I started Sunday morning trying out an idea that has been rolling around in my brain for a couple of months. I call it "sTankara". sTankara combines some of the trendiest things going in fly fishing into one ridiculous package. Tenkara, minimalism, fly fishing for carp and two-handed spey casting. It starts with a 12' "Uncle Bucks" graphite collapsible crappie pole (12 bucks at Bass Pro) rigged Tenkara style and fished two-handed. It ends with a carp. Hell if I know what goes down in between.
Hooking two carp on my sTankara pole today brought some crushing clarity though. First of all this may not be the best idea I ever had. Second of all, attaching the line to the pole with a couple of over-hand knots will not and I repeat NOT get the job done. Finally, I am gonna need a bigger stick or some smaller carp. You didn't actually think I would give up just because it is a stupid idea did you?
The action starts at 0:38. Going to a section of river with bigger than average fish to try this out was as inexplicable as trying it out in the first place.
Thank you for trying, now get out there and try again.
ReplyDeleteNo worries Clif. I will give it at least one more shot. I will probably wait until they are good and cold so that I have a prayer of landing one though. I wasnt even close this time.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should bring this up. I've been pondering Tenkara carping now for the past few weeks. My only question is "Does the carp snap the upper third of the rod off on its initial run, or later when it really gets up a head of steam?".
ReplyDeleteNo chance unless you find some babies dude. Although for the record...Wendy Berrell landed an 18 river carp on one of those micro rods...the reel was the size of a quarter. No shit.
ReplyDeleteGet yourself a Hera rod and you wont need to try and find the babies. Love it.
ReplyDeleteTy - As far as I can tell (with a little research resource help from Troutrageous) a real tenkara rod has no prayer. Gotta be the hera rod he links below or one of these crappie rods. They have them up to 15' long!
ReplyDeleteJohn - The fish in the video was low to mid teens. I agree, no chance. I think I can take a 5pounder for sure but the smallest fish I know where to find feeding until spring are around 7lb. Its a stretch but the winter cold will help.
T! - Thanks, when you sent that website before it was a big help to get a frame of reference. I might even cough up the 70bucks for a hera rod at some point. The stunning thing is how well that cheap crappie rod spey-casts. It is actually amazing.
Wait a minute...I just re-read that. Micro-rod, Reel was the size of a quarter??? Watyoutalkingabout Willis?
ReplyDeleteI am talking about this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jaustinforbes.com/
And that is Wendy's fish pictured. He blogged about it and he pictures are awesome.
I found it...scroll down a bit.
ReplyDeletehttp://fishingandthinking.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
May 2007 archives. The fish was 14lbs 10 ounces. The rod and reel is the story though. Crazy.
John - I went and read that post. Awesome, what a cool story! I need one of those micro-rods. There are some 6" Koi in the pond next to my new work location. They are calling me.
ReplyDelete