Good Size Bass On Ultralight

[Mobasser]

In the spring, I often mix bass and crappie fishing. For crappie, we have St. Croix Premiere ultralight rods, and 1000 size Diawa and Shimano reels. We always use 4lb mono line, and usually fish small jigs below a bobber.                                           I don't intentionally fish for bass with these rigs, but bass often strike the small jigs. The biggest bass Ive caught on these ultralight rigs was a 5lb fish. I've caught many smaller bass over the years.                                It's a hair raising fight. Rod bent like a pretzel, drag screaming, and trying to keep a good fish away from cover,( especially wood cover). I know there are folks who use ultralight tackle for all fishing, including bass.                                      The bigger bass can be landed on this tackle, but you've got to play them carefully, and hope they don't get wrapped up in thick weeds or wood.                      What's the largest bass you've ever caught on ultralight gear?

[thunderblack]

Love fishing UL and hooking bass. I can't recall the largest but I know I typically lose (big ones) them due to the tiny hooks and hook sets with a mod action rod I have but man its fun. I fish small cranks with mine. Probably need to add a XF to the quiver. Thanks for sharing!

[greentrout]

 o

Caught a LMB a little shy of 2 pounds on a Rebel Crick Hopper in a small creek using BPS 6' 2 PC spinning rod with Shimano Sienna 1000 reel 4# test. Big fish for that little creek. Released it for another day. 

 

A Bull Bluegill is also a good time.

[Fishing_Rod]

Greetings All,

Yes, I totally agree that any sizable fish on line using ultra lite gear is a fantastic experience. Even better when you are successful in getting them in hand for a photo. It isn't bragging if collaborated by witnesses and/or evidence, right?

 

Using UL gear has greatly improved my angling adventures. I have used the crick hopper as a crank bait and also as a top water type action too. The big blue gills will hammer it when it simply sits and floats in their area. Note: there is a good deal of drama as it gets pecked at a lot when floating still. So just as with the full sized gear you've got to use the wait and see process to see if one of the hooks takes hold.

 

Agree, when it comes to using the fine wire hooks there are both advantages and considerations. There is a delicate balance to how much pressure to use. I have found a modest drag setting, usually on the light side, is helpful. The sharp fine wire hooks grab easily so you just need to stay connected and hold on for the ride until you achieve compliance to bring them in. The whole time you are hoping you are far enough away from snags as you don't have much to contribute to the situation.

 

Congrats on having great fun using your UL kit. Wishing each continued success. Be well and Cheers!

[Skunkmaster-k]

A 3 lb bass on ultra lite gear is fun. Richard Gene calls it “sporty”. 

[bulldog1935]

6-1/2 lbs on Daiwa Minicast.  

[volzfan59]

Do any of you remember the old Quantum "Micro Lite" rod and reels? The rod was 48" and you could touch the rod tip to the handle. They had that much bend to them! The reels were very small too.

 

Anyway, using a Quantum Micro Lite rod and reel, with 2lb test regular old Stren (before the Pure Fishing buyout) and a black with gold blade 1/16 oz Rooster Tail, I caught a 3.5 lb Smallmouth on Center Hill Lake in middle TN. As soon as I got home I retired the rig to the wall. Still have it all to this day. That was one crazy fight, the smallie would jump on one side of the boat, bulldog down stripping line and jump on the other side! Thankfully I kept the drag set really loose. If I remember correctly, it was an early spring, cloudy day, light mist from time to time. 

[TLHSS]

I only fish ultralight now due to some lower back issues.  My everyday setup is a custom Graywolf 5'4" Uni E glass spinning rod and a Vanford 500 reel.  4 pound Leland SOS copolymer line.  Most river bass I catch are about a pound, but are fun to catch on this setup.  I figured if fly fisherman can get excited catching brook trout, I should get some satisfaction catching one pound bass.

 

With the fall bite this week, I did catch a UL PB of a 3 pound bass.  A lot of fun, but I honestly thought it was a catfish until it jumped.

[you]

Didn't get a weight, but my largest on an ultralight was a 22" LMB. Fun fight!

 

As a kid, my main setup was a cheap 5'6" UL and a twister tail in a 1/32 oz jighead, usually fishing for whatever would bite. Bass were common, with plenty in the 16-18" range over the years.

 

I bring a UL on every trip, usually a 6'8" lews setup. It performs well for bass, even in cypress swamps, but it's a completely different style of fighting. Much more strategy. Spadderdock is usually the biggest obstacle, even more than wood.

[FishTank]

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

6-1/2 lbs on Daiwa Minicast.  

I had one as a kid. It was super fun to fish. I would guess the largest fish I caught on it back then were....a 7lb catfish,  a 4lb largemouth and my favorite,  a 2lb red ear. 

[thunderblack]

9 minutes ago, FishTank said:

  a 2lb red ear. 

 good night! dinner plate

[Captain Phil]

4 hours ago, Mobasser said:

The bigger bass can be landed on this tackle, but you've got to play them carefully, and hope they don't get wrapped up in thick weeds or wood.  What's the largest bass you've ever caught on ultralight gear?

 

I once caught a 6 pound bass in Okeechobee using 6 pound mono on a 4" Rapala.  Does that count as ultralight?  It was one heck of a fight!

[GreenPig]

7.2 lbs on 2 lb mono with a Renosky keystone jig minnow. I was having a great time catching bluegills until the fat girl interrupted me.

[volzfan59]

4 hours ago, FishTank said:

a 2lb red ear. 

Holy cow, I would love to catch a 2 lb red ear! Well done, my biggest is around 1 lb.

 

I've been thinking about going 100% lite tackle and ultra lite fishing next year. I really enjoy lite tackle bass fishing. Bounced it off of @Eric 26 in a PM conversation last week.

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

I was having a great time

 

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

until the fat girl interrupted me

Oh come on she couldn’t have been that bad. Sometimes the more…. full-figured ladies bring some friends too

[WRB]

I don’t use Ultra lite rods for bass fishing.

Made up a 4 1/2’ Ultra lite rod for my son when he was 6 with a Zebco Mini Omega trigger spin reel with 5# Max UG line.

When Tommy was 8 he caught a 26# channel cat with his combo. Can’t remember how many big bass Tommy caught using slip shot 3 1/2” reapers on combo. He was very excited catching a big Clark (Carp) because of fight that fish up.

When Tommy was 12 I gave him a Iovino signature Phenix Split Shot rod with Shimano Stradic 1000, 5# UG line, not a Ultra Lite more ML in today rods. He loved that rod and used until he passed and caught dozens of big bass on this combo. We fish lakes with sparse cover, mostly rocky structure from a boat so it's possible to fight big fish and keep them away from trouble.

Tom 

 

 

[FishTank]

13 hours ago, volzfan59 said:

Holy cow, I would love to catch a 2 lb red ear! Well done, my biggest is around 1 lb.

 

I've been thinking about going 100% lite tackle and ultra lite fishing next year. I really enjoy lite tackle bass fishing. Bounced it off of @Eric 26 in a PM conversation last week.

I caught it at a campgrounds in Indiana called Deitz Lake. There was a strip pit there called Hidden Lake. No one would fish it except my dad, his buddy, and myself. We would catch some big ones there. I think I caught it with a blood worm or some redworms. 

 

Caught this guy on a Baby Pop X with some BFS gear.

 

[bulldog1935]

fly rod, 15", don't know the weight, but she had shoulders and broached several times looking like a stubby bass.  

[LrgmouthShad]

Ultralight? What’s that?

 

 

[the reel ess]

I've caught some 2 pounders on UL. My buddy landed an 8+ trolling Roadrunner jigs for crappie with 4 lb. test. He has caught several big bass doing this. He's also seen bass chasing the crappie he was landing.

[TnRiver46]

20 plus lb striper 

[Alex from GA]

Built an ultralight rod earlier this year and pinned a worm on to see if I could catch a bass.  After not being able to set the hook on several I pinched the barb down and caught a 2 lb Alabama Bass and a couple of smaller ones.  4 lb mono.

[Eric 26]

@volzfan59 I remember the little old Quantum microlite😃 I bought just the reel (3) bearing version after seeing Bill Dance using one on his show. Although I don’t have any pictures to prove it I caught crappie, bluegill and bass on that reel paired to a 5’-0” Mitchell ultralight rod I bought at K-Mart. I caught what is probably my biggest bass on that rod paired to a old Daiwa spinning reel my brother had given me in a condominium retention pond where my wife and I first lived. I believe I was throwing a jitterbug that was too big for the rod for sure but I managed to land it. Even had an Orland Park police officer pull over to watch me battle the fish and he jumped out and came down the hill to the waters edge as he couldn’t believe that fish was swimming in the pond. As I said to @volzfan59 in our pm exchange I mostly fish ultralight/light gear as I’m only mainly able to fish retention ponds currently and the ones I’m hitting are very pressured so if there are any big girls swimming around they’re very wary, plus I really do enjoy it.

[Bazoo]

Well, I've got the itch for ultralight now, thanks to this thread. Some awesome stories shared here. I normally don't go any lighter than 10 pound line, though I will run 8 occasionally.

[Eric 26]

@Bazoo Join the dark side my friend 😉