In the last couple of years I've started trout fishing with spinning tackle. I'm trying to decide on either a 7ft lite or a 7ft ultralite for wade fishing?

I'll mostly be river fishing with a chance to fish fast water as well as areas where the water is pooled.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Better to be overpowered than under. I'd go with a light personally. More backbone in case you accidentally (or purposely) hook a fish much larger than you expected to catch.

The lighter the better.Some of the flies the pros use are no bigger than flies.I use perch and bream rigs with 4 lb test,and live worms or artificial bait.

An ultralight rig will let you catch more trout. The lures and flies are too small for a heavier rod. Even with bait the small hooks and bait sizes are best handled with an ultralight rig. And trout bite very lightly at times. Also, a good trout ultralight rod is great for Sunfish.

I personally use a 7 foot Shakespeare Agility #ACA 6070 2UL rod with a Daiwa Gold Spincast reel spooled with 4 pound or 6 pound Trilene XL. If you do not like spincast the same rod is available with a spinning handle. The rod was designed by Shakespeare for trout. It is graphite and plenty tough.

Definitely Ultra Light IMO. More sporting, more bites and fun for me. UL protects line as light as 2 lb test and less and you can cast super light lures and bait rigs a fair distance with them. With an UL rod and with the light line you can cast a tiny hook with a sliver of bait or micro plastic and/or fly a pretty good distance. 7' is the Perfect lentgh also to make longer cast and put more leverage on far away hooksets, especially while wading.

As others have said a UL rod can also pull multiple duty for numerous other panfish. Now-a-days a quality UL rod can handle some pretty big fish. The ones I've lost on ULs are usually due to user error. Hope this helps and let us know how you do!

Another vote for ultralite.

Thanks for the responses!

What about using a float-fly combination with a Ultralite? Would there need to be a little more backbone with that setup?

A small casting bubble or a float will work great with the rig I described. I use it all the time with a Thill 7/8 inch oval float for Sunfish.

I have both for my trout fishing, and if it's for throwing roostertails/spinner that are 1/32 oz-1/8th oz. I prefer the light action rod.

You can let casts fly and cast more aggresively with the light action rod. It's also more sensitive because they're typically faster than UL rods (UL rods are HORRIBLE for listing their true actions. Most are moderate-slow but can be listed as "fast").

One rod to consider for trout fishing that would probably not even be on mosts' radar is the 6'10" Light Skeet Reese Micro Guide rod. It's about the most sensitive light action spinning rod I've tried (because again, most are so dang slow even when listed "fast"). It makes a great trout/panfish rod.

My family goes to the White River in Arkansas regularly, and I love lure fishing with spinning gear in the White.

Thanks for the advice!

Now I just need to determine which is the best weight for both bait, float-&-flies and just flies, may be asking too much from one rod. Just don't want to carry 2 of them.

How much are you looking at spending?

if it's not that much, the IM8 Gander Mountain Guide Series (2 or 1 piece) is a perfect "tweener".

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/pr...mp;merchID=4006

Graphite rods are more sesnitive and are faster action. The higher quality the rod, the more accurate the description is goona be in my experience. 1 piece ULs are MUCH more sensitive than 2 piece ULs in my experience. 1 piece graphite UL can really take some getting use to they are so sensitive. Take a look at BPS Micro Lite Graphite.

With Float-n-Fly rigs deeper than 5' or so, I switch to a Medium Light or Medium rod at least 7', but I prefer a 7'6". More leverage to move that line and float and get a good hookset.

Budget definetly has a lot to do with it. A good, quality Light graphite 7' stick would be a good compromise IMO. Take a look at some of the St. Croix models.

Well I have both a BPS MicroLite 6'6" UL and 7ft lite. I have caught trout with the UL and bait but really haven't used used it for spinners. I was wondering if getting the 7ft UL would provide a enough for both bait and lures, the BPS is on sale at $35.

I a little worried about starting a matching reel thread. LOL

Keeps the info coming, it really does help! Food for thought.

I've fished both bait and spinners on a 7'6" UL BPS Microlite and been fine.

That's my go to rod for throwing lures under a float though.