Suggestions for Ultralight tackle

[vicdotcom]

Hello Everyone,

I have an ultra light spinning reel and rod with 4 lb. line.  Any suggestions on what type of tackle to use with it?  I would like to fish bass and panfish with it.  Would a size 3 hook and a 4 inch GY worm be to heavy this setup?

Thanks for any help on this.

Vic

[Joel W]

Not sure I would fish for Bass with a lite setup like that. I use my Ultra lite for pan fishing. When I'm using pieces of worm and a bobber, I use a #10 hook.  For Perch I like to use a drop shot rig with a #8 hook and a 2 inch grub.  I've also used a gold 1/12 oz Kastmaster spoon with great success both for panies and for stocked trout.

[Tin]

If you are fun fishing, some great ultra light stuff for bass are strike king mini-king spinner baits, wacky rigged senkos, and heddon tiny torpedos.  You can have a blast.

[islandbass]

Spoons and Inline Spinners are the ticket for me with ultralights.  I also like to use poppers and smaller cranks. If you do want to fish soft plastics, I'd opt for what Joel recommended to aid in setting the hook.  The UL rig should have an easier time with lighter wire hooks as he suggested.

Joel,

UL fishing for bass is an abolute blast if the water fished is fairly open.  There is nothing like seeing the parabolic bend of a UL rod protecting the 6# mono I use, as the bass hopelessly tries to escape.

Last season, my fishing outings were severely limited. I probably only fished about 10 times the whole season.  Of those outings all the bass I caught except one was caught on my UL rig, and bass up to 4# with no bass broken off.

If the cover is lacking and nothing else is working, it never hurts to give a UL rig a go at the bass.  

[Joel W]

Spoons and Inline Spinners are the ticket for me with ultralights. I also like to use poppers and smaller cranks. If you do want to fish soft plastics, I'd opt for what Joel recommended to aid in setting the hook. The UL rig should have an easier time with lighter wire hooks as he suggested.

Joel,

UL fishing for bass is an absolute blast if the water fished is fairly open. There is nothing like seeing the parabolic bend of a UL rod protecting the 6# mono I use, as the bass hopelessly tries to escape.

Last season, my fishing outings were severely limited. I probably only fished about 10 times the whole season. Of those outings all the bass I caught except one was caught on my UL rig, and bass up to 4# with no bass broken off.

If the cover is lacking and nothing else is working, it never hurts to give a UL rig a go at the bass.

I've been known in the dead of summer to bring my Ultra lite along and fish for Panies which is usually in shallow brush. Once I got slammed by a LM and he nearly spooled me. Fought the LM for what seemed like 5 min before he broke me off trying to get him out of some twigs. I had to recoup after that fight.

[jwo1124]

For lures try small jerkbaits and inline spinners.

I have caught decent sized bass(2-4) on Light tackle. I was using an UglyS tik though, so who knows how things would have gone in I was using an UL or L graphite rod which is much more fragile than an Ugly Stik. You could pull up a bus from the bottom of a lake with one of those.

[vicdotcom]

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for the tips and ideas. The whole idea of this rod was just to have some fun I think im going to try the worms like Joel said, then wacky style for the kicks, then hit the spinners and poppers.

I have some fly fishing lures that im thinking about trying out also.

I just wanted to make sure what I was throwing wasnt to heavy. Im going to hit the panfish after that

Thanks again everyone. Some great suggestions

Vic

[Sam]

Vic,

Here is my two cents.

4 pound line is great.  If you really want to have some fun go to the 2 pound line but be ready for line twist and a cobweb on your spinning reel.  Twopound test is a pain in the fanny.

Use a five foot light rod.

I have been using a 1/64 jig head (silver) tied to a 4 pound mono or flouro, with a size 12 brass barrel swivel above the jig head about a foot to help stop line twist.

I put a 1 inch white grub with a curley tail (you can go 1.5 inches) on the jig head.

I caught a 6 pound beauty at a golf course pond with this rig.  Almost had a heart attack. Had to go into the locker room and change my underware.  

OK, just kidding about the underware.

Throw rig, let drop to bottom, and then reel back.

They love that whtie grub with the curley tail.

Great lure for the upper James River where I have caught largemouth, smallmouth and some beautiful bluegill.

Have a good supply of 1/64 jig heads on hand as you will lose them.

Also have a pliers ready to remove the jig head from the fish if necessary.

Give it a try and let us know what happens.

[Sam]

One more suggestion since you mentioned live bait.

Use a #6 gold hook with a small split shot above it on 4 pound test and a plastic bobber.

Add Nightcrawler.

Throw out.

Hold on!

Everything will hit the Nightcrawler and the bass will come in to see any bream or bluegills you catch as you are reeling them in.

I have allowed the bass to attack and then take the bluegills into their mouths and play the bass for a while before the bass spits out the bluegill.

Had a nice size catfish do the same thing but they take the bluegill and dive deep so they are not as much fun as the bass.

I use this rig when I take the boys (ages 10 and 7) to a local pond. The 7 year old tells everyone that all we do is throw the line into the water and pull in a fish.

You will want to get your Nightcrawlers at Wal-Mart as they are the cheapest and use only a part of the live worm on each hook.

My friend who fishes the same pond uses either a 1/0 or a 2/0 with a Nightcrawler and he has caught some nice bass. But I think that is cheating as I use only artificial bait for bass.

Best fishing around if you don't mind getting worm juice on your hands and clothes!

[T-rig]

Here are some great ultra light lures:

http://www.japantackle.com/Lures/Top_Bream.htm

[FishTank]

I like using Mepps #1 or #2 inline spinnerbaits and an occasional heavy fly.  You might also give some 3in senkos a try or some small grubs.

[Alpster]

Try some 1/8 oz and 1/16 oz "Beetle Spins" they are killer baits for bream & bluegill and bass will hit em as well.

Ronnie

[Bassn Blvd]

All of these were caught on #4 mono with beetle spins, jigs, spinnerbaits.  The sky is the limit.