Species You Can Catch with UL Tackle

There are quite a few different species you can catch with ultralight fishing gear. If you are lucky enough to live in areas that have multiple species available, you will want to take the time to make sure you have the lures, and baits necessary to catch them. Below are some of the fish that I am lucky enough to catch on a regular basis, and the types of lures that I prefer to use for each specific species.

Black Bass – Black bass are one of my favorite species to catch. For a simple day on the water you can use plastic worms and topwater poppers. If you prefer to cast and retrieve a little more, instead of hopping and popping the lures, you can also use spinners and spinnerbaits, as well as crankbaits. The black bass family ranges from largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass. Largemouth prefer more natural colors, while spotted and smallmouth bass will easily take bright, chartreuse colored lures.
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Trout – Trout can be incredibly fickle, and spooky, which makes them great targets for ultralight anglers. To maximize your chances for catching them in moving water, you are going to want to make sure that you are casting upstream, and working the lure back downstream towards you slightly faster than the current is moving. This will help keep the lure off the bottom and give the fish a chance to snag it without alerting them to any smells, or noise that you’re producing. You can use small marabou jigs, insect replicas and weighted flies, or even a small hook with worms on the end of it.
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Crappie – I love catching crappie on ultralight gear. When they are biting it is easy to bag 50 fish per outing without spending the entire day on the water. For incredibly fast action, make sure that you can easily locate them, either with sonar, or by knowing where brush piles and other structure has been placed under the water, and then use some proven Crappie lures. Some of my favorites are the Road Runner and Crappie Thunder by Blakemore, inline spinners, and small plastic or marabou jigs.
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Panfish – Panfish are pretty aggressive for their size. When the other fish aren’t biting, you can almost always count on the panfish taking your offerings. Because they are so aggressive it doesn’t usually take long to find them. By simply casting into the water, and alerting them to something falling in, you can typically get them to scurry over to where you’re at to check out what you’re offering. Some of my favorite ways to catch a lot of panfish are Bettlespins, or a plain old hook with a small piece of bread, or corn attached underneath a light bobber.
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Catfish – Catfish have accounted for some of my biggest, and most memorable catches on ultralight gear. When you hook into one they simply do not want to give up. They scan the bottom of the water searching for any scents that may smell like a good meal, and take it into their big, gaping mouths. The method that I use to catch them in my local waters is usually a treble hook with a special blend of bread, peanut butter, and Life cereal underneath a float. If you really want to catch big catfish on your ultralight gear, try going fishing for them in the late afternoon, near dusk, or even at night with a bell attached to your rod!