Tenkara January 27, 2014 -- part 2

On January 27 (Wow, almost a month ago. February has been busy and gone by fast), I hit the river and fished with two different rods. The first was the Tenkara-Fishing Gokupse 350 cm rod and the second was the Shimano LLS36NX. I've already reported on the Gokupse 350 cm, and I'll do a comprehensive review of the Shimano soon. But today I just wanted to report the fishing with the Shimano.

It was a typical winter day, 27 degrees F with a light breeze. I fished with the Shimano for about an hour and a half using a 12 foot #3.5 level line. In that amount of time I took around a dozen trout. As usual, I fished upstream. Although I didn't fish very long, it was long enough for me to see that the Shimano is a wonderful rod and will likely be among my favorites. Again, a full review is coming up.

Here is a 3rd person view video of the fishing/catching. As usual, the drift and take are marked. I hope you enjoy it.





This week I go to fish the Big Wood with Paul Gibson of Tenkara-Fishing. I'm looking forward to it and hope that the weather and water will cooperate!

Nissin Air Stage Honryu 380 -- review

There are tenkara rods, and then there are tenkara rods. The first type are made by anybody, telescope, have a lilian, and can cast a line. The second type are works of divine engineering, that make your line sing, almost cast themselves, and take the art of tenkara to a whole new level. I have reviewed a lot of rods over the past two years, but I have not reviewed one like this -- the Nissin Air Stage Honryu 380.

The Nissin Air Stage Honryu 380 (NASH 380) is a tenkara rod designed for "mainstream" fishing. In contrast to mountain stream fishing, in which tenkara sized fish max out at about 12 inches, mainstream waters are wider, lower gradient, and have larger fish -- in the 14-18 inch range. Mainstream rods are designed to have the extra reach and ability to handle a little larger fish clientele.

The NASH 380 comes in the classic Japanese plastic carton with rod sock. No tube and nothing fancy. The first thing you notice is how long the shipping tube is. Then next thing your notice is how long the rod is! Unlike most of the tenkara rods that I have, excepting the Shimano Mainstream ZE, the NASH 380 is crazy long when fully collapsed. At first I thought there had to be a mistake, but no, it really is long. Notice the picture of it along side the Mainstream ZE (another long collapsed rod) and the Shimotsuke Ten (a more typical 380 cm tenkara rod).

Left to right: Shimano Mainstream ZE, Nissin Air Stage Honyru 380, Shimotsuke Ten

The NASH 380 has a glossy dark brown finish with lighter, terracotta colored accents on the tips of the 3rd and 4th segments. This rod is only four segments, compared to the usual 7-9 for a typical tenkara rod. The handle has good to very good quality cork, is a reverse-half wells shape, and is 30.5 cm long. The winding check is silver.

Rod designation

The four sections of the rod

Photography enhances the cork defects. It looks better in real life.

Winding check

The lilian is red, is knotless, and is attached directly to the tip of the 1st segment. The glue profile is smooth and tight. The tip plug in black nylon and fits snugly. The butt cap is stainless, knurled, and has a small drain hole. There is a rubber bumper.

The rod fully extended is 383 cm. Fully collapsed, with tip plug, the rod is 111 cm. Without the tip cap the rod weighs 74 gm. I measure the rod at 15 pennies, which gives it a Rod Flex Index of 3.9. This puts the rod in the 5:5 action range, and when you feel this rod you'll agree. The COG is at 71.5 cm. Thus the Moment is 5.3, a very respectable number. This number shows that although the rod is 380 cm long it has no perceived tip heaviness.

Rod Flex Index comparison chart

Casting the Air Stage Honyu 380 is quite the experience. It is a tenkara rod that is right up there with the best casting rods that I own. This rod loads so smoothly and then unloads the line so perfectly that it is one of those rods that seems to cast itself. I prefer using a #3 level line with it. There is no overshoot, unless you push it too hard, and no tip oscillation. It is a joy to fish with.

Because it is a full flex rod, effort of fighting the fish is dependent on the size of the fish and the current speed. I fished this rod in a mountain stream that has a moderately high gradient and moderately fast water speed. Hooking the fish is easy; just lift the rod tip. But because the rod flexes so easily I found myself loosing more fish (long line release) than I usually did with a stiffer rod. You have to keep full pressure on the fly during the fight or the tip may flex or bounce and allow slack to form in the line. This reduces the pressure on the fly and out it comes (I fish barbless)! It's not a big deal; it just takes a little practice and adjustment in how the rod is manipulated during the fight. That's one downside to fishing many rods with different flex profiles. They all fight fish differently.

Conclusion: I really like this rod. The Air Stage Honryu is a finesse rod that is fun to use, casts silky smooth, and fights fish well. It is balanced about as good as any 380 cm rod that I have used and is lightweight in-hand. It responds to a light level line perfectly; I did not fish it with a furled line. One caveat when fighting a fish: keep steady pressure on the fly or due to rod flexibility you might "long line release" a few more fish than usual. This pressure does not have to be very much, but it must be there to ensure the ability to bring the fish to net.

This is an amazing, premium, Japanese tenkara rod that is pure fun to use! Want one? You can get one from Chris at Tenkara Bum. Chris is your premium Japanese tenkara, keiryu, and seiryu rod supplier with 5-star service.

I've already posted the video but if you want to see it again, it is in this post.

WINNER of the Tenkara Rod Give Away

First of all, thank you to all of you who posted a comment about your desire to receive the Ayu II tenkara rod. Frankly, I was really taken aback by the number of entrees, let alone the wonderful content of the comments themselves. I wish I had a rod to give to each of you, but alas, I don't.

So, without further delay -- the winner of the nearly new Tenkara USA AYU II is:

Geoff and Gordon McMillion

So, will Geoff and/or Gordon McMillion of Missoula, Montana please contact me via email at tvdavisidgen (at) gmail (dot) com.  Please tell me your preferred shipping address. I'll then mail you the Ayu II, a few furled lines, and some flies. After that, all I ask is that you email me a picture of you using the Ayu II. I'll post it here on Teton Tenkara!

You have one week in which to contact me and claim the rod. If you have not by then, the rod will go to the runner up.

Contact Me tab

Again, thank you to all of you who participated. My wife said it was a very tough decision on deciding who should get the rod. In fact, she thought it was so difficult to choose, I doubt I'll be able to get her to participate in another give away in the future. She feels bad that others had to go without. Looks like I'm in the doghouse, again.

Thank you, all of you, for reading and supporting Teton Tenkara.

Tenkara Rod Give Away

I have a lot of tenkara rods. I'm running out of space. I'm in the mood to give one away.

Did that get your attention?

Borrowed from here.

Yes, I'm giving away a perfectly good, lightly used Tenkara USA Ayu II. It will come with its rod tube and sock.  I'll even pay for shipping within the CONUS. If you live outside the CONUS, I'll pay for the standard CONUS shipping amount and you pay the difference to get it to you. Deal?

This is what you get.

It is a beautiful 390 cm 6:4 tenkara rod and casts a furled, level or braided line wonderfully. It is a very robust rod and can withstand some larger fish.

It is a beautiful rod.

Why give it away? I don't seem to use it often and I thought, "someone out there could use it more than me". Preferentially, I'd like it to go to someone who would really use it - someone who needs a longer tenkara rod for bigger fish - not just turn around and sell it. But once it's yours, its yours.

So here's the deal. Write me, through the "Post a Comment" portal of the blog post, why you want this rod. Don't write me through the "Contact Me" tab above (that's OK for other communication, but not for this give away). Comments section, got it? Tell me why you'd like the rod, what you plan to do with it and how it will expand "your" tenkara. And remember: Please give your name with your comment. I don't know who "anonymous" is.

Comments portal

So, can't afford a 390 cm rod because of job loss? Tell me. Always wanted a Tenkara USA rod but couldn't afford one? Tell me. You want to get a tenkara rod for your brother's birthday, but you're too cheap to buy one? Tell me. The spouse won't let you buy any more rods but you really need a more robust rod to tackle that dream fish? Tell me! You like my blog and think it is the best personal tenkara blog in the world? Tell me!!   ;)  Kapeesh?

When all the responses are in, my wife will decide who gets the rod. Why my wife? She is an independent observer. She doesn't know any of you (she doesn't read my blog) and she doesn't really have any interest in tenkara. She therefore is not personally, emotionally, spiritually connected to any of you (i.e., she is impartial and unbiased).

So give it a go; tell me truthfully why you want this rod. Sure, you could just make up a great lie of a sob story and you might win. But then again, you have to live with your conscience.  Call me old fashioned, but I still believe in honesty.

Disclaimer: I will send you this practically new Tenkara USA Ayu II tenkara rod, rod sock and tube as I stated above. You accept it "as is" and use it. If you break it, loose it, hurt yourself or someone else with it, etc, that is your problem, not mine. If you can't catch fish with it, that too is your problem, not mine. If you love the rod, great! If you hate the rod, sorry, it's yours. I do not warranty the rod, sock , or tube. But hey, it's a free rod so just go with it!

from here.

OK, there you go. The contest is open. I'll keep it open until February 18th at 2359 hours MST. Any posts after that will not be considered, nothing personal.  I'll announce the winner on Teton Tenkara and ask that person to contact me via the "Contact Me" tab with their shipping address (that message will come directly to me; no one else will see your information).

Once again, please remember: Give your name with your comment as I don't know who "anonymous" is. Cheers!

Tenkara January 31,2014 -- Long rod, Short line.

The last day of January and I'm on the water. It's a beautiful time of year. The water flows are good, the fish are surprisingly active and although the cold can get a little uncomfortable I think it's worth it.

The air temp was 27 degrees F and there was little wind down among the trees, even if there was some breeze up and over the tree tops.  The river gauge reported a flow of 50 cfs at noon when I started. I walked upstream to a stretch of the river I've never fished; I'm slowly covering all the water on this stream and this is my last section to fish.

Drift and take.

The reach of water I targeted is not very wide, maybe 20-25 feet at the widest, but usually more like 12-15 feet, bank to bank. I slid down the steep sides and into the water. After looking around a bit I started to rig up. Today I chose a new rod for this water, the Nissin Air Stage Honryu 380. I usually fish this water with a 360 cm rod and a 12 foot line, but today I decided to try what Chris Stewart calls "Long Rod Short Line" fishing. That is, using a line shorter than the rod you are wielding. Since the Honryu is 380 cm (12' 5") I decided to go with a 10 foot #3 level line and 2 feel of 5X tippet. I know, that makes the line just about as long as the rod, but I'm still new to the concept so I didn't want to start too radically. Besides, given I usually fish this stream with a 12' line plus 3 feet of 5X tippet, this line is short for me!

 I started casting and placing the fly into the places where fish should be: pockets, seams, eddies, etc. The rod cast beautifully. I have a full review coming up and I'll describe the rod more then. I started taking fish, but none of them were very large. I think the longest was 12 inches. Most were in the 7-9 inch range. Still, these fish were great fun on this rod

One advantage I can see to a long rod, short line approach is that casting is very precise. Not that longer lines are not precise, they are, but using this approach lets you just flick the fly into position. Also, with this method keeping all the line off the water is cake. Even when you stretch out the cast flatter than you should, you just lift the rod tip a little bit and "boing" the line comes right up. No sag, no lazy floating, just perfect perpendicular penetration of the water column. And finally, because of this line control you are always in touch with the fly. It hesitates and you feel the fish!

Another advantage to the long rod, short line is when you are fighting the fish. Sure, I didn't hook into anything large, but with a shorter line than the rod I could easily control the fish right into my net. Unlike a longer line, I didn't have to hand line the fish in.

Here is a POV video of the day. Again, no large fish, just small browns.





Coming up: I'm giving away a tenkara rod. Watch for the details in the next post!

More Monobraid for Tenkara

This past summer Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk blogged about using Cortland Braided Mono Running Line for Tenkara. In that article he outlined some of its possible advantages and disadvantages over using a level line or a furled line. Then in September, he took the line to the water a fished with it. Overall, he seemed to like the line and gave it a solid review.

Well, after reading this I was interested. Like usual, however, I didn't want to use the same line, but rather, I sought out another option and source for this material. After finding some other options I bought it and gave it a try.

I found another source of braided monofilament backing that could be used for tenkara lines. It is from TroutFlies.com.au. This line is likely similar to the Cortland product but this line is thinner at 25lb and comes in both fluorescent orange and chartreuse, where as the Cortland product only comes in chartreuse.

The diameter is very thin and comparable to, but slightly thicker than, a section of #4 fluorocarbon level line. The braided line is extremely supple. There are no kinks and it comes off the spool easily. Cutting it to length is straight forward and, just like the Cortland product, melting the cut ends stops it from fraying.  The weave is extremely tight. Because it is so highly visible, it also makes an excellent sighter that can be used with another type of line.

Comparison of lines: Sunline #4 fluorocarbon level line, Streamside furled line (clear mono),  Hi-TEC ultra slim braided line in both orange and chartreuse.

I have made a number of lines of varying lengths with this stuff and used these lines with various rods. As for color, I prefer the fluorescent orange over the chartreuse.  It casts very well at all reasonable lengths. Being made of monofilament it initially floats but then will sink just under the surface. It takes paste floatant well and thus remains floating for quite a while. It will turn over dries, kebari, beadheads, and tandems all without a problem. It does seem to work best with a stiffer rod (stiff 6:4 or 7:3) than with a more flexible rod -- at least in my hands.

The downside is that, like furled lines, it is heavier than a level line. This stuff is not heavy at all but it is heavier than a level line so keeping it off the water is similar to a standard furled line. I personally don't fish furled lines for that very reason, but many people do and this line might be attractive to them.  I sent a tenkara line made from this product to a friend of mine in Utah. He stated that he liked the line and that it was very easy for him to see (he had trouble seeing many other types of lines).

So there you go, another source of tightly braided line that can be used for tenkara. As for me, I'll stick with a level line but it's always nice to have other options.

Tenkara-Fishing Pure Line 350 6:4 tenkara rod -- review

Tenkara has seemingly blossomed over the past few years with more and more fishers seeing its intrinsic value for fishing mountain streams and other watery venues. A few fishers have been there the whole way, from the beginning, and one of those is Paul Gibson of Tenkara-Fishing.

Tenkara-Fishing is a tenkara outfitting company based out of Mountain Home, Idaho and has been providing tenkara rods and equipment for enthusiasts since 2011. This is not a sudden start up company. Paul's commitment to tenkara is proven and has stood the test of time.

Paul is an accomplished tenkara fisher. From classical mountain streams to high mountain lakes, from small trout to monsters, Paul has hunted and caught them all. He knows what he is doing and he knows good, practical gear.

Paul with a large Oregon brown taken on one of his Pure Line rods. (Images used with permission)

He knows what he's doing when it comes to tenkara!

I first met Paul at the Salt Lake City Tenkara USA Summit. I sat on the back row with him and Chris Stewart of Tenkara Bum. It was fun -- two foundational tenkara fishers for me to get to know. Paul is active in the tenkara community through various forums and is always helpful in sharing his knowledge and products. His company, Tenkara-Fishing, is part of a larger outdoor equipment company that he runs, Arrowhead Equipment.  Through Arrowhead Equipment you can purchase camping and hiking gear such as hammocks, hammock accessories, camping odds and ends, etc. All of these will make your "hanging" adventure more comfortable and pleasurable.

Bushman Hammock Chair from Arrowhead Equipment.

I bought a Pure Line 350 from Paul, as I wanted to see how well it stood up to some of the other tenkara rods I have used.

The Pure Line is made by Gokupse, designed in Japan and made in China. Here is what is stated on the Tenkara-Fishing website: All of our rods are made from high quality 98% Carbon Fiber.  They are each designed in Japan and manufactured in one of only a handful of factories in China that produces Tenkara rods for the world market.  Made with high grade carbon fiber, high grade cork grips, machined aluminum butt caps with drain holes and foam section dampener this series of rods mark a substantial upgrade in our line of rods.

The rod came with a rod sleeve, but no tube. It was package well and was protected in shipping. The rod has a flat dark graphite finish with glossy magenta accents on the ends of the larger segments.

Rod designation

Magenta accents

The handle is cylindrical. It is modest in diameter and should fit most palm sizes comfortably. My extra large palm size still fit the rod handle well. I fish rods that don't have cork on the handle, so fishing this rod is no problem. The cork appears to be of good to very good quality with little filler. There is a small section of cork composite at the upper end of the handle and a gold colored metal ring on the lower end. There is no winding check.

The lilian is attached directly to the 1st segment and the glue coating is small enough to allow passage through the 2nd segment. The tip plug is black nylon and fits snugly. The butt cap is purple anodized aluminum. It has two drainage holes but no internal rubber bumper.

Lilian and lilian attachment

Tip plug

Handle butt and butt cap

The rod is 340 cm fully extended. Fully collapsed it is 61.5 cm (with tip plug). The rod weighs 83.9 g (with tip plug).  This rod is 24 pennies on the Common Cents System scale.  That puts the rod in the 7:3 range with a Rod Flex Index of 7. The tip section is solid, making it more flexible and sensitive.

Extended length

Rod Flex Index comparison chart

Casting the rod is easy. It loads well, but best with a heavier level line, like a #4, or a furled line. I used both a #3.5 and #4 level line and both cast just fine. The rod throws a tight loop for use with standard kebari, but it will also throw a beadhead fly as well. I recently used beadheads of modest weight and this rod didn't even care.  No griping, no complaining. It just cast the beadhead exactly where I wanted it. Targeting is excellent and fighting fish is easy, as this rod has nice backbone. A 14 inch brown in fast current was easily controlled.

In my last post I showed a video of me fishing this rod. Small fish were fun; I could feel the takes very easily. Larger trout were even funner. Although the rod is a smidge on the heavier side for a 340-350 cm rod, it balances really well in your hand and the weight is not even noticed.

This brown is not a large as Paul's --but then again, he's a better fisher than I am!

Conclusion: This is a solid rod and would make a great rod for someone looking for a shorter 7:3 rod. It also would be a dandy entry or backup rod. It is relatively inexpensive, but has some nice features. I like the flat finish and the fish fighting backbone. Although it is a little short in overall length you still have plenty of reach on most all but the largest of waters. The best thing about the rod is knowing that it has been selected by Paul, and that you have his excellent support. Give it some consideration if your in the market for a stiffer rod of this length.  Advanced tenkara fishers like Chris Stewart and Rob Worthing have used Paul's tenkara rods and given testimonials. That's some pretty good credentials. And just a note, if you want to buy one of these rods and you go to Tenkara-Fishing but see that the rods are "out of stock" do not fret. Paul will be getting a new shipment soon, just contact him.

Also, if you are looking to get into hammock camping, or if you're already experienced in this great way to sleep, check out Arrowhead Equipment.