Hello to Tenkara friends in the UK

[Deleted]

 Hi to all overseas, My name is Mark and I live in Colorado in the USA Iam actually about 7 miles due East of Pikes Peak(4600M+/_) I am new to Tenkara and use a Suntech Fieldmaster 53, which is a very nice rod. I've had a lot of Questions regarding Line choice,etc.

If anyone here knows of two handed rod technique pictures, videos. I'm very interested in correcting before i get bad habits.

Good Day and Tight lines,

Mark H. 

[Paul G]

Hi Mark, nice to have you on here. The only two handed styles I am aware of in Japan involve bait (or live decoy fish) of some sort.

I haven't seen any tenkara anglers casting with two hands.

[flatsghost]

Mark
I would suggest that you get a copy of the Discover Tenkara first DVD and you will learn a lot from that about the basics. Good luck with your Tenkara and have fun. You will find loads of help in this forum.
Tight lines
Glyn

[custheyder]

That is a very long rod indeed. Ye, it is considered a two handed rod because of the length and leverage it can put on your wrist. Have you considered looking at the various Spey Casting techniques? I am sure some of them can be adapted. I use a snake roll on occasion with my single handed rods to good effect.

[phil]

Hi Mark

Welcome to the forum.

The only tenkara rod that begged two handed casting I've got my hands on was the Nissin Honryu 450 a couple of years ago. An exceptional rod with only four sections. In your neck of the woods, well Utah, you could do no better than look up the boys at Tenkara Guides. They have pushed the bounds of tenkara perhaps more than anyone while having heaps of fun in the process, fishing with Keiryu rods with furled lines and level lines for big carp and big trout.

I found the various spey casts and a water haul can work when used in the right places to suit the water and environmental conditions.

Had the pleasure to meet with Renato Gonetto, an elder of the Valsesiana tradition, from Itlay, the other day. He used to hand craft traditional wood and bamboo Valsesiana rods, horse hair lines and casts. He demonstrated and gave a masterful session with a modern carbon Valsesiana rod of over 4 m with the most sublime hand made horse hair line. A much firmer blank from mid section to butt with a very sensitive yet responsive tip section more akin to Keiryu rods than the tenkara rods we're familiar with casting.

He enjoyed casting a 360 cm Tenkara USA Iwana with a level line too, no problems there. He show how to induce or invite a take with the same emphasis of the design of the hackles resisting water flow and pulsing in concert with his deft manipulations of the rod tip that bore so much congruence with the principles of the Japanese approach and sasoi.

A privilege and unforgettable experience to have time with this elder of the european fixed line fly fishing tradtion.

Have fun, check out the boys from Tenkara Guides and happy fishing.

Phil

[chriscreeler]

I think that this (two handed fishing with a long trout rod and casting line) is a very good way, and I may well go back to it as my right arm becomes older and more aching and feeble.

Here is some of what two 19th century Scottish angling writers had to say on the subject. The first piece by John Younger is quite amusing, and the second by David Webster, highly practical.

"A person may fish for a lifetime with a short rod like a coachman's whip, and shorter still, in such small streams as the Ale and Kale, the Gala and Leader; and by perseverance, and lurking about bushes and going on his knees to hide himself and shadow, he may be pretty successful; but still this is like shooting partridges with a pistol in place of a fine fowling piece.

With a rod of about fourteen feet, large enough for having command of water, even when fishing the Tweed, you will have most success in these small streams; as with a rod well balanced, of equal spring from hand to top, and a casting line of suitable weight, you will throw to the point you wish with ease and softness--and walking upright like the 'Lord of the Isles,' disdain to crouch or hide. Thus too by throwing only half the length of line you could do if necessary,you will in small streams nip the trout up as he rises, and be more successful by open means than by hidlins; and why bind to fish with one hand only? If you have two hands left from the Crimean or Indian wars, use both except when you require to scratch your lug. Thus make your angling easy, pleasurable and man-like."

John Younger.





"In casting, the rod should be grasped with both hands--the left near the butt, and the right about eight or nine inches higher up. There being no reel on the rod, the hands can be so placed as to secure the amount of leverage necessary for a good cast. The upper parts of the arms are kept close to the body, and only the wrists and forearms are brought into play so that anything like 'thrashing' the water is avoided.Having made his first cast over the water mainly to get his line out in front of him, the young angler must now raise the point of his rod a little to bring the line round in a curve sufficiently near him, and so much under command as will enable him to lift it gently from the water and to make the next cast. This movement is effected by raising the the rod gradually towards the perpendicular, and causing the point of it to describe something of a horse-shoe curve, when the line will be brought gently round in a corresponding sweep overhead, and derive, from this motion and its own weight, sufficient momentum to urge it forward to its full length. The point of the rod should not be carried much behind the body, and the line should not be sent out to its full length behind, but brought round in a curve, following the motion of the rod until fairly on the forward movement, when a slightly quickened action is imparted, and the rod is brought nearly to the horizontal. The line is thus gradually straightened in its forward course until it measures its full length over the stream--first touching the water near the middle point of the hair-line, when the droppers will fall gently, and almost simultaneously, with the trail- fly."

David Webster.

[Deleted]

I thank you All for the warm welcome, and the advice. I have caught Trout now on the rod my first a small 10" German Brown where I had never thought of fishing before (this rod is so long you can drop a Nymph right on the spot) I' hoping to fish the end of month I will post pictures when I figure it out. Mark from Colorado

[chriscreeler]

Well good luck with your endeavours Mark. With the lightish casting lines that most of us use now it is more difficult to time the cast two handed. I think the trick is to think of the upper hand as the dominant one and just use the lower one to help it. Also most of us would not usually want to carry the cast delivery stroke through as low as Webster describes, preferring to stop the rod at an angle of about 30 to 40 degrees above horizontal.

As for lines,I would choose one of the heavier tapered tenkara lines that are available; or you could make your own, which requires next to no equipment and is quite easy and enjoyable to do. PM me if you would like more information on this.

Chris.