Catching carp on Tenkara, don’t try this at home….

So, did I ever tell you about the time that I tried for carp with a Tenkara rod? Well it happened last spring when a section of one of my local lakes was flooded and the carp where feeding in numbers. The average size was small and so I thought that it would be really cool to try to catch a few with just a long very flimsy and flexible stick of 11 foot, a furled leader of 12 foot, 1 meter 4X tippet and absolutely no reel… The simplest form of fly fishing and one that is millennia old…

I had caught plenty of trout on my Tenkara but carp for me would be the ultimate challenge. After rigging up and tying on a white carp maggot fly in size 10 (this is a very simple fly with a silver brass bead and white tough chenille as a body), I carefully started to stalk the carp that where feeding in inches of water, often very close to the side. What I found out was that getting the fly to the feeding carp with the long Tenkara rod was ridiculously easy and a pleasure. The carp did not know what hit them..

I hooked and landed 5 small ones of up to 1.5 kilograms without too much trouble. Playing the carp was exhilarating with no reel and only your wits. The water was a little murky in places and I tried to target the smaller carp. Out of one muddy patch I spotted a pair of rubbery lips working and dipped the fly close to them. The carp accelerated and inhaled the fly, and as I set the hook I new, I was in serious trouble… The carp turned out to be about three time the size of the ones that I had been targeting. 

I held on and prayed as the carp at first did not even know that it was hooked, but soon enough it did a roundabout turn and headed off at top speed. I tried to keep the rod tip up and to the side but to no avail. The rod and line was pulled strait and the line parted with a loud bang. I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds and then tried to see if anything else was broken. 

The rod was not broken but the top very flimsy section was stuck and I could not get it unstuck. I packed up the Tenkara and headed home… At least I tried and it was fun while I lasted but no more carp on Tenkara for me…