Best tenkara rod?

[thinhorn_AK]

In theory they sound great. In practice they fall short imo.

For sure. I know only one person who owns one and he’s never caught anything with it. He always says he has but I’ve never seen him use it. I was at his house once and he was talking about catching fish with it, even his wife was “you’ve never caught anything with that rod”, his response was “yeah I have, you just weren’t there”.

I think I’m sold on getting a lightweight 2-3 weight setup, Redington and echo both make them, reels are readily available from Redington and Galvan ( I’m sure others too), and you just have far more versatility.

Have you used that Redington yet?

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

For sure. I know only one person who owns one and he’s never caught anything with it. He always says he has but I’ve never seen him use it. I was at his house once and he was talking about catching fish with it, even his wife was “you’ve never caught anything with that rod”, his response was “yeah I have, you just weren’t there”.

I think I’m sold on getting a lightweight 2-3 weight setup, Redington and echo both make them, reels are readily available from Redington and Galvan ( I’m sure others too), and you just have far more versatility.

Have you used that Redington yet?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

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Nice, I should have a nice lighter setup for grayling anyways. I’m sold on your idea now.

 

[LCguy]

DragonTAIL Mizuchi, especially great for a beginner but I still use mine almost exclusively. I've caught trout up to 18 inches with it. If I'm on a stream I know will ave bigger trout than 18 inches I'll bring my DragonTAIL Hellbender but even then, I wouldn't doubt the ability of the Mizuchi to handle fish of that size.

 

[LCguy]

In theory they sound great. In practice they fall short imo.

I disagree, caught hundreds of trout of all sizes with it, never broken anything but the tippet. In fact, I haven't even touched my western setups in two years.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I disagree, caught hundreds of trout of all sizes with it, never broken anything but the tippet. In fact, I haven't even touched my western setups in two years.

Yep, small sample size on my end. I’m super happy with the light Redington setup.

 

[cjdewese]

Have a buddy that has sold me on use cases where a tenkara make sense. He has caught a bunch on his in small streams, there is a pretty good learning curve on line management so you don't get hung up or break anything but he seems to have it down.

 

[307]

I disagree, caught hundreds of trout of all sizes with it, never broken anything but the tippet. In fact, I haven't even touched my western setups in two years.

I agree with you. In certain situations, it makes for very efficient fishing, and they're obviously so light and easy to transport, they can go along on a lot of backcountry travel.

I really enjoy casting a traditional rod, but Tenkara is a good time when appropriate.

 

[Ferrulewax]

Here in the southern Appalachians where we have lots of stupid small streams that never see the sun, there is still no way I would want anything under 6-7ft for a traditional outfit. I have played with some 6’ and under rods and they just don’t function well IMO. If it’s that tight there is no way you are casting anyway, and at least a 7’ rod gives you some distance to dap your fly in the water.

The redington zero really broke open the market for a low price UL fly reel. I love mine. Past that I believe the sage click is the lightest on the market

If the trip goal is fishing then I bring the fly rod, but if I’m on a backpacking trip and *might* get to fish then I bring the tenkara rod. My entire fishing kit weighs in at <5 oz if tenkara fishing.

My wife prefers tenkara for the simplicity, and I will admit, it’s nice to go from strapped to the side of the backpack to fishing in less than one minute, particularly if just trying to make a few casts during a stop for lunch.