I recently built a 13ft Modified Tenkara to be able to fish on the Vaal river. The main objective was to target Yellowfish, our Indigenous Carp on a fixed line. I wanted to see if it would be possible to land them on only 18ft of line. I had friends tell me beforehand that it's impossible. What would you do if it decided to go downstream? What would you do if you foul hook one? Would the rod thats slightly heavier than a fly rod not wear you out? Would you be able to land the fish on 6lb tippet? Won't the rod break?
Well all those questions got answered. I did land fish on a fixed line of only 18ft. What I did realise is that I could go lighter and I am now working on a lighter model. Now I am not happy that I foul hooked the two Yellows, but I am pleased that I was able to land them.
Here is a video clip that I shot of the outing. Apologies for the poor quality but I am still trying to figure out the conversions to upload to Youtube.
