7x your tenkara success in the Last Part of Our Karasu Lessons…
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A big question that I’d want to know about (if it were me) is the near impossibility of the task for rod reviewers; since the specific tactics that these rods (particularly the Karasu 400) are designed for are NOT in common use outside a small band of elite Japanese anglers. Very few people can cast the long #3 nylon level lines in a genuine fishing situation – it takes practice…
And even fewer tenkara rods are capable of letting you cast that line, even if your technique is good.
So, fishing either the 360 or 400 in a fairly average fishing situation cannot, by definition, allow their best characteristics shine – In the same way that you are not going to see what makes an expert mountain leader so good on a short stroll on a sunny day in the park 🙂
Notes on rotational recovery – the easiest way to increase that is to make the rod stiffer…but then you lose the light-line casting ability… On that subject, for my money, any comparisons to the TBum rods are not very helpful because they are designed for completely different purposes (and they fall well outside the Karasu’s specific brief to handle the infamous #3 level nylon).
Japanese testers and developers – No other western (and probably even no Japanese) tenkara rod developers have benefited from such a range and wealth of cutting edge tenkara anglers’ input for a rod before the two Karasu models…A crew of super-talented and extremely dedicated Japanese friends have contributed MASSIVELY. This has happened over many iterations – even through previous rods – as well as during the big switch when we moved to Japanese engineering and manufacture.
Technique always comes first – These rods won’t make you any better than you actually are (that is obviously baloney); but they will allow you to achieve the best result you are capable of. You can know with absolute certainty (since you’ve seen it on video) that they can perform the specialised tactics flawlessly. If those rigs and casts don’t work for you with a Karasu, it clearly means that you need just a little more practice. With another rod, you can’t necessarily narrow it down with the same certainty.
If the only thing that you judge a rod on is how cheaply you can get it – Karasu is not for you. As it says in the video, for every rod to come out of the Japanese factory, me and JP have to pay more than the retail price of many other rods on the market (and then there’s an enormous hit on the import taxes).
Paul and JP
Well that was a surprise! I was just lucky enough to try the new Kurasu rods & the difference between the two really demonstrated to me how there has been no significant compromises. think carefully on what features you need.
Thank you Neil – I am dying to have more people actually get their hands on these rods (and I am pretty frustrated that the Karasu 400 review from Tom Davis does not explore the fishing style that it is specifically designed for – it will sadly mislead a lot of people).
Paul
Your explanation of the efficacy of the fly first cast is compelling.
Could you go over the rig that you’re using (length of line, leader, tippet, tippet size, etc.)?
Hi Alex, in the video lesson I’m using a Karasu 360 rod paired with a #3.5 level fluorocarbon line just longer than the rod. Tippet is Fujino Turbo V (#0.8 diameter on Japanese scale) and is the same length as the distance from my just behind my ear to my outstretched hand (the distance you draw a Japanese bow in archery !!! 🙂 )
Thanks, Paul.
Now, it seems that I’m missing something. Wasn’t the point of the video about the advantages of using a light nylon line (to reduce sage, etc.)?
And, btw, thanks for the archery idea. It will prove useful.
Hi Alex, so the long nylon #3 line was something shown especially for the sweet spot of the Karasu 400. So although the Karasu 360 is also great at casting that light line, we didn’t just want to repeat the same lesson.
Instead we wanted to show how rotational recovery is a massive benefit when fishing around obstacles. Typically this is when you would pick a shorter rod than the 400.