# ? light or ultralight tackle



## Ron_W. (Dec 14, 2006)

I'm looking to buy myself a new light to ultra light rod and reel, keeping it under a $100 if possible. The problem is that most rigs I see are the short ultra light models. I would like to get some decent casting distance with 1/8th to 1/32th ounce lures with a rod of atleast 6 feet long. Most of the light rigs I see are so soft action that they really whip ineffectively if you try to put much power into the cast. I would hope for 75' plus casting distance with 6 to 8 lb test mono, I may occasionaly spool up with 4lb.

Any thoughts on brands, models and setups apperciated


----------



## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

I recently bought a 6' BPS microlite rod model MLT60LS and coupled it with a Shimano Sedona 750FB reel. I've been fishing with it exclusively sice I got it, and have been having a blast. It's a nice, balanced outfit that casts accurately and has enough power to handle some decent fish (for an ultralight rod of course). Been throwing mostly 1/16 oz roadrunners with it, but have aslo been tossing some ultalight crankbaits as well as some of the tiny YoZuri Pin's minnows. 

Been getting mostly crappie with it, but have also landed a pile of bass to 7 lbs on it, which is a super-fun catch on this setup. Honestly any fish is super-fun on this setup which is why we all buy ultralights!

I used to have a Loomis ultralite rod that I blew a boatload on, but it had so much power in it I didn't consider it an ultralight and didn't cast as well as this rod does. 

Also when I bought this combo I looked at a few models of reels, both Shimano and others. I chose the Sedona as it was by far the smoothest feeling drivetrain I could find in an ultalite, and that was including other shimano reels the next two steps up in price. 

I've been fishing it with ultralight powerpro and a flouro leader, so I couldn't comment on how far it will cast with mono. 

-T


----------



## Ron_W. (Dec 14, 2006)

Thanks. That sounds like it's the kind of set up I'm looking for, light but not a noodle. I have fished 8lb PP before on a medium light set up and had constant tip wraps and guide wraps on cheaper rods with only 5 or 6 guides but I was whiping out some long cast. I'm assumeing that has not ben a problem with your outfit. Also how long do you rig your floro and do you reel it up into the guides before you cast?


----------



## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

I was in your shoes it sounds like when I was shopping for an UL setup. Wanted something decent and didn't want to shell out a bunch of $$ to catch tiny fish. I think I have ~$80 in this complete setup and I'm real happy with it. I actually _wanted_ to spend more on a reel, but after messing with the Sedona I was really impressed. I wound up buying a matching second outfit for my wife, but somehow hers catches more and bigger fish than mine. Haven't gotten that figured out yet....

The trick with powerpro is not to fill to the lip of the spool, otherwise you WILL have problems. It's so light that it will come off the end of the spool before it's supposed to if you fill a spinning reel to the edge, leading to "wind knots". With mono, I always tried to fill reels to the very brim to gain that extra bit of line on the reel. Avoid this urge with powerpro, trust me there's enough on there because of the small diameter. 

This alone will solve 95% of the problems most have with powerpro. 

If you do wind up with a loop hanging off the end of the spool for some reason, close the bail, and pull line off the reel using your drag (loosen your drag if you need to). This will pull the loop off when it's ready. If you keep your bail open and try to pull line off that way, you'll only wind up with the loop coming off with a bunch more line wrapped around it and trust me, it'll frustrate you. 

If for some reason you wind up with a tangled mess in the powerpro when you cast, resist the urge to just pull it tight at all costs! Take a minute or two and it'll usually be easy to get straightened out. Use the tip of a hook to pull the lops apart. If you pull it tight, forget it! If this happens more than once or twice, chances are you have too much on your reel. If you follow the above two rules this should rarely, if ever, happen. 

I have not had any issues with it wrapping the guides on the little microlite outfit, so the guide size, placement and number must have been setup correctly. Funny thing is, now that you mention it, I DID consistantly have that problem with the ~$300 Loomis rod! Go figure. 

As far as the leaders, on this outfit being it's ultralite and I'm using such thin line and leader (6-8lb flouro), the knots are so small they go through the guides effortlessly. So I use about 3-4' of flouro and use a uni-to-uni splice which is a 100% knot and super-small. On my saltwater spinning/casting outfits, I run a shorter length of leader as the leader is heavier and will cause problems casting if you reel it into the guides. 

A note about the leader, I've been using Berkley Vanish for leader on a lot of my outfits. You can buy it as a *LINE* in spools from I think 4lb up to 50lb test, and it's uuber-cheap for flouro, like $7 to $9 for 300 yards. However, if you pick up a spool of Berkley Vanish *LEADER* material, you wind up with about 25 yards, at a cost of about $15. I don't know that there is any difference, but I have not noticed any and have been using it from everything from snook and reds to sails and cobia without a hitch. 

One thing you'll notice pretty quick with the powerpro is that you can tell what kind of fish you have the instant you get a bite, as you can feel every action of the fish. I kinda like that. Also resist the urge to set the hook with this stuff and an ultralite outfit. Just pull back smoothly as most ultralite hooks are so thin they don't need much pressure to penetrate. 

Have fun and post some pics!

-T


----------



## LoneRanger (Dec 11, 2006)

dont kno9w if thisw will help but stcroix make a nice light rod in an scIII gfraphite that would make a killer blank for what you want- I have the scIII in a 7foot light power rod and it's probably heavier than what you want (its my light redfish rod)

the blank I am thinking of is 6'6" I believe.


L.R.


----------



## Big_Fish (Dec 10, 2006)

I get mine at wal mart for under twenty and have caught my biggest bass to date on it


----------



## Ron_W. (Dec 14, 2006)

Thanks all for the input.
Tom thanks for takeing time to give the details. I learned the pulling wind knots off with the bail closed trick several years ago. Everyone who's fishing spinning with braid should know this trick. It makes useing braid much less frustrateing. As far as heavy floro leaders (20lb) I did find that the area of the knot, uni or other wise was stressed to much if it was constantly reeled up into the guides and then whipped out on a long hard cast. This lead to popping the line around the knot on the cast or hook set nearly every trip. I shortened my leaders on my flats rigs to less than 2 feet and now keep the knot outside the tip, problem solved. I can see the smaller knot with lighter line and less stress on it may present no problems.

LR- I have a 7'6" St, Croix ML it's my favorite flats rod.

Big fish- I picked up a $20 Diawa rig, it's not bad at all for a dirt cheap rig but it's not suiting my needs. Funny thing is it's marked medium action for lures to 5/8oz but it's extremely limber. Not really suited to lures that heavy to my mind. Cast a 3 inch Rapala pretty good though.


----------



## Ron_W. (Dec 14, 2006)

Hit Bass pro in Orl Monday, picked up a 6'6" Microlite rated 1 to 6lb line 1/32 to 1/4oz lures. Has a limber tip but fast action with good backbone for a light outfit. Spooled up with 6lb XT it will cast a 1/16oz jig a hundred feet in the back yard with no problem. I picked up a shimono sienna on sale in the 2500 size, a little larger but the 750 sedona holds less than 90yds of 6lb so if I give the reds a shot with this rig I wanted a little more capacity. Just need a few cooperative fish now to help preformance test it.

Also picked up some other sale items at BPS. The $50 Browning stainless pliers are on sale for $29 and the $29 BPS boca grip tool with scale is $19. They appear to be decent tools for the price. Sale goes thru the weekend.


----------

