Define "Light Tackle" For Me......
 

I know I've seen a thread about this somewhere in the past few years, but damn if I can remember......

Anyway, my idea of "light tackle" for bay fishing is a medium or medium/heavy spinning rod and up to about 14lb braid. Usually throwing 4" or 5" swimbait, Bass Assasin, Ratltrap or medium sized Hopkins.

For freshwater it's an ultralight with 6lb mono or maybe braid. Might even jump up to 8lb if I'm getting all up in the structure or grass. Usually throwing a beetlespin, bobber and jig, small Rebel crawldads, etc.

So what's your idea of "light tackle?"

Spot,
You just about hit it on the head, I use a 6’ or 6’2” M/H action rod spinning or casting and depending on the weather conditions I use a 3/8 to 1oz jig head with a 6” BKD. I like using 12# Power Pro and color to me does not matter. I know some guys use a Med action rod but I like the M/H with a fast tip.

I was thinking the same setup but only with 20 lb. or less.

For the Bay:

Light tackle - 2500 series spinners with 10-15lb braid on 6' - 7 med or med-heavy action rods or low profile bait casters on 6'- 6'6"med or med H rods for fishing weights upto about an oz or so. good for bottom fishing (ie. filling the livewell with spot), jigging,

Med tackle - Penn 965 combos, 310gti combos, Penn 460L with 20-30lb braid or 15-20lb mono, 1-4 oz jigs used for chumming, livelining, jigging heavier jigs, trolling for smaller fish with smaller baits.

Heavy tackle - 330 gtis with 20-30lb class rods. 30lb mono.. good for trolling big baits for migratory fish.

I prefer med action rods....rated for 1/4 to 5/8oz...extra fast action

Easiest way to tell "what is light tackle fishing" would be .....anything that is not a trolling rod that would require some sort of "touch" skill, etc or able to "detect" that little tick , now that would be LTJing......

Kind of like trolling except you actually catch the fish yourself...

I usually troll with 6'6" rods. Some of my friends use rods as small as 5' 6" rods. These rods are lighter than mine; thus "light tackle":D.

You can still use 80# braid and a 32 oz mojo on these LT rods:eek:.

5th (Marty)

I don't think I could cast a 32oz mojo with my medium action rod...so we will call your light tackle rods...heavy hitter light tackle rods...:D

Anytime you are legitimately concerned about your gear breaking while fighting your target fish the tackle is light. Medium bass rod is lite tackle for rockfish, but not for spot. 50# standup might be lite tackle for a grander blue.

lot of good def'ns on web to cover the rest of the world. but around here, someone says 'light tackle' i pretty much assume they're going to talk about something other than trolling. if they say LTJ, i assume they're getting ready to talk soft plastic, and become slightly surprised if they next use word hopkins for example.

now my neighbor doesn't own any trolling rod but whatever he's casting is fair game for getting dragged behind the boat a little bit if they ain't biting. what do you call that?

I'm with you on the soft plastics...
I would define what he is doing as light tackle trolling....

Smart:D
5th

A light tackle in the NFL goes about 275..................Gary

That may have been one of the best responses I have ever seen....

Thanks for helping me LMAO !

:)

Please don't encourage him, it will only get worse..:D

:D:D:rolleyes:............Gary

I'm not as brilliant as most, and by no means an expert, but light tackle is whatever works for you. When I first started jigging I was using an ugly stick and 30 lb braid and was thrilled...then I moved to lighter weight rods such as carrot stix and 15-20 lb braid. Now I don't jig with anything but a custom rod, Medium Fast and 10 lb braid after realizing the majority of these fish with the drags you can apply to them can't break 10 lb braid even if you put some good heat on 'em. I guess the better I get (and I still only catch 3-4 fish a year), the lighter the tackle I use. In high current situations, I use some heavier stuff, but when the fish swim with the current, my lighter stuff just cant handle it.

when I jig tuna, if they are 300-500 lb bluefin, I'm using a 500 g rod with an avet and 100 lb braid, when they are smaller I use a 350 or 250 g and 50 lb braid...I guess experience and the situation dictate. But hell, like I said, I"m not a Tidalflush or CBDangler expert, I just learned to fish on the world wide interweb :)

I have a bunch of different rods, reels and lines for different fish. for my ultra light rod I use 1 to 6 lb test line mostly for Trout and other small pan fish, bass, pickerel ect. for my medium tackle I use 6 to 1o lb test line, I use that for mostly smaller fish but in areas where I may get more snags, but I can still bring in larger fish, my medium heavy tackle is 10 to 30 lb test line, I use this when im targetting mant species in the bay but especially Rockfish. heavy tackle 30 to 50 lb for jigging heavy metal and surf rods. 80lb on my trolling rods..all the rods have the class on them and all my lines are braid. its always good when catch and releasing fish to go as heavy as possible so you can get them in as quikly as possible. it don't make you anymore of a man by using very light tackle and torturing the fish for long periods of time

Light tackle is 6 rods with no stinger hooks.......

Bring on opening day!!!