Hello all, new to the board. Started fishing (primarily lakes and pods) here in AZ. I am setting up a new rod/reel for light or UL fishing. I had an old ugly combo from years back bought from Walmart that I will probably keep using for a carolina rig.

 

I went to a shop and tried out a good number of rods and I liked the Fenwick Eagle 6'6 Light/MF and St Croix Triumph 6'6 Lite Fast Action. I am now decided to get the latter. So it'll be a St Croix Triumph 6'6 Lite Power Fast Action & Daiwa Regal LT 1000 reel. Then I'm going to run a Trilene XL 4lb mono line.

 

How do you guys think about this setup? Is this good? Will a UL instead of a light be better? Any other recommendations that you can suggest?

 

FYI - This will primally be used for trout fishing but may get occasional bites as well from small bass, bluegill, sunfish, catfish, tilapia.

That's a good rig for trout - it'll handle the other fish as well...my ultra-finesse rig for bass is on a Light rod.

 

My main rig for years was a small reel on a ML rod - caught trout, bass, panfish and even walleye on it.

Your combo should work fine.

I use several of the Regal reels myself for trout. I have several 1000 and 2000 size. These reels are surprisingly good for the little money the cost.

The light action rod will be more versatile too. You be able the fish more techniques with the light action as oppose to an ultralight - such as float fishing for trout. I just cant get a good hookset on a float rig with an ultralight rod.

I have my Regals paired up with 7' light action Daiwa procyon rods. These are my pond trout fishing combos. Also use them for crappies too.

5 minutes ago, mrpao said:

I have my Regals paired up with 7' light action Daiwa procyon rods. These are my pond trout fishing combos. Also use them for crappies too.

Swap that Regal for a Mitchell Avocet RZT-1000 and that's my light rig for ultra-finesse and crappie.

I use a St Croix panfish series 7' light action and a Fuego 1000LT for trout. I have a St Croix Premier 6'6" UL that sits around and does nothing because it was just too flimsy. The light action rods are perfect for throwing tiny cranks, grubs and hair jigs and still have enough backbone to get the hooks in and fight the fish. You should do quite well with the setup you chose. 

Thats a very good rod and reel, just use 4lb invizX fluorocarbon and you'll be surprised how many more bites you'll get. I am telling you that from experience.

Looks like a winner to me.  I like light power better for trout because you never know when a bigger brown or rainbow is going to hit and the added backbone of the light helps out.  Maybe consider upping your line to 6lb.  Not because the fish are huge but because rivers and streams have a lot of snags like wood and rocks.  Heavier line is better insurance against donating baits to the river gods.   Michigan trout fishing legend Jim Bedford uses 8lb mono for small stream trout.  He's a former fisheries biologist for the Michigan DNR and has written many excellent books on trout fishing with spinning tackle.

Thanks for all the responses folks. I went ahead and got the setup today. Driving up north this weekend to test this baby!

Welcome! Sounds like you have a winner.  Light ain’t ultra light as you deduced,  and if you learn anything about this site, you’ll soon discover what is called the bait monkey. 
 

I won’t say any more about yours. We all have one but I will predict that you’ll be acquiring more rods to cover different niches. ??

I've caught more trout on a 4'6" Shimano Sojourn ultralight rod than any other rod.  The most understated factor for me when fishing for trout is using 2# test line.  Not 4#, not 6#, but 2# mono mainline for the stretch, with a 2# fluoro leader to keep visibility to a minimum.  Run two identical setups, one with 4# and one with 2# and keep track of which gets more bites.

On 3/30/2021 at 11:17 AM, trez said:

St Croix Triumph 6'6 Lite Power Fast Action & Daiwa Regal LT 1000 reel. Then I'm going to run a Trilene XL 4lb mono line.

 

Sounds like a great choice for panfish. For trout, might consider an UL/F, but this could probably get the job done. My go-to panfish combo is a StC L/F with a 1000 size reel and 6 lb line and it seems just right. Only reason I use 6 lb line is because I have a harder time tying knots with the thinner 4 lb.