I fished the Tenkara USA Ayu this week. I took this 13' rod down to a local pond and had a blast tearing up the local panfish and bass population.
Since fish in small ponds are oriented to shoreline structure there was not too many areas I would normally fish that were out of reach. Playing bluegills and crappie on this rod was a lot of fun. Even a 4" bluegill put a serious bend in the rod. That same rod had no problem landing largemouth bass up to about 16", which is pretty amazing. I did lose one bass about 3-4lbs but I think I would have lost that fish even if I was using traditional fly tackle. I was not looking to target bass on this particular trip but they showed a fondness for a black foam spider that was meant for panfish.
These 12"-14" bass were a blast to catch. I was surprised that I was able to leverage them away from cover with this rod, but it worked just fine. As I said earlier, I had a bass between 3 and 4 pounds blow up on one of those foam spiders and he parted that 4x tippet like it was sewing thread.
One disadvantage to fishing such a long rod from shore is the overhanging cover. You definitely have to pick your spots if you are fishing a shoreline with a lot of trees. I can't wait to try this rod from the kayak. With the 13' of rod and 18' of line and leader, there is no place I can't reach. I find on average I probably don't cast more than 15 to 20 feet in these situations anyway. In addition, I may have found the perfect set up for crappie. I did not lose a single fish today. The ultra flexible rod keeps the flies from tearing out of those paper thin mouths. More on that later...
14 hours ago
Just had a "now why didn't I think of that" moment. The Ayu has to be perfect rod for crappies.
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