Ultra-light lure-fishing:
—my first forays—
by Paul Dale

FOREWORD by Editor Nick Caine
From what I can gather, Paul's a link-ledger angler and a fly-fisherman who has been goaded into trying-out some ultra-light lure-fishing in order to tackle some of the vey lovely trout and chub in his local Yorkshire rivers Aire and Wharfe, the banks of which are often difficult to fish using his other veryday methods.

So, eschewing dapping  which I'd have probably gone-for, Paul very sensibly decided to get himself genned-up on the increasingly popular ultra-light lure-fishing scene, helped, among many other sources, by Chas Crosby's ace article right here on our website. So, read all about the tackle that Paul got as a result, and how he got-on in his first forays into ultra-light lure-fishing — my bet is that he'll be hooked for good! (some of the pix are from our archives as it's early days yet for Paul, his camera and his UL outfit & captures!)

INTRODUCTION
Over the last few years I have been developing a much simpler and more rewarding type of fishing: this has involved a dramatic reduction in the amount of tackle I need on my outings, leaving me much freer on my forays exploring my local River Aire and casting my link-ledgers or fly-fishing in its likely-looking fishy spots.

FAVOURITE SWIMS
It was on just such one foray, that I came up to one of my favourite swims, home to a good number of large chub that were facing upstream and on the outside of a gentle bend where the newly-oxygenated water has just slowed-down after running over the shallows into this much deeper pool.

As was often the case here, peering through the bank-side undergrowth with my indispensable Polaroids, I spotted a shoal of five or six good fish holding station just under the surface close to the bank. This time I also noticed a large white butterfly struggling in the surface film — needless to say, such a morsel wasn’t going to be ignored …. the chub at the head of the shoal rose gently and took it.

WHAT METHOD, WHAT ROD?
This experience set me thinking that it would be tremendous fun to be able to stalk and target these fish with the minimum of tackle, but without the hassle of fly-fishing in these overgrown reaches that are also often too deep to wade.

I concluded that perhaps ultra-light (UL) lure-fishing might be the way to go* and I was going to give it a crack so, at the beginning of this season, still eager to give UL a shot, I posted a message on Elton Murphy's AnglersNet Forum asking for advice on potential UL tackle purchases. (*dapping also springs to my mind - Editor)

This caused some controversy, as it appears that some anglers don’t want to accept this branch of the sport but by-and-large though, they did appear to be misinformed about the capabilities of modern UL equipment. That aside, much good, appreciated help and encouragement was forthcoming including a pointer to the very good article on Ultra-light Lure-fishing by Chas Crosby right here on Nick's very popular and comprehensive lure-angling & fly-fishing website. (It's also worth reading Dick Devereux's excellent and very relevant article on Flure-fishing, the overlap between fly-fishing and ultra-light lure-fishing — Editor).

IT'S ULTRA-LIGHT !
With some very experienced anglers singing its praises, it quickly became apparent that Daiwa’s 7ft Samurai-S rod would be a very good choice, and a link to a dealer selling one for only £52 had me quickly reaching for my credit card — the rod arrived only a couple of days later, excellent service,

My initial observations of the rod left me a little unsure about the reel-seat design which had a two-part, quality, cork handle joined by a plastic shroud, part of the screw-down reel seat, over a short exposed section of the blank. In practice though, these fears have proved unfounded with the design being both comfortable and practical.

WHICH REEL?
Choosing a reel for my set- up proved to be a little more difficult. This was in part due to my desire to get fishing as soon as possible and the dearth of suitable reels available locally. I suppose my heart was set on finding one of the seemingly excellent small ABU spinning reels and my plan was to try to achieve a balanced set-up after following the advice that I'd read in the articles i.e. to try-out any potential reels on the rod for balance first, prior to my actual final purchase, as opposed to purchasing one unseen and untested balance-wise e.g by mail-order.

However, the only reel that I found and felt suitable, bearing in mind that I wanted a front-drag model, was the Mitchell 308X although this has left me with more of a tip-heavy outfit than I would like, due to its loaded weight of 8.6 oz.

The Mitchell had also been recommended by one of AnglersNet's American contributors although he suggested I check-out the 10 ball-bearing model whereas the one I bought only sported 5 bearings, although the reel feels smooth and well-built enough to me.

It has a gear ratio of 5.5:1 and is supplied with two spools, one of which is of the all-important polished metal variety, both featuring a very good twist on/off quick change system. My only major gripe is the flimsy feel to the plastic locking knob on the ambidextrous handle although Mitchell may well have deliberately modelled this on their classic reels of old.

WHAT LINE & WHICH WIRE?
Line choice was easy at the time as I wanted to try-out the set-up on the River Wharfe that very evening and all that I had available was 15 lb BS Newtech PowerCable braid.

I wasn’t expecting old Esox to put in an appearance but erred on the side of caution and made up a trace of Fenwick's excellent 12 lb BS Iron Thread braided and coated alloy leader.

FIRST FORAYS
Evening saw me on the River Wharfe at Addingham wearing a pair of chest waders, a waistcoat, net and a selection of small spinners and some 6cm Rapala floating minnows. I was accompanied by my mate Kevin, a staunch fly-fisherman, who was interested in my new-found UL tackle, but somewhat dismissive, but the weather was warm but very breezy which proved to be his undoing later on.

For my first few casts I opted for an Ondex No.2, and my new outfit's casting abilities soon proved a real revelation — I immediately found that I could cast the small spinner very accurately underneath bank-side trees from 20 yards with an unfussed horizontal cast to keep the trajectory low. This was tremendously impressive and good for ones confidence. No fish were forthcoming but I was becoming engrossed in this simple but delightful form of fishing. I was particularly impressed with the way I could cast into very shallow, fast water without seeming to foul-up on anything. As I say, I didn’t catch on that first evening but I know from my fly-fishing that plenty of trout lie-up here in ambush ..... and on another day......

IMMEDIATE ACTION
A move upstream to slower, deeper water and a change of lure to a natural-looking minnow brought immediate action. My first cast must have landed right above a lurking brown trout as the lure was engulfed immediately it hit the water.

The braid transmitted all that was happening at the lure-end of my tackle, to my new, very communicative Samurai-S rod which lurched and bent in a very satisfying way — the result was an immaculate fish of about a pound .... magic!

After a further hour or so and several lure changes, I managed a few plucks but no more hook-ups and although there were plenty of fish around, they were preoccupied by the abundant fly hatches going on.

SAVAGING THE SPINNER
After a break for coffee, we decided to fish the very slow-moving water above a nearby weir. Choosing a Rainbow Trout-patterned Mepps Aglia No.1 spinner, I immediately started catching more brown trout, which were absolutely savaging the lure. There was no need for particularly accurate casting here as fish were all over the place but it did highlight for me that substantial casting distances could be achieved with this set-up, easily exceeding 40 yds if required.

My fly-fishing friend Kevin soon got fed-up with his futile, fishless battle against the breeze and we took it in turn to catch a dozen or so nice trout with my new Daiwa rod and Mitchell reel — all-in-all it was a most successful first outing with my ultra-light gear....... roll-on the River Aire and its large chub to really give it a testing.

ULTRA-LIGHT SUMMARY
To sum up briefly, my ultra-light gear has more than matched my expectations of it so far. The only change which I want to make, is to change my main line braid to 10 lb BS Berkley Whiplash Pro as it’s ample enough for the job I have in mind; the PowerCable is best suited to heavier lure-fishing.

That said, as far as my reel goes, I still have my heart set on one of those small ABU reels and maybe Santa will put one on his list for me.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on my progress with my new-found ultra-light tackle as I'm hoping to do a follow-up article in the long term. Do yourself a favour too, and give UL a try — you'll be as pleased and surprised as me, for sure.

Paul Dale

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