Hot Rod Tenkara – The Beginning
Sakasa Kebari fly from last year’s DF52 project.
Hot Rod Tenkara is my latest little foray into semi-irreverent fly fishing. After a couple of recent outings involving tenkara-style fishing, I decided that I needed to build my own tenkara rod. Rather than go the route of designing a lovely telescoping stick, complete with flor-grade handle and proper string tip, I decided to save myself six months of development time and use “junk” parts. I ended up with an asymmetrical five-piece (not the best for backpacking) that uses a complete prototype 8′ 4-piece blank (one that didn’t make the grade, action-wise), combined with the second section of a 12′ 9″ double-hander (with cellophane wrap marks still in place). The resulting rod comes in at about 11′ 4″.
With the addition of a basic tape loop as a tip and sans handle, my new tenkara stick is about as raw as you’re going to get in the world of graphite. The overall action is what one might refer to as “full,” but the little 803 that makes up the top four sections still has a reasonably fast tip, so it’s an interesting concoction. Even more interesting is that I can pull the long butt section off if I want to dramatically change rod length (and have an actual 803 to cast/fish).
Sexy the set-up is not, but I’ll bet it catches fish. I’m heading off shortly to find out….
Top: Rod sections and tip, strung up and almost ready to fish. Bottom: To keep with the theme, I left the prototype markers on the pieces. This will also allow me to get the parts duplicated quickly should I get a sudden demand for replicas. Or not.
A special thanks to my friends at C.F. Burkheimer for allowing me to raid their protoype pile for my effort. It’s not every day that one gets to build a custom rod of such low class using such high-class parts!
I should probably also note that while I’m having some fun with this, I really am going to be using this rod and posting some thoughts about its application in “fixed line” fly fishing. The rawness of the rod, and the fact that I built it from scraps, will, I think, make the experience even more involved. Stay tuned….
Update: I’ve already gotten a couple of e-mail questions about the set-up. To answer both and provide some extra info on the blog, here you go:
1) Does the asymmetrical design feel weird and what tape did I use for the loop? The design feels nice and flexes deep. Got lucky with that double-hander section, it ferruled up was like it was made to fit. As for the tape, it’s fiberglass-reinforced tape twisted into a loop. Considering that I can’t break it with my bare hands, I’m not too worried about an 8-inch rainbow causing me problems.
2) What leader-as-line am I using? I have a pile of furled leaders—both monofilament and thread—from Tennessee Trout Bum, including some sweet custom stuff they made for me at one point. I’ll be experimenting with those on this rod (at least to begin with). And no, I have no monetary interest in TNTB, they just made some nice leaders for me.
Update 2: After some discussion about the best way to describe this recent gear-building foray, I realized that I had a better name to use that what I had previously chosen. This should really be “Hot Rod Tenkara.” After all, this is about building something custom and unconventional from truly high-performance spare parts, and it is a rod, so Hot Rod Tenkara it shall be! Look for more posts under the HRT label going forward.
I am looking forward to see where this goes….
Just did a test-cast out in the street, and I’m liking it. Nice slow, compact casting stroke is required, and it casts what it needs to cast rather well. It may be a little heavy, but I think it’s going to do the trick.
Luke – er Jason,
No! Come back from the dark side.
You must remember the Jedi code and trust The Force that brought you to the Powers of a Jedi Knight.
Fixed line? NO! It is the DARK side!
G
Gary—Fortunately my early training has given me the strength to control any forays into the various Dark Sides of angling, including fly fishing without any rod at all. Which is interesting. And awkward.
The cool thing about this rod is that it is also a rather nice little 803 four-piece in disguised form. All I have to do is tape on some guides and I’m right back to Jedi status….
I love it when people make tenkara their own. So, how did the rod fish? Love the illustration, by the way. Did you create it?
Ashley—Thanks the comment. Will know more about the rod’s fishing qualities shortly. The illustration is mine, yes. It’s from week 33 of last year’s DF52 project (which was all flies compared to all fish this year). More on the fly here (and I’ve set up a link below the pic now, too).
Jason,
I’m curious if you’ve fished any Tenkara USA rods next to your DIY one to compare actions and what your thoughts were.
FWIW, tenkara is not necessarily the “dark side”. For some of us, it’s the “enlightened” version of fly fishing. But that’s all I’ll say right now to avoid becoming too preachy.
Glad you’re calling attention to tenkara!
Jason—I haven’t fished with any of the Tenkara USA rods in direct comparison to this little effort. Would like to do that at some point. I may end up making a few more “hot rod” sticks, as well. Would be nice to have a few different actions and powers to mess with and perhaps do some cut-and-paste between them.
As far as the “dark side” goes, I love fly fishing—all of it—so to me there is no “dark side.” That’s just a little back-and-forth jesting with Gary as far as I’m concerned.