TENKARA FLY-FISHING: Strategies, Tactics & Flies
CASTING TECHNIQUES FOR TENKARA “For all the complexity and all the over-analyzing we like to do with fly-fishing, it’s basically just a stick and some string.” ERiK Ostrander
If there is anything technical about the simplicity of tenkara fly-fishing, it’s mostly wrapped up in the art of casting a tenkara rod. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect and it really doesn’t take long to learn the art and science of casting. It also doesn’t take that long to really learn the basics of Western fly casting either, despite how complicated some make it. In my tenkara guiding I find that it takes usually no more than 30 minutes or less to get someone casting well enough to start fishing. Of course you can teach anyone to cast but that doesn’t mean that they understand how to catch fish. The key to any fly-casting is the ability to deliver a fly in the exact spot it is needed in as natural a way as possible. Smaller trout might be more forgiving of a botched cast but the bigger fish are usually not so gullible. Tenkara casting techniques are designed to ensure that your arm doesn’t fall off from constant motion halfway through your fishing day. The good news is that the length of the rod and the light weight of the tenkara fly lines don’t require a lot of movement to push the line to its intended target. The other key advantage is the ability to recast your line quickly, with little movement and far less arm stress than traditional Western flyfishing. There is no need for the muscular and line hauling double haul. The wispiness of the tenkara rod and line gives you the ability to deliver the fly of your choice in as natural a state as you can provide. It’s this advantage that I saw the first time I started tenkara fly-fishing. Little movement and absolutely minimal drag creates a fundamentally stealth
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