[tca1954]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and would like to introduce myself. My name is Tom A. and I live in the Chicago area. I have been fly fishing for about 5 years and fish many for bluegill and bass in local farm ponds around my area. A couple of summers ago I started fly fishing for carp and needless to say have become "hooked" on this type of fishing.

I am an ultra light, light rod enthusiast. The fly rods I own are an Orvis 8" 1 wt. Silver Label, a TFO 8'6" 3 wt. Pro. Series and a Redington RS2 9' 4 wt. I also have an Orvis Power Matrix 9' 6 wt. which I sometimes use for bass.

Here in my area the panfish and bass are not of world record sizes. Most of the bass I catch are 1-1.5 lbs. with an occassional 4-5 pounder. So one of the reasons I went to ultra light was for the challenge and for the fighting feel of the fish. I have caught several 2-3 pounders on all of my rods and I have caught a couple of 4-5 pounders on my 1 wt. alone.

But the real thrill came last summer whenI caught a 12 lb. carp on my 1 wt. I was just fooling around with the 1 wt. when I decided to cast a small nymph to a feeding carp. With proper rod positioning and landing techniques employed it took about 5-7 minutes to get that critter in. Since then I have caught a bunch of good bass and sizable carp with my 1 and 3 wt rods.

I guess what I would like to know is, there any other ultra light fans out there and if so, what type of equip. do you use and what types of fish are you pursuing?

I am also looking for advice on light to ultra light rods and would welcome any input. I am currently looking at the "ought weights" that Sage is offering, as well as Thomas & Thomas's LPT series rods. Specifically the 8'6" 2 wt. they have in that line. And if any body knows of any other light weight offerings out there I would love to get that info. as well.

I have found that bass, carp, bluegill will all take small light weight flies with surprizing regularity. And when lined right I have also found that these light rods cast with ease and allow for all day casting with little fatigue. And for an older guy like me that is a blessing.

Please let me here for you if you are an ultra light fan. Thanks

[xjguy07]

i'm not an ultra light user right now, but i would like to be. i've fished with 3wt rods for bass and pan fish and i gotta say it's a whole lot more fun then useing my 6wt. i'd like to buy one soon but i'm a poor college student and cant afford it lol

[mbezayiff]

I like the action of a ultra light. The fast action of the rod allows me to get into small streams for Brookies when there is an abundance of bushes around. I can control the line in tight spaces with small actions.

[ezamora]

if you ever get into wrapping your own rods, i'd look into getting a dan craft enterprises fly blank. his signature III series as a one weight as well as a 2 i think. the lightest rod i own was wrapped on a dan craft FTL series blank, an 8 foot 3 wt in a 6 piece config.

eric

[robertjkimmel]

Hello all! I'm Rob and have been addicted to fly fishing for a number of years now. I moved to England in '92 from Arizona to go to law school and discovered the lovely chalk streams here in England. Unfortunately, I have to drive quite a distance to fish for trout. There are numerous lakes in my area that have course fish (Roach, Rudd, Carp, Perch) and I have had to adjust to fishing for these species. What I have discovered is that it is more enjoyable to use ultralight fly rods and line (#00 weight to #4 weight) and have had no problems landing fish up to 10 pounds using this gear. By using ultralight rods and 2 to 4 pound test tippet, I can use more force to land the fish because the ultralight rods protect the tippet and I don't fear breaking the line. I can actually catch more and bigger fish using ultralight. If you feel dubious about this visit Bill Byrd's websight at Ultralight fly fishing for most warmwater, coldwater, plus some saltwater species -- with Bill Byrd and read what he has to say. You might just convert to ultralight full time. Let me know your thoughts on this guys. Cheers.

[Jose]

I also like to ultra light it from time to time and got into it after finding the Bill Byrd web site a few years ago. I went out an got a 2wt super fine Orvis rod (an older one from eBay) and went hunting for bass. It's a lot of fun, but you can't really throw big bass flies on it, so I tie on some black marabou with a little green flash and a dear hair head and throw that around. The bass love it. The full flex took some getting use to for me, but I'm a medium flex guy anyway and like the slow action, b/c it's not my nature, so it forces me to stay calm on the water, which is a good thing...for me.