Reddit mentions: The best fishing line spooling accessories

If your main requirement is lightweight, Tenkara is indeed your best option. However, it may not be the best option for the water and fish you might encounter. For instance if you think you'll be hitting lakes and ponds for bass, a collapsible/telescoping spinning rod and reel might be the better choice. Though if you expect to be fishing rivers and streams for smaller species in close quarters, well you've come to the right place.

Rod length is also a choice based on the type of water you'll be fishing. If you've got wide open spaces or expect to be some distance away from a fish holding feature (maybe you intend to fish from shore), then longer is generally better and 12 foot might be your minimum. And if you intend to be in a tight stream with a lot of overhanging branches, you should be looking at shorter options. 2 additional things to consider - a long rod can be difficult to handle for a shorter person, and for backpacking the collapsed length of your setup is an important consideration.

The shortest tenkara rod I have (and maybe the shortest available, not sure) is an 8' Wetfly Kodomo Creek (excellent deal right now @ $70 with a hard case, line, tippet and flies). This is probably the rod I use most because the river I'm on is essentially a tunnel of branches. There are also "zoom" Tenkara rods which typically have 2 usable lengths for different fishing situations. I have a Badger Bad Axe which might be right up your alley - it fishes at 9'10" or 11'6" and is my choice on new water.

Goture isn't the worst you could do, but personally I would consider it to be at the bottom end of an entry level rod. It'll be heavier and less sensitive then most other options. Still, for a new fisherman who might be worried about damaging an expensive set-up on a hiking trip it's not a bad choice.

You're pretty close on what a full setup consists of. The line is usually 2 lines - a "leader" which is a heavier section attached directly to the rod/lillian roughly the length of the rod or slightly longer, and a shorter section (2' is probably average) of lighter weight material called "tippet" that is attached to the leader and then your fly. People generally use fluorocarbon for tippet because it's nearly invisible underwater and it sinks. There are many different options for leader material, but to keep things as simple as possible I would be looking at a level line leader which is usually a colored piece of fluorocarbon making it easy to see your fly drift. Both the leader and tippet have unique sizing designations that I won't get into right now, but if you make a rod choice I'd be happy to help.

2 other things you will probably want is a spool or 2 of some sort to store your leader/tippet set-up(s), and a protective tube for your rod while backpacking. The spools can be very simple and are designed with a hole in the middle to fit over the collapsed rod. This one is a bit more expensive but is a really nice bit of kit to easily keep lines from unraveling and storing a small amount of flies. Trouble with a spool and backpacking is that you will probably want a protective tube for your rod and the spool won't fit in the tube. If that's the case, you might want to look at a line keeper like this or this. The second option is better for smaller rods because you can use different sized o-rings to keep it snug.

So that was a lot more words then I was expecting to type out, especially since Tenkara is all about simplicity, but I hope it helps. Really jealous of a month long backpacking/fishing trip. Enjoy!

To be fair, I mentioned it.

Here are the other things you will want/need:

• FLOUROCARBON LEVEL LINE (3.0 for Tenkara, 3.5 for Keiryu-X)
  
• FLOUROCARBON TIPPET (6 or 7 for Tenkara, 5 for Keiryu-X)
  
• A line winder, I recommend THESE CLIP ON ONES
  
• Fly box, altoids tin or something
  
• Flies. These don't need to be japanese kebari. Western flies work very well. What you want depends on where you are fishing and the size and species of what you are fishing for. Happy to make recommendations if you specify.
  
  I live in the SF Bay Area. If you are near, I can help you try a few rods out to see what you like. I also tie flies and would be happy to donate a starter set.

definitely pliers and something to snip line with but if you already carry a pocket knife, that will suffice. also if you dont wanna deal with the hastle of unspooling line by hand, berkely makes an automatic stripper that works like a dream.

line stripper

line snips <----- generic nail clippers can replace these but will not cut braid as easily.

In the video ILB (aka twisted messes) uses one of these to get the spin down pat:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GJ9BNSO/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Q4Zevb12N8398 but that's not the only issue in making this coil I'm sure. Plus, 50-60' in the bin is crazy, I hope you find a better way to do this coil, as the result looks just amazing.

this is something i already had on my wishlist...its $6.57...I know you said exact price....but damn...i could really use this and would use the shit out of it...it isn't just something to post that's $6.56 just because i found it...i legit want/need this. It would allow me to fill my fishing line on my reels all by myself without having to wait for my nephews or brothers to stop by,

http://www.amazon.com/Berkley-1236835-Mini-Line-Spooler/dp/B005OTYVTS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=249I85O6IQD58&coliid=I2G8EWUY9WAO39

Honestly I'm still using the intro kit I bought when I decided to try a Tenkara rod set up, its stupid simple and just down right fun.

DRAGONtail Shadowfire 365 12' Tenkara Fly Fishing Rod https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFX7E4Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_qbsXCbW9PEQ1D

I added this also Clip-On Line Tenkara Winder/Line Keeper (2 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3PY0H8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ScsXCbPV33VZ4

It's a nearly self contained package.

Yay!

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