lol

Jimbo, I think you hit the nail on the head. Ultralight is a relative term. Ultralight salt water fishing - depending on species targeted - could mean a 6 or 7 weight rod and a 10-12lb tippet. Ultralight salmon/steelhead fishing would likewise fall in a 5 or 6 weight rod catagory using say, 6lb tippet.

The size of the fish, the obstacles found around/in the water, and the size of the flies fished with determine what's "normal" "light" and "ultralight."

For general trout/panfish fishing, I can pretty much agree with the forum rules of "3 and under" - for Bass I'd add the 4 weight to the "ultralight" catagory with 5 weights being "light" and 6-7 weights being average and 8+ being heavy tackle for them.

For carp fishing - at least around here - 7 weights and heavier are the norm, 5 and 6 weights are considered "light tackle" by the "pros" around here, and anything under a 5 would be ultralight and people would look at you funny. I had a 3 lb carp school me when I was using a 10' 8 weight - it was a good lesson learned. I probably wouldn't chase carp in anything more than a backyard decorative pond with anything under a 6 weight, and I'd really like that 10' 8 weight for most carping in these parts.

Of course tippet strength is the deciding factor in the entire equation. If you can somehow effectively fish 7X tippet on a 7 or 8 weight rod without breaking it - I'd say you're still fishing ultralight, because your line strength is likely only 3lbs at best. I guess this is where having a "balanced system" comes into play - appropriate rod flex profile and power for a given diameter / breaking strength of tippet and the fly line most appropriate for delivery of the leader and tippet used. An 8 weight will surely turn over a 6,7, or 8X tippet - but save for an old fiberglass 8 weight I had when I was new to fly fishing - every rod I've had in that catagory was just too stiff and strong to do any serious fishing with such light line, save for maybe dapping for panfish with a short line. Most of the 6's I've had would likewise not do well with less than a 5X tippet. Most of what I consider to be light/ultralight fly fishing is done with 5X or lighter tippets and flies sizes 14 and smaller.

And like you Jimbo, I tend to always have more than one rod with me - though I've tried harder and harder to keep myself to carrying only one rod. I do half the hiking and twice the fishing when I force myself to use a single rod, rather than carrying 2 or 3 different rigs and switching up depending on style of fly or method of delivery. That makes rod selection important for a given body of water and fish targeted. All bets are off though, when I'm in the boat. Boat = Mobile Rod Storage and casting platform - I tend to have half a dozen or more rods with me - sometimes closer to a dozen. Usually that's 3 flyrods, some bait casters, and a pair of spinning rods all rigged up for a different bait/lure/fly and a different method of presenting them.

I am thinking that Bill Byrd had a lot of influence on this forum's beginnings. His articles influenced a lot of us toward ul flyfishing. I believe he considered ul 3 weights and under-p-

1 weight and under should be classified as Micro Light

Here you go again! You know there are over fifteen ponds near your house that meet that description. You always keep those good spots secret.

You're right, Gene, it was really a 1599# carp. But whale sounded so much better.

Gene, for the record Bill Byrd didnt have any influence on me at all. I was fishing 3wt rods since 1999 and came to the conclusion that I needed to fish lighter rods all on my own. How it happened was that I got pretty sick and tired of launching bluegills into lower earth orbit when I would lift the rod to set the hook, and fighting gills for me wasn't fun. My first rod was a 6 wt because the owner of the fly shop recommended it. Two years later I got an Orvis Clearwater Far & Fine, then my first 3wt in 1999.

I wasn't even aware of Bill Byrd until 2007 or 2008 I think it was. I never agreed with all of the stuff he wrote, like him saying that to him UL was 1wt and lighter.
What UL is to people is really subjective, but where do we draw the line? For me it's 3 wt, for Byrd it's 1wt, for others it's 4 or even 5wt. I had to draw the line somewhere so there is some kind of forum standard.

I think we got started fishing UL in much the same manner Jeremy. My first two fly rods were terrible - the very first was a hand me down Eagle Claw graphite/glass hybrid monster, the writing was mostly worn off of it but I'm pretty sure it was a 7 weight. I could hardly cast it with the crappy level line - and my first few fish on it were dink bluegill (and I have to admit - I tipped the flies with chunks of crawlers those days because I didn't think fish really truly ate anything that wasn't scented or tipped with bait).

My second flyrod was an equally horrible 6 weight, imported and sold by a local company. I had my first tapered line, and still couldn't cast for beans. Never caught a fish on that rod.

My third fly rod was better - at least in my eyes. It was a South Bend Crystal River 5/6 weight, still as a pool cue. Caught my first true fly-only fish with it (meaning not tipped with worm) and I was, at that point a confirmed convert. For a while anyway. That pool cue of a rod was waaaaaaay too stiff and powerful - it'd probably cast a 7 or 8 weight line despite being marked and marketed as a 5 weight. The tiny bluegill that seemed most eager to eat my flies in those days often got flipped off into the trees. Same with the poor, stupid little trout parr in my home stream. I knew I needed something better, so in the fall of 1999 I ordered a Cabela's Three Forks three weight - a $50 rod at the time was a lot of money for me to plunk down (I was in high school) - my girlfriend bought me an Orvis Hy Flote line for it as a birthday present to me.

I was shocked at how easily I cast that rod - and how I could present the flies to the fish in a better way. I started catching larger fish even, and the small fish weren't being yanked from the water on hook sets nearly as often.

I've owned probably three dozen fly rods since then - some cheaper, some far, far, far more expensive. I still have a newer Three Forks 3 weight in my arsenal - having completely worn the original out after about 10 years of hard use.

I love fishing light and ultralight rods and on 90% of my trout outings I'm fishing a 4 weight or lighter. I don't even own a 6 weight or heavier at the moment, at least as far as single handed rods go (I do have a 6 weight switch rod for big trout and steelhead fishing)

Going to UL fly rods was a natural progression for me. I was using UL spin gear since the age of 18 or 19 when I bought a Shakespeare UL spinning rod. I also bought a Quantum Micro spin rod that was even lighter in action than pretty much any other UL spin rod on the market at that time (early to mid 90's). The Quantum I had was the glass rod which was very slow and whippy compared to the graphite rods in the same line.

Since I fished those UL spin rods all the time, using a 6wt fly rod was a bit different than what I was used to. Going to the Orvis 7'9" 5wt was a step in the right direction, and even when I got my first 3wt, an Orvis Silver Label 8'2" tip flex, I still felt that it had too much power for my bluegill fishing. I traded that Silver Label to a friend for his Superfine Tippet 3wt, which suited me much better, it was slower and had less power. The Silver Label felt more like a 4wt rod to me.

Wow the similarity in our fishing "advancement" is getting scarier. I got my first ultra-light spin rod when I was about 14 - it was a Shakespear Ugly Stick. It was whippy, but still heavy. When Zebco released the Quantum Micro Light and it appeared in Field & Stream, I scrimped and saved and picked up the combo - I've still got that crazy little 4' broom bristle thin thing. I did have to upsize the reel by one step from their microlight to an ultralight reel - I discovered the 90' of 4lb test the original reel came with didn't cut the mustard when anything bigger than a slab crappie was hooked while visiting relatives in Kansas one summer. I hooked a 3lb carp while crappie fishing - it spooled me twice, but I somehow got the fish turned - half an hour later it was flopping on the bank. I convinced my dad to stop at the sporting goods store on the way home from the lake so I could find a bigger reel. Now I've got about 200' of 4lb capacity - though that rod gets fished a lot less now than my longer, faster action ultra light rods due to a change in other fishing preferences - mostly because I've switched up from bait & bobber to lures.

And Jeremy, I got to say thanks again for creating this place - because it is nice not to have folks who don't understand what an "ultralight" fly rod is capable of bashing gear choice because of their own inadequacies or preconceived notions (although I admit to being a bit snobbish about Tenkara at first when it came on the scene, but when I broke down and did some investigating it does seem that yes, it's fly fishing, and it's even pretty much ultra light fly fishing (since all those rod makers say not to use more than 5X tippet) - in a more basic form than what most of us use now. I haven't purchased a Tenkara rod yet but I'll pick one up some day - probably to break my son in on fishing with flies.