menhadenman
Senior Member
Welcome Guest!
Micro Fishing: The Art Of Using Ultralight Tackle
- Thread starter King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah
- Start date
pjciii
Senior Member
Jeremiah
It has been a minute since you have posted. I have always enjoyed the wisdom you share. Thanks for showing back up and I hope you are a prolific poster this season. Keep those pictures coming and sharing your knowledge.
It has been a minute since you have posted. I have always enjoyed the wisdom you share. Thanks for showing back up and I hope you are a prolific poster this season. Keep those pictures coming and sharing your knowledge.
1eyefishing
...just joking, seriously.
Eat mud!
I guess the guy can post here all he wants.
Same as you.
Stay out of his threads if you don't like it.
I guess the guy can post here all he wants.
Same as you.
Stay out of his threads if you don't like it.
Lilly001
Senior Member
I enjoy his threads.
My vote is for him to post regularly.
His writing style is entertaining, and that’s what I mostly come to this forum for.
like was said earlier, if you don’t like it read something else.
Railroader
Billy’s Security Guard.
Guy seems like he's putting out good, well written info to me.
Pretty harsh, and uncalled for response up there...
Pretty harsh, and uncalled for response up there...
menhadenman
Senior Member
Some guys can’t help themselves… the scroll is just too much to take on!
oldfella1962
Senior Member
Small world (no pun intended) with the yellow perch.
My wife is still in the hospital, and while visiting her I had some free time while she was napping. The hospital is adjacent to the Augusta Canal, so I had my go-to lure - a small Beetle Spin - and my new Zebco micro "underneath style pushbutton" reel in my car. I caught some micro sized bass, a bluegill, and to my amazement a yellow perch! I rarely fish the Augusta Canal or Savanna River, so I hadn't caught a perch in many years. All this was catch & release, just killing time and exploring.
menhadenman
Senior Member
Great thread @King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah - I've been an ultralight fan for a while myself. We used to ditch school back in the early 90s to catch the hickory shad run... 100+ fish days on UL gear is much better than algebra.
Thought I could offer up some of my experiences using ultralight gear for anyone interested in hearing or criticizing.
Rods: I prefer a 5'6" or 6' rod for creeks or other spots where tight casting is needed. Longer rods (6-7') are great for boats or tossing spoons. Love a cork rod but I'm not above an old cheap foam handle. I tend to prefer a slow action for soft-mouth fish and bait in creeks and faster actions for lures and lakes.
Most folks will say the trade off is better sensitivity and responsiveness (fast action) vs delicate presentation (slow). Fighting a fish sure is a lot more fun on slower action too.
There are some great affordable options out there. I just picked up a Berkley 'Cherrywood' rod for my son for only $25 (link to company here). I also found some Shimano FX rods for $14 at a Bass Pro last year and grabbed two of them. They can still be found at that price on eBay.
Reels: I'd consider ultralight '1000 size' or smaller, with Shimano leading the pack by a fair margin on affordability and reliability in my experience. I have a few '500' sized reels but prefer the 1000 because it can go really light (2 lb diameter line) but also a solid option for spiny-ray fish (6 lb diameter line). Some pictures from a few rods I was using with the boys last weekend. Doubt there's more than $50 in any of these setups.
The Sedona ($60ish) is the most I spend on creek rods that my kids use, but we've got a few of the Sienna ($30ish) and even the FX ($20). Just an example on reliability, here is a FX500 that I used to trout fish with in the early 90s vs a new FX1000. The new one is light years ahead on operation and casting but there have been many hundreds (thousands?) of fish landed with these reels.
Line: It took me a while to shake my love affair with Berkley Trilene but I finally made the jump to braid on a lot of my setups after fishing with a guy that murdered more fish than most I've ever met (commercial fishing and guide).
At that time, PowerPro was the ticket, at least so they said (funny how Spider Wire didn't catch on like that?). I swapped a few rods over and eventually most of my lineup got braid. No memory, high capacity, castability, low drag, durable in sunshine, and very long-lasting. And when it starts to show some wear, I just reel from one reel to another (so the inside, 'fresher' line is now on the outside of another reel).
I still use mono - like P-line- in some cases like trolling for soft-mouthed fishes, but braid is the ticket from the creeks to the ocean. Now this could be blasphemous but I've had really good experiences with cheap alternatives to PowerPro and Suffix. As in I cannot tell the difference beyond CCP-labor and 1/3rd the price, if you're good with that.
Now I like the 15 lb braid from Reaction Tackle or KastKing for the 500/1000 reels and the 30 lb braid for the 1000+ reels. Be careful to not go too light... I made that mistake over the excitement of getting more line on the spool and less draft - which is true - but the light braid is like a cobweb and tangles pretty easily. You can find that Reaction and KastKing stuff on Amazon (here's my recent purchases, link and link).
And I can't say braid without saying flourocarbon. That's what I use on all my rods - just 2-3' of leader and it lasts a good while. Great durability (better with nicks) and invisible to fish. I tend to go with 6# for small trout and creeks, 15# for trout/rivers, 30# for the ocean. Seagar blue label is my favorite - not because I've done extensive testing, just that I've caught many fish from Snook to Chinook with solid performance.
Knots:
I use three or four knots for probably 99% of my fishing. Line to a hook normally gets a palomar knot; line to a lure normally gets an improved clinch knot, and leader to braid always gets an Alberto knot.
I learned this one fishing with a guy on Lake Saguaro outside Phoenix (massive largemouth using swimbaits). It's a really tight (easy to cast), strong (I can't recall breaking a line at that knot in 10 years or so), and you can trim the tag ends all the way to the knot. Also easy to go from a really thin line to thick and vice-versa. Try it out sometime.
Now sometimes (especially bait fishing in the salt) I will tie up a pile of leader/hooks that are ready to go if the bite is on. I've used about 3 or 4 different types of snell knots over the years and some are pretty complicated. Now this is all I use - and have used it up to halibut and sturgeon size fish. Really easy, quick, and reliable.
Thought I could offer up some of my experiences using ultralight gear for anyone interested in hearing or criticizing.
Rods: I prefer a 5'6" or 6' rod for creeks or other spots where tight casting is needed. Longer rods (6-7') are great for boats or tossing spoons. Love a cork rod but I'm not above an old cheap foam handle. I tend to prefer a slow action for soft-mouth fish and bait in creeks and faster actions for lures and lakes.
Most folks will say the trade off is better sensitivity and responsiveness (fast action) vs delicate presentation (slow). Fighting a fish sure is a lot more fun on slower action too.
There are some great affordable options out there. I just picked up a Berkley 'Cherrywood' rod for my son for only $25 (link to company here). I also found some Shimano FX rods for $14 at a Bass Pro last year and grabbed two of them. They can still be found at that price on eBay.
Reels: I'd consider ultralight '1000 size' or smaller, with Shimano leading the pack by a fair margin on affordability and reliability in my experience. I have a few '500' sized reels but prefer the 1000 because it can go really light (2 lb diameter line) but also a solid option for spiny-ray fish (6 lb diameter line). Some pictures from a few rods I was using with the boys last weekend. Doubt there's more than $50 in any of these setups.
The Sedona ($60ish) is the most I spend on creek rods that my kids use, but we've got a few of the Sienna ($30ish) and even the FX ($20). Just an example on reliability, here is a FX500 that I used to trout fish with in the early 90s vs a new FX1000. The new one is light years ahead on operation and casting but there have been many hundreds (thousands?) of fish landed with these reels.
Line: It took me a while to shake my love affair with Berkley Trilene but I finally made the jump to braid on a lot of my setups after fishing with a guy that murdered more fish than most I've ever met (commercial fishing and guide).
At that time, PowerPro was the ticket, at least so they said (funny how Spider Wire didn't catch on like that?). I swapped a few rods over and eventually most of my lineup got braid. No memory, high capacity, castability, low drag, durable in sunshine, and very long-lasting. And when it starts to show some wear, I just reel from one reel to another (so the inside, 'fresher' line is now on the outside of another reel).
I still use mono - like P-line- in some cases like trolling for soft-mouthed fishes, but braid is the ticket from the creeks to the ocean. Now this could be blasphemous but I've had really good experiences with cheap alternatives to PowerPro and Suffix. As in I cannot tell the difference beyond CCP-labor and 1/3rd the price, if you're good with that.
Now I like the 15 lb braid from Reaction Tackle or KastKing for the 500/1000 reels and the 30 lb braid for the 1000+ reels. Be careful to not go too light... I made that mistake over the excitement of getting more line on the spool and less draft - which is true - but the light braid is like a cobweb and tangles pretty easily. You can find that Reaction and KastKing stuff on Amazon (here's my recent purchases, link and link).
And I can't say braid without saying flourocarbon. That's what I use on all my rods - just 2-3' of leader and it lasts a good while. Great durability (better with nicks) and invisible to fish. I tend to go with 6# for small trout and creeks, 15# for trout/rivers, 30# for the ocean. Seagar blue label is my favorite - not because I've done extensive testing, just that I've caught many fish from Snook to Chinook with solid performance.
Knots:
I use three or four knots for probably 99% of my fishing. Line to a hook normally gets a palomar knot; line to a lure normally gets an improved clinch knot, and leader to braid always gets an Alberto knot.
I learned this one fishing with a guy on Lake Saguaro outside Phoenix (massive largemouth using swimbaits). It's a really tight (easy to cast), strong (I can't recall breaking a line at that knot in 10 years or so), and you can trim the tag ends all the way to the knot. Also easy to go from a really thin line to thick and vice-versa. Try it out sometime.
Now sometimes (especially bait fishing in the salt) I will tie up a pile of leader/hooks that are ready to go if the bite is on. I've used about 3 or 4 different types of snell knots over the years and some are pretty complicated. Now this is all I use - and have used it up to halibut and sturgeon size fish. Really easy, quick, and reliable.
huntfish
Senior Member
We would use our Mitchell 308 spooled with 6# mono to catch Sockeyes in the Russian River of Alaska. I hooked a King about 50# that we had a nice battle until he hit the confluence of the Kenai and he spooled me.
menhadenman
Senior Member
I used to fish there! Ferry across the river. Combat fishing 25 years ago, I’d hate to see it today.
huntfish
Senior Member
You won't recognize it. I was up that way a few years ago and actually drove by the ferry without noticing it. We used to hike down to the Russian from the campground to fish and work our way to the Kenai. And it was combat fishing in the 70's!
