Tenkara = Success! - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

Hookmanski · #1 08-29-2017, 02:25 PM

After posting in here about tenkara last week, I bought a 7 dollar tenkara rod off of amazon to see if i liked it. In addition, I bought some mini trout magnets (even smaller than the regular ones with a 1/200 jighead instead of a 1/64) off amazon and some traditional tenkara flies from Tenkara USA.

I got to my local pond to test things out for the first time. Setting up the rod took only about 2 minutes (I tied my tippet to my level line at home). Took me only a few minutes to get the hang of casting. I was targeting bluegill and other panfish just to see if I could catch anything in the 30 minutes i had before work.

I started fishing the mini magnets because my trout magnet is usually my go to lure to see what kinds of fish are living where I'm fishing, and they almost always catch fish. The minis did not dissapoint, and I had my first bluegill on the 6th cast.

I switched over to the tenkara flies after catching a couple more bluegill, and the difference casting these compared to the magnets was pretty noticeable. This was the first time I had ever fished with any type of fly, and now I'm starting to understand how to place the fly in the water in a natural way (I think i really have caught the fly fishing flu now). After around 10 casts, I landed a nice little bluegill, pics in the link below.

All in all, I really enjoyed tenkara fishing and fishing with flies! I'm definitely going to continue with tenkara as well as try out some fishing with a regular fly rod setup once I get my hands on one. If you haven't tried this type of fishing, you're only 7 dollars away! Most people assume not having a reel may impact your enjoyment of fishing, however it was pretty refreshing and I felt more connected to each fish I hooked up with.

Tight lines fellas!!!!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147680.../shares/T7x55s

thmyorke1 · #2 08-29-2017, 05:22 PM

Congrats on the fly fun!

Good choice on that lil jig, I noticed fish just prefer sinking lures rather than suspending/floating ones. You really can go up to 1/64th oz but idk about the hook size on those trout magnets. The jigs I get off chuck and deb's are smaller I think. I go down to a #12 hook. Some of the smallest fish can get hooked up this way. And when im fishing like this it's all about quantity rather than quality of fish so the more hook ups - the better.

A great feeling getting several fish in a row, no cast going without a hook up.

Id like to shill "chuck and deb's" some more and say that their micro plastics are great too if you dont have fly tying materials.

good luck

Hookmanski · #3 08-29-2017, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Congrats on the fly fun!

Good choice on that lil jig, I noticed fish just prefer sinking lures rather than suspending/floating ones. You really can go up to 1/64th oz but idk about the hook size on those trout magnets. The jigs I get off chuck and deb's are smaller I think. I go down to a #12 hook. Some of the smallest fish can get hooked up this way. And when im fishing like this it's all about quantity rather than quality of fish so the more hook ups - the better.

A great feeling getting several fish in a row, no cast going without a hook up.

Id like to shill "chuck and deb's" some more and say that their micro plastics are great too if you dont have fly tying materials.

good luck

Thanks! I'll definitely check out Chuck and Debs. It was a blast this morning!

thmyorke1 · #4 08-29-2017, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hookmanski

Thanks! I'll definitely check out Chuck and Debs. It was a blast this morning!

http://chuckanddeb.com/

The site looks sketchy for looking like it was designed by someone who just learned the basis of website design, but they do ship on time. You also pay with paypall.

Go to JIG HEADS AND WEIGHTS and scroll down to NO NECK ROUNDHEADS and go for those 1/80ths and 1/64s.

Then go to LISTING OF ALL SOFT PLASTIC BAITS, scroll down to the the PANFISH BAITS section. A lot of plastics that are hardly over an inch.

The selection on that site is A+ in terms of variety.

23cardinal · #5 08-30-2017, 08:29 PM

Awesome man!!
Did U use fly line? Did that rod come with it? Or u just using regular line?

meatwad555 · #6 08-31-2017, 07:04 AM

So wait it's a fly rod with no reel?

Hookmanski · #7 08-31-2017, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meatwad555

So wait it's a fly rod with no reel?

Pretty much! Except its really its own category of rod, there are no guides on it and no reel seat. Nicer ones have a good handle, but my 7 dollar one doesn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23cardinal

Awesome man!!
Did U use fly line? Did that rod come with it? Or u just using regular line?

Thanks man! I bought a spool of Level line on amazon as well, its a yellow fluorocarbon line used specifically for tenkara fishing.

Riz · #8 08-31-2017, 04:54 PM

nice brother im glad it went well for ya. for that price ya got a whole new world of fishing opened up to ya. awesome

bigfishy · #9 09-01-2017, 06:42 PM

Gr8 job on the new venture....!!! When you first ordered the tenkara setup it waz a fifty dollar , no big deal if you didn't like it setup....Then you posted that it waz only twenty five , so really no big deal....Now you only paid seven dollars for your latest venture....Never new that things could get cheaper and cheaper while being delivered.....Good luck with the new adventure.....Lots of long time flyfisherman have made this technique their new passion but your going the opposite direction? hope all works out well, good luck

Hookmanski · #10 09-05-2017, 03:03 PM

Had another chance to take out the tenkara setup this weekend, so I brought it back to the same pond. Started with the mini magnet and never changed! Caught well over 25 panfish, and even caught a nice 12 inch bass on one! My next tenkara outing will be for trout, I can't wait!