TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies
TENKARA LINES AND TIPPETS “Tenkara is a hands-on sport, if anything, so that’s why it’s important to experiment a little to find out what works best for you.” Jason Klass
Tenkara fly line choices are happily few and if you’re like me, we can be thankful for that in many ways. I still love to fly-fish with rod and reel in the traditional Western way but try picking a fly line these days. There are just as many fly line combinations in every line weight as there are different available fly rods to choose. Then you have to cut away the marketing hype against the next greatest application technology in Western fly lines to determine if the advance is worth the price and promised performance. It’s the stuff that debates are made of and we enjoy debating what’s best. It’s just what we fly anglers sometimes do. Personally, I use a tapered, 13-foot braided tenkara fly line that comes with a monofilament 3X extender at the tip that allows me to attach my tippet material. Outside of the traditional braided material used for tenkara lines, high-visibility (or high-viz) monofilament is the next likely choice. Which is best? As always, what’s best is what works for you and the kinds of fishing you do. That said, the variety of insights you’ll see in this chapter on tenkara lines and tippets is based on anglers with real tenkara experience as a result of literally thousands of hours on the water.
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