Anglers don't need a fishing reel to catch nice fish in Pennsylvania. Here's why
When an angler hooks into a large fish, it’s exciting to see and hear the fish take out line as it battles to get off the hook.
But what if you don’t have a reel on your rod that allows the fish to pull out more line to avoid breaking your monofilament? That’s the challenge a Scranton area fisherman takes on each time he heads to his favorite waterway with his fixed-line poles.
Daniel Kauffman, also known as Downtown Danny Brown, fishes for wild brown trout in urban areas near his home with just a line tied to the end of his fishing rod.
“Why I looked into this type of thing is basically because I was looking for something more challenging or more fun or something different than what I was normally doing. I was actually catching a lot of fish (in the traditional ways),” he said.
A friend gave him fiberglass cane poles to try out a couple of years ago, and he caught fish with them. Then, he invested in a mid-range Tenkara rod, and “I never looked back,” he said. It’s now his favorite way to fish on streams and rivers like the Lackawanna River.
“You got a pole, a line and a hook and that’s all that’s there,” he said.
“To me it’s more rewarding because I have to think the whole process out,” he said because it's more challenging than how he fished with a rod and reel combination. “The last part, when you’re trying to bring them in with no room for error, is the most exhilarating part."
The largest fish he netted with a fixed-line pole was a 22-inch brown trout.
“Any time you get in the 16 or up, the 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, they act differently. Some of them will run deep, some of them will jump out of the water,” he said, enjoying the battle.
“It’s sort of like a chess game,” he said. “I look at where I’m going to fish, where the water is flowing, how it’s flowing, the deepness of water, the top of overhanging in the area, and the bottom structure.”
The simplistic nature of the setup allows the bait to be presented in a more natural way than other types of gear, like fly rods and spinning reels, he said. He does a flip style cast from behind his back while others do a wrist jerk type of casting technique.
“I can put (the bait) wherever I want it. It’s very accurate,” he said.
He fishes in a 180-degree pattern to reach different angles in locating the fish.
“When you fish with a fixed-line pole, you’re limited to the length of your pole and the length of your line,” he said. Kauffman uses a 15-foot pole with a 15-foot line and 3-foot leader. “I got a little over a 30-foot wingspan of where I can fish.”
“The most incredible part is the end game,” he said about landing a fish and not having the line break or hook pull out of the fish.
He’s catching 18- to 20-inch fish and trying to figure out which way they will swim then go in that direction.
“Once you have them hooked, you got to figure out how to convince them to not break your line. You have to be able to manipulate your pole (holding it straight up in the area at 10 or 2 o’clock) to steer the fish. Once you get them close enough, you get to net them,” Kauffman explained.
The poles are limber to allow the fish to flex the rod. He fishes for heavy trout using a 12-pound main line with a 7-pound leader or tippet. Other anglers who fish in smaller waters use lighter line setups. Even with larger trout, Kauffman uses small hooks, such as size 18 and 20, for his bait.
“They’re about as small as you are ever going to use,” he said knowing it will handle up to a 30-inch fish.
He believes the smaller hooks help with presenting the bait in a more natural manner in the currents.
Kauffman enjoys fishing for large stripers on the Hudson River and almost caught one with his fixed-line setup.
“I had seven bites on it and had three of them hooked,” he said about the heavy fish, which either broke his line or had the hook break free.
The 64-year-old likes mentoring his grandson, Rhys Kauffman, who is now using fixed-line rods in streams that are stocked with trout.
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Types of fixed-line poles
The style of fixed-line fishing is not something new, as its been happening in places like Japan for hundreds of years. There are several types of rod styles people use to fish without a reel.
A cane pole is traditionally used for lakes and ponds for small fish like perch and crappie.
“They don’t have the sensitivity of a Tenkara rod where I can actually feel (a bite) in my hand," he said.
Tenkara poles have a history for being used with artificial flies in small creeks. But they have been used to catch long muskies. The poles are traditionally fished with a fly, but he uses some of them with live bait including red worms or grubs.
Keiryu poles are normally 18 to 20 feet long and are used in larger rivers with bait and weights.
The poles come in multiple sections for transporting and storage. However there are telescopic rods that collapse for people to take on hikes or bikes to get in back country areas.
“It’s really intense,” he said about fighting large fish on a short line. “Once you have a decent size fish hooked, you’re going to be in battle mode.”
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Where can to buy Tenkara Keiryu and cane poles for fishing
