Hey guys,
I hear you loud and clear about your current desire for a shorter rod. But hear me out.
MY STATEMENT:My intent is first and foremost to introduce "pure tenkara" outside of Japan, and not to come up with something that goes outside that scope to please everyone or increase my sales from every side (maybe a similar reason why most fly rod manufacturers haven't introduced miniature rods to their line). There are equally as many requests for a very stronger/heavier rod to target steelhead and salmon,
but that is not tenkara. If I feel like I have developed just the right rod that is in the tenkara scope then I may introduce it, but for now I'd really prefer that people understand the advantages of a long rod for mountain stream fishing and learn how to use it. It is not because of lack of a market. If I were to introduce a 9ft tenkara rod, I can almost guarantee most people would buy it simply because that is within their comfort level (people get scared thinking of a 12ft rod for a small mountain stream) - remember that I have had to create demand for 13ft rods, and it would be easier to do it for 8ft rods. Plus, based on our current developments it would be easy for me to do. However, the shorter rods offered by the other companies, who do not know nearly as much about tenkara as I do, do not have the advice of tenkara anglers in Japan, and are simply trying to sell rods, are doing a major disservice for the introduction of tenkara to people here. In my opinion, anglers lose too much by going with a shorter rod, thinking that a small stream requires a short rod simply because of preconceived notions brought by western fly-fishing.
SOLUTIONS, IF YOU MUST:I do understand the want for a shorter rod. A long tenkara rod is hard to use in a super tight stream. I have fished quite a few very small streams too, not often, but I have. In my opinion they are equally challenging to fish with a short rod and reel as with a slightly longer rod and fixed length of line (though the challenges and skills are slightly different).
My solution has been to use a 11ft rod with 1 segment collapsed and the hand holding it above the handle effectively shortens the 11ft rod to 8ft (or less by simply moving the hand up or even shortening to segments (this last one not recommended). To me that is the most appropriate thing to do when fishing a tighter stream while still maintaining the versatility and advantages of a long rod for when the stream opens up (or for fishing a different stream) and, so you do not have buy two rods.
Now, if you really want to modify your rod to fish a very very tight stream all the time, and you feel like a miniature tenkara rod is what you really want, here is very simple solution that I tried and works fine:
- Buy a fly rod grip (e.g.
fly rod grip)
- Take the segments that you want to use out of your tenkara rod.
- Slide it onto the grip (you may have to file the inside of the grip a bit, using a
round file- Close the endings with a small cork or dowel carved/sanded to fit.
( Dead horse, meat hammer. Again.)
)
