In Episode 23 of the Tenkara Angler Level Line podcast Anthony, Bill, Dave and Tom discuss various tenkara presentation and fly manipulation techniques. Dead drift, upstream & downstream pulling, tomezuri, and “pon pon” are covered emphasizing their effectiveness in catching fish and the best equipment to use to execute each.
The podcast isn’t meant to be a comprehensive seminar on tenkara techniques but rather an introduction. The idea is to familiarize anglers with the basic concepts of active fly manipulation. The Tenkara Angler crew share their personal takes on how they use active fly manipulation in their own fishing. The goal is to help anglers add to and develop their own tenkara tool boxes.
This video episode can also be found on the Tenkara Angler YouTube channel (we’d love it if you’d visit, like, and subscribe). The audio should soon be found pretty much anywhere you find podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, TuneIn, etc… Just search “Tenkara Angler Level Line” and it’s sure to come up!
Tenkara Angler Level Line Podcast
Episode 23 Show Notes & Links:
0:00:08 – Introductions
0:02:41 – Books & Resources
– Tenkara by Daniel Galhardo
– How to Fool Fish with Simple Flies by Paul Gaskell & John Pearson
– Super Clear Level Line Tenkara by Dr. Hisao Ishigaki
0:05:00 – The Importance(?) of Dead Drift
0:16:40 – The Pause and Drift Technique
0:21:00 – Pulling Presentations
0:25:05 – The Importance of Gear Selection
0:31:45 – Understanding the Upstream Pull
0:37:13 – The Concept of Tomezuri
0:47:30 – Exploring the “Pon Pon” Technique
00:57:57 – Strategies for Catching the ‘Gatekeeper’ Trout
01:01:55 – Bill’s Book Club
– Understanding Trout Behavior by John Goddard & Brian Clarke
01:04:51 – Lifting and Swinging Flies
– Leisenring Lift
01:10:17 – Final Thoughts
Brand Affiliates Mentioned in this Episode:
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Are these manipulations just for wet and dry flys ?
In the original context primarily for wet flies. But I have certainly done these things with dry flies and dry-dropper rigs. Pon-Pon is especially good with dry flies
George, I’m guessing your main concern is nymphs. Yes you can manipulate nymphs. Google “mormyshing”. Or better “мормышинг” in Russian (just copy paste) – you’ll find A LOT more. It is a super ultralight jigging fishing method, mostly used with ultralight spinning gear now. But it actually existed long before spinning gear became available. You can do it with tenkara rods without any problem… And with a fly rig – see “Wilderness with Amany” youtube channel, his nymph stripping is actually mormyshing, just performed with a fly gear…
I enjoyed watching this a lot. Great video, thank you for doing it! I think this post should be pinned to the top of the Tenkara Angler feed. This is the essence of Tenkara, and this is the most effective way to use a tenkara rig – simple unweighted fly with “induced take” tricks.
There is one good presentation technique which was not mentioned. I call it “knocking”. There is probably some special Japanese name for that, Hiromichi Fuji “Modern Tenkara” book elaborate it, Dr. Ishigaky’s book should mention it as well. I’ve seen Tom doing that in his videos. It is pretty simple – you land the fly where you expect fish are, wait about two seconds, then recast at the same place. Do this about ten times… One can make some theory that it is “emulating the hatch happening”, but there is a much more simple explanation. It just irritates them. Imagine somebody throwing pebbles on your roof, what will be your state of mind? Trout are not shy (until it is not heavily pressured water), they are pretty aggressive to such things. That got them, they bite…
Igor, thanks for the comments. The technique that you’re referring to that “creates a hatch” is Sutebari. It is much the way I practice pon-pon with a dry fly.