by Marc Phillippe Babineau

Created on: January 08, 2009

Some fishermen fish to have a relaxing time on the lake, some fish for monetary reasons or fame and fortune, in televised fishing tournaments. Many people, like myself, are avid sports fishermen, meaning that they fish for personal reasons, other than financial or promotional. We are the people with the fishing vests, new tackle boxes, worm box and the old fishing hat, sunglasses on face with a cigar in the mouth. We are the ones who walk along the creeks' shores for miles and miles until we find just the right looking geography (long running pools, overhangs, weed beds, rocky bottom, etc.). There really is no life like it.

To the sports fishermen, using lighter and lighter equipment to fish for their favourite prey makes for a more skilled approach to fishing, and coupled with barbless hooks, it can make for very long fights with bigger fish. The drag has to be set just right, and the line most definitely has to be suited for the rod and reel, which should be a weighted, matched pair. Fishing is no longer simply reeling in the fish as fast as you can until it is either beside the boat or the shoreline, it becomes more of a skill sport. Using light-weight gear allows not only the "feel" of smaller, nibbling bites, like the speckled trout or arctic char are famous for (normally 3-4 little, successive nibbles tells you that your bait has company), but it also allows the fishermen to give the fish a fighting chance to win the fight. One of the two makes a mistake (fisherman or fish), and the other is declared the winner!

That becomes especially true when we catch a big fish with ultralight gear. Me and my elder brother, Stephen, fished in Northern Quebec every summer, as soon as ice-out happened. For the Northern James Bay Territory, ice-out is usually around the middle to the end of July, and the black flies look like storm clouds. And, if you are using worms with shiny spinners, you can not toss your line out and not catch a fish. The fish will usually bite before the line even has time to go taught, so you can properly set the drag against the current.

After a couple of days of catching nothing but 2 to 4 pound speckles, cast after cast after cast, we decided to go lighter with our gear, and we both set up our featherweight gear. Personally, I use Eagle Claw's featherweight gear, a properly weighted and suited set, with 2 pound test line. Now, the first fish that I caught the morning of our light-weight gear test was a 7 pound speckled trout. If you have never

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