Stopped off for an hour on the way to fish another river for "big" grayling today (didn't get any!). But I had to make sure I could have a go with my brand new toy (I can stop pestering other people to borrow theirs now)

First grayling on my own Tenkara rod




Then a bunch more like this, ace

Hi Paul.

Congrats on the birthday grayling, I played around a couple of years a go with Tenkara, and found it good fun.

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What's your verdict on the T (Iwana?) Paul?

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Don't care what your name is. No-one walks on the water where I'm fishing!
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Sage - what a lump! Great fish.


Pedros - This is the Mark II Iwana at 12' (just for completeness!) and I really like it a lot. I teamed it up with a Rod Dibble 12ft Tenkara special furled leader in Benecchi tying thread (with a hi-viz tip) and a variable length of tippet (typically somewhere around 6 to 8 feet. The outfit balances perfectly and casts superbly well.

If you've already done a bunch of proper French nymphing (where you can cast the leader with a dry fly or no flies attached), then the feel is very similar; but with an even more sensitive/forgiving tip section. It is actually a little bit scary how fine and delicate the tip section is.

I was fortunate enough to be able to try a couple of people's Iwanas before deciding that it was going to be the way forward.

12 foot of leader, 6-8 feet of tippet plus a 12 foot rod. That's a lot of water you can potentially cover. In all honesty would you have fished any further out with a conventional setup?
I've been using furled leaders(again made with tying thread) but now almost exclusively use level floro leaders. I find the level leader a little easier to hold off the water...

__________________
Don't care what your name is. No-one walks on the water where I'm fishing!
http://pedrosonthefly.blogspot.com/

Hi Pedros - I quite often fish much closer to myself with conventional gear! Only exception might be French nymphing - but still everything within that 4 to 10 metre range seems to be the ideal on rivers.

Paul

I'm trying mine on Sunday - do you think a normal furled leader will do?

Alex

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"The quarry is not the point of the chase, but merely its pretext, and the chase, purportedly a means to an end, is actually the end itself."Pascal 1961

Depends on length Alex, you want around 9 feet (or up to 12) of "leader" for turnover plus a little bit of tippet on a 12' rod. You actually have to have pretty decent casting and timing to load the rod and gently or briskly turn the tippet over (defo nothing like dapping or pole fishing). Of course, you will be able to "bug" really well with just a short furled leader with tippet and flies added.

Rod Dibble does great ones of course (and will supply very rapidly and at around £7, a very good price considering longevity and production)

Dave Southall uses a 9ft length of 14lb sea fishing copolymer for casting (plus usual tippet). Advantages to level lines are that they can be held off the water better (without sagging as much) as well as being easy to custom trim to length.

Soon be no need for fly lines and reels on some of our rivers eh?.... that aside, could an ordinary pole 'whip' not be used for the same type of fishing Paul?

withdrawn etc