If you've been following my blog for even a short amount of time you will know that I like reviewing rods. I try to be objective and fair in my reviews and avoid words like "terrible", "horrible", "sloppy", etc. But I just purchased a rod that challenges my vocabulary in this regard.
I recently saw online a new tenkara start up based out of Colorado. It is called Zen Fly Fishing Gear. Another name for the company is Zen Tenkara. As I perused their website I saw that they had a series of tenkara rods that look very much like other Chinese manufactured rods available today. But there was one rod that caught my eye. It is the Baichi. This rod is a 9 foot to 11 foot zoom rod -- something that could be interesting to a small stream tenkara fisher such as myself. Here is what Zen Tenkara says about the rod on their website: "Baichi means “medium” and ours is a medium “zoom” rod. Fished at either 9’ or 11’ this tenkara rod has a 7:3 flex and features our new swivel tip Lillian. The Baichi is the perfect transition rod for those attached to their 9’ 5 weight. This rod is light and incredibly flexible but was designed with guides, transition anglers and high durability in mind. It’s stiffer and less delicate - providing easier hook-ups, and, can take more of a beating. We created this rod for bigger fish, 14”-20” and is a powerhouse for nymphing. It could quickly become your go-to tenkara rod. We recommend between 4x and 6x tippet."
After reading this I thought "7:3", "medium", "incredibly flexible" are words I was interested in. But the "It's stiffer and less delicate" had me confused. How could it be stiffer and less delicate and be incredibly flexible at the same time? I just had to find out -- so I bought one.
I ordered the rod on Oct 13th and received it on Oct 21st. The rod came in a standard green rod tube so common to other non-Japanese tenkara rods. With the rod came a black fabric rod sleeve, a sticker, a rubber wrist band, and a dog tag.
The finish of the rod is glossy black with green accents at the upper portions of the sections, except the tip section (1st section). There are seven sections. The 6th section friction fits into the handle (7th) section, thus allowing it to be extended on demand, making this rod a zoom rod -- zooming between 9 feet and 11 feet in length. This friction fit connection is slightly loose, allowing the two sections to chatter just a little but during casting.
The handle is moderate quality cork with lots of filler. It has a slight camel or double hump shape and fills the hand nicely. It is 29 cm long. The winding check is non-glare metal and fits tightly against the cork.
The tip plug is metal and plastic and has the standard faux marble that comes with some other Chinese rods. It fits snugly into the tip of the 6th section. The butt cap is metal with a plastic post. This post is for the zoom feature. There are two rubber O-rings on the post, but mine had only one that functioned. One of them was broken and had fallen off the post. The metal of the butt cap is knurled to aid with removal. There is no drainage hole.
The tip section is very stiff. I've never used a rod with such a stiff tip section. There is a micro-swivel that is glued on straight. The lilian is standard red, is 9 cm long and is quite thick.
Here are some specifications: Collapsed, the rod is 67 cm long. Extended, the rod is 288 cm and 334 cm in the 9 foot and 11 foot configurations, respectively. Without the tip plug, the rod weighs 104.2 gm. For a short tenkara rod, that is heavy! As far as flex profile, this rod is off the charts! On the Common Cents System the rod measures 58 pennies! This gives the Baichi a Rod Flex Index of 20. Now that's stiff! It makes the BPL Hane look like a flexible willow stick!
As far as casting, this rod is a stick. I couldn't get the rod to throw a line very well at all. I'm betting this rod was designed to lob cast heavy subsurface flies. I could tell within the first few seconds that this rod was not a tenkara rod, but rather, a fixed line fishing rod that was designed to be similar to a 5wt 9 foot western fly rod without ferrules. I didn't even take the plastic off the handle but put it back in the rod tube, got on the Zen Tenkara website, and requested a return request.
Shortly after submitting my return request I received a phone call from Adam at Zen Tenkara. He asked why I wanted to return the rod and I explained. He stated that the rod was designed to be used in heavy nymphing, such as Euro nymphing for larger fish on tailwaters. I pointed out to him, then the rod should not be labeled a tenkara rod, since that is not tenkara. Rather it is fixed-line fishing. He admitted the rod was not designed for light line - kebari tenkara fishing.
So here's the beef, if you want a rod that is stout for Euro nymphing, this rod may answer your needs. You could also consider the Nissin Sensui 330 which is a short, stiff nymphing rod but weighs only 59 g and costs far less. But as for tenkara, real tenkara, the Baichi not the rod. If you want a tenkara rod that zooms, for small streams, I'd go with the Tenkara USA Rhodo. It's exactly as described online.
The rod is named Baichi, which they say means "medium". The only definition of Baichi I could find was in Chinese and it means "idiot". Maybe I was an idiot for buying this rod, but I was mislead by its online description. It is not "incredibly flexible" nor "light". Rather, it is very stiff and heavy and is not designed for Japanese tenkara fishing, but instead, is designed for Czech nymphing. Maybe instead of being called the Baichi, it should be called the Koště Hůl, which in Czech means "broom stick".
Disclaimer: My opinion regarding this rod is just that, my opinion. Your opinion may differ. Also, your rod may not have the same length, issues, or functionality as my rod. There are variations between rods, even in the same production run. No description can fully tell you how a rod feels or fishes. For this, you must personally hold, cast, and fish the rod then make up your own mind. Even though I didn't care for this rod, you may like the Baichi. Buy it and try it yourself!
I purchased the Baichi at full retail price.
I recently saw online a new tenkara start up based out of Colorado. It is called Zen Fly Fishing Gear. Another name for the company is Zen Tenkara. As I perused their website I saw that they had a series of tenkara rods that look very much like other Chinese manufactured rods available today. But there was one rod that caught my eye. It is the Baichi. This rod is a 9 foot to 11 foot zoom rod -- something that could be interesting to a small stream tenkara fisher such as myself. Here is what Zen Tenkara says about the rod on their website: "Baichi means “medium” and ours is a medium “zoom” rod. Fished at either 9’ or 11’ this tenkara rod has a 7:3 flex and features our new swivel tip Lillian. The Baichi is the perfect transition rod for those attached to their 9’ 5 weight. This rod is light and incredibly flexible but was designed with guides, transition anglers and high durability in mind. It’s stiffer and less delicate - providing easier hook-ups, and, can take more of a beating. We created this rod for bigger fish, 14”-20” and is a powerhouse for nymphing. It could quickly become your go-to tenkara rod. We recommend between 4x and 6x tippet."
After reading this I thought "7:3", "medium", "incredibly flexible" are words I was interested in. But the "It's stiffer and less delicate" had me confused. How could it be stiffer and less delicate and be incredibly flexible at the same time? I just had to find out -- so I bought one.
I ordered the rod on Oct 13th and received it on Oct 21st. The rod came in a standard green rod tube so common to other non-Japanese tenkara rods. With the rod came a black fabric rod sleeve, a sticker, a rubber wrist band, and a dog tag.
The finish of the rod is glossy black with green accents at the upper portions of the sections, except the tip section (1st section). There are seven sections. The 6th section friction fits into the handle (7th) section, thus allowing it to be extended on demand, making this rod a zoom rod -- zooming between 9 feet and 11 feet in length. This friction fit connection is slightly loose, allowing the two sections to chatter just a little but during casting.
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| Zoom section |
The handle is moderate quality cork with lots of filler. It has a slight camel or double hump shape and fills the hand nicely. It is 29 cm long. The winding check is non-glare metal and fits tightly against the cork.
The tip plug is metal and plastic and has the standard faux marble that comes with some other Chinese rods. It fits snugly into the tip of the 6th section. The butt cap is metal with a plastic post. This post is for the zoom feature. There are two rubber O-rings on the post, but mine had only one that functioned. One of them was broken and had fallen off the post. The metal of the butt cap is knurled to aid with removal. There is no drainage hole.
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| Tip plug |
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| Butt cap with broken O-ring (came from Zen Tenkara like this) |
The tip section is very stiff. I've never used a rod with such a stiff tip section. There is a micro-swivel that is glued on straight. The lilian is standard red, is 9 cm long and is quite thick.
Here are some specifications: Collapsed, the rod is 67 cm long. Extended, the rod is 288 cm and 334 cm in the 9 foot and 11 foot configurations, respectively. Without the tip plug, the rod weighs 104.2 gm. For a short tenkara rod, that is heavy! As far as flex profile, this rod is off the charts! On the Common Cents System the rod measures 58 pennies! This gives the Baichi a Rod Flex Index of 20. Now that's stiff! It makes the BPL Hane look like a flexible willow stick!
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| Length in 9 foot configuration |
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| Length in 11 foot configuration |
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| Weight without tip plug |
As far as casting, this rod is a stick. I couldn't get the rod to throw a line very well at all. I'm betting this rod was designed to lob cast heavy subsurface flies. I could tell within the first few seconds that this rod was not a tenkara rod, but rather, a fixed line fishing rod that was designed to be similar to a 5wt 9 foot western fly rod without ferrules. I didn't even take the plastic off the handle but put it back in the rod tube, got on the Zen Tenkara website, and requested a return request.
Shortly after submitting my return request I received a phone call from Adam at Zen Tenkara. He asked why I wanted to return the rod and I explained. He stated that the rod was designed to be used in heavy nymphing, such as Euro nymphing for larger fish on tailwaters. I pointed out to him, then the rod should not be labeled a tenkara rod, since that is not tenkara. Rather it is fixed-line fishing. He admitted the rod was not designed for light line - kebari tenkara fishing.
So here's the beef, if you want a rod that is stout for Euro nymphing, this rod may answer your needs. You could also consider the Nissin Sensui 330 which is a short, stiff nymphing rod but weighs only 59 g and costs far less. But as for tenkara, real tenkara, the Baichi not the rod. If you want a tenkara rod that zooms, for small streams, I'd go with the Tenkara USA Rhodo. It's exactly as described online.
The rod is named Baichi, which they say means "medium". The only definition of Baichi I could find was in Chinese and it means "idiot". Maybe I was an idiot for buying this rod, but I was mislead by its online description. It is not "incredibly flexible" nor "light". Rather, it is very stiff and heavy and is not designed for Japanese tenkara fishing, but instead, is designed for Czech nymphing. Maybe instead of being called the Baichi, it should be called the Koště Hůl, which in Czech means "broom stick".
Disclaimer: My opinion regarding this rod is just that, my opinion. Your opinion may differ. Also, your rod may not have the same length, issues, or functionality as my rod. There are variations between rods, even in the same production run. No description can fully tell you how a rod feels or fishes. For this, you must personally hold, cast, and fish the rod then make up your own mind. Even though I didn't care for this rod, you may like the Baichi. Buy it and try it yourself!
I purchased the Baichi at full retail price.
Koště Hůl...that is a great name!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy all of your rod reviews, and fishing posts...but I have to say this one really had me laughing. I am glad you were able to reveal this broom stick for what it is.
I truly take pleasure in all your pole reviews, as well as angling blog posts ... however I need to claim this truly had me giggling. I rejoice you had the ability to expose this broom stick wherefore it is.
ReplyDeleteHa! This one had me chuckling quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your take on using this rod for backpacking trips?
ReplyDeleteWhat's your thoughts on using this rod strictly for backpacking purposes? I'm not well versed in the fly fishing techniques just bought this rod or its lightweight and to use on my thru hike to hopefully catch dinner every now and then? Will it serve that purpose?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it would work, but it wouldn't be my choice. It's a real stiff rod and not pleasant to cast, IMO.
DeleteNice blog! Thanks for posting it.
ReplyDelete