I don't see a link on this site to a copy, so fyi, Daniel's posted a long and detailed article on long lines on tenkarabum blog. Well worth the read.

I've read it thoroughly, very good aproach, thumbs up!
Unhappily in my place it will not work, lots of wind year round...
I prefer, most times i must, to go the other way; longer rod/shorter line!

I also read it and found it to have a alot of great info.

Dale

Here's a direct link to the article:
http://www.tenkarabum.com/long-line-tenkara.html

I also generally use a shorter line, which is why I had asked Daniel to write it. And I must agree, there is a wealth of information there. There is no question that with a long line approach you can target fish that in some cases cannot be targetted any other way. There is also a greater likelihood that they are unaware of your presence. Definitely well worth the read.

Though I agree with the benefits of long-line tenkara, I'm not convinced that one can keep consistent pressure on a wily fish that likes to run at you to put slack in the line to throw the hook.

Could someone elaborate on the technique on how to keep consistent pressure with long-line?

Also, I don't think the western flyfisher in Daniel's article was a proficient caster if he couldn't lay out 40 feet to a pocket (at 2 ft tippet, 9 ft leader, and 30 ft flyline, one doesn't even have the full head of a WF4F line out of the rod tip!) ... so I'm not sure if it was fair to challenge like that unless say, the Rajeff brothers were outfished with tenkara vs western.

Now, whether that person can get more than a second of drag-free western drift at 40 feet out to pocket water is a whole other story with unicorns and other things that exist only in our imaginations.

Thanks,
- Albert

Yeah, I agree, I'd just let that one go. E.g.in NZ you need to cast 40ft min drag free to catch the bigger fish in the trophy sections. This is because the water is so clear and the fish are experienced, so you find it almost impossible to get any closer than this without being spotted. As I say, on these trophy sections, in peak season, the fish have seen a fisherman at least once per day if not more. Ideally, you fish form the very limit of the distance at which you can just make them out, which when you on the water, is about that distance. As soon as you move in they spot you. In my view, any proficient caster can drop a western line to 50ft or more on one backcast and either pile, tuck cast, or lay straight
The thing that Tenkara does that western can't is fishing longer AND keeping most of your line off the water. It's much stealthier that way, and easier to stay in touchwith the fly.

My apologies for not having posted the link here earlier.


I probably didn't phrase that quite right. Indeed he could easily have cast however many feet of line he wanted, but indeed he would not have been able to get a second of drift in that water. When I asked him to cast to that spot, his reply really was, "I can't" but I think he meant he couldn't really fish it. About proficiency, he's been fly fishing for over 40 years, and has worked at the major fly-fishing retailer for the last few years. No questions about his proficiency. We captured the entire scene on film (Brian was working on the documentary that day), and hopefully it will make it into one of our cuts down the road.
Here's a picture of the water, the spot I asked him to cast is not visible, but would be just upstream on the other side of the current:



If it is VERY windy it would be difficult, but with good technique (fast casting, forward cast bringing the rod tip low or sidearm, and then pulling the rod tip back a bit to get off the water) it can be done very well. It is my preference to use a softer rod for windy conditions and really to let the rod work for you. But, i wouldn't cast 25ft of line, would probably do 20ft at the most.


That is one of the trickier parts, as I mention, which took me sometime to get a feel for. Not sure I can completely elaborate it in writing and unfortunately i think this is a part best left for experience than for writing about. But, the way I think of it, with a small fish bring it in fast; so, fight the fish, when you grab the line pull the fish in. With a larger fish you have to feel it, let it run a bit when it wants to but not completely letting go of the line, then pull it in. FYI, I use barbless hooks.

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I always think of the length of my lines as the total length. ( line length + tippet length ).

In Daniels article several times he would state a length of line. Then write he adds 4 ft of tippet. When he said he carries spools of 15, 20 and 25 ft. Do you think those lengths included the four feet of tippet or was the 4 ft of tippet to be added making total lines of 19, 24, 29 ft. ?

I ask because the way I read it the line lengths on the spool included the 4 ft of tippet. Yet in the first and last paragraphs he states he uses 20 ft of level line + 4 ft of tippet.

I will add that last summer a few times I tried fishing a line about 25 ft in total length or maybe a bit longer. I can't say I had great success with it as a fishing tool. But I did think 25 ft line was a good tool teaching me to cast shorter lines better.

iow - after casting the 25 + ft line , either just practicing or fishing with it, I thought that my casting of shorter lines of 16 to 20 ft length was improved. After learning to pause longer on the back cast for the 25 ft line I was doing a better job of it after returning to the 16 or 20 ft lines.

Probably I spent more time just trying to learn to cast a longer line than I did actually trying to fish with the longer line. 2 reasons; the majority of the time the stream with too tight, ok when fishing lakes. And just concern about what to do with all that line if I did catch a fish.

I'm usually not to picky about the tippet length. I just pull off 3 to 4 ft , iow about 1 meter of tippet.

Who was already fishing with 20 + feet of line before Daniel's article on TB went on-line ?

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The length of lines I mention does not include tippet. So, it is 19, 24 or 29ft for the most part.

And, yes, I really think one of the biggest values in using a long line is to acquire good casting technique. If you can cast a long line effortlessly and get the fly to land first, you got it.

By the way, Eddie posted a comment on a different thread, and mentioned aiming to a spot about 1ft above the water, and that is something I neglected to mention but very valuable. And, it is important to think of it as aiming for your fly to go straight to that spot, too often I see people with very good casting but shooting the line out way above the water and then having it all land together as it is normally done with western fly fishing. Eddie's graphic is good:

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Tenkara USA, founder
打仁得流, テンカラ大使
About me and Tenkara USA

Below is a link to a blog post , still image of Tenkarano-oni , casting a # 6 kebari using a 9m ( 29' 7.6" ) #4 line to cast to the other side of some heavy white water.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgorkytenkarafisher.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F08%2Fblog-post.html

A video of Tenkarano-oni casting. A nice side view showing the wrist snap on the back cast and the slight arm lift at the end of the forward cast mentioned in the Long Line Tenkara article.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QmMkAUmVqQ

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テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。