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Tackling Light and Ultra-Light Lure Fishing

Graham Cornish

It is appropriate to start this article by defining light and ultra light lure fishing. I have used as my guide an American book published in the 'sixties entitled "Spinning - the system that does it all" which I had read some years ago.  In it the author defined ultra light lures as weighing 1/16 th oz - 1/3 oz, or about 2-10 gms in new money, light as being 1/3 oz - 3/4 ozs or 10 - 20 gms. approx. and anything heavier as being heavy! It's interesting to note that the majority of standard lures available commercially weigh about ½ oz - 15 gms. approx. which comes within the light category and it could be said that this is the average weight of lure used nationwide. It could also be said that most of us, most of the time, catch average size fish, note the word most, not all ! My definition of average sized fish being as follows: 

Freshwater: (Jack) Pike 4lbs, Chub 2 ½ lbs., Perch 1lb, Trout all types 2lb Inshore or Estuary Sea: Bass 2 ½ lbs, Pollack 2lbs, Mullet 2 ½ lbs, and Mackerel ¾ lbs. Which gives an overall average of about 2 ½ lbs and one can include more occasional lure caught species. Such as Zander, Rudd, Grayling, Catfish, Wrasse, etc within that figure. Before I upset anyone, I had better say that I consider the above as being my overall average for the purpose of defining my own light and ultra light tackle. 

For all of these fish of average size, I would be happy to use fly rods rated AFTM 9-10 which would also cast a concentrated weight of up to ½ oz. (15 gms.); or a free-lined bait e.g. minnow, lob/ragworrn, prawn etc., thirty yards or so in open water i.e. free of snags. This type of rod would also handle much bigger than average fish given plenty of room such as one has in large lakes or reservoirs or estuary situations. For years I have been modifying my fly rods to suit both a fly and fixed spool reel, usually by increasing the butt length by about 9 inches. The best way of doing this is to have a spigoted extension or a spare butt piece incorporating a fixed spool reel fitting. A fly rod of this rating will also be suitable for lines of 4-8lbs nylon, or if you prefer double this strength in braid. 

I have always preferred fishing on the move exploring small rivers, streams and estuaries inlets and the like and having one rod that will do a multitude of tasks suits my style. Currently my GC Explorer 9 ½ or 10 ft fly spin rod fits the bill. It will cast a big pike fly with fly line or fixed spool and nylon line (with added swan shot) if necessary; or spinner, plug, light jig or small natural bait in any situation, except as said earlier in shaggy environments or fishing at extreme range. This is mostly unnecessary for catching any fish in my opinion, assuming one has learnt the art of stalking. I have gone a stage further with travelling in mind, making my rod a four-piece so that it can be carried in the boot of a car in these lawless days. It will also fit in a suitcase for going abroad, and since I am a bit of an old poacher at heart sticking down your wellie if you wander beyond a boundary! Quickly on to choice of lure which is endless and like most, I suspect my collection is far greater than I can ever use including flies of every type the whole of which would stock a tackle shop. But I do have my favourites and it's appropriate to list them here. I'd prefer to list them by type rather than name although this is inevitable in describing each one: - 

No.1 Baited Spinner - This is an in-line spinner which carries one single size 1/0 light wire worm hook. Weighing about 1/4 oz- (7 gms.) and based on the famous baited spoon principle · devised it for very shallow water 6" - 12" deep and initially for Mullet baited a with natural worm. Incidentally the scrap you get from any fish particularly mullet in very shallow water needs to be experienced to be believed. In this form and also baited with artificial rubber worm or grub, this type of spinner has now accounted for 20 odd species of fish in fresh and salt water. It can of course be fished deeper or even trolled with added lead uptrace. When baited the single hook is virtually weedless and is kinder than trebles on Soft mouth species.

No 2 Spinner Baits - their versatility is renowned and snag resistant capabilities second to none. Available down to ¼ oz. (7gms.) in weight, they are excellent for light luring. Again the single hook, although a bit heavy in the wire, is kinder than trebles to soft mouthed fish.

No 3 Jigs and Rubbers - There are some advantages especially in deep water or vertical lure fishing situations, such as from a boat, pier structure or steep cliffs, for a lure that can be jigged up and down or around snags, rather than cast and retrieved over and possibly into them. They are to some extent 'weedless', with their single, upturned hook, which is also light wired for 'springing' out of snags. There is also merit in the concentrated weight for accurate casting, especially against a headwind. Add a jig-spinner to it and you have a mini-spinnerbait.

No 4 Plugs - the choice is endless but just two types suffice for most of my needs. A surface one such as Crazy Crawler or Jitterbug or similar and floating shallow divers which can be fished deeper by adding weight uptrace, although better for trolling than casting. As they come, shallow divers, as the name plugs suggests, plug the gaps between the purely surface lures and those that sink such as spinners and spoons. I am happy with two types, short fat crank baits and slim minnow patterns in the interest of soft mouth species and incidentally at no detriment to hooking pike I remove at least one of the trebles. In some cases I de-barb the remainder or replace them with smaller fine wired trebles. They penetrate easier and are more forgiving to the fish. Colours for all lures are endless, usually stick to the more natural ones, silver, gold, black, white, red and yellow combinations - alright the Salmo natural range are irresistible!

No 5 Pike Flies - I call them pike flies but some patterns would be suitable for trout, perch, chub, bass, pollack and I have no doubt other foreign predators, especially at sea, streamers especially, which are sub-surface lures.  Floating pike flies incorporating lots of deer hair do the same job as floating plugs only with a little more fineness which may be an advantage for wary pike but certainly one for wary chub in my experience. Another point in their favour is that they are virtually weightless and so will sink very slowly either by their own weight or by the help or fast sinking fly line (or swanshot!) and so can be fished very slowly indeed without snagging. Wary pike have been known to follow a slow sinking fly and actually pick it up of the bottom.  I see no reason why it could not be left there occasionally whilst your casting arm takes a rest, you never know! Slow sinking plugs will act the same way, only you might snag up with all those trebles.  Somehow I feel a fish fight is better with a single hook in its mouth instead of a load of trebles and wood or plastic, though maybe its because I use light lures and light tackle that I get a good scrap from average sized fish. Another thought comes to mind in honour of flies is that a wary fish, especially pike, only have to breathe hard to swallow such a light lure and is less likely to eject it than it would a hard lure.  Another good reason for fishing light. I love it!