Kids and Family Fun with Tenkara

Tenkara is fun and easy fishing for kids 

My friend Don is an avid fisherman with two young sons. Like all dads in his position, he couldn’t wait to be able to share his love of fishing with his kids. The problem he was running into was this; Even with youth sized gear, manipulating the controls on a push-button reel, warding off bird’s nest tangles, and keeping the boys engaged was a chore. He ended up with the rod in his hands fixing problems or resetting the rig much more than the boys had it in their hands fishing, and they quickly became bored. He was beginning to think that he might just have to wait a few more years to share that kind of quality time with his sons...

Over the summer, Don and I discussed the situation and considered Tenkara fly fishing as a potential solution. Mike and I have had success teaching children as young as 6 to use this simple style of fishing gear, and suggested that if anything was going to be suitable for a 4-year-old angler, this would be it. Tenkara fly fishing features an ultralight rod with no reel – the line is attached to the tip of the rod.  This makes it exceptionally simple to cast, and removes the vast majority of the “maintenance” problems that require constant attention when fishing with kids.
 
Don’s son Emmitt took to the rod UNC rod immediately, and was happily lawn-casting the 2oz, 8.5 foot length the moment it came out of the package. They moved down to the neighborhood retention pond and started catching sunfish instantly! Other than removing fish from the hook – Emmitt was able to cast and fish the rod independently from the get go. The lack of a reel meant that they didn’t have to stop fishing to fix rigging problems, keeping Emmitt engaged and enthralled. Success!
 
Then the unexpected happened. 2-year-old Austin had been watching all the fun and wanted a turn. But surely an 8.5-foot rod is too much for a 2-year old to handle, right? It turns out that it isn’t! Austin was able to cast the rod one handed and pull in fish on his own! Don had ended up having to get a second rod so that both of the boys can fish at the same time, which is pretty amazing.
 
It's very exciting to see a father and his young children empowered to fish together without stress and difficulty. Tenkara fly fishing offers an ideal system for keeping youth anglers engaged and fishing, rather than sitting bored and watching an adult battling the gear to make it function.