going ultralight (fly gear)

[Night goat]

i always knew the time would come...

im deciding to get an ultralight fly fishing set up for high mountain streams, lakes, and beaver ponds, and for beating up on the local panfish. basically a little-fish set up with the just-in-case capability for a big one relative to the body of water. there is a bunch of gear out there and thought id get some opinions on my ideas.

the idea for the purpose of this gear is mainly for backpacking and getting into the hard to get places. its gotta be carried in a pack, be light weight, and to be able to fish from shore, but also be able to get out onto the water. one of my favorite ponds have a ring of deadfall around the shore making for limited casts, with the center of the lake being free of obstructions

my first thoughts were to just get a tenkara set up and a pack-raft like the Kokopelli hornet but then i started doing some research

the next thought is a half or one-weight fly rod with reel, plenty of 15lbs spectra backing, and an ultralight float tube and light weight waders.

pack raft or float tube
waders or nope
tenkara vs ultralight rod/reel
paddles vs flippers
brand vs brand?

thoughts?

weight and pack space is my primary issue, as this is going to be gear for getting into those hard to reach places, whether that be a multi day hike up to the alpine lakes, half a days drive up some logging road, or to stuff into my pack, and take to shore while out on my sailboat, only to hike a few miles up to a lake for some trout action.

i dont aim to target large fish, although one of the thrills about fishing small water is when you actually do get into something of size, so thats kind of why im leaning towards having a reel with plenty of backing so even though id be using ultra or micro-lite gear, id at least have backing, too much on the market but im either sold on a reddington butterstick or a TFO  fines half-weight if i go the traditional rod route

again, love to hear some thoughts

[acrocker]

I went through much the same process not long ago, for working small mountain creeks that in may cases don't have a lot or room to work with... Ended up getting a Tenkara rod and a 2 wt. If you go any lighter than 2, you can't hardly get line for it (I think it's spun from Unicorn manes) and it's so fragile that if you think bad thoughts about the rod itself it shatters into a million pieces. A 2wt is very tiny, most are in the 5-7 ft range, and a 6 inch trout will feel like a steelhead on them...

Just my 2 cents worth, and happy fishing either way!

[Night goat]

I went through much the same process not long ago, for working small mountain creeks that in may cases don't have a lot or room to work with... Ended up getting a Tenkara rod and a 2 wt. If you go any lighter than 2, you can't hardly get line for it (I think it's spun from Unicorn manes) and it's so fragile that if you think bad thoughts about the rod itself it shatters into a million pieces. A 2wt is very tiny, most are in the 5-7 ft range, and a 6 inch trout will feel like a steelhead on them...

Just my 2 cents worth, and happy fishing either way!

okay well lets include a 2wt, so half-to-two weight.

a 6 inch trout feeling like a steelhead is kind of what im hoping for

[Bill W]

some of the light ones are hard to set the hook with.  just a heads up.

[jackelope]

If you’re seriously considering float tubes as a means of fishing on this venture, I’d get something heavier than a 2 wt. Only because I’m trying to picture throwing flies sitting way down in the water in a tube with a short fly rod and I’m seeing that being really difficult. Also when I think lakes I think of dry flies once in a while, but also a lot of leech and bugger type flies. You’re not going to be able to throw those flies very well with a 2wt. I fish a lot with a 7.5’ 4 weight and it’s a great rod for small fish in tight quarters. I wish it was a 3 weight I guess, but other than that it’s great. Also I’m not sure the weight savings will be legit enough to sacrifice castability.
(Is that a word?)

[hollymaster]

I have a 7.5ft 3 weight. I wouldn’t go any lighter and don’t even try using it in the float tube. Need some length trying to cast more than a few feet sitting at water level. 

[jackelope]

So is your thought to get something like a 9’ 2wt?

[7mmfan]

I went through much the same process not long ago, for working small mountain creeks that in may cases don't have a lot or room to work with... Ended up getting a Tenkara rod and a 2 wt. If you go any lighter than 2, you can't hardly get line for it (I think it's spun from Unicorn manes) and it's so fragile that if you think bad thoughts about the rod itself it shatters into a million pieces. A 2wt is very tiny, most are in the 5-7 ft range, and a 6 inch trout will feel like a steelhead on them...

Just my 2 cents worth, and happy fishing either way!

okay well lets include a 2wt, so half-to-two weight.

a 6 inch trout feeling like a steelhead is kind of what im hoping for

A 6" trout is still going to feel like a 6" trout on a 1 wt, he's just going to bend it a little more than a 4 wt. Like others have said, you want a little length in your rod if fishing from a float tube. Also, you wont hardly be able to cast a bead head nymph let alone a bugger with a 1 wt. Unless you just plan on trolling or making super short casts. I think an ideal lightweight, high lake float tube rod is an 8' 3 wt. You can buy  ones that are so light you hardly know your holding them.

[Night goat]

So is your thought to get something like a 9’ 2wt?

well you tell me? so my favorite lake is a 2200 foot elevation gain in 3 miles, not saying where but, it's a b1tch to get to, but has good fish and is amazing dry fly action but bank access is super limited as beavers have munched anything they could so the lake is 50% deadfall with a nice opening the in the middle. guaranteed if I could get a packraft or tube up there it very well may be the first boat ever to touch those waters and if that's the case I can assure you those fish have never ever seen a wooley bugger, so theoretically I could troll around as a shorter rod would facilitate ease of use in a tiny craft like a packraft or tube, however the ability to Huck a dry fly would also be nice.

fishing sceario #2 is creeks and boulder pools and moving water in the mountains. I usually don't have enough room for a back cast and if I do it's not much beyond a slight flip.

I'm not beyond taking 2 rods if needed, but normally speaking my go to 5 or 6 weights are just so much overkill for what I fish for when I'm hiking, which is why I originally thought tenkara

so scenario 3, and I'm saying this just cuz of pure sport, the lake up by my mom's house is a 11 min walk from her place and has a rediculous number of bass bluegill sunfish and perch and you can literally have 100+ (catch and release) fish days, and hopping in the canoe with a 6 pack and an ultralight fly rod after work just sounds like a hoot, especially when you have a bluegill the size of your phone bending your rod in half with onlookers thinking you have a monster on.

don't know. I rarely end up buying what I think I want, which is why I ask questions and do research

[jackelope]

That’s 3 different rods if it was up to me

Fly rods only weigh a few ounces a piece. I don’t think I’d personally sacrifice performance with a dinky rod. I’d do a 4 piece 8’ 4wt for the beaver lake.
A 7’ 2-3wt for the little stream and it sounds like you’ve got 6wt’s. I’d go with a 9-10’ 6wt for the bass lake. I have a fast 10’ 6wt that I over-line with a 7wt line and it’ll throw bombs with big flies. It’s got a fighting butt on it that allows me to Spey cast it in tight quarters. It’s an awesome float tube rod which is why I initially bought it.

[fly-by]

It seems that the action of the rod as well as the weight factor into making small fish feel big. To me, a slow 4-5 weight glass rod that bends down to the cork will make a fish "feel" bigger than the same fish on a really fast 3-4 weight.   I use a medium speed 8 foot 3 weight for most situations in Western WA. Long enough for a float tube and not unwieldy on smaller creeks.

[Night goat]

It seems that the action of the rod as well as the weight factor into making small fish feel big. To me, a slow 4-5 weight glass rod that bends down to the cork will make a fish "feel" bigger than the same fish on a really fast 3-4 weight.   I use a medium speed 8 foot 3 weight for most situations in Western WA. Long enough for a float tube and not unwieldy on smaller creeks.

okay okay okay I think we are on to something here.

so my favorite rod of all time is my grandpa's bamboo 5wt south Bend from the mid to late 1940s but I hardly use it- almost exclusively in eastern wa where I can camp next to a creek and it lives in a case in my Jeep until I wanna use it and unless it's fishing, it's put away unlike some of my other rods that get leaned up on a tree til i go home.

I'm a real fan of slow action rods. I love the bamboo and fiberglass feel, so naturally my first choice is  reddington butterstick 3 or 4wt but at 250$ for just the rod, I have a hard time justifying a 250$ rod for backpacking as that's most likely going to spend alot of time bearing around the brush, although I'm not opposed to it.

any cheaper glass rods out there?

[fly-by]

Cabela's CGR

[jackelope]

https://www.fenwickfishing.com/fenwick-fly-rods-fenwick-fenglass/fenwick-fenglass-fly-rod/1371883.html

[Henrydog]

My Favorite rod every was a grapite Fenwick 9 foot 3 weight (back when they were a well built American rod). 

I bought it in the early 90's and fished with it for 25 years until my son close a tailgate on it.  I caught a lot of fish on that rod...a lot.  I did use it in a float tube it did not pull small streamers worth a darn but I rarely fish that way.

The biggest drawn back was if there was more than a slight breeze the casting was difficult to say the least.  In some hike in areas I caught many 16-18" cuts with that rod and there was more than enough backbone.  I caught a incidental bull trout on it one time as well, that was the only time I felt out gunned. 

I fished it many times on Williams, Badger, Chapman ect...with no issues.  Would I take it to the Rufus Woods...no