It has always struck me as a bit funny to have mini rods made for the purpose of practicing casting (although I recognize it strikes a lot of people as funny to use no reels). Thing is, you can’t fish with practice casting rods, they are a toy. But I also recognize that most of us fly anglers also enjoy casting, and that we can always use a little practice to get more precise with our casting.
When I was creating Tenkara USA I lived in a tiny studio apartment. As I was working a full-time job and working on TUSA on the side, often times I didn’t have time to go to the casting ponds near home during the day. I’d receive samples from our line maker and couldn’t wait to try them out. So, I’d get my tenkara rods, extend only a couple of segments out and get a feel for how they cast. The good ones I’d take out during my precious weekend fishing time. In fact, I didn’t realize it till this weekend, but there I had a perfect practice casting rod.
This weekend Lance Gurney was helping out at our booth and at one point we talked about the practice rods our dealers were selling. He suggested making a mini practice tenkara rod. Winters can be pretty cold out in parts of the country and this could give the bored angler a diversion when he’s stuck inside. The line testing I did in my tiny apartment came to mind the moment he mentioned this.
I proceeded to tell him that we didn’t need a toy for practicing casting. We had the perfect practice casting rod right there, just collapse a couple/few segments down, and voilà. To make it perfect, just fill the gap with a piece of folded paper/foam/etc. It is probably best to use the traditional tenkara line for this purpose as it is slightly heavier and more supple.
So, whenever you get bored at home next time, or if you want to play this casting game, just pull out your tenkara rod, rig it up, extend 4 segments and have some fun. If it warms up the next day, you can take the same rod and line out and actually catch fish with it.