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

way to fish almost any stream or river. Worthing: There are two primary problems that the beginner tenkara angler almost invariably experiences when learning to cast: “The Push.” The back cast is absolutely key. The majority of power you impart in the cast should be in the back cast. An abrupt stop is also key in the back cast. Most beginners tend to bring the rod back in far too delicate and gradual a manner. Then they “push” the rod forward to cast their line. As a result, the line either piles on the tip of the rod, or the line piles in the water. If your line is piling on the tip of your rod, the problem is your back cast. No doubt about it. If the line is piling in the water and not laying out full length, pushing harder won’t get your line farther. Again, the problem is in your back cast. “The Drop.” The majority of beginners, especially those with a Western background, drop their rod at the end of the cast to a position parallel with the water. This robs the cast of accuracy and distance, lands the fly sloppily and buries the line in the surface water. Drop your rod and you kill many of the fish-catching advantages tenkara offers. When casting tenkara, abruptly stop the rod high at about 10 or 11 o’clock. Let the line lay out above the water such that only a portion of your tippet and the fly hit the surface. Keep your rod held high, with all of that line held tight and off the water. A tight line held off the water is one of the primary elements that make tenkara so effective.

Jason Klass showing perfect tenkara casting form.

Vertrees: A lot of beginners tend to false cast too much. I was guilty of this even when I had some experience. Just put the fly where you want it to go. Fish as often as you can, and when you can’t, get out in the yard and cast to targets. I’m convinced that the more accurate your casting is, the better you can deliver the fly to the fish. Start by casting in calm conditions. Later you can practice in the wind. Keep the fly in front of you and pick it up for the next cast before it gets to you. Let the rod do its job. Casting should be smooth and effortless. Don’t push the rod. Lyle: If you have experience casting a reeled rod, tenkara will take some getting used to. It’s a much shorter casting stroke – instead of “10 and 2,” the old instruction standard for fly-fishing, tenkara is more like “10:30 to 12.” Most of the movement is in the wrist, with a little movement in the elbow.

If you don’t have experience with a rod-and-reel, you’re at an advantage – you don’t have to unlearn old habits. Tenkara casting is pretty intuitive. Cast hard enough to flex the rod, but keep your movements compact. The Japanese experts suggest you keep your elbow close to avoid fatigue over the course of the day. Naples: If you’re coming from Western fly-fishing you’re probably going to have to slow down, and put less power into the cast. One of the major mistakes that I see beginners making when fishing subsurface flies is that they deliver the fly too softly and then they don’t get the line up off of the water. As a result the fly doesn’t get very deep, and if it does it’s dragged to the top by the line. The water is moving faster at the surface than at depth so if the line is allowed to lie on the surface the fly will be dragged to the surface. Sometimes you’ll catch fish like this, with the fly just at the surface, but I think it’s generally not good. When casting you need to deliver the fly with some force into the water. You do this by abruptly stopping or “checking” your forward stroke when delivering the fly. When this is done right the fly will hit the water before the line and have some time to sink. After you cast the fly, then you want to get your line up off the water, keeping the rod-tip and the line downstream of the fly. Move the rod tip downstream as your fly drifts, trying to always keep it downstream of the fly. You don’t really want to drag the fly downstream, but you want a “tight” connection to the fly without slack. When you do this correctly you give your fly the

maximum time in the fishes’ feeding zone, and you can detect strikes by watching the point where your line enters the water. When that line pauses or twitches or does anything “funny,” set the hook. The only way that you’ll master casting is to do it. You can practice in your backyard – but I’ve never been able to do this – I get bored pretty quickly. Plus you can’t practice the follow-up drift – which is pretty crucial. I always recommend getting out on the water to practice. Even if it’s less than ideal water. You may not have a trout stream near you, but you probably have a warm water stream nearby. Get out on that warm water stream and practice. The fish are different but the basics are all the same.

Sadler: If you already can cast a fly rod you will find the action of a tenkara rod very slow. You have to be careful not to overpower your cast. The other thing is, on the forward cast, you will stop the rod and keep it there. You don’t follow the line to the water with the tip as you do with conventional fly rods. The other thing is that tenkara rods load easily so you don’t need a big back cast in order to make a forward cast. If you have not learned to fly cast then you will learn to cast a tenkara rod fairly quickly. Some of the common problems folks have with flycasting, such as using too much wrist or not following through on the forward cast, are not as big a deal with tenkara. Lansky: First off, try to learn to cast with a tapered line; it will be easier to turn over the line, tippet and fly. As far as the technique is concerned, I often see tenkara anglers lacking “authority” in their cast. What I mean is that the motion is not enough defined, as if you would try to be careful casting. The line ends up coming down in front of you in a pile and the fly will hit the water last in a spot where your line already may have spooked a fish. The cast should be executed with the wrist, elbow close to the body, with a very defined stop on the forward cast at no later than “10 o’clock.” This will propel the line where it needs to go, fly first. Stewart: The problems beginners have casting a tenkara rod are almost always a combination of extending the forward cast too far (rod tip too low) and not having an abrupt stop to the forward cast that causes the rod tip to spring forward. Both are critical. The best tenkara caster I know is Masami Sakakibara, also known as Tenkara no Oni (tenkara demon). If you watch his cast, he begins the back cast by raising his forearm slightly, and then smoothly transitions

to bending his wrist. The overall movement is slight, though, because it stops with the rod vertical or only just barely past vertical. The forward cast accelerates the rod, first with a return of the forearm to its starting position, and then with a quick straightening of the wrist. The forward cast must end with an abrupt stop. The acceleration into an abrupt stop is what causes the rod tip to spring forward, propelling the line. The forward cast also must stop with the rod tip fairly high – no lower than 10 o’clock. This does two things. First, it puts you in a “ready position” to react immediately if a fish takes your fly as soon as it hits the water, not to mention keeping the rod in a position where it can bend to take up the shock of the fish’s strike.

Jason Klass casting into a western creek.

Stop the cast at 10 or even 10:30 and the line will roll out and turn over just like it should. To help the tippet turn over, raise the rod tip very slightly as the line unrolls. Then there is the whole skill of landing a fish without a reel. That too is an important skill to learn that you just can’t get lawn casting or impressing your friends at the local fishing club casting pond. Ostrander: Learning to cast a tenkara rod is like learning to be a kid again. Forget the metronome, break all the rules and have fun. 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. Go find an open area, swing your tenkara rod around your head, and watch the line. Watch how the line follows the tip and makes the rod flex. Did you swing the rod around like you would a Western fly rod?

Then you’re doing it wrong. Swing the rod around like you are a little kid with a streamer on a stick. Let yourself become fascinated by how you can control the line and what that feels like. If you haven’t done this exercise, then here are some tips for you literary learners:

• Grip the rod with your finger pointed toward the rod.

• Put your elbow somewhere and leave it there. It doesn’t matter whether your elbow is tight to your body or out, just put it in one spot and don’t move it. However, after a long day, keeping your elbow in tight will be less tiring. • While casting from 10 to noon, allow your wrist to break and your elbow to bend. Hit the stops with crispness and speed, forcing the light line to load the stiff rod. • Throw the fly out by pointing where you want it to go, making it land at the same time as your tippet. Gibson: Tenkara rods are generally very light and very flexible, especially compared to Western fly rods and spin fishing rods of which many will be familiar. This high level of flexibility does a couple things for you. First off it makes casting almost effortless. The rod will flex on both the backward and forward casts helping to propel the line forward. This means that you don’t need to add a lot of force in your cast. The lines and flies are light in weight and don’t take a lot of effort to move through the air. Most new folks will feel like they should use speed and force to get the line to extend, but a cast that has energy – not force –will work best.

Casting a tenkara rod is like a golf swing not a baseball swing. It’s a controlled application of energy, not force. You don’t need to muscle your way through. Compared with other styles of fishing, the casting stroke is shorter with solid stop points. You don’t need or want a bunch of follow-through but instead a crisp up-to-noon back cast. Stop with a slight pause at the top, then firmly come forward to about 10:00 (or close to 10:45) and stop firmly again. You should be feeling the need to apply energy to your cast but not to push it forward with your muscles. In this manner you can get the line to extend and land the fly either very delicately or firmly with only slight adjustments in the amount of force you apply.