Wasatch Tenkara Rods MOTHROD 5:5 first casts

[wet_sage (Joey)]

On a warm afternoon earlier this week, I had the opportunity to take my recently-purchased WTR MOTHROD 5:5 out for a getting-to-know-you session on my local canyon stream. This zone has become my after-work getaway and a place I look forward to escaping back to whenever I have the chance. The wet width of this channel is about 10-20ft and the surrounding vegetation is relatively tight regrowth resulting from a wildfire in 2020. I decided to splurge on the MOTHROD because I wanted to see if its short, fixed length (8’5") would help me lose fewer flies and because I was curious to feel out a “premium” 5:5 rod.
I feel like I have to say that I am in no way affiliated with Wasatch Tenkara. I’m just some dude that’s new to this forum and wanted to contribute something to say hi.

First, I’ll say that I really like the look of the MOTHROD. The color is a light gray, like the sky on a cloudy day here in Idaho, and the lavender/raspberry accents on the blank tips are a subtle touch. The MOTHROD feels incredibly light in the hand and like a step up in quality from other rods in my collection. That could just be the “Premium Reinforced Carbon” verbiage influencing me, though. The handle is a little small for my liking (~6" long), but it never proved to be a problem when actually fishing.

I started at a consistently productive reach (~5000’ elev, sunny/calm 45°) and spent about 90 minutes wading upstream. I used a beadhead pheasant tail fly from DRAGONtail on ~8’ of 3.0 level line with ~2’ of 5x tippet. This was my first time using a beadhead fly and it took me a dozen or so casts to get the feel for this radically new set-up. The initial casting felt almost whip-like as I exaggerated things a little to try keeping the beadhead away from the rod. Once I figured out how to put my fly where I wanted it, I managed to land 6 trout in the 6-12 inch range through this reach. I also missed an untold number of fish because I couldn’t get the hook set in time. Still, I caught 4 rainbow & 2 brown trout without losing a single fly to the surrounding vegetation (I couldn’t believe it).

First of the year!

This rainbow is about 10" long. I landed another big boi, but he flopped into the stream before I could get a picture. For reference, these fish are on the bigger side of those I’ve caught in this stream.

I packed up & moved downstream to chase the setting sun & remaining 40° temps.

Bonus pic of the brown trout I caught further downstream on my Christmas gift Mizuchi.

Disclaimer
I don’t have the proper vocabulary to describe the technical specifics of this rod. What follows are my ~feelings~ about it.

The most noteworthy part of my outing with the MOTHROD was how tough I found it to set the hook at the right time. I don’t know if I can attribute this to the flexy 5:5 rod action, getting used to the beadhead bumping the streambed periodically, or just plain inexperience. Regardless, I missed numerous fish because I was late on their takes and slow to bring the rod up. That being said, I was never frustrated with the rod and I’m excited to practice with it more going forward.

I had a great time bringing in the fish that I did manage to hook. The rod bent in an aggressive, but non-threatening way when I brought in the 10-12" rainbows I encountered. Guiding these fish into my net didn’t necessarily tax the rod, but it did make for a very engaged experience. Despite its supple feel, I’m sure the MOTHROD could handle some bigger fish in the hands of someone more experienced than myself. The soft action & deep bend also helped me keep the smaller fish I hooked in the water, rather than sending them airborne. I swapped my line/fly over to the aforementioned Mizuchi and immediately flung a ~6" brown trout downstream through the air. I definitely had to make some adjustments after that…

Anyway, I’m glad I bought the WTR MOTHROD because it turns out to fit my local stream niche perfectly. It’s fun to cast & I like having a true 5:5 rod in my quiver now. I think it throws beadhead flies well and I look forward to casting lighter flies with it in the future when the weather warms up.

Thanks for reading!

Joey

[Brian_Miller]

Hi Joey. Welcome! You have a beautiful “local” stream there! Sounds like you have a couple of nice rods, each with a distinct character.

I’m by no means an expert but know what has worked for me over the years.

I like my slow - full flex rods very much with wet flies and occasionally dries in streams without a lot of encroaching brush that impedes rod movement for hooksets. The shorter rods seem to handle fish well to a length of about 14" where it becomes difficult to keep fish away from snags and undercut banks in small spaces. I also don’t “launch” as many small fish into the brush on an “excited” hookset.

Casting weighted nymphs with a 5:5 rod just feels awkward on the backcast with too much rod loading for me. Also as you mentioned timing for setting the hook with a full flex rod is different because the rod has to flex further. When I feel the weight of the fish on the rod I do a second deliberate but controlled hookset that seems to help get solid hookups. I actually tend to do that with a fish on any rod that feels it’s going to be a “player” on that particular rod.

On the other hand I like fishing weighted nymphs, and even drifting streamers along and down undercut banks and logjams with the Mizuchi. I can feel the rod load on the backcast with the heavier fly which helps me know when to begin my presentation cast. The hooksets are fast and being able to fish a little heavier tippet gives me confidence that after hooking a strong fish it’s going to come out of that structure when I pull. However I don’t get quite enough rod loading tactile feedback with unweighted flies and #3 or even #3.5 level lines; usually just a light “tick”, making me unsure when to begin my forward cast.

If my local small streams had larger fish and/or I fished in tight places with lots of brush encroachment I would fish it more often that would help me get the timing down.