First fish on a tenkara rod

My first pike on a tenkara rod

Opening day of the 2014 fishing season found me trying to unravel the intricasies of tenkara fishing on one of my local, temporary flows into the Assiniboine River. I had opted to carry only two types of flies, as recommended by TenkaraBum; killer bugs in various sizes and an elk hair caddis. After about 2 hours of flogging the water using various techniques I came up empty. Despite seeing many pike and a few perch in the water not one could be coaxed into sampling my offerings. I had hoped to perhaps add to my fly caught life list but it was not to be. An unhappy walk back to the car, I returned with my 5 wt and a healthy supply of streamers and commenced to catch 42 pike (yeah, I actually did count them) up to about 14". Some folks would call fish this size "bait" but opening day and this close to home allows me to use the appelation "pike".

A facsimile of the fly used...the actual fly fell victim to a tree

Next day, suitably armed with properly sized streamers for the tenkara rod found me back at the same spot. The first cast brought only a swirl, and the second allowed me to land my first tenkara caught fish... a 14" pike. I fished for an hour or so longer and managed 9 more; the biggest an 18" fish that lent credence to the term "snake". A pencil has a more robust figure than this fish but it was an honest 18" and was caught on my tenkara rod and it did manage to put quite a bend into the rod. I must say that this fish increased my confidence in the rod by a significant amount. It settled into a nice bow as the base of the rod provided the beef to stop the fishes several runs.

All in all, the jury is still out on this tenkara rod. On suitable water it would be a great tool but unfortunately those types of flow are generally to the east or west of this province. On the other hand, it's a lot of fun and doesn't take up much room so can easily come along on any trip where it might just be the key.