Playing a fish hooked downstream

[jonathan27]

Hi All

I had my 4th Tenkara outing today the first of the new season. Id had 3 outings Jan and feb with a low cost tenkara styke rod off ebay and found nymphing for grayling an absolute dream on the Yorkshire Calder and got me bitten by the Tenkara bug. Ive since upgraded my cheaper rod to a 12ft Nano tenkara 7:3 for nymphing work and a Tenkara Centre UK 12ft Seiryu 6:4 for dries. Today was the first outing for both new rods on the Ribble. I caught 2 grayling on dry fishd upstream with the Seiryu, 12 inch and 15 inch and the rod handled them beautifully such a pleasure to play the fish no rush or hurry. I did land a grayling again on nymph of 11 inch and this was hooked mid drift and played no problem. However I hooked another fish towards the end of the drift so down stream of me tracking around with the rod tip and when I lifted and hooked it it just wanted to turn and go downstream. I was pretty powerless and kept an angle on the rod and it came off.

My question is is there a way to cope with a take that turns and runs downstream on a drift? Or do I not let the flies come past my position when nymphing?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Deleted]

1. Start running downstream with your fish until you can swing it into calm water.
2. Bring the rod low and horizontal to the water and use the bend in the rod to steer your fish left or right.
3. The big thing is to not let your feet grow roots. You have got to move with the fish. Start walking in the direction you want the fish to move. Again, you are using the rod and your body to steer the fish out of the swift current into the calm water.

John
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[paul1966]

Well-done I'm glad you've got the bug and had some success on the tenkara, you're doing better than me I've been out twice this season and not even had a nibble. As for hooking fish downstream do as Johnnyv145 said and run after it if you can ( if it's safe to do so ). I've ran after many fish on tenkara and western fly tackle.

[Deleted]

I have been thinking about this topic for the past week. As guide season is starting I thought of a new way to teach clients about landing fish with tenkara rods.

In western fly fishing the term used when you have a fish on the line is "Fight the fish". Using a stiff, short rod and a heavy drag system in the reel, we basically beat the fish by physically exhausting it into submission.

With tenkara, we use the length of the soft rod to coax the fish into calm water. In effect, we are trying to calm the fish down and subdue the fight or flight reaction.
You have to learn to move your rod, line, and body with the fish in order to convince the fish to go where you need it to go.

John
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[cm_stewart]

Apr 8, 2013 2:58:04 GMT @johnnyv145 said:

1. Start running downstream with your fish until you can swing it into calm water.

I'll disagree with johnnyv on this one. I'd rather break a tippet than a leg. I'm not running after any fish. I have had a few fish break me off, but it always happened so fast that running would not have made any difference. I have also had larger fish than you would expect turn and come back upstream when they had bent a stationary, vertically held rod as far as they could.

[Paul G]

A couple of things to add:

With grayling, they tend to twist and thrash near the surface when they are downstream of you (often belly uppermost) and are good at shedding the hook in this way. With a conventional rod and reel, it is possible to thrust the rod tip towards the stream bed and pull the fish down. They then tend to turn the "right way up" and stop thrashing. When this happens, they suddenly become much more streamlined and the rod will start to straighten as the fish comes upstream. If you pile on the pressure at that point you can sweep them straight into the net.
NB - this DOES NOT work with trout!
With a tenkara rod, if the flow is quite strong, you might struggle to get the rod down into the water without it being swept downstream quite hard (because the tip is so flexible). If this is the case, you need to do what you would with a trout - i.e. dramatically change the angle of pressure. With any fish downstream of you - if the rod ends up pulling straight back up against both the fish and the current; you are in trouble.

The best option is to flip the rod over towards your own bank and keep it as low and "angled" as possible (i.e. not pointing towards the fish). If you can get it in to the margins, the flow is very often slower (and might even be coming towards you in a back-eddy if you are lucky/are fishing there by design!). If you can manage to apply pressure close to 90 degrees to the way the fish is pointing, you have a much better chance of moving it on a curved path (rather than pulling straight back against the resistance). It is a bit like turning a punch to one side being easier than stopping it dead in its tracks!
If it is safe to do so, you can then work your way towards the fish in the margins (good handlining skills are a huge boon here) and creep close enough to scoop it up into the net. Scooping quickly from behind the fish, i.e. tail-first, can be better than the usual way you might draw a fish into the net head first.

All this being said - these are things that can help turn the odds back in your favour; but are not a concrete guarantee

[jonathan27]

Thank you all for your advice apologies for the late reply. I will take all your comments on board and see how I fair next time out. I think the tip that stands out the most is the use of the rod angle and applied pressure to turn the fish rather than just hang on and try and pull it back. I've been doing some reading up to supplement this advice here and I'll go give it a go.

Cheers

Jonathan

[Paul G]

I think I've posted this elsewhere, but some notes and pics here: www.discovertenkara.co.uk/about-tenkara/playing-fish/