How Big on a UL?

[Jonas Staggs]

How big of a bass can you catch on a UL rod? 

 

I have a 7' UL setup with 10# braid and a 10# mono leader.

 

I am always hoping to catch a new PB bass, but I enjoy UL fishing quite a bit, since making the switch to UL, I have been catching much more bass now, as well as more fish all together. I am just thinking to myself if I do happen to hook into a huge bass on my UL, do I have a fair chance at landing the fish?

 

The largest bass I have caught on my UL so far was 3.4lbs but I was using #4 mono at the time, I have since switched to the braid. 

[RoLo]

 

Anglers land heavy bass on ultralight gear, and lose small fish on heavy gear.

With 10-lb braid (which isn't ultralight) you can land the next state record  ?

 

Roger

[Jig Man]

6.25# for me on Ned using 6# fluorocarbon line.  My old boss caught a 9# on 4# line using a crappie jig.

[Jonas Staggs]

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

6.25# for me on Ned using 6# fluorocarbon line.  My old boss caught a 9# on 4# line using a crappie jig.

 

 

a few fishing sessions ago, i caught a lot of fish, all probably around 1-2 maybe 2.5 lbs fish. I snapped my UL rod tip though, as there was a ton of very thick grass at the waters edge I had to pull them through. I was also punching through a thick mat with my UL. I was surprised at how well it held up. Snapping was my fault as I once the fish were close, i would grab the line to haul them through the grass so I wouldnt snap my rod, but I mishandled my rod tip and snap! 

 

What do you think about using braid on your UL? I went with the 10 lbs as its same diameter as #2 lbs mono, which is thinner than the #4lbs mono I was using. So i went up in strength and down in weight and diameter by switching to braid. It feels much better on the rod. wondering how many guys are doing something similar

[BrianMDTX]

My PB (6+ lbs) was caught on an UL rod with 8# mono on a #6 hook. I was looking for a fat bluegill lol. 

[Tywithay]

Caught this 19lb channel on a 6' LF St Croix Premier with a Fuego 1000A and 4lb Sunline Super Natural. Set the drag properly and you can catch anything. You'll ultimately lose some fish with light gear because of snags. I had a giant flathead spool me once on the same combo, but that's fishing.

[new2BC4bass]

My biggest fish was a 35 pound carp on 8# mono.  Second biggest was a 20# catfish on the same weight line.  10 pound carp on 4# mono.  Salt water guys catch some pretty big fish on similar tackle.  Obviously I wasn't hauling the fish through any heavy cover.

[redmeansdistortion]

My biggest UL fish was an 11lb steelhead I got on a 5' UL and 4lb Stren.  It was a holdover hen, caught in early May while fishing for brown trout.  It put up a good fight for about a minute and kind of tuckered out after.  

[Big Hands]

My first ten pound (10 lb 6 oz) bass was caught on 6 lb monofilament.

 

I also caught a 22 lb channel cat that was 39" long on 8 lb monofilament.

 

Both were epic battles as I was fishing solo in a boat with spinning rods and had to land them myself. The catfish was in deep water and took over fifteen minutes to get in.

[jimmyjoe]

   For several years, my arthritis forced me to use UL gear. That meant that EVERYTHING I got was gotten on an ultralight; crappie, yellow bass, largemouth, wipers and pike. I just made sure .... and I mean really sure .... that I positioned myself on unobstructed water. That made all the difference.      jj

[Ogandrews]

If you really want that ultra lite feel I’d switch to 5 or 8lbs braid. I run 8lbs 832 on my spinning rods and love it, I know powerpro comes in 5 if you look online. It can make the difference when casting really small stuff like 1/16th oz hair jigs. When I’m throwing a hair jig I’ll go down to a 8 or even 6lbs mono leader, helps a good amount too.

[Jonas Staggs]

1 hour ago, Ogandrews said:

If you really want that ultra lite feel I’d switch to 5 or 8lbs braid. I run 8lbs 832 on my spinning rods and love it, I know powerpro comes in 5 if you look online. It can make the difference when casting really small stuff like 1/16th oz hair jigs. When I’m throwing a hair jig I’ll go down to a 8 or even 6lbs mono leader, helps a good amount too.

 

thanks for the advice. I was looking at trying some smaller braid but its not readily available at walmart, which is where i buy most my fishing stuff. I actually didnt have much of a problem with casting distance on the mono but the braids better for sure.

[GreenPig]

I caught a 7.2 lb LM on 2 lb mono on a 4' UL rod and tiny Quantum spinning reel while bream fishing with a Renosky Keystone Minnow. It was a 3 to 4 minute fight in open water. It took a bit of time to revive that fish.

[Bluebasser86]

10lb braid with a 10lb leader is hardly ultralight fishing. That's heavier than I use on my dropshot or Ned rig rods.

 

I landed a 23lb flathead catfish on a 5' UL with a 500 size reel, 4lb mono on a Yo-Zuri Killifish several years ago, and that was from the shore where I couldn't even follow it. Also landed a 21lb blue cat on a 6' 8" L rod with a 1000 size reel and 4lb mono on a 2" power minnow on a 1/32oz jighead under a bobber, took nearly an hour to land, I know because I called my wife right when I hooked it and talked to her the whole fight and looked at the call length time when I finally netted it. You can land any size bass provided you have enough space to wear it out and land it.

[JediAmoeba]

When I was a young kid, my dad caught a 46" muskie on an UL while bluegill fishing.  6# trilene.  He was reeling in s bluegill and the muskie inhaled it but the hook caught on the corner of the mouth somehow.  

 

Watching that was one of the things that really got me interested in muskie fishing...

[Ogandrews]

3 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

When I was a young kid, my dad caught a 46" muskie on an UL while bluegill fishing.  6# trilene.  He was reeling in s bluegill and the muskie inhaled it but the hook caught on the corner of the mouth somehow.  

 

Watching that was one of the things that really got me interested in muskie fishing...

Happened to me over Memorial Day, got a 47” on 8lbs braid to 8lbs leader on a medium light while walleye fishing. Good 15-20min fight

[new2BC4bass]

On 6/8/2020 at 11:07 PM, Ogandrews said:

If you really want that ultra lite feel I’d switch to 5 or 8lbs braid. I run 8lbs 832 on my spinning rods and love it, I know powerpro comes in 5 if you look online. It can make the difference when casting really small stuff like 1/16th oz hair jigs. When I’m throwing a hair jig I’ll go down to a 8 or even 6lbs mono leader, helps a good amount too.

I have yellow 5# Fins braid on my Ned Rig rod.  Thinking of going higher next time it needs a line change.  Stuff is thin!  Braid that thin has no abrasion resistance.

 

[Mobasser]

I hooked and landed a 5lb bass on a limber Eagle Claw glass ultralight rod years ago, using 4lb mono, while crappie fishing. I'm sure the flexible rod helped land this fish.

[NOC 1]

On 6/8/2020 at 2:01 PM, Jonas Staggs said:

How big of a bass can you catch on a UL rod? 

 

I have a 7' UL setup with 10# braid and a 10# mono leader.

 

I am always hoping to catch a new PB bass, but I enjoy UL fishing quite a bit, since making the switch to UL, I have been catching much more bass now, as well as more fish all together. I am just thinking to myself if I do happen to hook into a huge bass on my UL, do I have a fair chance at landing the fish?

 

The largest bass I have caught on my UL so far was 3.4lbs but I was using #4 mono at the time, I have since switched to the braid. 

a couple of weeks ago, my son caught an accidental Flathead catfish that weighed out at 37 lbs. using a Medium Falcon BuCoo with a Shimano Curado 70 spooled with 10 lb. He said it took him almost an hour, but it was done. We routinely fish for striped bass using 10lb line and have caught them at 25 lb or so.

 

Most of my reels have 8lb drags so that it really doesn't matter how much bigger the line is.

 

I guess I'm saying that in the end it's the fisherman more than the gear.

 

That said, you probably don't want to take your UL rig out for Tarpon either.

 

 

[JustJames]

At one time I either hooked or snagged on a big fish on my UL setup 8lb braid to 4lb leader with about 50 yds mainline. The fish decided to swim out almost spool me. I tried to hang on for a few minutes yelling around to see if anyone got net. End up lock down drag and the fish broke off (bended hook) better than have a fish in the water with 50yds of line behind her.

Another time, it is quite a good size bass, decide to swim toward shore with hanging tree. All I can do was look at the line peeled off to the the tree and lost the fish. This happened more than just a few times, doesn’t matter what size fish and I lost most of them this way. 

 

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Another time, it is quite a good size bass, decide to swim toward shore with hanging tree. All I can do was look at the line peeled off to the the tree and lost the fish. This happened more than just a few times, doesn’t matter what size fish and I lost most of them this way.

This is when "Having room to fight them", comes into play. We all know a 2lb fish can be too much for even heavy gear if it's hooked in a bad place. Conversely, hook a big fish in open water, or near cover and have it swim into open water and it's just a matter of the angler fighting it correctly and wearing the fish down.

 

A few light tackle catches;

21lb bluecat on a 6' 8" L rod and 4lb test, 1/32oz jig with a 2" power minnow under a bobber.

 

21.5lb flathead 6' 10" ML rod, 10lb braid/8lb leader with a 1/16oz Ned rig.

 

10lb flathead and a true UL catch. 6' Avid UL, 750 Sedona, 3.5lb DAM Techtan line with a homemade crappie jig fishing a small creek. Had to navigate current, root wads, lay downs, rocks, all kinds of obstacles to land that fish.

[Luke Barnes]

I have a 4'8 UL with 2# Trout SOS mono and landed a few 2lb bass so far. All was fine and taught me more about drag and not just burning the fish in. 

[Tywithay]

Found another old one. Flathead on a 5' UL All Star rod with a Sahara 500FD and 2lb cajun. I was trying to catch bait sized bluegill to use for catfish and this one took my jig.

[JustJames]

My point is, with UL tackle you cannot control fish as good as proper gears, rod and line. I know it is workable, to land a fish with any line size when drag set properly and take the time. BUT, would it suitable?

 

 

[Tywithay]

2 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

My point is, with UL tackle you cannot control fish as good as proper gears, rod and line. I know it is workable, to land a fish with any line size when drag set properly and take the time. BUT, would it suitable?

 

 

It has its time and place. There are times when the ultralight finesse bite is the only way to put fish in the boat. So, it's valuable to know you can still land a 10lb fish on light tackle. Other times, you'll want 65lb braid and winch them out of a minefield of timber. That's the beauty of having so many different options available to us fishermen.