Ayu Rod ReviewAyu Rod Review: The Ayu is the softest and the next to the longest tenkara rod offered by Tenkara USA. The 5:5 rod will cast an extremely light line very well. It is soft enough to make catching a small fish fun, but as the photo of Daryl Martin's bull trout shows, it has enough backbone to handle the big ones. I'm sure there is a point where you'd be better off with an Amago or a Yamame, but I'm not sure just where that point is. Most of the fish I catch are pretty small, but other anglers have reported catches of surprisingly large fish.
Early on, I felt that the rod choice should be made primarily based on the size of fish you'd catch most of the time. I now believe it is better to match the rod to the stream rather than the fish. The Ayu was the fourth Tenkara USA rod I got, and when I fished it for the first time I wasn't sure that I liked it. It felt quite a bit softer than my Ebisu, which is its closest cousin in the Tenkara USA lineup. I found this quite surprising, considering that my Ayu is a 6:4 and my Ebisu is a 5:5. (The Ayu is now offered only in 5:5 action.) The more I fished the rod, though, the more it grew on me (or maybe just the more I got used to the slow, smooth casting and the deep bend that even a modest fish puts in the rod). I now reach for my Ayu first and I fish with it whenever I can. I fish the shorter Ebisu and Iwana when the stream is too tight for the Ayu, or the Amago when I'm fishing ponds for bluegills and bass, or fishing "alla Valsesiana" with a team of four Sakasa Kebari (which, by the way, is how I fish for bluegills). The fish I catch are not so large that I need the Yamame's muscle. For the longest time I'd say I didn't have a favorite rod. I fished different rods based on conditions I faced. In general, though, whenever there is room for a longer rod, I'm going to fish a longer rod. When I got my first tenkara rod, it took me a while to get used to the length. On the streams I usually fish, most guys use 7 or 7 1/2 foot rods. With my 12 foot rod, I put my rod tip or fly in the overhead branches with disturbing regularity. That gradually changed, and I got to the point where I would miss the extra length when I went down to an 11 foot rod. I now miss the extra foot when I fish a 12' rod. The one foot difference between the 11 and 12 foot rods, and between the 12 and 13 foot rods is quite noticeable both in the reach while casting and in the ability to keep more line off the water while fishing. Of course, each foot is noticeable when the stream is tight and brushy too. 
Ayu tenkara rod My Ayu rod review would not be complete without a discussion of tenkara lines. The most noticeable difference between the Ayu and all the other rods is the silky smooth cast of the Ayu. I used to feel that it would cast a lighter line than the other rods, but I gradually learned how to cast light lines with the stiffer rods. The difference, though, is that this rod is ideally suited for a very light line, and it will easily handle the horsehair lines described by Charles Cotton in The Compleat Angler that are so light that most anglers believe Cotton couldn't cast them. On the other hand, lines that cast fine with the Yamame and the Hane seem too heavy for the Ayu. At the least, they are much heavier than necessary. For example, in my opinion size 4.5 and 5 level lines are too heavy for the Ayu. Even the size 4 Hi-Vis fluorocarbon line seems a bit heavy to me. (Although I should say that some anglers prefer the heavier lines, and you should fish with the line you like, not necessarily the line I like.) My preference is for the Size 3 TenkaraBum Hi-Vis Fluorocarbon line. I really prefer a level line with this rod, and feel that all the furled tapered lines I've tried with it were a bit too heavy - or at least, heavier than necessary. That is even more the case now that Tenkara USA has replaced its original nylon furled line with a newer one that is heavier. I suspect people asked for a line that is easier to cast, and a heavier line is easier at first, but it does not take long at all to learn how to cast a light line, particularly with a 5:5 rod. The advantage a light line provides in fishing so clearly overshadows any advantage a heavy line provides in casting that it will definitely be worth the little bit of time required to become proficient with a light level line. For me, the bottom line is this: if I have enough room to fish the Tenkara USA Ayu, I'll choose it over the other rods* unless I'm fishing warm water (where the next cast might produce a 4 pound largemouth), or if I also have to fight the wind. The Ayu does best with a light line, and not only is it hard to fish a light line in the wind, it is very hard to "punch" a cast into the wind with a soft rod. You end up overpowering the cast. In windy conditions, you're better off with a heavier line or a stiffer rod (or both). And if it's really windy, stay home and tie flies. *That statement was written before the Ito was introduced. Since I got an Ito I have fished it more than my Ayu. I like the Ito quite a lot, but then again I like the Ayu quite alot as well. I haven't yet decided which I like better. I do like the longer length of the fully extended Ito, but I do like the lighter weight and shorter collapsed length of the Ayu. If you have any questions about the Ayu rod review, or how the Ayu compares to the other rods, please go to the contact us page.
Cameron Mortenson's Arkansas River brown trout
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