Wandering Thoughts on My Tenkara Rods

Article by Bob Long, Jr.

“Man, these tenkara rods – they’re really somethin’, ain’t they?”

This was said by a fishing friend of mine who I introduced to tenkara rods about five or so years ago. “Yeah, ain’t they?” I replied.

As of this writing, I am 75 (when the heck did that happen?). I started fishing when I was 5 and was using a fly rod by age 12. The magic I discovered in fishing at age 5 and again at 12, as well as numerous age points along the way, is still very much alive.

“Children see magic because they look for it.” – Christopher Moore

As do I – look, see and feel for it. I did again with my tenkara rods.

The Start

In 2011, two years after they were introduced in the U.S., I discovered and purchased my first two tenkara rods – a Fountainhead Stonefly 390 and a Tenkara USA Amago. I was not sure what to do with them or how to do it, but “let’s go figure it out.” Growing up in Chicago, I was extremely lucky to have had a good number of superb smallmouth bass rivers near me: The Kankakee, Fox, DuPage, Kishwaukee, and Milwaukee. I had been wading them for over 45-years – spinning rods and fly rods always in hand.

So, let’s begin this tenkara thing there. I started with genuine curiosity, an open mind, a furled line, a small jig and twister tail, alternated with a dubbed, Olive Woolly Bugger (two ‘L’s, not one, dammit! Ask Russell Blessing, 1967). The fish would be in their usual spots along the rivers, but what about the presentations with a rod with no reel, guides, or 90 feet of line? I waded and cast to familiar spots, and “Oh my,” the smallies graciously cooperated; these rods could work! (Note. It took numerous outings before I stopped reaching for the line with my left hand upon setting the hook – a line that wasn’t there.)

“My favorite words are possibilities, opportunities and curiosity. If you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities.” – Mario Testino

Hey, I have Rods

For the last 20 years, from June through September, I have been able to fish about every third to fourth day, for at least a few hours per outing. I have now been fly-fishing with tenkara rods almost exclusively for the past 13 years. It is – and has been – Heaven.

Currently, I own 55 tenkara rods sold by nine companies. Make that 57 (I just bought the new Nissin Oni 395 and the Hachi from Zen Tenkara. Oh well). Too many? Seems normal to me. And yes, I get Xmas and thank you cards from rod companies.

“It is the fine excesses of life that make it worth living.” – Richard Le Gallienne

Their actions and lengths are varied and unique, and each continues to expand my fishing journey, opening me up to an endless source of sometimes intense, sometimes subtle, technical, emotional, and spiritual fly-fishing growth.

“Chase down your passion like it’s the last bus home of the night.” — Terri Guillemets

Spiritual?

This is a bit woo-woo. My comfort level with and feel for my tenkara rods (individually and in general) greatly increased, along with my effectiveness at catching fish with them, when I came to realize and accept that each rod was different and unique. And that EACH required my learning how to cast and work with IT. That each had its own personality and feel and responded in its own unique way to differing types of lines, lengths of lines, length of tippet, type and weight of lure or fly, the fish I’m after, and water conditions. Don’t stop exploring, questioning.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Einstein

I also accepted that the rigid structures, graphs, and charts, the how to’s, and the “this is the right way” concepts that dominate so much of fly fishing just didn’t apply. That these dogmas were restricting and thwarting my fishing growth and discovery (IMO). I resist the urge in my fishing, as well as in other areas of my life, to look to the past for answers to today’s needs. I remain open, curious, looking to play in the present moment.

“It’s ok to visit the past, it is our lives after all, just don’t live there.” – Bob Long

It worked for me. I asked each rod about how I wished to fish them, “Will this work?” And, after a while, each rod spoke to me upon picking it up. “Yep. Nope. Try this, try that,” they said. With an open heart and spirit, I listened as I fished. And answers came relatively fast – within two to three summer seasons, my tenkara rods and I were one. And, my discoveries were experiential, not intuitive. A series of small, yet gentle, epiphanies over time.

“Discoveries come when one is willing to look at a standard situation with new eyes.” – Unknown

Hey, like I said, “woo-woo.”

Fish On

Wonderfully, marvelously, I can state that each day I step into a smallmouth river with one of my tenkara rods in hand, I feel a great sense of childhood discovery and joy. Each time. And each time it feels both familiar and new. As do the fish.

“If just for a moment, the adult in us is healed, rejuvenated and open to be delighted, when we allow ourselves to feel the freedom and joy of being a child again.” – Me

I admit I get a case of the giggles when I hook and land that first fish of the day. Big smile. It is enchanting – an exquisite state of bliss – to be using tenkara rods in this way. A distinctly different tactile sensation than with spinning gear or western fly rods. I don’t question why; I just accept what it feels like to be.

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell

After landing that first fish, I will sometimes raise the rod over my head and call out, “Tenkara! Tenkara! Tenkara!” A mild-mannered, celebratory form of “Banzai?” Perhaps.

Yeah. I get looks sometimes.

“So what!” – Miles Davis

Dream a Little Dream

As I drive to the river, and then step into the water, I don’t have hard and fast goals for the day. Just some lightly ethereal ones. I fantasize, daydream, and I admit my dreams are, perhaps, efforts at manifestation…

“Some fish are better than none, and more is better than some.”- Bob Long

Sometimes it’s the feel of a good hookset into a solid fish. Sometimes it’s the sound the rod makes on hookset – a swish or swooshing sound as it goes through the air. Or I might wonder, “What species will I get into today (smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, walleye, northern, catfish, bluegill, crappie, drum, carp, sucker)? What will surprise me today?” For beyond a shadow of a doubt, I absolutely know that something will.

“Daydream, imagine, and reflect. It is the source of infinite creativity.” – Deepak Chopra

But remember, whatever fishing was like yesterday, it probably won’t be like that today. Good, bad, otherwise? Surprise is a two-sided coin. Stay flexible (and creative), my friends.

These are the Breaks

It took me two full summers of fishing and three-and-a-half rods to learn how not to break these damn things. It took two more summers to allow myself to learn what EACH rod is capable of, as opposed to thinking I knew what tenkara rods in general can really do. Not the same thing. Imagining the game isn’t the same as playing the game.

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” — Richard Branson

Haven’t broken one since 2015. Yay! Ask me how.

Sharing

Finally, another great delight is, upon someone seeing my tenkara rod in hand (collapsed or extended), and having them ask, “What kinda’ rod is that?”

I then get to slowly extend it or collapse it and extend it. Each section drawn in or out deliberately. One, two, three, four, five… and it gets longer and longer (or shorter and shorter)… six, seven, eight. They invariably say, “Oh, wow!” And then I offer it to them to hold it at full length. I know they are expecting “weight.” Heft, of some sort. But the rod weighs mere ounces.

“Oh. Wow! That’s so light!”

“13-feet long, 3-ounces,” I say. I get such a thrill from all this.

“The miracle is this: The more we share the more we have.” – Leonard Nimoy

Really? That good?

13 years in on this tenkara rod journey, and back in 2011 I didn’t imagine it was going to be this sublime a path, replete with this depth of passion and discovery.

“Man, these tenkara rods – they’re really somethin’, ain’t they?”

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Bob Long, Jr. has been fly fishing since age 12. Took over 120,000 kids, teens, adults, seniors and people with special needs through Chicago Park District fishing program for 18 years. Writer for various fishing and fly fishing magazines. Conducts fishing seminars and workshops for 20 years. Tenkara rod user since 2011.

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