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Description
Reviews
The Tenkara USA Sato rod is named after Mr. Ernest Satow, an avid mountaineer who was the first person to make a written record of tenkara. The Sato is a compact and lightweight tenkara rod. At its shorter length it is perfect for tighter streams, and at its full length it will be ideal when the stream opens up again or when you find a bigger pool to cast your fly.
With several years of design experience under our belt and feedback from our users, we feel we have achieved what we set out to do: give you a rod that is super light-weight, durable, versatile and feels very precise. Plus, we wanted to design a rod that would make it easy to answer "which tenkara rod should I get?"
The Sato has two patent pending features:
Triple-zoom: this allows you to use the rod at three different lengths - 108/ 1110/129 (330/360/390cm). The average length for a tenkara rod is 12ft long, we like to recommend rods that are closer to 13ft, yet many people are intimidated by such long lengths for rods intended for smaller streams. So, we felt a rod with the 3 most common lengths would be an easy choice: short to ease you into tenkara, long to give you a taste of the advantages presented by a long tenkara rod.
Keep your Plug system (patent pending): We're very excited about this very simple yet innovative feature. After hearing that no one has ever been able to keep their tenkara rod plug for longer than a year we decided we should find a solution for you to never lose your plug again. We designed the Keep your plug system. Next time you go fishing, remove the plug from the top end of your rod and insert it into the hole at the bottom of your rod. The Sato will come with two plugs on the rod; please leave one at home in case you ever need it.
SPECS: Weight: 2.6 oz (73.7 g); Closed length: 22 3/4"(57.78cm); Open lengths: 108/ 1110/129 (330/360/390cm)*; Handle length:10 ½(26.7cm); Segments: 9
* There may be slight discrepancies in their extended length of tenkara rods
1% of the sale value of this item will be donated to conservation efforts.
U.S. & foreign patents pending
A decent rod that didn't match the description or the current stats
Location/type of places I fish: Mountain streams of Utah
posted July 15, 2018
moonlunker says 5 out of 5 flies
What a great rod and a marvelous service!
Location/type of places I fish: France - everywhere there is water I need to have a wet line in!
I absolutely wanted to testify about how serious and compliant the tenkarausa shop is.
I asked my mother to buy a Sato kit for my birthday. It arrived without the rod. Was a postier in the know, who steal it, or whatever... My mother was almost crying because I would not have it on time. And she has no money to buy another one.
BUT Tenkarausa deals it more than I could expect, sending immediately a second rod, at NO COST! I've had it for my Christmas.
FOR THIS, A HUGE PAIR OF THUMBS UP!!!!
Now for the rod : It works more than fine. I'm new to this, but thanks to the videos on the website, I could make my first casts on a pond, not really expecting to catch anything. But guess what? I caught some fish... So, yes, I love that company, and I love those products just the same.
Waiting to come in Colorado to see you guys and say thank you in person!
Thomas Piard
posted December 29, 2016
iain.gibb says 5 out of 5 flies
Lovely to cast, well made, versatile, if you only buy one rod, it should be this one.
Location/type of places I fish: Derbyshire (UK) small and medium limestone rivers
I am a beginner at Tenkara, but within a few minutes of using the Sato (my first Tenkara rod) I felt that it was an extension of my right arm - its light, responsive and I knew immediately I had made the right purchase. The blank is nice and slim compared to a couple of other rods I had been lent on a 1 day course, and the cork handle is comfortable. Having a spare plug (comes with the rod) and a "keeper hole" in the end of the butt shows some thought has gone into the user friendliness.
I also need to pay tribute to Paul Gaskell below - his free on line lessons are the bees knees and I had, for me, a 5* trip the first time out armed with some extra knowledge as well as this rod. The different lengths meant I could stand well back from the bank and fish close to the near edge in short drifts before moving close and shortening the rod to fish the next drifts. Five fish as opposed to my usual brace. A great day thanks to good kit and good advice. Thank you.
posted August 07, 2016
okieflier says 5 out of 5 flies
Great Rod and Great Support
Location/type of places I fish: Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado
I bought this rod for my son. He has fished it for trout and bluegill. Caught over 40 trout with it at Lake Tanneycomo in Branson, MO this past February. He also used it the other day fishing a local pond and caught a dozen bluegill. He really enjoys fishing with it. We had some problems with the rod structure after the MO trip. I contact Tenkara USA and they sent replacement sections within a couple of days. Very happy with their response and support. Highly recommend a SATO rod!
posted June 24, 2016
jdehnert says 5 out of 5 flies
Beauty
Location/type of places I fish: Smokies
Fly fishing reaches to a new plateau with this rod. Function: this rod doesn't have a superfluous 'bone' in its body. Form: any rough edges existing in your casts will soon be smoothed out by the form needed to use this rod well. Fashion: this thing turns heads. One of the most beautiful rods I've ever held. Overall, great addition to any anglers collection.
posted June 01, 2016
Jefftheref says 5 out of 5 flies
first tenkara rod
Location/type of places I fish: mountain creek, yellow breeches, colours creek
What a great rod! Very easy to cast. Catching more fish with this rod, than with my orvis rod and reels. I am new to tenkara, couldn't have made a better choice.
posted July 23, 2015
jeffhanavan says 5 out of 5 flies
Just received my Sato in the mail...
Location/type of places I fish: High mountain streams
I had never even touched a Tenkarausa rod before ordering it, but decided to buy the Sato after handling another brand at our local fly fishing shop, and doing a truck-load of research. On receiving the package, and starting to unwrap it, I immediately started drawing parallels with what it's like to receive an Apple product in the mail. There aren't a lot of companies that are so careful in their production quality, packaging, and presentation that you feel like you're participating in a kind of ritual during the unpacking process. This is how I felt with my new Sato.
Obviously this review has nothing to do with the "fishability" of the rod, but I felt strongly enough about the quality of the construction, and the method of presentation, that I felt it necessary to provide this feedback. As an amusing side-note, my wife, who is familiar with fly fishing from watching me with fly-rod-and-reel equipment all over the place, hadn't really understood what I was so excited about during the process of ordering this. We're planning a big camping/hiking trip in some remote areas of France, and I've decided to just go for it with this new rod, and fishing style. After all of the unwrapping had taken place, and I started to smoothly pull the sections out of the rod, she looked over and said "oh, wow, now I get it". Wish me luck learning this style of fishing, but I can't imagine a better rod with which to start...
posted May 05, 2015
10karafish says 5 out of 5 flies
Great rod for all water
Location/type of places I fish: Small rivers and creeks
This is the rod for all waters. From small creeks to large rivers. At every size the rod performs great. I have not noticed any performace loss in casting between the sizes. The ability to immediately change the length in certain conditions is critical for me. I am using 3.5 level line with this rod. Would highly recommend if you only want to own one rod. Keep it simple.
posted January 29, 2015
David Southall says 5 out of 5 flies
Lovely Versatile Rod
Location/type of places I fish: East Yorkshire (small streams) UK
I've only been out twice with the Sato so far but have already fallen in love with it.
The first session was just casting with small dry flies. It cast an 18 foot number 2 line perfectly yet was not overpowered by a similar length 4 weight line when it got windy.
The second session was on my local small river, the Yorkshire Derwent where I landed 14 out of season trout to 13 inches, 2 rainbows of 15 inches & 2 grayling of about 11 inches. Most fell to either a small orange egg fly or a bead-head partridge & hare's ear spider, but 1 fell to a size 20 CdC dry. The rod cast brilliantly & handled the feisty rainbows easily.
The triple zoom facility was brilliant in the wooded sections of the river & the rod cast well at all lengths.
EXCELLENT!!!!
Dave Southall
posted December 29, 2013
troutrageous1 says 4 out of 5 flies
A Nice Compliment to the Rhodo
Location/type of places I fish: FL by way of PA
The Sato is a very nice rod. For most, it may be the only rod they need considering the lengths covered by the Triple Zoom option. Extremely functional at what we'll call "Short" and "Medium" lengths, I think at it's longest, I still prefer fishing the Ito, (which is why I gave this rod 4 out of 5). Honestly though, faults are hard to come by. Living in Florida, I've used the Sato to handle big panfish and small to medium sized largemouth bass with ease. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sato surpasses the 12' Iwana as the most attractive "all around" rod for Tenkara USA in the not too distant future.