sections of my fly rod together and tie tippet to the rod tip.
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FAR better to tie your line to the base of the sections where you can grip the line with your palm, still use the flexible rod to fight a fish while playing the line in the other hand AND, most importantly, if the tip section decides to come loose, you probably won't lose it.

Tenkara style fishing can be done without resorting to disassembling your gear. Just because you have a reel attached, doesn't mean you MUST play out a bunch of line and cast "normal".
 
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#28
Aftermath said:
FAR better to tie your line to the base of the sections where you can grip the line with your palm, still use the flexible rod to fight a fish while playing the line in the other hand AND, most importantly, if the tip section decides to come loose, you probably won't lose it.

Tenkara style fishing can be done without resorting to disassembling your gear. Just because you have a reel attached, doesn't mean you MUST play out a bunch of line and cast "normal".
Click to expand...
That makes sense. Usually I do this while backpacking and fishing small streams. Im not disassembling anything, im just not putting everything together. The fourth section and reel stays in the case. Fast and easy in other words.
 
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