UL only?

[sqhertz]

Curious how many of you only fish UL tackle. As of now I only have my one UL outfit and I'm not in a rush to put together something heavier even though I have the gear. When I fish I usually only have a couple hours to spend on the water so I like to spend it catching anything that will bite and UL doesn't disappoint.
Anyone else the same way?

[Smead]

I pretty much stuck to UL unless I was specifically going after good sized Smallmouths.

Now vintage would be different because what they consider UL then is more like "light" by today's standard.

Most likely I would not use UL if going after Lake Erie walleye either...so that sort of consideration is involved.

Still, majority of fish time was spent UL.

[Drew03cmc]

I have fished everything but fly tackle this year. UL is, to me, more enjoyable.

[sqhertz]

It really is more enjoyable. The gear is light weight, the tackle is small enough to fit a huge variety in a waist pack and I always catch something. What's not to like?
The only thing is fishing deep water is easier with the heavy gear imo.

[gillchaser]

Depends on your definition of UL fishing. Most of my spin fishing is done with 4# or less line with a rod designated as UL . But lately I've been weightless soft plastic fishing for LM Bass using 4# line but on light and medium light rods that are rated down to four pounds . I fish an exposed hook to help with easier hooksets. Think I'm going to go up yo 6 pound line to fish some weedless in and around some grass some of the lakes I fish have growing in them .
Not sure where I crossed the line , but a 7' ML rod with 4-6 # line and a 500 or 1000 size reel is a hoot with a 3-4 pound LM on .
When I saltwater fish inshore , I use the same ML outfits with 6 # line , I would consider that UL for SW . Caught a 33" redfish once that took awhile to get in , with several good runs . We had to use the trolling motor to keep it from spooling me . GC

[Doug76]

Curious how many of you only fish UL tackle. As of now I only have my one UL outfit and I'm not in a rush to put together something heavier even though I have the gear. When I fish I usually only have a couple hours to spend on the water so I like to spend it catching anything that will bite and UL doesn't disappoint.
Anyone else the same way?

Although I have plenty of heavier gear, if the situation allows for it I always grab for my UL gear first. And that is most of the time.

[Allsorts]

UL has always exercised a powerful fascination over me but latterly I'm starting to work backwards from the presentation and using the lightest practical tackle I can - not because its UL but because it works well. So following the Aussies and Japanese I'm using lighter FC (recently 3lb) for small plugs and SPs - it gives excellent presentation at distance with good sensitivity. The heart in the mouth fight stuff is a bonus to an effective technique. Most of my bass are caught on 8lb FC on bait finesse gear around some pretty gnarly structure - the gear works and happens to be L in bass terms where my mates punch and frog with 65lb braid. I'm using more and more JDM suspending shad techniques (eg Jackall Soul Shad) - 5-8lb FC on light spin- and baitcasting gear = lots of bites in cold water. I could go on but L/UL gear and techniques have a solid place in my arsenal because they are very effective in certain conditions, especially in the pressured water I fish.

What has changed is that I won't ignore fish that aren't catchable on UL gear - I'll pick up the punching rod but I don't enjoy it as much as UL. I do it with 'long teeth' as it were. This is a translation of a great Afrikaans expression - if you've ever watched a dog pick up a hot piece of meat dropped off a barbeque the expression will make sense - lips pulled well back mean the teeth look longer...

[uljersey]

For me it's not exclusive, but I'm never without at least one UL rig, especially when I'm in the kayak. Many times the UL has got me fish when the larger offerings have failed.

Funny, but my Daiwa Sol / Falcon Bucoo casting rig spooled with 20 lb braid with a 10 lb mono leader is what I consider my "heavy duty" outfit ... it's all relative I guess. A big bait for me is a 4 1/2" tube drug across the bottom, or a 5" fluke. I really don't ever go much beyond that and I do pretty well for myself. I just get better results on lighter gear, and UL lets me catch many species that otherwise would go unnoticed. I don't tournament fish, so I don't have to treat every fish as if it were a paycheck. For me there is no fun whatsoever water skiing a 2 lb bass across the surface at 30 mph and flipping it into the boat.

Reading Allsorts' post, my opinion is that he "gets it" ... Too many anglers, at least here in the states, have an unfounded dislike of light tackle. Many are stuck in a "go big or go home" mindset, which may be fine for trophy hunters slinging swimbaits for hours on end, but a pretty stupid strategy for those looking for a limit or just wanting to catch fish. Oh well, more for us out here on the fringes

[Martin Lo]

Dang! I thought Americans used all weights...at once!
I've got setups 1-7# right up to 40lb in spin and cast with various tapers, lines etc.
Ain't that the norm where you guys are at?

[Shru]

I fish with a North Fork Custom Rod UL setup..
7 foot one piece using micro fly guides, never any line heavier than 4 lb test..
Tatsu 4 lb test on one reel, 3.1 lb stroft on another, 2 lb dam tectan on another, same rod all the time...
waiting for almost a year now for a custom built 2 wt fly rod from cts, being built by mattman on the forums here...
waiting for my turn and its almost here, this rod will be 7' 6" 2 piece with micro fly guides...

even when i go to florida every year to fish, which i am leaving this friday for, I never fish with more than the 4lb tatsu in saltwater...
Can't think of any other reason i need to go heavier than a UL setup personally.

[gillchaser]

I spent the morning at a local water reservoir throwing plastic worms on my ML spinning outfit , armed with 6# line . After a couple hours , I'd only caught three little dinky LM's . I tried , shaky head , wacky style, weightless , both Zoom finesse and trick worms, several colors .
I'd had grabbed what I thought to be my micro jigs , brought along , " just in case " . I'd bout had enough worm tossing and open the bag to tie up a jig and float rig and . I'd grabbed the wrong bag . I had a bag of Slider grubs and jigs . . I tied on a two foot piece of florocarbon , a 1/16 jig and a slider grub . First cast , Bam ! Caught a little LM , in the next hour , I caught two hand size bluegill and four yearling bass . I was wishing I'd brought my UL and four pound test .
You can bet I'll have them next trip . GC

[Allsorts]

I said in an earlier post that I work backwards from my presentation to figure out the appropriate tackle (with a bias towards lighter gear). I'm fishing the Fish Arrow Wheel Spin quite a bit at the mo - I use J Shads although to be honest there is a wide range of straight and boot-tail minnow profile stuff that works on the head and that is easier on the wallet - I'm going to try Keitech Swing Impacts next. I urge ULers to get some Wheel Heads and give them a go (TW stocks them).

It is basically a UL spybait / do nothing technique which really works well but the key is to make long casts and keep the rig running at depth. I've found 3lb FC is just the ticket (combined with a 2000 size Shimano and a short, fast rod rated to 6lb). For example I had a good kickboat session today at my local. (Random data - water temp 57-59F / 14-15C, weather sunny mid-70s - being winter I added a fleece to my normal swimshorts, hat and sunnies for when the sun set behind the flat top hills around the dam).

P6140161.JPG (31.76 KiB) Viewed 8681 times

Fish are in early prespawn so it was deeper water adjacent spawning flats and the Wheel Head and Jackall Soul Shad 68 did the damage. 5 fish bag would have gone 12lbs, best was a 4lb, another just under 3lb and the rest from dinks to 2lb.

[Smead]

Nicely done!

Always have to remind myself that your opposed season compared to most of us!!

[Ranger 619VS]

Hey Guy's,



UL / light 24/7/365 for me............to many combos to name and on average over 6000 fish caught and released a year......


Ranger 619VS/Brian

[Martin Lo]

Just wondering,

Any of you guys use rods with Tennessee handles?
Are they with trying?