The Tenkara Setup

For Sunday's trip, I bent the Tenkara rules slightly, by adopting shorter than usual leader lengths. The adopted setup utilised a 7' custom furle that is really designed for dry fly fishing. Reasoning that if I am using weighted nymphs, then these are providing the majority of the casting weight. Arguably a full leader of mono can be used, but furled leaders in the right colours make excellent strike indicators.


Custom furle attached to 'lilian string'

From the above it can be seen how easy it is to attach the leader to the Tenkara. Has anybody tried something similar when attaching leader to a fly line? Dissolve the PVC on the end of the flyline to expose the core, tie a knot in the end of the core...


To remove your furled leader from the Tenkara, pull on the tag end of the attachment loop
It is important not to take everything as read in the world of Tenkara. If you plan to wield your Tenkara on overgrown streams, pay particular attention to the length of cast. You may may to shorten everthing up by 4 or 5 feet. Therefore it will pay to have a few different unorthodox leader types. Simon at Custom Furles is making me a variation on the furled leader shown above that incorporates a tip indicator. Basically bright red silk at the end. The olive/yellow leaders are rather tricky to see as strike indicators in broken sky reflective water.


Incidentally here is the successful ammunition from Sunday's trip, from L to R, Peacock Quill Pink Tag, Hares Ear Pink Tag, Green Brassie, Olive Hares Ear. Four to the pink tags, and one Grayling each to the brassie and hares ear