Anyone Using Ultra Light Spinning Combo--Need Recommendation

[floridagramps]

I am a novice bass fisherman with a summer cottage on clear cold water Maine lake with good smallie population. Met a guy who told me he has great success fishing ultra light gear exclusively. His favorite bait is jig head w spinner and his fall back is texas rigged worms.His rod/reel probably in the $300 range which is to rich for me

 

I'd like to give ultra light a try, any recommendations for entry level gear? I do not want to deal with line snarls on skinny reel

[SirSnookalot]

If it were me, I'd slash that $300 to about $150 and go with light action rod instead of ul and size 25 or 1000 reel. Different companies use a different numbering system.

[ghost]

Here's what I'm using.  Shimano Symetre 500FJ spinning reel and a Daiwa Presson 7' ultralight rod.  Balances out nicely and looks great. Cabela's sells the Daiwa Presso rods.

 

[pbizzle]

If your budget is lower I would recommend a 6'0 medium light shimano sojourn and a shimano sienna fd 1000 or a 6'6 medium sojourn with a 2500 sienna fd. That way you'll have a little more power for those big smallies.

[J33wolf]

I would recommend a Shimano Sahara FE (SH1000FE) $79 paired with a St. Croix Triumph spinning rod 6' / Light / Fast (TRS60LF) $ 80. You can get from Dick's Sporting Goods. They always have coupons you can find online. Good luck.

[thehooligan]

My first ultra light outfit i bought was a shimano sedona 500 and st croix triumph rod. That was about $130 if i remember correctly. Was actually alot of fun to fish with.

[Capt.Bob]

Right at 3 bills,,,,,St. Croix 6' Avid with Stradic 1000FJ but this is my Crappie rig would work for small Smallies, Lake Erie will make you broken hearted with that setup 90% of the time. 6 and 7 pounders are in need of a little stouter rod,,,,I like a Light action. 

 

Go with a St. Croix Premier and a Shimano Sedona and your at about half that price,,,,,,,,and very very good setup for around $150.00 or less, and hard to beat, but I would up the action to Light for Smallies!

[pbizzle]

It would be a lot easier if you say what your budget is. I only use an ultralight for crappie (bass pro micro lite glass $20 and a daiwa d-spin 500 $15) so it's not any good because I'll only use it twice a year. I can say that I wouldn't be comfortable using an ultralight for bass, and especially smallmouth. If you can spend $100-150 I would really recommend a Fenwick Eagle GT or a St. Croix Triumph and a Shimano Sedona or Pflueger President.

[0119]

I can say that I wouldn't be comfortable using an ultralight for bass, and especially smallmouth.

Im curious, why?  The few fishing trips Ive taken to Tenn. there wasn't much structure in the water.  I use 2lb. and 4lb. on a Abu 1500C and a kokanee rod for baby tarpon near mangroves, it's a blast.

[DelcoSol]

I have a St. Croix Premier 5' UL with a Pflueger President reel. Love the setup. Cost me about $160 or so. Very fun catching bigger fish on a wimpy rod. 

[I.rar]

Btw... I do have my light/fast river runner in the flea market....

[aceman387]

Instead of an ultra light rod I bought a st Croix eyecon rod in the 7ft length lite power and its one of my favorite rods. I caught the biggest bass of my life on it (24' and 7#) and it held up perfectly.

[Kevin22]

st. croix premier 6'6 L 1pc with a shimano sienna 1000FD. AWESOME rod for light action fishing. 

 

I would have also recommended the eyecon but I bought one and hated it. The guides/reel seat felt cheap. It broke on the hookset while walleye fishing 3 months after I bought it and I asked the head guy in the service dpt if I could switch to a premier since I really like those, he said no problem so that's what I did. Better warranty, made in USA, IMO a better feel, and so far it has held up GREAT for over a year compared to that eyecon (same action/length). I have literally landed over a thousand fish with that rod in the past year and still have had no problems. 

[derekxec]

i use an ultralight ugly stick and a shimano sedona 2500 works fine

[ww2farmer]

I took my youngest daughter out just this afternoon on the boat for some UL action. Of coarse we got into the bluegills, perch, rockbass, and crappies good, but we tangled with plenty of bass today too. A pair of 3lb LM, a half dozen small keeper LM, and two limits worth of  smallies ranging from small keeper size to 3 lbs, not to mention a mid 20" range pike. They were biting that well enough I never picked up a "bass rod" today. My rod and reel combo (even with a 4 year old reeling them in) handled the bigger fish like a champ and it was a blast. I have a Shimano Convergence 6' UL/Mod. fast rod, with a Sedona 1000, spooled up with 5lb Power Pro, and 4lb Seaguar Red Label fluoro leaders. The fish all were caught out of 20+ feet of water, drop-shotting 2" GYCB Yamaminnows on a #8 VMC spinshot and 3/8's oz. DS sinker. We just dropped to marks we saw on the graph. If there is a more fun, productive, and hassle free way to fish with kids I don't know it, plus............I like it too. The rod/reel combo didn't set me back much more than $100, and the Shimano rod has a life-time, over the counter warranty. Pretty tough to beat that IMHO.

[iabass8]

6'6 UL by ESP rods /w shimano sahara 1000 and 4# stren magnathin. it's a blast to fish stream trout with and will cost you maybe 120$ if you can find the sahara on closeout.

[pbizzle]

Im curious, why?  The few fishing trips Ive taken to Tenn. there wasn't much structure in the water.  I use 2lb. and 4lb. on a Abu 1500C and a kokanee rod for baby tarpon near mangroves, it's a blast.

Lake Chickamauga has recently been reproducing lots of big largemouth and I caught a bunch of spotted bass in June for some reason. Since I'm trying to get my first big bass I wouldn't want to go light. You also need to remember that I'm really far south in Tennessee and theirs been a lot of weeds. That's not the reason I wouldn't want it for smallmouth though. I only get to fish for smallmouth in the river around the dam  were theirs lots of rocks to knick up your line. I'm also taking it that he's a beginner and doesn't know how to play fish very well and will just horse them in.

[Curtis B.]

I can without question recommend the Shimano Sedona.  Got mine a few years back and still works great. Plus it's a ton of fun.

[pbizzle]

Im curious, why?  The few fishing trips Ive taken to Tenn. there wasn't much structure in the water.  I use 2lb. and 4lb. on a Abu 1500C and a kokanee rod for baby tarpon near mangroves, it's a blast.

By the way, I consider anything holding more than 100 yards of 4 pound mono ultralight. So a 1000 spinning reel with 6 pound mono is what I would consider light.

[DogBone_384]

I'm south of you in MA and have a BPS Micro Lite paired up with a Pflueger President reel. Have it spun up with 6 lb Trilene XL. Casts great and can throw UL top-waters nicely. It'll run you around $100.