QED

Empirical source of your belief that Lew's is "at the top of the food chain as far as sales?" I'm a Lew's fan but I'm skeptical that they do better sales than Daiwa or Shimano.

Agreed. But for ultralight (as opposed to finesse) setups, I prefer 500 form factor reels. Nothing like a sub 7 oz rig for slider fishing. OP, nice setup given the budget constraint!

I've had excellent success with chartreuse spinnerbaits, black spinnerbaits, and chartreuse and black spinnerbaits at most venues, so I've never found the need to explore much beyond those colors.

I had great success with shad or "smokey joe" colored lipless crankbaits when fishing the SJ County delta system. Worked equally well on largemouth bass and stripers.

Agreed, I wear running shoes too - they just happen to be Nike gore-tex waterproof running shoes. ? I've used them for years and have noticed no downside vis-à-vis my regular Nike training shoes. Good for bank fishing too.

Nike makes gore-tex trail running shoes as well as gore-tex tactical boots. I used the former while running in several inches of water in Piazza San Marco and they managed to keep my feet dry.

Sorry, my bad...

Sad to see what has become of Fenwick. They used to be a premium, innovative brand. I still use some of their older HMG ultralight spinning rods and they work wonderfully.

I like using the hypermag and custom lite versions best, but as noted above, they are spendy relative to the options that the OP listed.

Yes, my nearest lake (no water craft of any type allowed) had a fish die off late last year, so I haven't been fishing since.

Things I liked about Chicago: Italian beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza, and Chicago dogs. Was never there long enough to try out the haute cuisine, which is purportedly pretty good, though we have many fine 3-Michelin star restaurants, including the French Laundry (which deserves its fantastic reputation}, here in the greater SF bay area so that wasn't a big deal.

Also, the 204r doesn't feed well in pmags whereas the 20p feeds just fine. Pmags have an internal, vertical rib that abuts the 223 cartridge's shoulder and since the 204r is a bit longer from base to shoulder, it binds and causes feeding issues with pmags.

My favorite small frame ar cartridges are the 20P and the 243WSSM. The latter isn’t a wildcat but has essentially become orphaned. Requires a custom upper and modified magazines but has the external ballistics to effectively reach out to 1k yards. 20P 243 WSSM

BTW, I have used skinny UL 4" curl tail worms and while they were productive for bass, I got way to many spurious hits from bream. 4" senkos don't seem to have the same problem since they are much thicker than the old school 4" worms.

Finesse versions of tokyo rig, drop shot rig, spinnerbait, beetle spin (or equivalent safety pin type spinner) - actually most things can work but the foregoing seem to work for me almost everywhere.

A friend of mine used to live on a man-made lake with mostly 1-3 lb bass and we crushed them with 6" Mann's jelly worms or auger tail worms texas rigged with 1/16 or 1/8 oz bullet weights. Exceeded the limit (virtually, since we were practicing catch and release) every time out. We just methodically fished all the docks, water inlet/outlet grates, fountains, etc.

In the US, we are able purchase grey market goods. Is that not the case in your part of the world? Because a Shimano Vanford C2000HGF seems like it might be perfect for your use case and works well with UL through ML rods.

That sounds about right. I have a Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S and, other than cosmetics, it is pretty much the same as a US Vanford 500F. BTW, the 500 series Vanford/Soare still have the anti-reverse switch (which I don't use, but it is an interesting factoid.)

So in your country the 500F and 2000HGF are NOT available? In the US market, the 2000HGF weighs about the same as a 1000F but has higher line capacity and higher retrieve per crank so if that were an option I'd recommend that. Otherwise, of the options presented, I'd go with the 1000F in the present context. I have several of the 500Fs, a 1000F, and a 2000HGF and they all work fine. The 500Fs work very well with Tennessee handled ultralight rods but in your application a 1000 or 2000 might work better. Info on US market Vanfords: https://fish.shimano.com/content/fish/northamerica/us/en/homepage/Shimano_Product_Page.P-VANFORD_F.html

I take the opposite view. Why not thinner? I started fishing with ultralight spinning gear and moved on to light (4-8 lb test) casting gear. I have rigs with heavier lines but haven't had to use them in decades.

The OP's original query was about rod weight. That is what my responses were directed towards. How is that non-responsive to the original question?

Sorry if I inadvertently offended you but I don't recall you pontificating on what other people should buy. Look, we all should buy the best stuff within our budget constraints and then just go fishing. Internet chatter be damned...

Hundreds of dollars per reel or rod. If it's not important to you, then just don't buy that stuff but don't pontificate to others who don't share your view.

Whether bicycles, sports cars, motorcycles, precision rifles, or fishing gear, why would one NOT want to take advantage of modern materials and manufacturing improvements? Most of my casting rigs are in the 8 oz range and my spinning rigs in the sub 7 oz range. Spendy, yes - user experience: priceless.

Sad indeed, but I'm going to support my remaining local builders in the hope that the custom options don't go to zero.