This saturday I got my first chance to take out my new Fountainhead 360 tenkara rod. Now, I freely admit that the river we chose for this outing was not the most appropriate river for a tenkara rod. While there are some nice streamline runs, most of the river is wide and deep. In the winter, the most productive fishing is done with multiple tiny nymphs fished deep under an indicator. However, since I did not want to wait until the snow melts on the mountains or until the season begins next month on the coastal streams, I decided to take a risk and try the new rod in less than ideal conditions.

As fishing can be hit or miss this time of year, my fishing buddy David came along and fished my 8.5 Foot F.E. Thomas Dirigo bamboo rod as a "control". We are at about the same skill level, and he fishes this river in much the same style I usually wood.  The day was slow, but by the end I had caught one trout (on a Fuji tenkara dry fly), and he had caught six on casts of three wet flies. As far as I am concerned, on fish on a dry is worth 5 sub-surface, so we came out pretty even. On another type of river, I doubt there would be much of a disparity.

More important than the number of fish caught is the experience of fishing with a particular rod, or in a particular style. An on that front Tenkara holds up pretty well.

Ease of hiking/wading

The compact nature of a telescopic rod is truly freeing, especially when bushwhacking through dense brush and blackberry brambles. When I first set out toward the river, I was able to simply stick the rod in my pack , and once it had the fly and line on it, it was easy to wrap the line around my hand or line spool, and walk with the rod collapsed. I didn't have to worry about navigating the tip of a fly rod eight feet in front of me between branches and vines.

Casting

Casting tenkara style is pretty easy. Within about ten minutes I was making accurate casts, and after about an hour I was no longer thinking about casting and was just fishing. While I don't think I got caught in tree branches more often than with other rods, I did get tangled in different branches. In general I had to be more aware of higher branches than usual and less aware of of what was way behind me.

Presentation

The long rod and light, fixed length line allow for amazingly long dead drifts, especially with dry flies. With wet flies and nymphs I found myself more aware of the tip of the fly rod than with western style fly fishing. Instead of controlling the depth of the fly with line slack and weighted flies, I was able to control it by lowering and raising the rod tip.

Playing/Landing a Fish

The particular rod I was using transmitted feeling from the end of the line to my hand as well as my favorite bamboo and fiberglass rods. I was able to feel the trout take my dry fly as soon as it happened and was able to hook up with ease. The only fish I landed was not big, but it was fun to play him on the long rod and line. I was standing next to a large current, but I was able to play him into the slow water with side pressure and quickly bring him to the net. 

All-in-all, I really enjoyed fishing tenkara style. I don't think I would bring it back to the lower Stanislaus again, but the I will definitely be bring it with me to smaller rivers, mountain streams, and larger rivers with a lot of pocket water. I can see taking it with me on day hikes that may or may not give fishing opportunities, and maybe investing in a slightly shorter rod for very small trout in tight spaces.

--Posted by Eben