Well, kind of. For Tenkara USA 10th anniversary they will soon be releasing a new Ebisu rod. It will have a longer foam grip, not the shorter wood grip of the original Ebisu rod.
Not yet on their website, but according to Daniel’s statement in the below video, it should be on the TUSA website in a couple of weeks. Perhaps welcome news for the many people I’ve seen searching for an Ebisu rod after the original was discontinued.
I suspect there will be some differences in how the rod blank is manufactured too, besides a different color, but that was not discussed. But I think that ought to be expected, materials and manufacturing methods evolve, and people learn stuff over time. It is intended to mimic the softer flex profile of the original model.
I happened to pick one up during the summit and love it! Haven’t fished with it since I’m keeping it more to commemorate the company that helped me discover tenkara and use all the other rods I have currently own instead, but with the casting I’ve done in the yard shows me how much I love the softer action rods.
Nice. Is there any special graphics on the Ebisu rods at the summit event that may not be on the production models? I saw a question asked in a comment to the YT video asking for a description of a softer casting rod & recommended line length, but no one has submitted a reply.
People often seem to confuse a soft rod with full flex rod. Or at least I would judge there to be a difference. imo a 5:5 rod can be soft or stiff. Just as a 7:3 can also be soft or stiff. I tend to think of them more as being fast or slow casting. People seem to different preferences and gravitate toward choosing a rod that matches their body mechanics or natural preferred casting style. I’ve never seen an Ebisu rod, from Daniel’s own description it seems to be both full flex and soft.
@dwalker - I think they just did one production run, so the same rods they sold at the Summit will be the ones they offer online with the 10th Anniversary banding. I bought one (as I have the original 5:5 too) and it feels very, very similar. It’s a much slower rod than most. I dig it, most might not. I’ve only fished it with a 3.0 level line, about 13.5’, and it was fine…
I have a Nissin Air Stage with the wooden grip (cypress I think) I like it, too.
Speaking of tenkara rods with wood or hard grips. There are some interesting ones on the below website.
(not all post are tenkara rods, some are other types of rods). Beautiful bamboo rods. The embedded translation sometimes doesn’t translate てんから as tenkara. Depends on the rest of the phrase. Seems to also be a Santana fan.
I learned a lot about tenkara with that rod. Excellent feel, sensitive, enjoyed it very much.
This vid is way early on, hyper accurate casting, sometimes no backcast, the fly flew out of my hand straight to a tiny place.
That tarp is a mile or so in a long way down a dirt road at 9,000’+ I set it up and pulled the cork on some chardonnay, a glass in and I’m fucked. I got weak, I started to worry about folding it up and hiking out, knowing I was way over my head. Heart pounding, head spinning, I layed down and took a nap like I was supposed to.
I just bought the Ebisu 10th anniversary rod and it felt just slightly stiffer than the original Ebisu but that might just be me. My son-in-law also tried the two rods and he thought they felt the same. Maybe I’m just getting old and need to be sent out to the pasture. Anyway, both rods are great.
Michael, thank you for all the hard work and time you put into publishing the Tenkara Magazine. It is awesome and a joy to read and reread.
