LIGHT & ULTRA-LIGHT
LURE-FISHING
by Chas Crosby

There's mega-lure and jerkbait fishing, medium and large lure-angling, and then there's light and ultra-light lure-fishing — the latter technique almost overlaps with fly-fishing, the other major method featured in our webpages, and so that makes it a very good fit as far as topics for our web-site go !

Even better, we've managed to get an old friend of mine, fly-fisher and lure-angler "Suffolk Boy"  Chas Crosby, to share some of his experiences and ideas about what seems to be quite a contentious subject for reasons that we hope he will explain!

Also, we have to say that we've had a netfull of feedback on this article, mainly pro, some con and some neutral, but most of all I must add that Chas has recently e-mailed us with this postscript:-

"Dear Nick, Can you please add to my article about light-lure fishing that through an inexplicable oversight on my part, I somehow forgot to include mention of John Worzencraft as a leading exponent of UL fishing in the UK, something that more than one reader has pointed out to me in quite strong terms. So sorry, Nick & readers of his website and my article, and sorry John for the omission, and thanks for letting me use your drawing of a trace-end set-up. Tight lines and light lures to y'all, Sincerely, Chas Crosby."

"ULTRA-LIGHT" means ultra-light LURES not ultra-light TACKLE !
There was a time, before the advent of SiC-lined rod-rings, carbon-fibre rods and braided main lines, when you had no option but to use lightweight and not very strong lure-fishing tackle in order to able to cast light and ultra-light lures, but not any more!

Thanks to these quantum leaps in technology, it's now not only possible but sensible to cast tiny lures using much stronger tackle. Similarly on the fly-fishing scene, all but gone are the heavy lines and split-cane rods (still loved and cherished by some !) to be replaced by modern high-tech fly lines and ultra-strong, ultra-light carbon-fibre rods.

Definitions & Confusion
I think that the main area where unnecessary confusion and heated debate arises, concerns the definition of light and ultra-light lures, and just how you fish these tiny lures. Personally, I think a lot of people confuse ultra-light lures with an assumed need, which there isn't any more, to use ultra-light i.e. not very strong tackle.

Also there has perhaps also been some confusion between lure size & length, and actual lure weight — for example, most people regard a 7 cm (2.75 inch) Rapala Jointed Floating Minnow as a light/ultra-light lure when in fact, size-wise it's not all that small. Similarly Mepps Aglia Longue spinners, Sizes 2 or 3, aren't exactly tiny as far as their physical size goes but weight-wise they are surely light/ultra-light.

I don't want to add to the confusion with my own ideas about the definitions of light and ultra-light lure sizes or weights so I'm going to use some other people's broad guidelines — there is a large body of opinion in the light/ultra-light lure-fishing world that, irrespective of physical dimensions, lures which weigh from say approximately 5 to 10 gm (1/6th to 1/3rd oz) are light and those weighing less than 5 gm are ultra-light.

Now, I'm not about to argue with that — that'll do just fine for me — it's no big deal after all, is it? In fact, having said all that, I go much more on physical size than actual lure weight.

DIY Rods
Before specially-designed rods for this type of fishing became more easily available in the UK, like many other fellow light/ultra-light enthusiasts such as David "The Maestro" Smith, Peter Waller, Martin "No Prisoners" Harding, Graham "Jekyll & Hyde" Cornish and many others of that ilk, who are far more experienced in this technique than me, I used to turn the strength and lightness of an 8 or 9ft 7-9 AFTMA-rated fly-rod into a beautifully powerful lure-fishing rod for small lures — the fly-rod rings are on the small side for optimal ultra-light lure casting distance, though, I have to say.

Getting the reel mount in the right place for decent balance is simply a matter of removing the butt-end plug of your chosen fly-rod and then finding a suitable short section of blank with the right external diameter, complete with handle, from your local tackle dealer's rod graveyard, to insert up inside the fly-rod blank's internal diameter to make a neat and cheap butt extension — you can either leave this butt extension as a removable insert, giving you two rods for the price of one, or you can glue it in permanently.

Specialised Tackle
As I've said, fortunately nowadays you can get kitted-out with a relatively strong lure-rod that will handle 20 lb pike with no trouble while, at the same time, having the ability to cast lures with weights down to 1 gm or less.

This wouldn't be possible without the modern rod technology, high-tech ring-lining materials and the ultra-strong but ultra-thin braided main lines that have transformed all aspects of lure-fishing, from ultra-heavyweight jerkbaits to ultra-lightweight lures.

Now you can easily and safely use 20 lb or even 30 lb BS braided main lines, preferably with a drop or two of line lubricant, to distance-cast ultra-light lures very accurately. These braids have have much smaller diameter compared with the same BS nylon or copolymer mono, and braids also have very little stretch and so they give very good bite-indication.

Although I have heard it said and seen it written many times, apparently these modern ultra-thin braids do suffer from relatively poor abrasion resistance compared with monos of the same BS, which have much larger diameters, so I suppose that makes sense — it's just something to be aware of, although I have to say that I haven't experienced any major problems with braids to date.

Reel Choice and Balanced Set-up
I'd suggest that you try-out the butt-extended fly-rod route to get the feel of light/ultra-light lure-fishing and only if you find that it delivers the success that you've been led to believe, take the plunge and buy a pukka lure-fishing rod designed to handle light and ultra-light lures.

Nick has asked me to include some examples of such rods and I'd have to say that most are only available from the USA but that there are a couple from UK sources and I'd have to include Daiwa's Samurai-S range on that list.

As for which reel to use, for such light lures weighing down to 1 gm or less, I've found that a small, well-balanced fixed-spool reel with a polished metal spool and good centre or rear drag is ideal. Several manufacturers supply suitable small fixed-spool reels — just go for the smallest in their range e.g. the "1000" or "2000" models or their equivalents. Personally I've been using the smallest of Abu's centre-drag CD4 range of reels for the last couple of seasons.

It's always best to check the reel on your rod first, to make sure that the whole set-up is well-balanced and comfortable in your hand — this means that you'll be able to fish for hours on end without fatigue and to cast accurately and non-spookingly, and get ultra-quick bite-sensitivity at the same time. However, if you want to follow the advice of another camp of so-called ultra-light experts, and to go for tip-heavy tackle, that's up to you, but don't say I didn't warn you !

Fish Care First !
Whatever particular lure-fishing technique you're using, fish care must always come first, so never take any unnecessary risks with your tackle, especially if you're fishing the light fantastic! If you're fishing in a very snaggy venue, then it pays to increase the BS of your braid or perhaps even change to a good mono with better abrasion resistance and some more forgiving stretch, but without using a lower BS ! OK, so it will affect your casting a bit, but what price the safety of fish and the environment?!

You can read a lot more about the PROs and CONs of monos and braids in the many reviews and tackle tests in the Tackle Section of this website.

What Ultra-Light Tackle ?
As the specialised rods for lightweight lure-fishing and the high-tech braided main lines are already featured in many of the other articles in Nick Caine's Tackle Section, and I've made mention of some suggestions already, above, there's no real need for me to repeat that advice here, but what I do want to emphasise is the need to use a trace at all times.

Which Wire ?
Although a trace wire will inevitably affect the action of your smaller lures, it's vital to use a trace, unless you are absolutely certain that there are no toothy predators in your venue. Unfortunately for light/ultra-light enthusisasts, and despite much hype and many claims, wire technology hasn't really caught-up with the other advances that have made light and ultra-light fishing so much stronger and safer. That said, a bog-standard 15 lb BS 7-strand wire like Drennan is still OK for all but the lightest of lures.

Nowadays there are some very nice specialised wires available from the American Fishing Wire company — they're quite expensive though — if you want to read more about them, have a look at my separate review of them in the Tackle Section because I do tend to use these wires a lot these days, despite their extra cost, because they are strong and supple, and don't affect the action of my tiny lures any more than can be helped.

Strength with Suppleness
And then there's the problem of keeping the weight and visibility of your whole trace-end tackle to an absolute minimum without sacrificing any strength. I usually use a size 10 or 12 swivel between my main line and trace wire and at the other end I use a nice method that I learnt from another leading ultra-light enthusiast, and that's to use a tiny carp rig-ring instead of a swivel, and to attach my tiny lure to it, not with a lock-link, but with a small but strong split-ring! Neat, hey? And, what's more, you never lose any lures or fish because your snap-lok-link has sprung or pulled open on a snag or whatever!

Essential Stealth and Camouflage
Of course, as has been said and written many, many times by other lure-anglers far more experienced than me, the technique of light and ultra-light lure-fishing on its own won't necessarily deliver you the results which you hope — you've also got to help by loading the dice even more in your favour as far as not being seen or heard by your quarry is concerned.

It's a very good idea to wear some ex-Army or similar camouflaged clothing — it's cheap and hard-wearing and it is a major factor in lure-fishing successes whether you're using jerkbaits or ultra-lightweights! And you're wasting your time if you go ultra-light lure-fishing with ultra-loud clothing and ultra-heavy foot-steps — that 20 lb pike will see and hear you coming a mile off !

Which Species ?
I think that the answer to the question about which species you can catch with light and ultra-light lures clearly illustrates the unique strengths of this technique because the answer is "Almost anything and everything" — pike (of course), perch (naturally), zander (if you can find and fool them), chub (sure), trout (easily), rudd (yes), sea-trout (if you're stealthy), bass (off the rocks), salmon (in passing), grayling (beautiful) .. and so on .. the list is endless, nearly!

Which Lures ?
Light and ultra-light lures can be put into quite a few very broad, general and over-lapping groups — here are just a few suggestions to be going-on with:-

• Flies, fly-spinners & fly-spoons: Mepps Mouche are good, so are custom-designed flies for pike because they'll catch plenty of other species too.
• Surface lures: Rebel Tiny Pop-R; Arbogast Jitterbug; Heddon Tiny Crazy Crawler and Teeny Torpedo. Light rather than ultra-light are: small Luhr Jensen Woodchopper, small Heddon Moss Boss.
• Insect & other Mimics: Rebel Cater-Crawler, BumbleBug; Teeny Frog.
• Plugs — where should I start?! Try the whole range of Rebel ultra-light lures plus some small minnows from Storm, Rapala and others: a 5 or 7 cm Rapala Floating Jointed minnow is a must, and the smallest Husky Jerk, oh and the tiny Risto or Fat Rap; Baby Manns 1-Minus; Shakespeare Mini-S; Bagley Small Fry series especially the Crawfish; Tiny Heddon Tadpolly; smallest KwikFish or Lazy Ike; Bomber Fat A; small Cordell Shad; PradCo Excaliber Ghost Minnows.
• Grubs, jigs and soft plastic/rubber beasties: suppliers too numerous to mention!
• Spinners — hackled, baited or with a tiny plastic teaser-tail: try a tiny Ondex if you can get hold of any these days, now that the Rublex company has gone! Of course Mepps Aglia and Aglia are good, as are Worden's Sonic Rooster Tails
• Spinnerbaits — there are some super UL spinnerbaits around: I just love Worden's Super Rooster Tails, Small Bomber Bushwhackers are good too!
• Spoons, of the tiny variety, also spinner-spoons: many different suppliers around. The 4gm Aby Toby is probably my most successful lightweight spoon across all the predatory species.

Of course, there are many, many more light and ultra-light lures — the ones I have listed are just a sample of some of my many favourites and maybe they'll become yours too.

Hooks & Other Things
Sadly but true, many lures, whether they're normal weight, lightweight or jerkbaits, come with hooks that are really only fit for crushing and dumping in the bin — it's really annoying and not cheap to replace hooks on a new lure that you've just bought but in the interests of so many factors, it's just got to be done!

Many original hooks are too heavy, too large, aren't very sharp and have barbs that are far too large — they usually come with over-sized split-rings too ! The best solution is to replace them with smaller, lighter but strong hooks with smaller, preferably whisker, barbs, or just crush the normal barbs.

As well as reducing the size of their treble hooks, many anglers also prefer to reduce the number of trebles and/or to replace their treble hooks by double or single hooks and this reduces lure weights at the same time.

If you want to know more about hooks and their replacement, may I suggest that you read Chris Jeffries excellent article about them in the Tackle Section — as for which replacment hooks I myself use, well, I use quite a few different brands, mainly chemically-sharpened ones, particularly Gamakatsu trebles, and Drennan singles, but that said, I know a lot of lure-anglers who swear by the cheaper ones from Eagle Claw — it's your choice.

What Advantages ?
As for what advantages ultra-light lure-fishing has over fly-fishing or middle-weight lure-fishing, the honest answer is not a lot except that it probably has the edge as far as number of different species is concerned, but it's so close to fly-fishing with large flies or fly-spinners, that there's little to choose between the techniques. One of the main things though, for me anyway, is that light/ultra-light lure-fishing is a whole ot of fun.

That said, non-spooking ultra-light lures have also got to be a big advantage on a lot of venues, especially shallower, clear-water venues. It's very much a matter or personal choice and preference and I would say that, as someone who probably fly-fishes and lure-fishes in about equal amounts, there's very little to choose between the two techniques, although I just have that sneaking feeling that the bigger specimens of the major predators do tend to grab lures more readily than flies — why don't you try it for yourself?

Much better to do that than to argue about, condemn or criticise a technique before you've actually tried it over a good period of time — have a go: you won't be disappointed ! Chas Crosby

Nick's Notes
If you've got any questions or comments about this article, please click here to e-mail me, Nick Caine, The Editor.

Got to say that we've had a netfull of feedback on Chas's article, mainly pro, some con and some neutral, but most of all I must add that Chas has recently e-mailed us with this postscript:-

"Dear Nick, Can you please add to my article about light-lure fishing that through an inexplicable oversight on my part, I somehow forgot to include mention of John Worzencraft as a leading exponent of UL fishing in the UK, something that more than one reader has pointed out to me in quite strong terms. So sorry, Nick & readers of his website and my article, and sorry John for the omission, and thanks for letting me use your drawing of a trace-end set-up. Tight lines and light lures to y'all, Sincerely, Chas Crosby."

Please click the Key-Chem logo button
to go back to our Home Page