Earlier in the week, I thought it might be fun to throw up a quick little poll on the Tenkara Angler Instagram account, asking viewers a fairly straightforward question:
“What tenkara rod are you using? List your favorite in the comments”
Well, the community took that challenge and ran with it. Some people were very specific with their feedback, citing several different “favorite” rod models depending on the situation, while others just vaguely mentioned a brand, with no reference to rod model, size, etc…
So I gathered that information and made this infographic recapping the results.
While I’m no statistician, there are a few interesting things I noticed in summarizing the data. First, and not surprisingly, Tenkara USA was the runaway winner, not only in overall brand affinity (26%) but also rod models, with five of the top seven! The Sato was the overall winner with 10% of the vote, but the newcomer Hane came in second with 7%. Curious if the Hane’s strong showing is more a result of people just getting the new rods in their hands now, and that’s literally what they’re fishing… because remember, the survey wasn’t “what’s the best tenkara rod” it was “what tenkara rod are you using?”
I also took note of Tenkara Rod Co.‘s impressive showing. I’ve always recognized they sold a lot of rods, however, I never really noticed them being used or mentioned much in my personal tenkara circles. That said, the audience surveyed was from Instagram, where Tenkara Rod Co. has a huge following. Five of their rods were mentioned, with the Teton being the preferred model.
Finally, it was nice to see the community is exploring a bit, with various Japanese makers littering the results. Oni, Nissin, Suntech, Shimano, Daiwa, & Tenryu all seemed to split a highly representative “Japanese” vote, with Nissin scoring the top Japanese brand honors, but the Oni Type III the overwhelming favorite model. (#savethecamohandle)
In the end, this was nothing more than an exercise in entertainment. Almost 70 individual results were tallied over the course of a few days, so while it’s a sample size of some corner of our tenkara community, it’s certainly not a definitive one.
If you’re interested in the full results in raw data form, see below. Thanks to everybody that participated, maybe we’ll try a few more of these in the future. If you’re not following Tenkara Angler on Instagram, check us out HERE.
| BRAND AFFINITY | VOTES | % TOTAL |
| Tenkara USA | 17 | 26% |
| Tenkara Rod Co. | 8 | 12% |
| Nissin | 6 | 9% |
| Oni | 5 | 8% |
| Badger | 4 | 6% |
| Generic | 3 | 5% |
| Suntech/Tbum | 3 | 5% |
| Tanuki | 3 | 5% |
| Dragontail | 3 | 5% |
| Tenkara Times | 3 | 5% |
| Daiwa | 2 | 3% |
| Shimano | 2 | 3% |
| Tenryu | 2 | 3% |
| Three Rivers | 1 | 2% |
| Patagonia/TFO | 1 | 2% |
| Esoteric | 1 | 2% |
| Zen Tenkara | 1 | 2% |
| 65 | 100% |
| ROD PREFERENCE | VOTES | % TOTAL |
| Tenkara USA Sato | 7 | 10% |
| Tenkara USA Hane | 5 | 7% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Teton | 4 | 6% |
| Oni Type III | 4 | 6% |
| Tenkara USA Rhodo | 3 | 4% |
| Tenkara USA Ito | 3 | 4% |
| Oni Type I | 3 | 4% |
| Suntech TenkaraBum TB40 | 2 | 3% |
| Nissin ZeroSum 320 | 2 | 3% |
| Tenkara USA Amago | 2 | 3% |
| Tenkara Tanuki 325 | 2 | 3% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Cascade | 2 | 3% |
| Dragontail Komodo | 2 | 3% |
| Tenryu TF39TA | 2 | 3% |
| Nissin Royal Stage 360 | 2 | 3% |
| Oni Honryu 395 | 2 | 3% |
| Nissin Pro Spec 320 | 1 | 1% |
| $10 Broomstick | 1 | 1% |
| Daiwa Enshou LT39S | 1 | 1% |
| Three Rivers Confluence | 1 | 1% |
| Garbolino (?) 10K 360 | 1 | 1% |
| Badger UNC | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Times TRY 300 | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Mini Sawtooth | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Sierra | 1 | 1% |
| Dragontail Hydra | 1 | 1% |
| Badger BadAxe | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara USA Iwana | 1 | 1% |
| Shimano Pack Tenkara | 1 | 1% |
| Badger Scout | 1 | 1% |
| Patagonia Soft Hackle 10’6″ | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Grand Teton | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Rod Co Owyhee | 1 | 1% |
| Suntech Kurenai | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Times TRY 360 | 1 | 1% |
| Tenkara Times Watershed 330 | 1 | 1% |
| Nissin Pro Spec 2-Way 360 | 1 | 1% |
| 68 | 100% |
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Was nice to see a survey done regarding tenkara rods. Was no surprise to see TUSA leading the pack. Not just because of the quality of their rods, but there customer service is second to none. Keep up the great Michael! Hope you have a great season. By the way, if you should wander up here to South Central PA, send me an emai,and I will take you to some nice sreams.
Tight lines
Jeff Hertz
Thanks for the feedback Jeff (& the offer to fish!) 🙂
Badger UNC