Never too Proud to Learn!

by Les Albjerg
(Caldwell, ID)

I'd like to thank Chris for his story, "Longer Line Tenkara." I write this blog entry as his fishing reports don't lend themselves to dialogue, like the blog posts do.

Personally, I have done very very well casting a 9 meter line -- with my 8.1 meter rod! Upfront, I will confess, as a fixed line fisherman up until this week, I had never caught a fish on a line that was more than 3 feet longer than my rod.

It isn't so much that I bought totally into the "long rod-short line" philosophy, but I never fully recovered from a very poor first two outings with a very poor rod from a different vendor. The flex was all wrong for a longer line. As an experienced fly-fisherman, I was frustrated beyond words! I shortened the line to a little longer than the rod, and caught several fish, and became lazy with the idea, if I want to go longer, just get a longer rod!

I scoffed a little to myself at the videos I bought from "Tenkara In Focus" as they talked about longer lines. The Suntech Keiryu Sawanobori 63 allowed me to get that line out close to 14 meters!

I read and re-read Chris' article several times. Monday was the last calm warm day around here for awhile, so I had to get out and try the "Longer Line Tenkara." I headed down to the Boise River with the TenkaraBum 40, 9 meters of 3.5 level line, and 2 meters of tippet. One of my favorite flies is the Keeper Kebari, so it was time to see what the noise was all about! I wasn't planning on catching any fish. I was concerned about the techniques in the article.

The second cast and "Wham" a nice 10 inch brown! However, the first thought of the day on the first cast was, "WOW, I never knew that there was this much power hidden in the TenkaraBum 40!" It flexed predictably. I felt the pivot point clearly when I should begin the forward cast, and it dropped right where I was aiming! I caught one fish. I made about 30 casts with only 4 bad ones. I had two other fish on! I could sense the manipulation of the fly even with the longer line!

Again, thanks Chris! You have opened up a whole new chapter in my fishing! Thanks for quality rods too!

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.

Seriously, all the hooks sold on TenkaraBum.com, whether packaged as loose hooks or incorporated into flies, are sharp - or as Daiichi says on their hook packages, Dangerously Sharp. Some have barbs, which make removal from skin, eyes or clothing difficult. Wear eye protection. Wear a broad-brimmed hat. If you fish with or around children, bend down all hook barbs and make sure the children wear eye protection and broad-brimmed hats. Be aware of your back cast so no one gets hooked.

Also, all the rods sold on TenkaraBum.com will conduct electricity. Do not, under any circumstances, fish during a thunder storm. Consider any fishing rod to be a lightning rod! Fishing rods can and do get hit by lightning!