Tenkara Forum

[rvrgzr]

Went down to the pond for an hour. Weather intermittent clouds and temps around 65. Here are 3 of the bass I caught on a #14 soft hackle brown hare's ear. No fish broke off the 5x tippet, even though one fish went under the dock and around a piling and the other two had to be pulled/enticed from the water plants. Notice the bent hook on the fly.

Bass # 1:

Bass # 2:

Bass # 3: and this one was over 3 lbs:

Much abused fly:

A mouth like this and she takes such a small offering.

[blatt1970]

I'm all eyes and ears on your posts!
I don't have bass here but i do have peacock bass and i discovered they also like small offerings... I have a question:
If tenkara is intended for small fish, how far we can go with it, i mean, is there an ethical limit for the size o fish we can catch without taking it to exhaustion ( supposing one wants to release it)??

[CM_Stewart]

Perhaps the limit is practical rather than ethical. If the fish doesn't break the tippet (or your rod) fairly quickly, there is no need to play it to exhaustion. I suspect you can put a lot more pressure on the fish than you think.

Of course, I don't have the experience with big fish that a lot of the people on the board have (but I do have experience breaking a rod because my tippet was too strong - just another reason you should fish with a light tippet and you shouldn't fish with a crappie rod).

[rvrgzr]

Peacocks? Must be in the tropics, to include south Florida. I have yet to land a fish that wasn't revived quickly. Chris may be correct in that these long limber rods put more pressure on the fish than we think. When I get the chance to tie into some over 20" trout in the mountains, that will be the real test for the Amago.

[ron piscator]

I primarily fish ponds full of largemouth bass now, and these three bass are beautiful and impressive, all the more so considering the method how each was lured and brought to hand.

[blatt1970]

Peacocks? Must be in the tropics, to include south Florida. I have yet to land a fish that wasn't revived quickly. Chris may be correct in that these long limber rods put more pressure on the fish than we think. When I get the chance to tie into some over 20" trout in the mountains, that will be the real test for the Amago.

Yes, it is in Brazil... Good luck in the mountains!

Perhaps the limit is practical rather than ethical. If the fish doesn't break the tippet (or your rod) fairly quickly, there is no need to play it to exhaustion. I suspect you can put a lot more pressure on the fish than you think.

Of course, I don't have the experience with big fish that a lot of the people on the board have (but I do have experience breaking a rod because my tippet was too strong - just another reason you should fish with a light tippet and you shouldn't fish with a crappie rod).

Mr. Stewart, the crapie pole was just an experience that drove my wills to try
a real tenkara experience... So, since yesterday, i'm a tenkara fisher cause finally my Iwana came along!
I must thank you cause your reviews helped me lot, so, many thanks!
I liked the idea of using the tippet as a "fuse" to limit our eager to take a fish bigger and bigger as well as to protect our rods from breakage!

[CM_Stewart]

Yes, I started with crappie poles too. That's what I broke.

[sholgate]

Most of my tippet breaks were...

1. Tension after a jump.
2. Sudden turn into fast or heavy water.
3. or setting the hook on a large fish.

You can lead a 2000 lbs. bull around on a 4" ring in your hands. Most fish are the same.

In my limited experience.

[rvrgzr]

You can lead a 2000 lbs. bull around on a 4" ring in your hands. Most fish are the same.

Hmmm...no wonder I have little luck hooking trout--I should be grabbing their nose rings!