Ultralight bass fishing

[CrashVector]

This coming spring, I'm going to try to tackle the big girls using ultralights.

 

4lb mono line only.

 

Why?  Because it seems like it would be fun, and Ive already hauled in several 7-8lb bowfin on an ultralight this summer, and it was hellacious fun.

 

Anyone else here do this?  If so, what lures do you use?  I was planning on 3" pit boss, mini rapalas, etc.

 

 

[WRB]

Ray Scott tried to introduce UL bass fishing to B.A.S.S. members and it failed.

Medium Light tackle can control bass in most conditions, UL in open water however over stresses bass that don’t have the stamina to fight over a few minutes.

Tom

[detroit1]

I haven't in years, but a 2" white curlytail grub on a 1/16 oz. head was hard to beat. 

[JustJames]

618 fishing used to be good with that kind of UL fishing for any kind of fish a few years back. Lately he’s been into cut bait for bigger fish. Everywhere he goes, he always have UL setup with him. He catch plenty and all kind with tiny jig head with curry tail grub.

[WRB]

I use 5 lb mono with medium power rods and don’t consider 4 lb mono as UL line, 4 lb is good with ML power or possibly light/1 power rods. 

Turner Jones 1/128 oz or 1/64 oz micro jigs w/ 2 lb mono are UL lures imo.

Tom

[Cbump]

No interest here. I like to fish tournaments and that seems like a good way to get your heart broken when It counts. 

[QED]

3 hours ago, CrashVector said:

[stuff deleted]

Anyone else here do this?  If so, what lures do you use?  I was planning on 3" pit boss, mini rapalas, etc.

 

I've been fishing for bass using UL spinning gear for ages.  But only in appropriate environments.  I use 2-6 lb test.  As for lures, we're in the golden age of finesse baits so no shortage of options.  What has worked well for me is small 1/8 oz spinnerbaits, skinny 4" curl tail texas rigged worms {with light bullet sinkers), finesse zman and senko stick baits (wacky, drop shot, or texas rig), small balsa crankbaits, small lipless crankbaits, small rapalas, do nothing slider rigs, etc.  Basically, scaled down versions of all the usual baits.  I've even successfully used smaller topwater frogs (livetarget, spro, booyah in the smallest form factors) but that's just for fun and not an ideal use case.

[The Bassman]

For me ultralight refers to the weight of my combo, around ten oz. total, not ultralight rod power or line strength. I find that this approach lets me enjoy the fight while staying in control at the same time.

[GRiver]

I used ultralight fishing for smallies when I lived in Nc., It was fun.

I used a lot of weightless plastics, and small topwaters. Little 1/4 wake baits, in-line spinners too.

[JustJames]

7 hours ago, CrashVector said:

This coming spring, I'm going to try to tackle the big girls using ultralights.

 

 

Reread this I’m kind of not agree using UL in spring for big bass. I’m not sure about others but I don’t target bedded fish. In spring it is gonna be hard to avoid those spawning bass, whether you see them or not. My goal is to catch and release as quick as possible. Female bass need a lot of energy to lay egg successfully and male bass need to preserve those energy even more to build the nest, guard the eggs and protect young fry.

In spring, you have more chance of catching big girl that can produce big baby bass for future. I know fighting big bass with UL is fun but prolonged fighting them might reduce success rate of spawning. It is your choice though, but I wouldn’t.

[Jig Man]

Ned is my version of ultra lite; 1/16 and 3/32 oz jig heads with TRDs.

[Captain Phil]

Light line bass fishing is very rewarding and tons of fun.  I don't care much about tiny fairy wand rods and reels, but put some 4-6 pound test mono on a standard bass rod and reel and I'm in.  This tackle works best in water without a lot of cover.  South Florida canals are perfect.  If you want to have some fun, fish a small 3"-4" Rapala on light line.  The biggest bass I ever caught on 4 pound test was about 6 pounds and I had my hands full.  The 6 pound test world record is 16 pounds 9 ounces caught in California.  All world records are posted on the IGFA website at https://igfa.org.

[Deleted account]

I guess you could tee off with a wedge too...

[ChrisD46]

For waters known to only have small schooler size bass up to 1.5 lbs. or so ... ML / F spinning rod set up with 5lb. ~ 8 lb. braid and 4 lb. to 6 lb. FC leader ... Zman TRD , small beetle spins , crappie single tail grubs , etc. 

[bulldog1935]

@Cbump at 19yo, I landed a 6-1/2-lb largemouth on Daiwa Minicast. 

The only reason I was able to do that, suckered her into the middle of a bowl-shaped cove with a Jitterbug and long pauses - she ate the lure at rest.  My dad was freaking - Get That Fish In The Boat.

 

We've fished mid-length 5-wt glass fly rods to massive river bass in spread-out cold sendero pools in the aquifer recharge zone - you can only get here with private access and a long walk up the dry sendero.  And what a place-name, Toadstool Waterhole.  While 3 of us caught 400 bass this early March day, we all lost lifetime fish to brush and timber. 

 

@CrashVector

I think you should beat the rush and try your light lures in winter, when bait is generally smaller. 

Also think about rods that have more power in the butt than traditional para-taper UL. 

[Eric 26]

I will agree with all the statements above. But with that said my favorite retention pond is loaded with small bass and one of my favorite lures for them is a little Creme rattletrap available at Wal-Mart.

[thunderblack]

I do this all the time. 7' UL with a 1000 Shimano. I toss inline spinners, small cranks, small jerkbaits. Hooked and lost some nice LM due to the small hooks but man its a blast. You also catch some monster crappie and panfish too.  

[QED]

6 hours ago, The Bassman said:

For me ultralight refers to the weight of my combo, around ten oz. total, not ultralight rod power or line strength. [stuff deleted]

 

When using jargon (i.e., words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group), one should strive to use terms in the manner consistent with the way the rest of the relevant group uses it, or others will not understand you.

 

I have a medium casting rig that weighs right around 8 oz but I doubt that most here would consider that to be an ultralight setup.

[casts_by_fly]

I fished a lot of ultalight stuff growing up, usually in streams and rivers.  we lived right along a major river and all of the feeder streams had smallmouth for at least the first mile, often first couple miles, from spring floods.  Similar up north we'd fish a lot of the headwater rivers of the susquehanna in the summer for smallmouth.  Inline spinners and grubs as noted are great.  Two real winners were the 3" sluggo rigged texas weightless and walked under the surface and the miniature zara spook that is only 2" long.  That little clear spook caught a lot of stream bass.

 

I still have the 5' fenwick fiberglass ultralight with an original garcia cardinal on it in the basement.  I put some fresh line on it this spring intending to wade for smallies this summer.

 

separately, I also love an ultralight for trout, though that's a 7'6" with 4 lb that will cast a naked single egg about as far as you want and certainly further than you should.

[PressuredFishing]

Yes, 4lb is not generally ultralight, thats common for D.S and hairjigging.. 13mm and smaller diameter line is ultralight. 

[WRB]

Like everything regarding rod power no standards exist.

What most bass anglers whom have replied on this thread are not using Ultra Lite. 4 to 6 lb line falls under Light / 1 power or Medium light/ 2 power rods using lures  1/16 oz to 1/4 oz.

UL rod and reels were designed for stream trout fishing usually under 5’ 6” long with size 750 or smaller spinning reels with 2 to 4 lb line.

The term light tackle is more descriptive imo.

Tom

 

[MN Fisher]

11 minutes ago, WRB said:

The term light tackle is more descriptive imo.

Agreed - my 'ultra finesse' bass rig is a 1000 size reel, on a 7' L/F (1/16-3/8 lure rating) rod with 4# test. 1/10 and under jigs with small plastics (3" TRD worms, crawz, etc or 2" plastics)

 

My only UL rig is a 1000 size reel (little big, but I got it at a discount) on a 7'6 UL (1/32-3/8 lure rating) rod with 2# test....it's one of my crappie rigs

[The Bassman]

1 hour ago, QED said:

 

When using jargon (i.e., words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group), one should strive to use terms in the manner consistent with the way the rest of the relevant group uses it, or others will not understand you.

 

I have a medium casting rig that weighs right around 8 oz but I doubt that most here would consider that to be an ultralight setup.

That's why I prefaced my comment by saying how it applied to me and my arsenal. I was making the point that true ultralight gear has its limitations.

[Bankbeater]

For bass fishing I don't like anything lighter than a ml/f rod with 6# line.  You never know when a flathead cat will show up.

[JustJames]

I check 9 of my UL rod both spinning and baitcaster and none of them stated to use line smaller than .13mm or less than 4lb.

Now who set the line class?

Why do we use light line with UL lure? Some of the fish are line shy, light line cast light lure better. Smaller spinning reel can’t handle too big of line. Why UL class reel have to be 500 or 750? Is 1000 class considered as UL reel? Why not go all the way to 2000 size (same body as 1000) to be able to use bigger line than 750 reel?

I’m not talking with power rod suitable for bass just line class in general.