Perhaps one of the most common questions we get is “how do you go about landing a fish on a tenkara rod?”

Often the concept that a reel is the item responsible for landing a fish makes us forget how intuitive landing a fish can be. One thing we can tell you for sure is that no one has asked that question when they caught their first fish with tenkara, it is very intuitive. A fish is pulling one way, you just pull it the other way toward you.
Below you’ll find a series of videos, illustrations and tips that will help answer the question of “how do you reel-in a fish when you have no reel?”

Landing fish with tenkara, examples and basics

Tenkara technique (pause-and-drift), followed by a good example of landing technique for tenkara

Watch the arm close to the body.

Landing a large fish with long line