WETFLY BACKCOUNTRY 10FT MINI TENKARA KIT

WETFLY BACKCOUNTRY 10FT MINI TENKARA KIT

Editor: Cory McLaughlin

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Just the Facts:

WETFLY’s flagship Tenkara product, the Backcountry Tenkara Package just got better! Lighter and more compact than anything on the market. Small enough to stow away in your backcountry pack or a pocket. Urban adventurers, this will fit in your laptop bag!

• Collapsible design for easy portability (collapses to 13 inches)
• Ready to fish package – open and go
• Most compact Tenkara package available
• 7:3 Action

Uses: Backpacking, Camping, Horsepacking, Urban Fishing

INCLUDED: 

10FT TENKARA ROD
ROD TUBE
ROD CLOTH
5X TIPPET
12’ DURALEADER
LINE WINDER

SPECS: 

Weight:  2.5 OZ, with tube 6.4OZ
Dimensions: 13″ Packed –  Extended 10’ long
Materials: Carbon Fiber IM6 24T

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS:
Tanner Gonzales https://www.tannergonzales.com/

My Story:

I have always loved to fly fish. It has been a constant in my life and one that I have always felt like an old friend that helps me find my center. Life is busy and often times crazy and even though I find myself spending less and less time fishing it always feels great to be back on the water.

Like many of you that are reading this review I ran the gamut of bobbers and baits when I was a kid. I would be a complete liar to even guess how many trout I have pulled out of the water by those means. As I grew into a fisherman I welcomed the challenge that fly fishing presented. It was more difficult in nearly every way and I really liked the challenge. Once I got the hang of it I found that I was able to catch just as many if not more fish with a fly rod than I ever did with bait or spinners. I loved that the fish almost always were lip hooked and I could truly embrace the idea of catch and release. Once fly fishing entered my life there really was nothing else.

Kids, dogs, houses, full time jobs, and a million other things slowly started to pull me away from the rivers and streams but my desire never really left. In my youth I fished all over the PNW and have a pretty nice list of some of the best Montana rivers under my belt as well. It was during a particularly long break away from fishing that I first heard about Tenkara fishing and I was instantly intrigued.

A simple Google search brought me to WETFLY and it was all the best as they are a local company from right here in my home state of Washington. I made a few calls and it was not long before I had a sample rod in my possession. I was more than a little excited to get out on the water.

Tenkara fishing is not your standard fishing. It is more along the lines of fishing with an old school cane pole. This is the simplest type of fishing as it literally is nothing more than rod, line, and hook. With the WETFLY BACKCOUNTRY 10FT MINI TENKARA KIT you have a 10’ rod with a 12’ leader and 5X tippet. Not having a reel might take some getting used to but with some practice and a heavy utilization of a roll cast you will get the hang of this very quickly. The 7:3 action of the rod is very nice and it is a joy to cast! Pair that with its extreme light weight and small size and you will never want it to leave your pack!

My first chance to use the kit was fishing a series of small ponds near my home. It was March and the small rivers and streams were not yet open. I took my daughters with me and we gave it our best shot. Sadly in a pond that is full of stocked trout that are all fattened up on hatchery food and PowerBait I was not able to convince them to bite. I was able to get some great movement out of a wooly bugger and while many fish came to look nobody wanted to commit.

The second testing platform was in April as I went on a backpacking trip into Hells Canyon. I was very eager to try this rod on the mighty Snake River and I had high hopes of landing some fish in the back eddies of the massive boulders that litter the shoreline. Alas luck was not on my side this trip as thunderstorms had the river relatively blown out and I was not able to convince a fish, bass, trout or otherwise to come take a look at my fly. By this point I was getting very comfortable with this rod and I really felt that it had some great action.

During this trip I did notice that the DURALEADER that was provided in the kit had basically failed. For no reason known to me it just decided to crack and break in all the areas that it was wrapped around the line winder.

The last testing area I used this rod was in the high alpine lakes of Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness. My girls and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip and I made sure to throw in my WETFLY Backcountry Tenkara rod. I knew from prior experience that the lake we planned to visit was full of brook trout and they could be seen at all hours of the day cruising the shallows looking for food. This was going to be a perfect place to test this rod and this time I was going to catch fish!

By the end of the trip all three of us had found success with this great little rod. We hauled in so many trout on the first day I actually lost count of how many we had caught. For three days we fished and each day was full of success. The 10’ rod worked wonderfully and I can’t wait to get back out and use it again!

Find It Here:

http://www.wetflyfish.com/shopall/backcountry-mini

What can be done better?

I think the DURALEADER issue I had could become an issue. I was way up in the middle of nowhere when I noticed it and it almost made the rod unusable. I would hope that this was a rare case but I would make sure to get a backup leader in case of failure. Other than that I really love this very simple system and believe it will bring me much joy in the years to come!