There are far too many anglers among us who believe that the most effective way to catch a fish is to go to their local super center, spend fifty bucks on a decent medium action rod and reel combo, spool said reel with eight pound test, and be done with it. Although this might be a popular way to go about the sport of fishing, it's surely not very effective and most certainly not very fun. Three quarters of the fun of fishing (at least for me) is fighting my catch.

This is where ultra light fishing comes into play. Many anglers think that ultralight fishing means using equipment the size used in ice fishing with line with the strength of human hair! This is a fallacy! Ultra light fishing actually means using equipment that is equal to what the angler is fishing for. For example, I use four pound test monofilament for most of my trout fishing. Most anglers think this line is much too "small", but when you think about it, four pound test monofilament will hold four pounds of weight without breaking. How often do you hook into a fish bigger than four pounds while trout fishing? Not very often, if ever. And the more proficient you become with your ultra light gear, the bigger the fish you can land. I've personally landed four pound trout on four pound test, and my mentor would regularly land trout even bigger than that on four pound test monofilament.

The good thing about ultralight fishing is that it doesn't have to be used for trout only. The same principles can be applied to other types of fishing as well. When I fish in Canada, for example, I fish for Smallmouth Bass and Walleye. These fish can grow to larger than the average trout, so I need something a bit larger than my trout setup. I'll use a medium-light to medium action rod, spooled with six pound monofilament. With this sized setup I can land Smallmouth up to five pounds, and Walleye up to seven or eight pounds. The beautiful thing about this is that it's still ultra light fishing.

What you will find is that the fish that you catch will put up a proper fight. You won't simply be "winching" them in. Where's the thrill in that? I've personally never found any fun ib simply "winching" in a fish. You'll also find that you get many more bites using line that's matched to what you're fishing for. The smaller the test of the line, the thinner and less visible it is, it's as simple as that. I'll give you a real life example. I was fishing my normal river with live worms and gang hooks tied on six pound test monofilament. I had been fishing for about three hours with no bites, when I got snagged and broke my last gang hook. I had to tie a new one on the river and all I had was four pound test line, so that's what I used. I began catching trout after trout, it was crazy, and the only thing that changed was the size of the line that my gang hooks were tied on! This experience made me a believer.

What it comes down to, in my estimation, is that ultra light fishing is using a rod, reel, line, and tackle that's matched to what you're trying to catch, rather than using equipment that's much too large. It's as simple as that. Give it a shot and find out for yourself how much fun ultra light fishing can be.