Balance, Power, and Precision for Unconventional Tenkara Fishing
As Summer slides
ever closer and the weather here in Wisconsin continues to stabilize, our
tenkara fishing focus shifts from trout to bass. We've started making the
rounds on our local smallmouth streams, and slowly but surely, the bite switch
is definitely moving into the "on" position! The timing couldn't have
been better - we just got our first shipment of the new WISCO 2 rods in and
we've been excited to get them on the water. We took them out to "Little
Left Branch" to see if the Bronzebacks were ready to play, and got to put
the rods through the paces on some nice fish...
It's no secret that
Badger is a big fan of tenkara fishing for smallmouth bass. We designed the
original WISCO rod to target bigger fish, and the refinements we made to the
WISCO 2 make it an even better fixed line fly fishing rod for throwing larger
patterns at bigger prey.
We both rigged up
with Badger-lite floating line and hit the water. The rod threw 13-16 ft
lengths of line with another 6 ft of 6lb test mono-filament line with ease. We
cycled through streamers and crayfish patterns ranging up to size #2 hooks,
dropping them in place with smooth, accurate casts. Weighted patterns up to
about a size #4 were manageable to cast, though not particularly gentle on the
presentation.
The new design is
extremely well balanced. Dropping the grip length down to 14 inches shaved off
an ounce of weight. The refined 7:3 action casts and loads the force of a
hooked fish at an exceptionally smooth and consistent rate.
We spent most of
the trip fishing streamers on down stream swings, which produced about 20 bass
up to 17 inches. Most of our luck came prospecting low in the water column.
The direct control
offered by a tenkara rod makes for amazing streamer action! You can move it up
and down different depths pretty much at will, making it easy to adjust tactics
quickly.
Once hooked, the
rod managed both fish and current without breaking a sweat. It sets into a firm
but flexible power curve and puts you in control. The 17 incher in moderate
current felt like it was on the low side of the rod's comfort zone. Foot-longs
and below fell well below the rod's radar, truth be told.
All and all, it was
a great day out. Its clear that we are still a few warm weeks short of kicking
Smallmouth season into high gear. Regardless, it was a perfect opportunity to
test drive the WISCO 2 on the bass we've been waiting for since we finalized
the design!
This post was
originally published at
http://www.badgertenkara.com/badger-tenkara-blog/tenkara-fishing-for-smallmouth-bass-with-the-wisco-2
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