I had to burn a holiday this month, so I took Wednesday (my Monday) the 28th in anticipation of the white bass run. Naturally, all of the creeks are blown out from the incessant rains we've been enjoying the past few weeks. Last week I requested and received permission to fish a friend's private 85 acre lake today; it's an old gravel mine but it has some awesome crappies and bass in it, and I figured I could find some crappies spawning in some of the very few shallow areas of the lake. Figured I'd have a ball with the half weight.........................

Yesterday they forecast 15mph winds for today. When I woke up this morning the forecast hadn't changed, so I blew it off, stayed in bed, and opened a good book. Before long Jay called me to ask why I wasn't out on the lake fishing. He said the winds were light. So I told him I'd just use his boat and trolling motor, threw the battery in the truck, and loaded the half weight, two weight, and a five weight in case I needed to throw some heavy flies. I also took the UL levelwind rig; I figured I'd use it to find fish and then switch to flies.

I got to the lake -- it was about a foot high and muddy -- and loaded up Jay's boat. As I did so the winds were steadily increasing. Naturally......

I ran across to a leeward cove that always produces; it has a lot of cover and a fair bit of shallow water. Fought the wind with the two weight and caught a little pound and a half bass the second cast. Got another one; by then the wind was making me struggle with the fly rod. I switched to the five weight and threw a white craft fur fly with some pearl krystal flash. Lost two of them to gar. By then the wind was making the five weight untenable. So, I broke out the UL levelwind and tied on a 1/16 oz. jighead and a 3" chartreuse swimbait. Picked up a couple of pound / pound and a half bass, but it was slow. Finally tied on a 1/16 oz. squarebill crankbait and started cranking it down to the coontail moss and killing it. The bite was on.... got bass up to four pounds on the crankbait. Occasionally the wind would lighten for a few minutes and I would throw a little #14 marabou streamer on the half weight. Got a bass about 2 1/4 pounds on it; that was a real hoot! But most of the bass came on the levelwind. Stuck a decent channel cat on the crankbait and tried to line-lift it (too lazy to grab the net that was in my way all day) into the boat. Line broke......

Fished until nearly dark. I had spooled on some 6# fluorocarbon for the saltwater trip in January; I wanted to see how the hooksets went (they went well) before trying lighter line. Bought some 4# to put on but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Shortly before dark I had made a cast with the tiny Rat-L-Trap I tied on after the catfish got my crankbait. I hung the Trap on the trolling motor as I cast. Backlashed the line all the way to the spool arbor. Now I can change out that line......

Anyway, it was fun. Only a few fish on flies, but at least the fish all came on UL gear. Never did catch a crappie though. Didn't have a temp sensor, but the water felt like it was in the sixties.

Good report. Sometimes you just have to use the right tool for the situation rather than the one you want to use. Other than that massive birds nest you got, how are you liking the new UL baitcasting reel? I see one in my future, only question is how far into that future.

Thanks for the info. I only own one level wind, an Abu Garcia Silver Max on a medium heavy rod, but I never really learned to use it, being obsessed with UL. I should probably learn on that first and then consider an UL version.

What’s the typical weight you’re throwing?

A 2 1/4# bass on a 1/2-wt, that must have been fun, Jim!!

Sounds like you had a great outing, even with the backlash to provide a good reason to spool new line.
I use baitcasters, but don't have any ultralight. I may have to invest in something smaller someday. About the lightest thing I have now is an AbuGarcia Revo SX & STX set up with 30# braid.