Light Tackle Advice

[Bine]

I'm new to light tackle fresh water fishing. Salt was my thing. Medium to Medium/Heavy rods. Open face spinning reels. Shrimp or cocahoe on a hook. Maybe a weight. Occasionally a chartreuse plastic lure. Or go offshore and tie on a hunk of lead and a hard tail. Boom. Fish. Aside from a cane pole and worms or hotdogs, I didn't fresh water hook and line fish much. I haven't used lures much, either. Mainly bait.

Now, I'm up here in fresh water country, and lost. My best has been with Danny King and peanut butter. Great for catfish and carp, which are my main targets, but I'd like to go after bass, perch and sac-a-lait when my mains aren't around.

I have a good selection of lures, I think, but still only medium rods and reels. Do light tackle rods and reels really help? What are good specs on a light tackle rod; diameter, length, rated line size and rated lure weight? My jig casting is sad. I'd like to keep using open face spinning reels. What I want is better casting distance, good accuracy and control. Totally open to suggestions.

[Bine]

I just bought a light tackle set up. Berkley Cherrywood HD with an Abu Garcia Cardinal S10 spinning reel, and spooled it with 15 lb/t (4 lb/t equivalent diameter) Power Pro braid. Out the door with 20% off from Dick's; $45. There's also a $10 mail in rebate.

I can stand at the curb and cast a 1/8 oz jig to the back wall of my garage. From the driveway, I can lay it at the base of a tree or mailbox. Nice distance and placement. We'll see how it fishes.

[Chrispyflyguy]

Ultra light rods can be a ton of fun while fishing for panfish and small trout (cold water trout not sea trout) as well as for small bass and anything else that will bite a small bait.

The rod I use is a 7' ultra light rod that I tied myself but there are pleanty available for purchase off the shelf. Ive caught everything from coho salmon and steelhead to tiny minnows on my ultra light. I use a 4# main line and if the water is really clear I may drop down to a 2# leader for panfish such as cappie or similar fish. Below is about a 3 pound catfish I caught on 4# line.

Edit: After re-reading your question, the rod I use is rated 4-8# line but when using it, thats way too heavy for this rod, 2-6 is more realistic for the one that I have. I am able to get very accurate casts and quite a bit of distance with mine, if you really want distance and accuracy I would go with a 9' rod rated 4-8 lb line and put 6# on it. You can also put quite a bit of pressure on a fish with a 9' rod and pull them out of some thick cover even with light line.

Okuma makes an SST line of rods that are pretty nice, their Celilo rods are also pretty nice.

Fishing with ultra light rods is just more fun in my opinion but I am also still trying to adapt to the size and power of salt water fish which is something we dont have in Michigan lol

[beelinerguy]

I just bought a CastAway ultra light spinning rod with a shimano 1000 with 6lb mono. So much more fun to bass fish with than my bay rods. I feel like I pick up little bites better too.

[JMS]

I just bought a 7ft St Croix Mojo Med Light absolutely love it use a Penn Fierce 2000' makes the small fish fun but can handle larger fish if needed. St Croix rod cost about $130, less expensive quality rod is Berkley Lightning Rod between $39 & $49 been using those in freshwater for years. Only problem with ultra light is they are usually short and I prefer a longer rod for kayak fishing...grew up in Illinois catching carp on light tackle what a blast...Make sure you cast a lot during summer might help develop snow shoveling muscles....Don't overlook ice fishing did it in Alaska & loved it

[dandturtle830]

freh clear water use light and clear line. match the hatch.. look what the others guy do and change it a lil bit. When fishing new areea i allways look at hung up lures and what not to she what others are doing.

[redneckyakclub01]

I'd go with a reel around the size of a shimano 2500. There are many options depending on your budget from Sahara on up. I'd pair it with a medium 6'6" rod. Find something that will balance well with the reel and have good flex at the tip. Not too much though or your hook sets and actionwith heavier baits will wear you out.

[gonefishin]

I mostly just re-purpose my saltwater gear with lighter line 8-12lb. For bass you want a good casting bait caster or spinning reel on a 6 1/2 ft rod for fishing plastics or spinner and crankbaits. (like catching puppy drum or rat reds) For catfish you can use this same set-up. For white bass or crappie, I swap out the spools for 6-8 lb line, I have the best luck jigging small plastic grubs for Crappie in the creek beds and brush piles. For white bass. you can't beat a speck rig under a popping cork or behind a Chug Bug. If you have medium action rods with sensitive tip like the Ugly Sticks, then you can use if for fresh or salt. If all your rods are heavy then ultra-light would give you a good challenge with even the small fry.

[ndmk27]

I started with my medium saltwater rigs and worked my way to smaller and lighter things. I found a 5'4" All Star Inline spin model rod on sale at Academy and decided to try it. I had a shimano sienna 1000 on it for awhile, but didn't like the reel much after it started getting a bit gritty and my best cleaning wouldn't fix it. Just got a Pflueger President, which has a slightly lower capacity, but I've got 15lb braid on it and it seems fine, it epitomizes "ultra-light" and is so compact that it's easy to travel with. I wade fish the Guadalupe in winter, and sometimes carry my gear up to a mile downriver, I don't ever get tired of throwing that rod. I've caught 20 inch rainbow trout on that rig, a 4 lb smallie, some pretty heavy black bass, and most recently and amazingly, a 4 foot longnose gar, I couldn't believe the rod and reel handled that.

I believe you should experiment with a few rigs at a store with some good selection, that will actually let you put the reel on the rod and feel it. Balance and comfort are everything, and what I learned as I worked down my tackle size is, we usually don't need as heavy tackle as we use for many things, I would find the smallest rig you feel confident using, because it is really a blast to get a big fish on a little reel.

If you consider my rig, there are some definite pros and cons.

-I can cast that thing pretty far with a plug or a 1/16-1/8 oz jig. But I do lose maybe 10-20 percent of my maximum distance that I get with my 7 foot redfish rod and 1/4 oz.

-If you hook a big fish near cover, it's gonna be tough, the short rod limits your leverage, but I've gotten lucky and pulled some 5+ lb bass out of trees here and there.

-While the length can be a hindrance, it also makes it super easy to throw very accurate casts under tree limbs, near cover, and especially from the kayak. I can put a 1/16th oz roostertail right where I want to most of the time, even in some significant cross winds.

-For such a little rod, it's a little more expensive than your standard ugly stik, around 80 bucks, but I found that one on sale for 50 and I've never once regretted that impulse buy. I used to bring a backup rod with a heavier rating when I bass fished, but I just learned I don't need to most of the time, and it no longer makes it to the truck.

I wish you luck, again, spending time at the store trying out rigs is valuable. And a school of white bass on a rig like mine is a singularly great experience.

[TKFStubb]

Where are you located? I'm in East Texas, too.