More Common misunderstandings
about Ultralight fly fishing.

article and images by Bill Byrd

Although I fish rods as heavy as my 9 foot 10-weight, I LOVE to fish with ultralight fly tackle. I began fishing ultralights several years ago, and I have had an INCREDIBLE time with them. With over three thousand six hundred hours fishing Triple ought- to 3-weight rods for most species, I have caught and released tens of thousands MORE fish and even LARGER fish (like this Orvis Superfine 1 weight bass upper right) unharmed with ultralight fly tackle!

Ultralight fly fishing embraces every aspect of this sport. I catch up to 12 inch bluegills, up to 7 pound largemouth bass, even smallies to 5 pounds on rods as light as OUGHT weights. They are all photographed, then released unharmed.

I have caught and released several large trout including this 5 pound 1-weight trout (image left). This trout was caught and released with my Orvis 1 weight rod, 4 pound tippet, and was landed in under 60 seconds as clocked by my surprised guide!

I have caught and released juvenile Tarpon, Snook, Spotted seatrout, Ladyfish, and Spanish mackerel on 3 and 4 weight rods.

A 6 weight system, sometimes an 8 weight system feels ultralight on a 10 pound Amberjack, a giant red drum, or a striper! If you understand the species and are selective about the conditions, you can enjoy light/ultralight tackle most of the time without harming fish.

Over the years, I have seen a lot of what I consider to be mis-information, lack of understanding, or myths about ultralight fly fishing being passed around. I hope my personal experiences and the experiences of others will give you cause to question some of these "myths". Hopefully my experiences will give you impetus to break new ground, allow you to form your own opinions about these questions, and enjoy fly fishing more.

I recently heard from a fly fisher who frequents my website, is a catch-and-release fly fisher, and who routinely fishes 2 weight to double ought weight fly systems for Maryland trout. He emailed me a link to the following opinions about ultralight fly fishing. They were written by a fly fisher lets call Mr. S.

I did some research on Mr. S and his writings. According to him: Although any reasonable trout rod can be used on the nearest lake or pond, I consider a stout six-weight to be the lightest practical rod for serious warmwater flyrodding. There are two reasons for this assertion.

First, rods that take a six-weight or heavier lines throw the large (#4-10), wind-resistant flies used in warmwater flyfishing far better than lighter rods.

The second reason to use at least a six-weight rod for warmwater flyrodding is the need for butt strength to stop the first strong lunge of a good fish.

Mr. S goes on: I was fishing a stout eight-weight rod, a full sinking line, short leader, and a #6 Woolybugger. I had a thumping strike and was sure I was fast to a decent bass. For the first minute there was no way I could move the fish from the bottom. After another minute or so, my strong "bass" was in hand. It was a bluegill of just over 11", still my largest. It is doubtful I could have landed this fish on a trout rod."

BYRD: I find no difficulty catching 11 inch bluegills on size-14 water spiders and size-12 streamers with my eight and a half foot T&T 862 2-weight rod with 4 pound tippet. So naturally I wonder what kind of nitroglycerine or steroids the bluegills Mr. S is finding have been taking.

I set three tippet class records with my Orvis Superfine 1 weight on a bluegill, redear sunfish, and redbreast sunfish -- 12 inches, 12 inches, and 11.5 inches in length -- larger than the bluegill Mr. S caught on his 8-weight. These fish took a size 12 streamer. My experience of over 3600 hours ultralighting suggests that we can fish downsized tackle, use smaller flies, catch more fish, AND catch even more larger fish on ultralight fly systems. The big bonus is that you'll really enjoy fly fishing again!

I do not know Mr. S nor have I ever spoken with him. It is my desire by commenting on Mr. S's opinions NOT to say that he is wrong and I am right. It is my desire to simply express my wholehearted support of some of his thoughts and advice, and to suggest consideration of alternatives to some other of his comments.

If we both cause readers to reflect on these issues, we will have accomplished something positive. Please consider these notions and form your own opinions on how to best enjoy fly fishing, and decide how you can be the fly fisher you believe you should be, based on the wealth of knowledge available to us all.

LT+LL+LF=DT

Mr. S: Mathematics was never my best subject, not at the high school level, and certainly not in college. In fact, college level calculus and my struggles with it dictated a major change that got me into Liberal Arts, known at FFP as Preflyfishingshopownership 101.

But that's another story. To return to my equation, let's spell it out in English: Light Tippets + Light Lines + Long Fights = Dead Trout. It is my premise that overly light leaders, combined with ultralight fly rods and poor fish playing technique, take a deadly toll on the trout on hard fished waters like my home stream, Spring Creek. The sight of dead fish has become all too common as I wade the streams in Central PA, and I'm sick of it. Let's examine the component factors of my equation individually.

Byrd: I suggest that persons who aren't conversant with math shouldn't try to create formulae.

I completely agree that "...overly light tippets combined with poor fish playing technique, take a deadly toll on the trout on hard fished waters..." regardless the weight of the fly tackle system. Actually poor fish playing technique by itself is enough to help kill fish. Poor handling after the catch and prior to release is just as important, but that isn't even mentioned by Mr. S.

Light Tippets

Mr. S: Somewhere, somehow, and from someone, the notion that landing a large fish on a light tippet is a noble accomplishment got started. If I could exorcise that idea from the collective psyche of flyfishers, I would have accomplished something meaningful. If I had a nickel for each time I talked a customer out of using 5X to fish a huge Green Drake, 6X to fish a #14 Sulphur, or 8X to fish a #24 Trico, I'd be in Chile or New Zealand right now, instead of suffering through another Central PA winter. Just so there is no question as to where I stand on this issue, I consider 6X a viable tippet, 7X questionable, and 8x and 9X barbaric.

In this era of catch and release, it is the duty and obligation of every angler to play fish competently and quickly and return them to the water unharmed and as fresh as possible. To the extent that light tippets compromise this standard, it causes undue harm to individual fish and to fisheries. There is no glory in playing a fish to death.

Byrd: I believe that the main school of thought on landing a large fish on a light tippet involves the additional idea that the angler who can do that without killing the fish is highly skilled at the art of fly fishing. I've never known a catch-and-release fisher who likes "playing a fish to death." All fly fishers don't have the skill to do this. I'm betting Mr. S. doesn't.

Byrd: At the same time I believe that knowing your fly tackle, knowing what it is designed to do, and how to use it most efficiently is how we land fish quickly, then handle them quickly and properly, to release them unharmed.

Byrd: It is my experience that most ultralight fly fishers use the strongest tippet possible given the particular fishing situation, and I believe that someone using 9x tippet to land a 6 pound trout would be setting up an unreasonable situation that would be detrimental to landing the fish safely. I don't own any 7x, 8x or 9x tippet.

Byrd: Were I to need 6x - 2.1 pound tippet, or 7x - 1.2 pound tippet, I'd use a double ought weight, an ought weight, or one-weight rod to give me the best presentation and to protect that tippet! Normally I use an ought or 1 weight rod with 5x tippet to fish size 16 to 24 flies to keep from pulling them out of the fish's mouth. I've never had trouble landing large fish on true ultralight rods. If it appears I can't handle landing the fish quickly -- I'll fight the fish on the reel or carefully BREAK the tippet and release the fish. It is that simple.

Mr S: Part of the allure of using overly light tippets is that it enables flyfishers to get more drag-free floats. For those who are convinced that lighter is better, I strongly suggest a thorough reading of Chapter 2 of George Harvey's Techniques of Fly Tying and Trout Fishing. Harvey's ideas on proper dry fly leader construction and drag-free floats alone are worth the price of this book, and they are strongly reflected in the writings of anglers like Joe Humphreys and Gary Borger. George Harvey, for example, who has probably caught more fish on Tricos than any person alive, fishes these little flies on 5X.

For those unfamiliar with it, there is a tippet selection guide known as the Rule of Four. Basically, divide the size of the fly by 4 to determine tippet size expressed in X. Thus, a #16 fly can be fished on 4X. One size lighter should do for finicky fish. A further benefit of employing strong tippets is the minimizing of lost flies. Whether you tie your own or buy them, no angler I've ever talked to has a good supply of every necessary pattern. A strong tippet means less flies lost to rocks or vegetation or festooning the jaws of unfortunate fish.

Good knot tying and frequent checks of the leader for flat spots and abrasion help, too. Modern tippet materials are incredibly strong, nearly twice as strong as those used 20 years ago. If they have a flaw, it is that they are slippery and require more attention to knots. Similarly, since most tippet materials these days are relatively soft, they tend to abrade easier. I rarely fish a tippet more than an hour or two without changing it.

Byrd: There are many reasons to use light lines and tippets in today's fishing.

(1) Fish receive more fishing pressure and stealth is a necessity to hookup on fish.

(2) In clear water, lines above a 2-weight will actually spook some very wary fish.

(3) Light lines offer less wind resistance.

(4) On smaller fish, one may simply enjoy using light lines and tippets and there is NOTHING wrong with that. Do understand the practice of matching your gear to the size and strength of the fish available and the size and air resistance of the flies you need to use.

(5) The rest of the info above seems good information and advice to me.

Light Lines and Light Rods     

Mr. S: I hesitate to broach the subject of ultralight (1-, 2-, or 3-weight) fly rods in this discussion, but I firmly believe that when these noodly rods are combined with light tippets and poor fish fighting tactics, the synergy is deleterious to trout. Put another way, wimpy rods kill trout.

Byrd: Obviously this subject wasn't too hard to broach, because the writer did broach it.

I absolutely agree that when ANY rod, line, tippet, and poor fish fighting techniques are used, a fish killing disaster may unfold. Doesn't matter if we're talking about fishing with a telephone pole, 6 weight line, and 8 pound tippet. Poor fish fighting techniques kill fish.

"Wimpy rods kill fish." Let's consider this statement another way -- wimpy fish landing techniques kill fish. "Wimpy" in this case implies under playing a fish. That can occur when a rod is perceived not to have the backbone to fight the fish, or a tippet is too light, or a fly angler doesn't know how much pressure he can put on the tippet without breaking it so he underplays the fish. Keep thinking -- there are many excuses.

It has been my experience that what is actually happening is the fly fisher isn't using his rod to exert maximum pressure on the fish, because he's afraid of a tippet break off. When fly fishers are fishing light tippets underplaying a fish happens with 4, 6 or 8 weight rods much more than with 2 weight or lighter rods, assuming that the fly fisher has the skill to properly fight a large fish on a 2 weight or lighter rod.

Mr. S: I own an 8-1/2,' 2-wt. rod (I use a 3-wt. on it) that is a pleasure to cast. With a chronic bad casting shoulder and a casting elbow that sometimes cracks like a .22 shot, I can well appreciate the appeal of the ultralight rods. There is a stretch of Spring Creek I fish very occasionally that is filled with eager 6-10" trout. This is the perfect water to fish a 2-wt., since I can derrick most of these little wild browns even on the light rod. I would no sooner fish this rod on water where 12-14" fish are common than I would use a 9-wt. rod on Spring Creek. In competent hands the stiffer 3-and 4-wt. rods with good strength in their butt sections can probably subdue most good trout. Used badly, however, light rods can harm fish and your fishing.

Such an incident embarrassed me on Spring Creek a number of years ago. Stealing a late May evening away from my tying bench, I arrived at Fisherman's Paradise at dusk, just in time to witness an incredible Sulphur Spinner fall. I hurriedly rigged my 8-1/2, 2-wt., knotted a #14 Sulphur Spinner to a fresh chunk of 4X, and jogged downstream. A few small fish were quickly landed and released, but, as dusk deepened and the spinners dropped lower, better fish started to rise. I cast to a group of risers tight to my bank, saw a subtle rise, and was soon in contact with a strong trout. I leaned back hard on the rod, knowing I had ample tippet strength to back me up, but this heavy 16" fish had other ideas. The 2-wt. rod bent to the handle. The trout ran completely across the stream and jumped three times at the feet of another angler. This fellow reeled up in disgust and left, since the trout I couldn't handle put down the fish he was trying for. I landed the fish some minutes later. He had also put down his compatriots on my side of the stream, ruining the opportunity to try for another good trout that evening.

Byrd: I understand the embarassment of the writer at having a fish run across stream and jump in front of another fly fisher.

Given the circumstances described above, and his concern for streamside etiquette, were Mr. S so concerned about disrupting the fishing on the other side of the stream and killing the trout, he simply could have pointed his 2 weight rod directly at the fish and broken off his tippet.

The fly fisher who "reeled up in disgust" and caused the embarassment could have also shown considerably more understanding in this situation. This isn't about 2 weight fly tackle -- this incident describes two fly fishers not handling the situation as well as BOTH might have. Note that the ultralight fly tackle, not either fly fisher, receives the blame in this anecdote. Sadly I see the need for a LOT more understanding and consideration streamside.

Long Fights      

Mr S: Light tippets and too light tackle cause undue stress in trout, but perhaps nothing harms trout more than poor fish fighting tactics. Nothing disturbs me more than seeing a flyfisher with his rod high overhead, worrying a trout, rather then playing it quickly. The "12 o'clock high" pose may look good in magazine photographs, but treat trout more kindly.

"Light tippets and too light tackle cause undue stress in trout..."

Byrd: In the hands of unskilled fly fishers, heavy tackle and heavy tippets just as well as light tackle and light tippets cause undue stress in trout. Know your tackle. Know how to play fish of all types. Know how to properly handle fish once they are landed to help them survive.

"...perhaps nothing harms trout more than poor fish fighting tactics."

Byrd: I couldn't agree more. That goes back to all of us as fly fishers. We need to be educated, we need to understand our tackle, we need to match our tackle to the strengths of the fish, use the stealth we need, and use our fly tackle's full ability to fight and land a fish as quickly as possible. Fish tackle by itself doesn't catch nor kill a fish. It is the MISUSE of that tackle by the fisher that kills fish.

Mr. S: If you want to know how to fight a fish, take heed of the guys who fight fish measured in pounds, not inches. Watch Billy Pate or Stu Apte fight a tarpon weighing 80 or 90 pounds on a 12 or 16 lb tippet. Saltwater anglers learned a long time ago that hard side pressure tires a fish quickly. It works with trout, too.

Byrd: If you speak with Stu Apte you'll find that he considers a 4-weight an ultralight fly system, and you'll find that Stu fishes primarily for saltwater species.

You'll also discover that Stu Apte lands 100 pound tarpon with a 6-weight fly tackle system. I consider that ultralighting for tarpon. Stu told me at the Shallow Water Show in Atlanta one year "If you can put 1 pound of pressure on a fish long enough, you can land any fish."

Stu went on to tell me that the way he subdues 100 pound tarpon on a six-weight rod is that he constantly changes the direction of the pressure he puts on the fish. It confuses the fish, the fish becomes disoriented, and finally just gives up.

I apply the same technique to big bass and big trout that I catch on two to double ought weight fly rods. That is how I landed the 5 pound rainbow shown at the top of this article in under a minute with my Orvis 1 weight and 4 pound tippet!

Whether the fish you seek are measured in feet or inches, in ounces or pounds - the process of playing a fish and landing it safely and handling it properly to ensure a successful release is the same.

Mr. S: Last summer I conducted an experiment with a particularly nice Trico-sipper. For purposes of this experiment only, I used 7X Dai Riki tippet instead of the 6X I normally employ. From the time of the hookset until the fly was removed was a timed one minute, 22 seconds. This fish was a fat, broad-shouldered 16" brown that jumped three times. There is no need to fight fish longer.

From the moment of the take, which is really the ultimate flyfishing rush, a responsible angler should be most concerned with getting the fish released as quickly as possible. Put the rod sideways and lean on the fish with pressure near the limit of the breaking strength of the tippet. Most fish 12" or smaller will give up quickly. Quick release of a good fish is paying the ultimate respect not only to the quarry, but also to the sport.

Debarbing your flies is also part of a fast catch and release. There is simply no excuse for having to dig barbed hooks out of trout. Even if you don't care about the fish, care about yourself. If you ever have the misfortune to put a sizable hook deeply into yourself, you will be happy it is barbless.

Byrd: I am in full agreement with the message in the three paragraphs just above. Barbs are created on hooks to hold bait on them, not fish.

Take Mr. S's suggestion and go one step farther! If you really like catch-and-release and "the take" gives you your main thrill, then tie flies without a bend and hook, just use the shank and eye. They can take your fly, pull on the line, and they are automatically released.

"Put the rod sideways and lean on the fish with pressure near the limit of the breaking strength of the tippet." The irony in the statement just above is that when you are using really light tippets down to 6x -- two, one, ought weight, and even double ought weight fly rods employed with proper technique will protect your tippets, and still allow you plenty of rod strength to exert maximum power on the fish to land it quickly without breaking the fish off.

Dave Whitlock found this to be true in the mid 1980s when fishing the Howard Steere designed Orvis Superfine two weight rod, then the Orvis Superfine 1 weight rod. He actually found that on 6x or 7x tippets, he could exert MORE pressure on a trout fighting him in current with the two weight rod, than he could with a five weight and similar tippet.

Conclusions      

Mr. S: When I selected this topic, I was fully cognizant that I would offend a number of people. I was also aware that with the onset of better weather in March, numerous anglers would be fishing midges and small Blue-winged Olives, often to the detriment of the fish. It is my hope that at least a few of you will make choices favorable to the fish and the fishery, not just the fishing.

At one of the last fly fishing symposiums held at the Seven Springs Resort in Western PA, I was privileged to hear Gary Borger speak about the uniqueness of trout and trout water. His words stayed with me. In his talk Borger presented the incredible statistic that one-millioneth of one percent of all the water in the world is trout water. How wonderfully unique and special is each piece of trout water. Each trout is equally valuable and unique and deserves the ultimate respect an angler can pay it--a quick and safe release.

Mr. S