Bushwalk Australia

Well decided to bite the bullet and buy a Tenkara.(Iwana 11ft) I see we have a few members already using would love some comments.

Have been a FlyFisher for some time but have always found the whole rod and reel a pain when hiking especially now the UL bugs has also biten
I also have some little streams up around the back on the Drummond that have plenty of little hungry trout just waiting for the Tenkara.

Will be heading up to the Vic Alps in November for a couple of days I have not decided on the area as yet but maybe the Kiewa area.

Cheers
Charlie

Hey Charlie
I will be very interested in hearing how you find it -like you I am a keen flyfisherman but usually don't carrying the kit on a multiday walk because of the weight.I have considered the tenkara for that reason.I'm off to NZ in 4 weeks and will be doing 1-2 days guided fishing and then walking the wilkin-Young circuit(if we can get over Gillespie pass pending snow levels!).
I was considering taking a tenkara rod to 'play' with on the walk but I have doubts about how useful it would be in Nz -obviously if it were in the upper reaches,smaller water and smaller fish it could be great.Back here I fish in the New England streams it it would potentially be perfect.
Have fun with it and post up some reviews and pics when you can .
You can never have too many toys....
Cheers Rod

Hi Charlie,

CenVicCharlie wrote:Well decided to bite the bullet and buy a Tenkara.(Iwana 11ft) I see we have a few members already using would love some comments.

Have been a FlyFisher for some time but have always found the whole rod and reel a pain when hiking especially now the UL bugs has also biten
I also have some little streams up around the back on the Drummond that have plenty of little hungry trout just waiting for the Tenkara.

Will be heading up to the Vic Alps in November for a couple of days I have not decided on the area as yet but maybe the Kiewa area.

Cheers
Charlie

I absolutely love my Tenkara rods, I have the Yamame and the Hane, I have found that some no2 western fly line is more suited to the type of fishing that I do, I mainly use dry flies and occasionally a beaded nymph, it is great to be able quickly collapse the rod to go through some thick scrub and then quickly expand it again, I have caught more fish with my Yamame than all of my other rods put together.

I was going to steer you to Tenkara USA forum but I see you have already found it, my Perfect River trip was one of my best fishing trips I have ever done.

Happy fishing

Tony

Hi Rod,

As a side issue a tenkara rod may come back with my "courier"-how are you going with yours, and do you think it would be useful in NZ at all ?
All the best

I would be worried about the state of a large trout caught on a Tenkara as to land it you probably would have to flog it a lot more than usual. Graig on the Tenkara USA site has some better views on that issue as he goes to NZ a bit more than me, you could PM him through here http://www.tenkarausa.com/forum/viewtop ... f=32&t=829

Tony

Hi Rod, we're also starting the wilkins Young curcuit on the 19th november.
Give us a wave if see a group of 5 dorky looking packrafters struggling down the Wilkins.
we originally planned on going up the cascade saddle but apparently there is too much snow there this year so the avalanche risk is too great.

among us, we got a few tenkara's:
iwana 11, iwana12, Ayu and the yamame. Its hard picking just 1 rod because they're all great, but my pick would be the Ayu for its super flexibility action. I am also pairing it with a 7 weight fly rod for NZ because hi heard some of these can get up to 10 pounds.

Jason klass made an ultralight trico pack specifically for tenkara and it fits our little spools perfectly. next stock should come in next month apparently.
http://www.backpackflyfishing.com/store/ I just use a Ribz pack and whilst its great for general fishing, the pockets are quite big so the spools move around everywhere inside.

Brought them tenkaras along to my fishing club, and got frowned upon. haha! oh well, their loss - even tho none of them ever heard of tenkara.. I'm only a junior member there and dont know much about fishing in general so I wasnt in a position to "teach" them about a sport they already knew too well.

Hey Ninja
We are planning the circuit walk ,starting up the young valley->Gillespie pass->Crucible lake ->wilkin river
We are planning to start on the 23 of Nov so we will probably be behind you the whole way!
Is your plan to go over the pass?
I haven't been in contact with docs for a little while -i was intending to check in a week or so how the snow levels are
Are you taking crampons and ice axes ?
Like you we had considered the cascade route
Hears hoping for some fine weather until then
Cheers
Rod