FUJINO SOFT TENKARA LINE

Since I have been fishing Tenkara I have mostly fished with parrallel lines that we, Tenkara anglers, call "level lines". They are a little more demanding to get good casts for a newbie but allow, in my opinion, better drifts because their similar diameter through the length.
However I have nothing against other types of lines and I recently had the opportunity to test a tapered line called "Soft Tenkara" by the Fujino company.

This line is not made of fluorocarbon but of nylon, it is adaptable to more diffenrent techniques than fluorocarbon that is unusable for dry fly fishing. For me who only fished wet flies I thought that using a nylon would rather be an inconvenient but once I fished with this I realized that it made me fish differently because the fact the line is not designed to sink required a different approach. It is easy to keep out of the water which is good to obtain good dead drifts. 

The major problem of fluorocarbon lines is that this material does not take the dye very well and most of fluorocarbon lines have a too light stain. With the Soft Tenkara you have a perfectly dyed line that is clearly visible in all light conditions.

Regarding the casting the line loads the rod very well and one easily get clean accurate casts. I have tried this line with very different rods, from Tenkara Times Try 360 to Oni Type III  and it did give excellent results. 

I think that for anglers who do not dare to try level lines by fear of not being able to cast it properly the Fujino tapered line is a serious alternative. They will get easy and clean casts without major difficulty. 

This excellent product is available in five different lengths from 3.3 to 10 meters. The only downside I see for someone who is used to make his own lines is the fact that the line length is predefined. 

You can purchase this line through the European dealer Tenkara Centre UK. 

Fujino "Straight Line"

The Fujino firm, a company that has produced fishing lines in Atsugi, Japan since 1957 has called several times recognized tenkara experts to design lines such as Takashi Yoshida  for the "Soft Tenkara" and "Tenkara Midi" lines and Masami Sakakibara for the "Soft Tenkara Long Type".
A few weeks ago Fujino announced the imminent release of a new tenkara line designed by a very experience angler who has greatly contributed to the evolution of this fishing technique and is a widely recognized ambassador: Dr. Hisao Ishigaki.

This line, commonly called "level line" is not made of fluorocarbon but of polyarylate, a family of thermoplastics polymers with various industrial use. In the case of this tenkara line it is made of a material called "Zxion" (pronounce "Zekushion" ®) which means that it is consisting in polyester liquid crystals whose main characteristics make it an interesting product to make a tenkara line with: high strength, insensitivity to U.V radiation and very low shape memory. 

As the picture above shows the "Straight Line" has a yellow stain that I call "curry yellow", it is an opaque non-fluorescent yellow which is a good idea as fluorescent yellow for tenkara lines has the disadvantage to make it virtually invisible, except when fishing in low light conditions, and that is a problem especially for beginners.
This line that Dr. Hisao Ishigaki has first designed for tenkara beginners make accurate casting easy as it is stiff enough to be easily controlled and it is dense enough to insure an effective transmission of the casting motions energy. The tip of the line is made of a 30 centimeters section of furled nylon with black markers every five centimeters. This makes a strike indicator which can be very useful for a tenkara beginner. 

This line is available in three different length: 3.50, 4 and 5 meters + 30 centimeters furled section.

Dr. Hisao Ishigaki is, besides a tenkara angler with a forty years experience who has stayed faithful to the principle of simplicity in tenkara and is unanimously recognized as a tenkara ambassador, a renowned ophtalmologist who has among many other things supervised the development of vision training software for Nintendo and that is in my opinion a guarantee of seriousness in the design of this tenkara line.

The furled nylon tip has elasticity enough to absorb the energy of the hook settings and if it is your "thing" you can use the black markers as a fish measure tape as there is five centimeters between each of them.

Fishing with the "Straight Line" is really pleasing, it perfectly matches the objectives of its concept and in my opinion it can go further than matching the specific needs of tenkara beginners as this line allows very delicate kebari presentation.
This line is really a part of what is best among tenkara lines as those created by Hiromichi Fuji, Yuzoh Sebata,  Takashi Yoshida or Masami Sakibara which are all the fruits of a long tenkara experience, a high level of demand and fidelity to the principle of simplicity.

NISSIN Zerosum Oni Honryu 450 (Part 2)

Saturday morning I got up at dawn and consulted the weather reports that announced the imminent arrival of a huge depression in a few days that would bring wind and rain so I decided us not to waste time and took the road to enjoy a hanful of hours fishing. I did take to the bare minimum gear: landing net, rod, line, kebari.

After sunrnise, the light remained discreet. It was a typical November matinee: gray. There was some wind but nothing to worry about. However, I find an advantage to these conditions: I did not need polarized glasses to view the fish and I observed several of them near the edge seated on a bench while I was rigging my rod. 

I tied to my tippet a Zenmai-dou. My first cast was targeting a rainbow trout that did not make ways when the famous kebari sank slowly in front of her ...The ZeroSum Oni Honryu rod does not only allows long and accurate shots but also delicate. 

The tenkara matinee was starting pretty well! There are on this pond a tiny island around which usually I see many trout but several fihermen were already trying their luck there so I decided to go to another spot. It was a wise choice because the place where I had decided to fish revealed the presence of many brook trout.

I did not regret not to fish the originally planned spot and with at look at it from time to time it seemed to me that nothing exciting was happening happening there. I did fish calmly letting a little bit of time between each cast for the coveted fish do not flee or descend deeper where I will see them no more. 

My strategy paid off and I had very little failure.

Despite the breeze increasing over time the rod did a great job, my casts were still accurate and delicate and I had only to move a little to place myself so that my kebari could drift naturally. I used a line Fujino Soft Long Type of seven meters and although this line is not as dense as a fluorocarbon line that I did not meet any major problems.

The cane is very sensitive, does not emit vibrations when a fish is fighting at the end of the line but transmits very well all the sensations of the battle. 

By late morning I decided to make a break for lunch and this is when the rain announced for the following week started. Not being equipped to fish in the rain I did take my time, thinking back to this very pleasant morning fishing with a great tenkara rod. After a good coffee I did take the road back home with new and enjoyable fishing memories.

DAIWA NEO-TENKARA LT39 SC ROD REVIEW

A few months ago I did purchase a cheap second hand tenkara rod on the web; a Neo Tenkara LT39 SC from Daiwa and I think that the time has come to write the review about this rod.

This Daiwa rod is made in China and features these characteristics:

-Length: 391 cm
-Collapsed length: 41 cm
-Handle: 27.5 cm
-Sections: 12
-Weight: 3.88 oz

The tip has a diameter of 0.8mm which is really superior to what one can find for similar action rods in other brands, I am thinking of Nissin for example.

The blank of this rod being big, the tip and butt caps are really huge sized! The tip cap is made of wood with a rubber insert and perfectly stays in its place while the butt cap is made of metal with a tendency to unscrew by itself. As it has a coin slot with a slick surface the angler will  have to use a coin or anything to keep it screwed. Note also that this cap has no drain hole. 

The diameter of the blank is high and the rod is fat! At the handle winder the diameter is 16.55 millimeters! That is one the main thing I did not like with this rod. Because of this huge blank diameter handling the rod and fishing with it is really uncomfortable. Indeed every time I go fishing with this rod I have to carry a second rod because I get tired fast. If you are like me subject to metacarpal tendinitis do NOT purchase this rod!

Because of the high weight combined with a very stiff and thick blank the sensitivity of the rod is very low; and what I like with good tenkara rods is their very high sensitivity. 

The "LT" in the reference means "tapered line" as this rod was designed to preferably cast this kind of lines. I did test this rod with a Fujino Tenkara Soft line and I must say that I obtained very decent casts with no effort. It was very different with light level lines. The rod is meant to cast pretty heavy lines. So if you only fish tapered or furled lines this rod is for you.

The rod is sold in a black velvet sock that includes a flyer with basic instructions about the using of the rod and basic security instructions. 

To be honest, I have been disappointed by this rod. Perhaps was I expecting too much from this entry level Daiwa rod but based on my experience I would say that there is no major difference between the LT39 SC and 99.9% of the other chinese made tenkara rods on the market.