I do a lot of hiking in the summer and have been thinking about a compact, lightweight rod and reel that I could haul with me when I'm out.  And I picked up "Ultralight Spin Fishing" by Peter F. Cammann at the library the other day.  The book is awesome and I've even learned a few things.  In fact, I grabbed an old, cheap panfish rod out of the garage the other day and caught a handful of crappie and sunfish with only a cork bobber, 6 pound line, a #10 hook, and a 1.5" tube.  I really enjoyed it and I like the concept, but the rod, an ancient "Shakespeare," is total crap.  I'm definitely looking into upgrading.  Do you guys have any experience with ultralight rod builds?    

No experience building rods, but you start an

interesting topic!

 

UL fishing is so fun. I go a step "further" and will

use a simple long pole fixed length of line, Asian-style

floats and go to town on anything that bites.

 

Total blast.

 

Basically I'm talking about cane pole fishing, LOL.

 

I bought a really nice graphite pole that collapses

to about 28" which makes it perfect for hiking. No

reel, just pole, line.

 

Are you looking to build a 1-piece UL at say 4'6" or

a 2-piece rod, longer?

Was thinking more about multi-piece rod that could get snapped together to catch a few fish while I'm out hiking.  Was looking at the Shimano Stimula...

Try an ugly stik elite rod

I agree with the ugly stik elite. I got one as a replacement for my ugly stik lite which I unfortunately lost. I paired the 5' ultralight with a shimano sienna 500fd. Killer ultralight combo.

The best ultra-light rods are longer than most people think is appropriate.  7-7 1/2 feet is not too long.  Longer = better hook sets.  The problem is that these blanks don't usually come in multiple pieces.  So it leads to travel fly rods.  St Croix has an SCV four piece fly blank, 3 wt. 7' 9", which would work very well, but costs $250.  I suggest you look around for travel blanks, maybe you can find one that works.  If not, I would give the AmTak black Matrix travel fly blanks a look.  Much less expensive, and are really nice blanks.  I have a 3 wt 2 piece that is an excellent ultra light spin rod.  This is a growing market, IMHO, and I expect soon a fast or extra fast action multi-piece 7 foot ultra light spin blank will show up.

For something different, try an ultralite fly fishing kit to hike in with, try a Tenkara Sato, there is a sale at Tenkara USA, check out videos. Catching a small bass on this is really fun, its very minimialist, easier packable and very very lightweight.

 

I use it for my local ponds but it was made for small streams. 

 

I agree with the ugly stik elite. I got one as a replacement for my ugly stik lite which I unfortunately lost. I paired the 5' ultralight with a shimano sienna 500fd. Killer ultralight combo.

Will take a look at it.  Thanks.

I bought my friend a pen rod that you get from amazon for 9 bucks. It was a prank gift but it ended up being his best set up when he travels and goes camping. He loves it now.

http://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Alloy-Fishing-Nylon-Combos/dp/B00EN75NPI

I've caught a ton of trout on a 4'6" one-piece and 5'0" two-piece UL Shimano Sojourn rods I got at a Sports Authority clearance at half off.  No need to spend a ton of money on a UL rod to catch fish, the Stimula should work fine.

 

On the other end of the spectrum though I also have an 8' Phenix Elixir FX802-1X that I use for bass fishing and that's hands down my favorite finesse setup for bass.  Every fish is a fun fight, and then when you hook up to a big one, the UL gear just takes it to the next level.