Tenkara Headcount

[Joe Angelucci]

Just trying to figure out how many people have tried tenkara and your favorite method / fly.

I use a Fountainhead Caddis rod and prefer to use dry flies in size #12. I started to use nymphs and English North Country Spiders

[Tony Livingston]

Everyone has their particular, favorite method. One of the core, founding principles here at BBG is the acceptance of all styles and techniques, provided they're legal of course. If everyone fished the same way, it would be a pretty boring world.

I doubt that I ever  practice Tenkara, but I do appreciate the sheer functionality and simplicity of it. And I will respect those who choose to fish this method. As should we all.

[Shawn Allison]

I love bluegill fishing.  Tenkara literally means "From Heaven".  The first memory I have of catching a fish was bluegill fishing 'tenkara' style when I was just a couple of years old.  We had taken a vacation to Myrtle Beach and had stopped about an hour short to visit some relatives. The ants were so bad that no one was allowed out of the truck.  These ants were massive ants!  We fished out of the back of the truck and caught huge bluegill after bluegill (hmmmm maybe they had been eating the ants lol)  with nothing more than a tenkara cane pole with a split shot and crickets.  I'm only 32 and I have the worst memory of anyone I know but i will remember that trip even if i live to be 110.  It's funny looking back on the fact that I have caught several largemouth over 10 pounds, one largemouth right at 12 that is on my wall, many stripers, sharks over 6 foot long, etc. but there is nothing i would rather fish for than fat bluegill and shellcrackers when they are stacked up! I use light gear and try to encourage others to do so.  I just smile and scratch my head when I invite people to go bluegill fishing and they show up with a bluefin tuna rod and 300 lb test.... 

[Jason Klass]

Tenkara is not cane pole fishing. Here's why: http://www.tenkaratalk.com/2013/01/tenkara-vs-cane-pole-fishing/

[JBplusThuy]

+1 to that. I was first exposed to fly fishing when I lived in Japan, and while I don't do tenkara myself and even in Japan western-style fly fishing seems more popular, it's definitely fly fishing. Probably not all that different from what I do with a regular fly rod; as a perpetual novice caster <g> I rarely have more than 30 feet of line out, and usually keep it out until I get a fish, so I actually could use a tenkara rod as a replacement :-)

[Joe Angelucci]

Jason

Welcome to BBG. The site is amazing for its depth of knowledge on all things Bluegill.

BTW, huge fan of your blog.

JDA

[Shawn Allison]

Jason I am glad that you decided to join us at big bluegill but I believe you are mistaken...... Tenkara is in fact cane pole fishing here in South Carolina!  lol.  I am about as likely to try 'real' tenkara fishing as I am to stick my arm in a waterlogged hole and wait on a catfish to bite down on my hand. I personally enjoy a ultra light rod and reel but after checking out your blog I can tell that you really enjoy it and are very successful at it.  I think that is great! I would love to catch one of those 'tiger' trout no matter what method used.  I'm glad you found the site and there are some great people here. 

[Joe Angelucci]

Was not looking to reopen any prior discussions. My interest was simply to see how many people have tried tenkara and determine what worked in warm water. Most websites cover cold water trout fishing tenkara. We may have a chance to help define tenkara methods for warm water. We all fish Bluegill by choice, we should all respect our different methods.

[JBplusThuy]

They didn't have fly reels in Dame Juliana's day, either, but I haven't heard anybody say it's not fly fishing that she describes in The Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle, but I have yet to hear anyone say that wasn't fly fishing. The difference between what we do with modern fly gear that fly fishers didn't do only 200 years ago comes down to just a couple of things, really:

-Advances in tackle made possible by made possible by modern technology (modern lines, graphite and fiberglass rods, etc.)

-Changes/advances in technique made by possible by the invention of a line storage device (fly reel).

I don't think I'm ready to say my predecessors in this sport weren't fly fishers just because I have a reel and they didn't...

 

[Joe Angelucci]

JB 

Very cool.. Here's a link to the original text. The woodcut looks like fly fishing to me 

http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/berners/berners.html

[JBplusThuy]

That's pretty cool, Joe, thanks for the link!

Re-reading my post, I can see that I was caught between two different draft versions and somehow mashed them together into an incoherent goo, but I guess my main point - that a fly rod doesn't become not a fly rod because it doesn't have a reel - is in there somewhere :p

Jonathan

[JBplusThuy]

The Wikipedia article on fly fishing mentions tenkara, but also of interest is the mention it makes of ayu fishing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayu_fishing

That article is a bit sparse, and that's actually the first I've heard of ayu being taken on the fly (ayu are a small fish that are hatched in fresh water rivers, journey to the sea, then return as adults to spawn, as salmon do). I spent a summer in the countryside of Gifu Prefecture, which is a center of ayu fishing, and the only technique I observed was using an ayu as bait to dupe the others.

To do that, the "bait" ayu has a nose ring put in, and this ring is attached to the end of the fishing line. Then, hooks are placed fore and aft on its body (they look like a treble with one shank and point removed). The other ayu (males, I'm guessing) migrating up-river to spawn are very aggressive and territorial and will attack the newcomer if it wanders into their space. If all goes well, the attacking fish then gets snagged on the hooks.

I've seen ayu rods that had to be 30 feet long! The line is about as long as the rod, and the fisherman moves the "bait" ayu around to different spots in the river, hoping to encounter another ayu.

[Joe Angelucci]

JB

You nailed it right. Here is a link to the History of Fly fishing

Enjoy

http://business.virgin.net/fly.shop/history.htm