After A Long Fishing Day

Even if you have spooled brand new line before you left on the fishing trip, this can still happen to you.  When you have been fishing for the entire day without checking your line, it is prone to breaking off when you hook into a decent sized fish.  As you bang around on objects, cast, stretch, tie, re-tie and continue fishing, the line is put through amazing levels of punishment.  Without realizing that your line is dealing with this much stress, you will probably continue yanking around on it.  Next time, run your fingers down the line to feel for any imperfections or stretched sections.

Fishing In Rocky Areas

Fishing around rocky areas is known for busting ultralight line.  It is most common around the knot when you are fishing on the bottom, but can happen with any types of baits.  The knot section bangs against the rocks, causing tiny abrasions in the line itself.  These abrasions, over time, will cause the line to weaken to the point where it will snap if your drag is set too firm.  There is no real way to determine how firm is too firm at this point, so you want to take a quick look at the knot on your lure before each cast.

Old Or Sun Damaged Line

If you have kept your line on the spool for more than a fishing season, or possibly even leave the rods and reels in your truck, you have probably dealt with your fair share of break-offs.  Nylon and fluorocarbon lines deteriorate fairly rapidly in extreme weather conditions (a.k.a. your truck in mid-summer).  Even if you keep great care of your rods, general use over a few months can deteriorate the quality of the line.  It is a wise decision to replace your line if you keep your gear in this condition.

Improper Gear Care

As stated, if you take poor care of your gear, you can expect to lose fish on a regular basis.  Leaving the rod and reels in dirty conditions, or even extreme hot or cold conditions is a recipe for disaster.  You are already using super-fine fishing lines, so you want to make sure that they are as strong as possible while you’re fishing.  Keeping your gear in unsatisfactory conditions contributes to losing more fish than fishing in rocky areas, and even fishing all day on a fresh spool.  Do yourself a favor, and take care of your ultralight line.

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From soft baits and hard baits, rods, reels, and combos, to fly fishing gear, terminal tackle, and tackle boxes.

We’ve teamed up with BassPro Shops to help bring you the best deals. Take a look!

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Zebco Ultralight and Shakespeare Ultralight are two of the older companies in our list, and while their prices are generally considered the lowest of the bunch we are going to discuss, this doesn’t mean that they lack in quality at all. The reasons their prices are so low is simply because they have the years of experience required to build a quality product at a lower price, and they are holding onto this information tightly. You can’t really go wrong with either of these two companies.

Okuma Ultralight is more of an off brand, but you can’t discount them as such. They do tend to use plastic on their spools, but the materials they use for their drags as well as the frame and body of the reels is top of the line, and you are going to be hard pressed to find a comparison at a price that compares to what Okuma can give you. They are mainly released through Bass Pro Shops and other smaller retailers.

Pflueger, Daiwa, Quantum, and Fenwick ultralight are all considered the higher end products, but if you are looking to invest some time into this sport, you are going to want to spend the money on the investment up front. The sensitivity, casting accuracy and range, fit and finish, quality, as well as the durability and construction of these companies rods are bar none, and you can’t find a comparison anywhere. The prices are a bit steeper, but again, if you take care of your gear, and want a rod that will be around for a long time to come, possibly even hold its resale value if you care for it well enough, then you want to consider one of these ultralight fishing manufacturers for your next purchase.

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When I say that you need to cover up, I mean, make sure you have adequate protection for your skin. The sun can eat you alive, and unless you like being sunburned, I suggest covering up. This also goes for the bugs too. Bugs are attracted to vivid colors, so when you are out ultralight fishing, make sure you are wearing neutral colors, and preferably blend in with your surroundings. This keeps the fish from noticing you on the bank as easily. You don’t want to use bug spray, as the chemicals in it will repel your fish. I know you have heard stories of people dipping their worms in gasoline, but come on now. In all seriousness, even if you don’t believe that it repels fish, at least do it because you want to keep the chemicals out of the water you’re fishing in. But know for sure, it does repel your fish. If you spray bug spray on yourself, and then touch a lure, the scent will transfer, and fish can smell this underwater.

A couple of baits that I recommend using this time of year, are some buzzbaits, poppers, jigs, and worms. This time of year, the water is heating up, so the bass become more lethargic (slower) during the days when the sun is high. This is when you want to switch to a jig or worm, because the fish can’t look up to see your bait. They will also be moving a lot slower due to the higher temperatures, remember, bass can’t regulate their body temperature, and most ponds are usually only 10 feet deep or less.

Work the buzzbaits in the morning and evenings if you see swirls on top of the water. This means the fish are actively feeding on insects, and other things that land on the water. If you don’t get any takers on your buzzbait, switch over to the popper. Using poppers right before, or right after a good afternoon storm is perfect for catching out of control bass.

Run the buzzbait back through the shallows at different speeds, until you go over a fishs head, or figure out the speed they want to chase and eat. You will know. Remember that when you get a fish to take the bait, don’t set the hook right away. Wait until you feel the fish moving the line before you pull on the hook, to keep from yanking it out of the fishes mouth. Using a trailer hook works great on buzzbaits! It increases your hookup ration dramatically!

Jigs and worms are great on the bottom, when the sun is high. Fish don’t tend to look up for their meal when the sun is right above them, they don’t have eyelids, and can’t cover it. You don’t look up either. So go to the bottom. Some of my best producing colors in jigs and worms are shades of greens, browns, blacks, or blues. In stained, tea colored water, use the greens and browns, in muddy, or hot chocolate colored water, use the blacks. Black gives off the best silohuette in muddy water, you may also consider adding a rattle to increase the fishes ability to locate your lure.

Do not forget your patience, when you leave the house this summer to go ultralight bass fishing. You have to remember that the water is a lot warmer now than it was 2 months ago. These fish get lethargic in most of the places that we use ultralight fishing gear. These ponds, creeks, and reservoirs range from 2-10 feet deep, at most 15 feet. And with the acreage of each pond being low, it increases the body of waters temperature. In other words, it heats up like a glass of water in the sun. This makes the fish move slow, and not want to eat.  By focusing on topwater in the mornings and at night, and using bottom baits during the mid day and afternoon, you can be guaranteed to catch more fish with ultralight bass fishing gear!  Bluegill fishing tips come in all shapes and sizes, but the main thing to focus on is downsizing your lures.

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It isn’t just smaller fish that you catch either, I have caught some nice sized keepers using ultralight gear. Fish up to 3, 4, and even a 5lb 4oz beauty that was caught using a 1/8oz Mepps inline spinner, when everybody else was struggling to pull in bite sized panfish all day. This is why I love ultralight fishing, and why I believe so many people are coming to find that light sized tackle is the way to go. I’m not telling you to sell your “professional” gear, but when it comes time to have fun, and catch a lot of fish, bust out the light tackle!

The Ultralight Fishing Rod Explained

When people think about ultralight fishing rods, they typically assume a 4ft long piece of radio antenna that couldn’t reel in a fiesty sunfish let alone a decent bass or catfish. Getting hung up on this notion is the reason I feel that a lot of people have disregarded ultralight fishing as a means to bag more fish. This is a mistake though, because technology has advanced dramatically over the years, and the new ultralight fishing rod isn’t just a simple buggy whip with some 2lb line attached to it. There is a long research and development process that goes into these rods. After all, when people buy an ultralight rod, they usually spend a decent amount of money on it, and want it to not only work well, but last a long time too.

The shorter rods in the 4′0″ range should really be avoided. These rods have absolutely no casting distance to them, and generally don’t have much of a backbone either. If you are simply throwing little pieces of bread, with a #8 hook, ripping the lips off the sunfish, then by all means, you can get away with a 4ft long rod. If you plan to target anything bigger, you are definatly going to want a heavier duty, while still ultralight or light action, fishing rod, in a longer length as well.

Ultralight fishing rods that fall into the range of the 4′6″ to 5′0″ are going to provide you better casting distance, but it still isn’t going to be that great. You can achieve decent casting accuracy with a rod of this length, and most manufacturers that are putting rods out in this category are putting a little more into the backbone of the rod, to help you fight fish better.

Rods that go from 5′6″ to 6′0″ are a great all around rod length. You can’t go wrong if you pick up a decent rod in this range. It will take a little extra practice to get the accuracy down, but once you do, it will pay off. The casting distance on these rods is dramatically increased over the shorter rods, and there is a lot more fiberglass and graphite to help strengthen up the backbone of the rod. This means you can cast farther, with lighter lures, and reel in bigger fish.

The ultralight fishing rods that I love to use are the 6foot 6inch models, and the 7feet long rods. These long rods will let you cast almost completely across a small retention pond or creek. The length allows you to fight fish with ease, and control their every move. Getting a quality rod in this length though, is going to cost you some money. Trust me though, if you are serious about ultralight fishing, and really want to catch more fish, not just hit and miss on the pond, you have to get a long rod. The casting distance, accuracy, line control, backbone, all of it adds up to landing you not only a lot of fish, but big fish too. Again, distance and backbone plays the biggest role in the ultralight fishing rods.

Ultralight Fishing Reels From Front To Back

Let’s start with ultralight spinning reels. These hand held reels often pack quite a little punch. You have to remember though, when you are going to be looking for any ultralight reels, that you get what you pay for. If you pay $20 for a combo, expect to get about 2 trips out of it. The third trip, it’s gonna give out on you, I promise. Spinning reels have to have a decent price tag on them, to ensure that quality parts are being used .. price is a direct relation to the life of your reel, even moreso if you don’t take care of it.

These spinning reels typically have drags from 2lbs up to 10lbs on some of the beefier ultralight reels. You have to pay close attention when you are setting the drag, because on the better reels, if you are using 2lb test, and set the drag to 3lbs, you are going to break off fish after fish, until you figure out what is causing that to happen. 9 times out of 10, it is because your drag is set too stiff.

Tip: When you are using a spinner reel and ultralight line, make sure that you close the bail using your hand. Don’t start reeling as soon as your bait hits the water, because using the reel to close the bail will cause line twist. At the end of the day, you are going to have headaches trying to clear out all this line. When you close the bail by hand, it completely avoids line twist.

I personally tend to avoid ultralight closed face reels, because I used them as a kid, and have that hangup that they are kids fishing reels. They do catch fish, ask my daughter — she tears ‘em up every trip on a barbie rod with a closed face reel. The drags can get quite beefy, especially with companies like Zebco, so you can’t really go wrong matching one up to a decent rod. Just expect to spend a few bucks on a decent model, so that you can get some life out of it. These reels are generally best for beginners to use, because you can simply push a button and sling a lure. The casting distance is decreased over a spinning reel, however.

Ultralight fishing with a baitcaster is possible! We tested it recently, putting to work the Daiwa Pixy, and the Calcutta 50, to determine if slinging light weight lures is really possible with a baitcaster. These techniques are not for beginners, by any means. For that matter, even people just beginning with a baitcaster should avoid trying to throw ultralight lures on one of these reels.

We ended up going with a BassPro Pro Lite Finesse baitcaster, matched to a medium light Crankin’ stick. This ended up not being ultralight fishing after all was said and done, but it is fun to throw my 1/4oz baits on it. The 1/8oz baits ended up being more pain than it was worth at the end of the day, and I have no inclination to attempt throwing that small of a bait on a baitcaster again. It wasn’t fun, but it is possible.

Differences In Types Of Ultralight Fishing Line

There are four main types of ultralight fishing line, and while I only prefer to use three of them, we’re going to cover all of them, just for the sake of knowledge. You will learn why I only like to use the three types of lines, and each has their place and time to be used.

Monofilament line is one of my personal favorites to use on ultralight fishing gear, because it floats. I love fishing with micro sized topwater baits, watching all types of fish explode on them, so monofilament is usually included on at minimum one of my rods. Monofilament also provides excellent stretch, so that when you are fishing topwaters, you don’t automatically rip the bait out of the fishes mouth. It is possible to do on ultralight gear, and when you see the explosion, it happens a lot.

This type of line also provides better control of your topwater lures, because you aren’t pulling it through the water before it moves the lure. That typically causes the lure to dive down into the water, something you don’t usually want with a topwater. Because the line floats, it is always ready to work the lure. This type of line is also a little harder to bust, because of an improper drag setting.

Fluorocarbon fishing line is something I love to use when I am fishing baits below the waters surface. Spinners, jigs, worms, crankbaits, you name it, if it is under the water, I have to have florocarbon on my rod. The action is completely different for submerged baits when you use Floro over Monofilament, always for the better.

Fluorocarbon provides you with minimal stretch, so you have to ensure that your drag is set properly in order to avoid breaking off fish after fish. The good part about providing minimal stretch is that you can feel a lot more of the smaller bites and submerged objects, than you can when you are using monofilament. Again, just make sure your drag is set properly when you use flurocarbon.

Braided fishing line is another type that I love to use on ultralight tackle. It does sink, so I use it only when I am fishing cranks, spinners, worms, or jigs. Where I prefer to use this type of line, is when the pond or creek I am fishing has tons of debris in the water. I don’t mean debris like trash and garbage, but stumps, sticks, rocks, weeds, you know, the type of stuff fish love to hide in. Just because ponds are loaded down with this type of structure and cover, doesn’t mean that you can’t use ultralight fishing tackle to bag some fish out of it.

Ultralight braided fishing line provides no stretch at all, and you feel every little tick, thump, bump, and grind on the bottom, or from fish. I love it because of the sensitivity it provides, but I despise it because of its strength. 1lb test braided line typically has 10 lbs of breaking strength. Try breaking 10lb test on an ultralight rod, and you’ll see what I am talking about. Before you start fishing with braid, make sure you know how to “pluck the string” in order to dislodge your baits from hangups and snags. Please, do not just cut the line, and leave it for later. You’re a poor fishermen if you do that! Braided fishing line also does incredibly well in the weedy areas where you often find grass carp. That’s just one of the many carp fishing tips we have to offer.

The Best and Classic Ultralight Fishing Lures

Some of the lures that I love to use for ultralight bass fishing have been around for decades. One of them was brought around in 1949, and still continues to bag me a grip of fish every time I use it. I prefer the 4″ version, but if they are fiesty, or the water is murky, I will go up to the 6″ thinner profile versions. The lure I am talking about, is the plastic worm. My go to colors are watermelon pepper, tequila sunrise, junebug, and pumpkinseed.
Another ultra light fishing lure that I love to use is the small spinnerbaits. Not just any spinnerbait, but Johnson’s Beetlespin, Mepp’s inline spinners, and Blakemore’s Roadrunner. These three spinner type baits have landed me more fish, than most of the other lures in my tackle box combined. In the Beetlespin, I love using the white with the red stripe, and black with the yellow stripe. If the water is clear, go with the neon green, translucent color. For the Mepps, go with the natural baitfish colors that are in the area. I have had great success with the bumblebee, black and yellow color for some reason. For the Roadrunner, black and chartreuse. Fish it slow, and then go slower.

Crankbaits also have their place on the end of an ultralight rod, and there are two types that I have grown to love over the years. The Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow, and the Bomber Model A, in the small sizes. These two lures are excellent when the bigger fish are keying in on smaller minnow sized baitfish, or spawned out fry. Use these lures on long rods, so you can cast them extremely long distances, and work them back. It really pays off.

Ultralite bass jigs are a great way to bag some bigger fish in the pond. The full size versions of these baits are known as being big fish lures, and the ultralight jigs are no different. There is something about the chunkiness and the way these baits move underwater that attracts bites from bigger fish. I prefer using colors like black and blue, and green and brown combinations. These have been my proven colors time and time again.

A Few Ultralight Bass Fishing Tips

Make sure to check your line after each fish. Little knicks and gouges in the line can cause you to break fish off, if you’re not paying attention to the line, right around the lure.

Close the bail manually on spinning reels. Using the reel to close the bail will cause line twist, but closing it by hand after each cast will dramatically reduce your birds nests at the end of the day.

Longer rods cast smaller baits a lot farther. Long ultralight fishing rods cast small baits extremely far distances. Sometimes, you can even unload the spool.

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For instance, instead of using fiberglass to build with, manufacturers are now using high modulus composite graphite to ensure that the next ultralight fishing rod you purchase will be the last rod you buy as well. There are a lot of benefits to the added price tag, like increased rod action, ability to control the fish, as well as feeling every nook and cranny located on the bottom of the pond you’re fishing in. Where ultralight fishing rods have come in the last few years really is incredible.

Even for ultralight fly fishing, the rods have increased in length and action, with more and more manufacturers producing ultralight fly fishing lines. These lightweight lines are great for getting small bugs and nymphs into the tightest of places, where most heavier fly rods can’t attempt to reach, let alone a spinning outfit. This is a great way to unload a pond of her harvest in a real hurry, so make sure that you aren’t practicing your ultralight fly fishing techniques on the same pond too often — the fish will get hook shy!

With ultralight fishing reels, the manufacturers have now increased the drag pressure on the front of the spinning reels to suit up to 10 pounds of drag and more sometimes. While this is too heavy for your ultralight fishing lines, it is good to know that you have the backing behind you if you really need it, and that when the time comes your drag isn’t going to give up on you. Having this heavy of a drag setup means that you aren’t even going to be bothering it while using 4lb or even 6lb test line. Just be careful not to snap lines that short, because you can easily over tighten the drag to a setting that is way too stiff!

As you can see, ultralight fishing gear has come incredible lengths over even the last 5 years. No longer will you see the shelves loaded with junk for sale for under $20 that includes a full tackle box of lures that are guaranteed to work, as well as a rod and reel that would be better used as an antenna for your old box style television.

Now you will find a lot of highly specialized ultralight fishing tackle that does a very good job, but also comes with a bit heftier price tag. The bottom line is that if you expect to catch a lot of fish, instead of playing around with a busted rod, or a broken down reel, then you need to invest some money into some decent ultralight fishing gear. It is proven you catch more fish, now just give yourself the best chances.

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Picking up a quality ultralight fishing combo is key though, as you want to generally stay away from the models ranging in the $15 to $30 range. Not that all of the models in this price range are junk, just that it is the way they normally go. Only new manufacturers that are producing quality start out in this price bracket, and they often see how they compare and quickly raise their prices. The price difference isn’t a whole lot, and considering that the rod and reel combo are going to be around for a while, you can easily see why investing the extra $20 or $30 this year will save you a few bucks over the next few years.

A small ultralight fishing tackle box is all that you need, and if you look through the posts, you’ll see exactly the type of tackle box that I carry with me while I am bouncing from pond to pond. The box easily fits into my back pocket, and carries the essential lures for ripping lips on golf courses, retention ponds, and even backwater cuts that haven’t seen people in years. These two pieces of equipment, your patience, and a few chosen lures are all you need to unloaded the pond of her bounty. Just make sure to let ‘em go after you catch ‘em!

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Up to bat first is my favorite for Ultralight Fishing, is braided line. This stuff comes in high pound test, and still maintains small diameter ratings. The stuff I typically use it Power Pro 10/2 in the Moss Green. The 10 stands for 10 lb test, and the 2 means it has a 2 lb test diameter. Extremely thin. If the Moss Green color is too hard for you to see, try going with the yellow color instead. It is so thin, that I haven’t noticed a difference in bites between the colors, but yellow is a little bit easier to see if you are required to watch your line.

Braided Line is super sensitive, and has no stretch at all. You need this when ultralight fishing, because of the normal use of exposed hooks. Fish can spit the bait out easily, but with braided line, you feel that “tick” a lot more often. Then all you have to do is sweep your rod tip. Braided line has the best abrasion resistance. Watch around rocky areas though, as they do tend to have a weakness torwards rocks.

Remember though, with braided line, especially this thin, KEEP YOUR FINGERS AWAY FROM IT WHEN A FISH IS RUNNING, OR YOU ARE REELING. This stuff is like a razor blade when it gets moving, and you will get cut down to the bone in the blink of an eye if you are not careful.

The second runner up, and my second favorite is fluorocarbon line. This line right here has almost zero stretch, and virtually disappears underwater. I prefer using Suffix Elite 4lb test when the water is extremely clear, or the fish are weary of the braided line. The zero stretch does allow you to feel “ticks” more often, but with zero stretch, you have to make sure your ultralight fishing reels drag is set low enough that you don’t break the rod. Also, make sure you wet your knot with some saliva before tightening down on a fluorocarbon line. It can snap, or burn the line, weakening it. Flurocarbon line sinks, so use it when fishing baits like jigs, worms, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc.

Fluorocarbon line has incredible abrasion resistance, however on the smaller diameters, you still must be careful around sharp objects, and rocks. Be sure to check your line often, feeling for knicks, cuts, or gouges. If you find any, it is time to retie.

Third on the list is monofilament. This stuff is unique, in that it has a nice stretch, but still maintains low visibility in the water. It also floats on top of the water, which makes it perfect for topwater situations! When I am throwing buzzbaits, minnows, spooks, or other topwaters, I always make sure I am using monofilament, to ensure the proper action from the bait that I am fishing. The stretch comes into play when a fish takes your bait. With braided or flurocarbon having no stretch, you will almost instinctively pull the bait from the fishes mouth. Monofilament has a good amount of stretch to allow you to “feel” the fish before you sweep the hookset. Monofilament will get cut if the fish runs into the slop. Make sure you are fishing relatively clear areas if you plan on using monofilament line.

Last on the list, and one that I personally despise, Copolymer. This line is made up of some cheap stuff, almost junk. I have gone through a few spools trying to give it a good name, however, every spool had the exact same defects. When going to tie a knot with this line, you cannot tighten it down at all. As soon as you tug on the tag, and the spool line, it is going to break. Needless to say, I never actually caught a fish using this stuff. If it broke in between my fingers, I can only imagine what would happen if a bass’s largemouth and sandpaper lips rubbed it. Done for I tell ya!

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The ultralight spinning reel is something that I prefer to use because of it’s bigger cousins that I have been using for years. Ultralight spinning reels are made small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, but still have large enough bails to hold a decent amount of line. The thin line diameters we use add to the amount that we can fit onto the spool with the manufacturers building wide spool models now. It doesn’t matter how big of a lake you are fishing in, with the wide spooled spinning reels, you could easily load 200 yards of line on, and it doesn’t matter where the fish wants to run; he is going to have plenty of room to stretch.

On the other side of the fence there is the spincast reel, and is where most beginners start their fishing journey. The spincast reel is often called the closed faced reel because of the way that it is built. Having a case on the front side of the reel with a hole in it to guide the line helps you with your casting distance, but it is really tough getting a good accurate cast with one of these types of reels. You really have to focus on getting the timing perfect between when your thumb hits the button in comparison to where the rod tip and lure are located through your swing. Do it too soon, and you are going to throw the lure straight in the air. Too late, and the lure is going to slam against the top of the water.

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The storage of this thing means you can take it anywhere. If you spot a pond on the side of the road, you can just jump out and go fishing. Ever been trekking through the woods, and find a nice little honey hole? Ever try to drag your tackle box, and 2 heavy action baitcasters back there? Then try casting with trees around? You will understand why you need one of these rods.

The combo part of the deal however, is where most people go down the wrong path. They automatically assume that combo means better price, which mostly relates to better deal. This is true, however, most of these combos use plastic parts. If you haven’t checked it out yet, take a look at one of my previous articles, We Discuss Your Ultralight Fishing Rod Open Reel, in it I explain what plastic parts mean to ultralight fishing. Nothing good!

As long as you take the time while you are in the market for a new rod or combo, you can find a decent deal, with very good quality. On telescoping ultralight fishing rods/combos there are a few key things to look for while you are wanting to purchase. Make sure the fiberglass or graphite is reinforced where the parts join together when you extend the rod. I have had rods snap at this point before, so just a heads up.

One other thing, is the rod eyes. Make sure they are built of decent materials, not paperclip thick metal bent around the rod. These should have a decent amount of fiberglass hardener over them, so they should be thicker than most parts of the rod. So just keep an eye out for those couple of things, and you can’t go wrong!

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