by Eric Point
(North Carolina)
Black crappie
I decided to take Friday off and do a little tenkara fishing for crappie. Had a pretty nice day with several large crappie and bass. I was fishing the Diawa Expert and the Nissin Zerosum (16ft #3 level line and 6X tippet).
I found the tenkara rod to be a distinct advantage today (compared to a fly rod or spinning rod). I was fishing a marabou leech (#8, weighted) and found that the longer tenkara rod allowed me to swim the fly through tops of brush piles and along logs in the water. The crappie and bass were holding tight to cover and other presentations would be more likely to get hung up.
The water on this lake is gin clear so the white fly stood out well under the water and I could work it slowing along, avoiding the limbs and letting it sink into the pockets. I lost one big bass (3-4 lbs) after a 3 or 4 minute fight. It didn't break the line but came unhooked.
With the lighter action tenkara rods, I find it more difficult to solidly hook bass as they have a tougher mouth. Pays to keep the hooks very sharp but still lose a fish from time to time.
If you'd like to see a full video of the action, search YouTube for: "Tenkara Fishing for Crappie & Bass, Apr 2020 1Bellcurve".
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The hooks are sharp.
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