Fighting Fish Tenkara-Style

“Fighting a fish with tenkara equipment will be more fun than any fight you have ever had before.”

Paul Gibson

There is the common myth that you can’t land good-sized trout on a tenkara rod. The truth is you can if you know how. The existence of this myth is understandable when you think of the pounding that a big Western rod takes when a big trout takes the fly … and the trout is lost anyway. The Western rod has the advantage of a strong reel, plenty of line with backing and a fish wearing backbone. So how can a tenkara angler compete? A bit of perspective here will go along way. Any angler using any trout equipment can lose a fish. It happens daily on rivers, lakes and streams. There is a growing base of anglers from coast to coast who don’t spend all their time on small creeks and brooks. A good portion of the anglers interviewed for this book is from the West and regularly fish big western rivers and … hold on to your hats … land big fish too. To prove it, I’ve sprinkled this book with photos of big river trout caught and landed on a tenkara rod. Although the tenkara rod was not originally designed to catch big fish, it doesn’t mean that it can’t. When you’ve landed a big rainbow or brown that tips past 18 inches or more on a tenkara rod, you’ll know the difference between fact and myth. Worthing: Landing a fish with tenkara is pretty darn intuitive. Simply raise your rod behind you, grab the line, pull the fish in and you’re done. Land a couple of 8-14-inch trout on smaller streams, and you’ve got it down.

Until you hook into a 20-inch trout in a fast current. Here are five crucial tips for the tenkara angler: Plan ahead. Make a mental note of all the soft water around you. Those are the places you really want to end up with a fish on the end of your line.

Tuck your elbow in. The power position for tenkara is with your elbow tucked tight at your side. This is true for almost all casting and fly manipulation. It is especially true for fighting fish. Keep your elbow tucked. Extending your arm straight above your head is a common mistake. The second you extend your arm, you are no longer in control of that fish.

Tenkara rods can handle large fish. Just ask Rob.

Use the rod to your advantage. Tenkara rods are exceptionally good at protecting tippet and working the fight out of a fish. Tenkara rods have a sweet spot, a gradual bend at which you can take full advantage of their strength. If a fish runs and straightens out the bend, then the risk of breaking off the rod increases. Tuck the rod handle down and forward, re-establishing that perfect bend. Closing the bend, say, by grabbing the line too high when hand-lining, also increases the risk of breaking the rod. Learn to steer the fish. Yes, it can be done. You can learn to steer a fish in the direction you want it to go. Away from that fast current, and toward that soft water you scoped out. On the fixed line of a tenkara rod, fish tend to run in a direction perpendicular to the direction of pull. By angling your rod to one side or another, you can change the direction

of pull, thus changing the direction of the fish. Hand-lining is not a sin. Sure, it might be as fun as sinning. But it is not a sin. It is a very effective way of landing big fish in fast water. There’s only one thing you really need to know. When your opponent is strong, give ground. When your opponent is weak, take ground. Vertrees: You really need to do two things when fighting a fish with a tenkara rod. Keep a tight line and turn the fish before you have to work against the current. To aid in turning a fish, you can put the rod at a lower angle to the surface of the water. Turning the fish quickly greatly increases your chances of bringing it to the net or your hand. One time I was fishing the Uncompahgre River below Ridgway, Colo. This stretch of water is famous for big rainbows. I had a sizeable rainbow slam a Killer Bug at the tail of a plunge pool. Turning this 20-inch fish before it got back into the main current of the river was the key to a successful catch. If that fish had gotten back into the main current, he would have broken off. The sooner you can get good, solid tension on the rod and line and get the fish out of strong current, the better. Sadler: You wonder can the tippet hold? Will the rod break? How will I land a big fish? Will I need to chase after the fish to land it? The fact is if you set up your outfit correctly and think about what you will do when you catch a large fish, then tenkara is not a lot different than conventional fly fishing. There are a few things to things to keep in mind here. The tenkara rod is very flexible, much more so than a conventional fly rod. That means it acts as a big shock absorber and can protect light tippet. If you stand your ground and keep the rod bent you can control the fish. You should plan on where you will land a fish in advance. If you can find an eddy or a calmer section of water that is where you want to land the fish. A net is a big help for big fish. Lyle: With large fish, keep the rod high and deeply bent. The rod will absorb the fish’s pulls and lunges, protecting the tippet. With any fish, expect it to struggle briefly, then pause as if the struggle feels futile. When this pause occurs, raise your rod all the way and swing the fish to your position. If your line is longer than your rod, you may have to pull in the last few feet by hand, but it’s easy. Take your time, have a light touch and if the fish freaks out, let it pull against the rod again for a few

minutes until it settles down. Scoop your fish up with your net and victory is yours. Naples: I recommend that the beginner use a combined line/tippet length that is about the same length as the rod or just a little longer. In the beginning you should probably avoid the need to hand-line the fish in, which is what you do with longer lines. Also, using a net is going to make landing and releasing easier, especially on bigger water. I generally don’t use a net on small streams, but I do on larger streams and rivers. Small-to-medium-sized fish upwards of 16 inches or so, especially on smaller streams, are going to come in pretty easily. Don’t mess around. Set the hook and then pull the fish in. The breaking strength of 5X is around 4.7-pounds. It’s hard for most fish to break. That long flexible rod is like a big shock absorber. If you keep the rod angled so that the rod’s got a bend in it, keep the “spring” in the rod, then the fish just can’t exert much force on the tippet. If you let the rod get low, and let the fish take the line straight from the end of the rod, so that rod is no longer bent, then yes, without a reel and a drag, the tippet can break pretty easily. Whether the rod is held vertical or parallel to the water, make sure the line is always at an angle to the rod tip and the rod is acting like a big shock absorbing spring. When fighting a bigger fish, maybe you can’t just drag it in right away. So you’ll need to tire it a bit. I always try to keep the fish “off-balance.” Turn its head by pulling in the opposite way that it’s heading. Preferably, I’m fishing upstream so I’m hooking and fighting a fish from behind. That way, when you set the hook and put pressure on the fish, you’re pulling the hook into it and not out of it. So, try to stay downstream of the fish and guide it into shallow water where you can land it. You don’t want to fight the fish and the current. Most fish that I lose because they slip the hook are fish that I hooked downstream and that I’m pulling against the current. Sometimes, you’re fishing downstream, or the fish is hooked above but gets downstream of you. If you had a reel, you could let him take some line as you work downstream to him. But, in tenkara you don’t, obviously. So, you need to be ready to move. If a big fish gets into current below you then your best bet is to move downstream with it while trying to guide it to slower water to land it. This is where some pre-planning can be a great help. Try to fish upstream, have an idea where you want to land the fish and put yourself in a position that allows you to move downstream to land a

fish that gets below you. Klass: Always keep tension on the line. If you lower your rod too much or allow too much slack in the line, the fish can shake off. Keep the rod tip up and a taut connection to the fish. If you’ve hooked a big fish that wants to run, you’ll either have to run with it, or lower your rod tip to give the fish some line to take out so they don’t break off. This is one of the fun challenges of tenkara because rather than relying on a reel, it can force you to get your whole body involved in landing a fish, which to me, is an exciting and more direct experience. Luckily, since tenkara rods tend to be fairly limber, they offer excellent tippet protection so landing big fish on a light tippet is definitely doable. When it comes to actually landing the fish without a reel, you have to basically grab the line and pull the fish in with your hands. This is pretty straightforward when you’re catching small fish. But when you’re landing a large fish, it can get a little tricky. You’ll need to mimic the drag system on a reel with your fingers. If you start pulling the fish in and it wants to run, keep the line firmly in your grasp but let up a little to allow the fish to take some line out, but with some tension. When they begin to tire or stop running, try pulling them again. If they want to make another run, let some line out again. It’s a balancing act to know how much tension to keep but it’s pretty intuitive. Let the fish tell you when to pull in and when to let them take some line out. Don’t rush them or you might break them off. Lansky: I try to apply constant pressure on the fish, trying to tire it as quickly as possible. If the fish heads left, I apply pressure pulling it to the right. I also noticed that if I can get the fish’s head out of the water it tires quicker. Land the fish quickly with a net and hand-line the fish where necessary. Don’t try to land the fish with a stretched rod arm, keep the arm close to the body and angle the rod to the back. A stretched arm will make you lose pressure and leverage on the fish. Stewart: Just because you don’t have a reel doesn’t mean you have to fight a fish to exhaustion (and possible death depending on water temperature). If the fish is hooked well, you can put quite a bit of pressure on it even with 5X tippet. Try to get the fish into quiet water so you aren’t fighting both the fish and the current. Don’t chase a fish downstream. Break your tippet. Break your rod if you must. But don’t

break your leg. If you hiked in and are fishing alone, you could be in very serious trouble. Even if you aren’t alone, didn’t hike in and are fishing across the road from a trauma center, it’s just not worth it. Vetterli: Don’t spend too much time fighting a fish. Tenkara rods bring fish in to the net much quicker than Western fly rods. Get them in and get them back in the water as soon as possible. Remember these are living creatures that deserve our respect and they should be treated accordingly. Don’t waste time taking the stupid hero photos of you holding your fish out of the water. This ego trip kills these beautiful animals. You may think that the fish is fine because it swam away when you put it back in the water after 1 to 2 minutes but you’d be sorely mistaken. Most fish that are over-played on the line and over-handled by humans, die a few minutes after being released. Ostrander: When fighting a big fish on a tenkara rod, be prepared to run. When the fish goes, you should too. Don’t let the rod go under 45 degrees, and if you do … then throw your rod in the water. Seriously. The fish will come to a rest and you can go pick up your rod and finish the fight. Just make sure you do it somewhere that you can get to your rod, and don’t complain if something doesn’t go as planned. Also, when a fish runs and you can’t, don’t give it the tip of your rod. Give the fish the butt of your rod. You’re still giving up ground, but not losing the angle of your rod. No matter what your technique, you will lose fish. You’ll lose big fish, you’ll lose small fish. Don’t worry about it. Everyone does it.