This video show the best way to cast with tenkara. Tenkara casting is very easy to learn but there are a few tips that will go a long way in getting you to cast your fly precisely where you want it.
Casting with tenkara rods is not difficult. In fact, we find it to be a very intuitive thing to do. Learn how to cast tenkara rods in this video with Daniel Galhardo. Remember to take the power down a notch, and relax a bit.
Coosa River fisherman, Stripers, Spotted Bass, Large Mouth Bass, White Bass, Hybrid-Striped Bass, Longnose Gar, Panfish, Crippie, Catfish (Flathead, BlueCats, and Chanal Catfish)
I live on the river and on Lake Jordan one of five impoundments on the Coosa River. I Kayak and Canoe the wild parts of the river. Tenkara has caught my interest, because it ties into my minelist up bringins and U.S. Army 34 year career in Army Aviation life. The Assault Battalion lived on the land .
I have all the fishing gear money can buy, but am getting really stoked on Tenkara.
David, yes, we do. We sold out of the Sato 2 months ahead of schedule this time so we had to take it offline. They are arriving here this week and we will turn it back on as soon as possible.
Hello, very interested in tenkara! I fish mostly small well protected streams in the eastern sierras. What rod would you recommend? On the 12′ iwana is the bottom cap notched or coin slotted. And is it matte or glossy finish?
Sage, the Iwana is a very popular rod for sure and one of our main recommendations. Also, check out the Sato, which is adjustable in length.
The Iwana bottom cap is grooved on the side, not notched or coin slotted. It has a glossy finish.
Andy, we have started phasing out the flex system as it doesn’t tell you all that much and we are making rods that have similar action that we consider ideal for tenkara. So, mostly rods differ on length and features. The Rhodo set is currently one of our most popular. The Sato is longer and best if in more open areas, the Iwana is temporarily sold out but a great rod value. You won’t go wrong with any if those as someone new to tenkara.
I finally got to try out my new Iwana 9’3″ (and Tenkara fishing) for the first time today…. I love it! Lots of small native trout, we had a blast!
We like to work small streams with lots of growth. What’s the best way to avoid snags when moving from spot to spot?
Sage, I find a couple of things work best. If the path you are walking is fairly open then you can leave the rod open and loosely coil excess like on your hand. Also, make the line spiral around the rod to keep it all in one place and tight rather than a belly of line forming. When things start getting a bit tighter, then use a line holder and collapse the rod
I don’t have specific advise. But my favorite way to fish lakes is to let the fly sink toward the bottom and then twitch the fly s bit to signal the fly is “alive”. That’s deadly IMO.
I am going to fish the Salmon River in Pulaski New York for SteelHead. Can you recommend a specific rod and line for Dougleston Run?
I have an Iwana rod with weaved mono line, Is that too light
Daniel, I grew up flyfishing in Pennsylvania, I would always care a small mason jar with a few minnows that I would thread on a double hook with a 3′ leader and a few small split shot, this always saved the day when I couldn’t get a bite on flies. Is there a tenkara rod that could handle this type of rig as well as flyes
The casting video does not play. I see that you recommend the Amago rod in lieu of the Iwana for fishing the Salmon River and probably Oak Creek, too!. I recently purchased the Iwana rod through my affiliation as a veteran with the Syracuse, NY chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. I rarely go to the Salmon River, so do you think the Iwana has sufficient body for other upstate NY waters? I would hate to break it on its first outing!
Hi John, not sure why it may not be playing for you, but here is the direct link to the video on Youtube: How to Cast with Tenkara – learning tenkara casting
The Iwana should be fine, the Amago can bring in larger fish (primarily those 18″ and above) a bit faster, but we do not expect the Iwana to break, it just would be a different fight when you hook into a larger fish. But we have seen fish up to 23″ caught on the Iwana (and that’s just the ones we know about). Have fun!
Well, I’ve simply not found tenkara casting as simple as led to believe. I’ve been tenkara fishing for 2+ years, have read the books, watched the videos, practiced, and still don’t have the cast down. A morning this past week was typical – spent about 4 hours fishing, and probably less than half that time was actually fishing – the rest was untangling lines, retying tippets due to wind knots, etc.
Not sure if I’m just woefully incompetent, or tenkara isn’t as simple as we’ve been led to believe. I’m currently using a 13′ rod, with high quality 3.5 level line, and 5x tipper. Line + tippet = 14′ or 15′ . On most casts, no matter what I’ve tried so far (more power, less power, more speed, less speed) the tippet usually piles in a heap, instead of lying out to length. I might as well be using 1′ of tippet instead of 4′. I get one good cast out of about ten – and then have trouble replicating it. I’m close to giving up from the frustration (anyone out there interested in buying some used tenkara rods…? )
Hi William,
Sorry you’ve been having a frustrating time with it. It usually is pretty simple, but from my experience having taught hundreds of people in person, sometimes there is a tiny thing that I point out to a person here and there that make a big difference. Any chance you could make a short video and send it/a link to info@tenkarausa.com? I would really like to see your casting to see if I can help with any tips for casting the level line.
Also, the level line is a bit harder to cast. Our Tenkara Lines are much easier to cast.
Sometimes there is a tip I can share here or there that can make a big difference, if you send me a video I might be able to help. Usually it is pretty easy to get a hang of the casting, but occasionally there is something I can point out that I might have not covered in our videos, forgive me if these may be a bit repetitive but here are things I may have not covered well on my videos or perhaps one of these will help:
– the back cast is the most important thing. Focus on throwing the line back more than on throwing it forward, the rod will take care of shooting the line forward
– Make sure to stop your back cast with the rod pointed up (12 o’clock). Having an index finger on top helps with that
– Keep the casting light. I know you mentioned you try it, but sometimes when trying to correct casting people will try going stronger/more forcefully and that doesn’t help
– But, the casting is fast (for timing of the cast see my videos).
– Keep the arm close to your body and relaxed. You’ll use a combination of arm and wrist.
– You mentioned having the tippet pile up in front of you. In my experience, the main cause for that is keeping the grip very firm at the end of the cast. My suggestion here is when you move to your forward cast and stop your rod pointed roughly at a 45 degree angle in front of you, relax your hand. This one usually goes a long way. It is a light opening of your hand as you come to a stop on the forward cast.
I too am having the same problem. It seems to be a timing issue with me not letting the line load on the back cast, but there is no way for me to be sure. I have been trying for months, and leave the stream more and more frustrated, never mind the fact that I haven’t caught anything due to the line piling up/presentation issues.
It is NOT as intuitive as advertised without any direct instruction. I have watched HOURS of videos, read multiple books (including the one from TUSA), and continue to have the same problem.
One more thought – why aren’t tenkara rods made white, pale gray, or some similar color? To the eyes of trout, the most common background to a casting tenkara rod will be the sky – so making rods black would seem to make little sense – much more likely to be spooking to trout.
Yes, good observation. That is the reason we developed The Hane in white, and it is our first white rod, which we made for exactly that reason.
For most of our other rods, which are black, they can also camouflage ok when in heavily canopied places. But, mostly anglers are used to that and we followed the “tradition”. However, what we have incorporated on most of our rods, is a break on the black with different colored strips. The theory behind that is that the colors will help break the long black rod into multiple smaller black sections and might help with some camouflage or breaking the motion detection of fish a bit. We don’t have a way of proving that much, but that has been my thinking from the early rods I have developed.
But, glad to hear you like white and we are going to explore that in future offerings.
The Hane can be found here HANE 10ft10in (330cm)
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Coosa River fisherman, Stripers, Spotted Bass, Large Mouth Bass, White Bass, Hybrid-Striped Bass, Longnose Gar, Panfish, Crippie, Catfish (Flathead, BlueCats, and Chanal Catfish)
I live on the river and on Lake Jordan one of five impoundments on the Coosa River. I Kayak and Canoe the wild parts of the river. Tenkara has caught my interest, because it ties into my minelist up bringins and U.S. Army 34 year career in Army Aviation life. The Assault Battalion lived on the land .
I have all the fishing gear money can buy, but am getting really stoked on Tenkara.
Roger,
I’m interested too having spent the past summer lake fishing in Minnesota. I’d love to get to the river and try this. How have things gone for you?
Jack
Do you offer a rod called Sato triple zoom?
David, yes, we do. We sold out of the Sato 2 months ahead of schedule this time so we had to take it offline. They are arriving here this week and we will turn it back on as soon as possible.
Hello, very interested in tenkara! I fish mostly small well protected streams in the eastern sierras. What rod would you recommend? On the 12′ iwana is the bottom cap notched or coin slotted. And is it matte or glossy finish?
Sage, the Iwana is a very popular rod for sure and one of our main recommendations. Also, check out the Sato, which is adjustable in length.
The Iwana bottom cap is grooved on the side, not notched or coin slotted. It has a glossy finish.
being newbie looking for a complete package not sure of the flex system to go for being a novice what rod set up do you recommend thanks andy
Andy, we have started phasing out the flex system as it doesn’t tell you all that much and we are making rods that have similar action that we consider ideal for tenkara. So, mostly rods differ on length and features. The Rhodo set is currently one of our most popular. The Sato is longer and best if in more open areas, the Iwana is temporarily sold out but a great rod value. You won’t go wrong with any if those as someone new to tenkara.
Daniel,
I finally got to try out my new Iwana 9’3″ (and Tenkara fishing) for the first time today…. I love it! Lots of small native trout, we had a blast!
We like to work small streams with lots of growth. What’s the best way to avoid snags when moving from spot to spot?
Sage
Sage, I find a couple of things work best. If the path you are walking is fairly open then you can leave the rod open and loosely coil excess like on your hand. Also, make the line spiral around the rod to keep it all in one place and tight rather than a belly of line forming. When things start getting a bit tighter, then use a line holder and collapse the rod
If only there was something attached to the bottom of the rod to collect the line… to reel it in” if you will.
Hello Mr Daniel Galhardo any tips for fishing on small lake for perch
Tenkara USA. rules ^^
I don’t have specific advise. But my favorite way to fish lakes is to let the fly sink toward the bottom and then twitch the fly s bit to signal the fly is “alive”. That’s deadly IMO.
I am going to fish the Salmon River in Pulaski New York for SteelHead. Can you recommend a specific rod and line for Dougleston Run?
I have an Iwana rod with weaved mono line, Is that too light
Hi Nick, the Iwana is on the light side. Anytime someone is thinking of targeting larger fish we like to recommend the Amago, or perhaps the Ito.
Daniel, I grew up flyfishing in Pennsylvania, I would always care a small mason jar with a few minnows that I would thread on a double hook with a 3′ leader and a few small split shot, this always saved the day when I couldn’t get a bite on flies. Is there a tenkara rod that could handle this type of rig as well as flyes
I suppose any of them could actually.
The casting video does not play. I see that you recommend the Amago rod in lieu of the Iwana for fishing the Salmon River and probably Oak Creek, too!. I recently purchased the Iwana rod through my affiliation as a veteran with the Syracuse, NY chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. I rarely go to the Salmon River, so do you think the Iwana has sufficient body for other upstate NY waters? I would hate to break it on its first outing!
Hi John, not sure why it may not be playing for you, but here is the direct link to the video on Youtube: How to Cast with Tenkara – learning tenkara casting
The Iwana should be fine, the Amago can bring in larger fish (primarily those 18″ and above) a bit faster, but we do not expect the Iwana to break, it just would be a different fight when you hook into a larger fish. But we have seen fish up to 23″ caught on the Iwana (and that’s just the ones we know about). Have fun!
Well, I’ve simply not found tenkara casting as simple as led to believe. I’ve been tenkara fishing for 2+ years, have read the books, watched the videos, practiced, and still don’t have the cast down. A morning this past week was typical – spent about 4 hours fishing, and probably less than half that time was actually fishing – the rest was untangling lines, retying tippets due to wind knots, etc.
Not sure if I’m just woefully incompetent, or tenkara isn’t as simple as we’ve been led to believe. I’m currently using a 13′ rod, with high quality 3.5 level line, and 5x tipper. Line + tippet = 14′ or 15′ . On most casts, no matter what I’ve tried so far (more power, less power, more speed, less speed) the tippet usually piles in a heap, instead of lying out to length. I might as well be using 1′ of tippet instead of 4′. I get one good cast out of about ten – and then have trouble replicating it. I’m close to giving up from the frustration (anyone out there interested in buying some used tenkara rods…? )
Hi William,
Sorry you’ve been having a frustrating time with it. It usually is pretty simple, but from my experience having taught hundreds of people in person, sometimes there is a tiny thing that I point out to a person here and there that make a big difference. Any chance you could make a short video and send it/a link to info@tenkarausa.com? I would really like to see your casting to see if I can help with any tips for casting the level line.
Also, the level line is a bit harder to cast. Our Tenkara Lines are much easier to cast.
Sometimes there is a tip I can share here or there that can make a big difference, if you send me a video I might be able to help. Usually it is pretty easy to get a hang of the casting, but occasionally there is something I can point out that I might have not covered in our videos, forgive me if these may be a bit repetitive but here are things I may have not covered well on my videos or perhaps one of these will help:
– the back cast is the most important thing. Focus on throwing the line back more than on throwing it forward, the rod will take care of shooting the line forward
– Make sure to stop your back cast with the rod pointed up (12 o’clock). Having an index finger on top helps with that
– Keep the casting light. I know you mentioned you try it, but sometimes when trying to correct casting people will try going stronger/more forcefully and that doesn’t help
– But, the casting is fast (for timing of the cast see my videos).
– Keep the arm close to your body and relaxed. You’ll use a combination of arm and wrist.
– You mentioned having the tippet pile up in front of you. In my experience, the main cause for that is keeping the grip very firm at the end of the cast. My suggestion here is when you move to your forward cast and stop your rod pointed roughly at a 45 degree angle in front of you, relax your hand. This one usually goes a long way. It is a light opening of your hand as you come to a stop on the forward cast.
I’m interested! ?
I too am having the same problem. It seems to be a timing issue with me not letting the line load on the back cast, but there is no way for me to be sure. I have been trying for months, and leave the stream more and more frustrated, never mind the fact that I haven’t caught anything due to the line piling up/presentation issues.
It is NOT as intuitive as advertised without any direct instruction. I have watched HOURS of videos, read multiple books (including the one from TUSA), and continue to have the same problem.
One more thought – why aren’t tenkara rods made white, pale gray, or some similar color? To the eyes of trout, the most common background to a casting tenkara rod will be the sky – so making rods black would seem to make little sense – much more likely to be spooking to trout.
Yes, good observation. That is the reason we developed The Hane in white, and it is our first white rod, which we made for exactly that reason.
For most of our other rods, which are black, they can also camouflage ok when in heavily canopied places. But, mostly anglers are used to that and we followed the “tradition”. However, what we have incorporated on most of our rods, is a break on the black with different colored strips. The theory behind that is that the colors will help break the long black rod into multiple smaller black sections and might help with some camouflage or breaking the motion detection of fish a bit. We don’t have a way of proving that much, but that has been my thinking from the early rods I have developed.
But, glad to hear you like white and we are going to explore that in future offerings.
The Hane can be found here HANE 10ft10in (330cm)