Hey guys, here is some ultralight candy for you. If you’re in the market for the best ultralight spinning rod for trout, you’ve come to the right place. I own several ultralights and in general they are all 7-footers, 6.5 feet is the shortest. To give you an idea of the brands I own, I have a Shakespeare, a cheap Cabela’s, an expensive Cabela’s, ACC Crappie Stix, a Shimano, a beautiful browning rod, etc.
Daiwa Presso Ultralight Spinning Rod
The Daiwa Presso Ultralight Spinning Rod is the rod I love the most and that I enjoy the most. If I had to choose just one ultralight that I had to use forever to fish trout it would definitely be this little Presso. By the way I have three of these. I have a 7 footer, an 8 footer, a 9 footer, and this is the only rod that I have bought three of. It has the most finesse and is the most ultra-light looking of the bunch.
Handle
First, I find it very interesting that all of the handles for the rods I own are of very different lengths, especially since the rods are all about the same length. However, the Daiwa Presso is definitely the thinnest and the lightest of them all. All of the others are much thicker and the components are longer. The cork for the Daiwa Presso is not of the highest quality as I can see that it definitely has filler. However, I always seal my cork handles and 5 years from now they will look exactly as you see in the image below. Therefore, I don’t care that they put filler in the cork. As soon as I seal it, it’s the same forever.
Reel Seat
Moving onto the reel seat, the real seat washers have my favorite finish. Everything else has either a black, plastic finish, a cheap looking chrome finish, or just plastic and cork that’s a little screwy. Therefore, this is definitely the best looking reel seat of the bunch. Another thing that has to be said about this reel seat though is that it is the most comfortable, and some of the ones I own are just not comfortable at all.
Hook Keeper
Moving up, we have a hook keeper, as does every other rod I own.
Blank
The blank is black in color and consists of a nice texture. There’s no paint on top of the blank so you can feel the natural texture of the blank. It’s made up of IM7 graphite which is nothing special but the production process as you can see, is definitely a little special and different. Also, the selection of the diameter of the blank is unique as it is by far the thinnest of the rods I am mentioning to you. This makes for a special curve of the bank that I will demonstrate shortly.
Guides
Next we move onto the guides which are a high-point of this rod. Of all of these rods, the Daiwa Presso definitely has the best guides ..and no, they are not Fuji guides. Everyone talks about Fuji guides but there are other good guides out there.
As a matter of fact, these are by far my favorite guides for ultralight guides. You may think these guides look the same as many others but they are certainly not. The name of these are “Minima Guides” and PacBay makes them.
The difference between these guides and others is it’s rigidity. If you try to bend or flex them you’ll find that it is very rigid and will not flex. When you compare these to the ones on a CrappieStix rod for example, you’ll find that that CrappieStix will flex. The guides on my Cabela’s rods are actually nice quality, but they are more expensive than the Minima guides.
You’ll also notice that with these guides, the guide diameter is big throughout the length of the rod. This really helps for casting distance.
Guide Recovery
Next, with regards to recovery of the rod, it’s not very fast. Therefore, if you like a rod with fast recovery this may not be for you. However, for me it’s float has the perfect recovery. In my experience, rods with very fast recovery tend to be very stiff. If you want the rod to bend deep in the blank it’s not going to have a very fast recovery. For this reason as well, this should not be considered a jigging rod. You cannot jig because you cannot control the tip of the rod which is key for jigging. I have other rods for jigging. All of my Daiwa Presso ultralight rods are strictly for float fishing or for crank-bait fishing which they are excellent at as well.
Weight Load - 7 Footer
With regard to how it bends for weight load, I’ve tested it for the 7-footer, and this is the reason it is my favorite all of them. With just 4 ounces of weight you’ll see we are already bending deep into the blank with a beautiful curve and I would describe the action of the rod as moderate-fast, neither moderate or fast (I don’t care that Daiwa calls it fast-action).
Weight Load - 8 Footer vs 7 Footer
As you can see below, the stiffness of the blank for the 8-footer vs the 7-footer is very similar. The only difference is the 7 footer’s blank is slightly softer than the 8-footer although both feature a nice, beautiful curve.
Weight Load - 8 Footer vs 9 Footer
Next, I compare the 8-footer vs the 9-footer with 4 ounces again. As you can see in the image below, the 9-footer is significantly stiffer than the 8-footer. For this reason, since my preference is for softer rods rather than stiffer rods, I prefer the 8-footer vs the 9-footer for trout. If you prefer something a little stiffer, the 9-footer may be for you. However, I rarely catch trout that compress the blank of the 9-footer.
As a matter of fact I caught a carp with a 9-footer last summer and the rod handled it so easily that it did not even really look like an ultralight anymore. It was a 5 pound carp and it really did not flex the rod all the way down. Therefore, if a 5 pound carp cannot compress it, how can a trout or crappie compress it? Anyways, that’s why my taste for the 9-footer is a little too stiff.
Weight Load - 8 Footer vs 9 Footer with 8oz Weight
Next, I have an 8 ounce load on the rod. While you can see that the 9-footer is a little stiffer than the 8-footer, the 9-footer does have a beautiful curve and it’s pretty deep into the blank, though not as much as the 8-footer.
Overall, the 9-footer has a little too much ‘backbone’ and I am not a fan of ‘backbone’. With regards to, their 6 foot and shorter models, they have a much softer blank and the recovery is very slow. It takes forever for the rod to recover when you shake it. However, I rarely find a rod where I like all of the models and this is just the case with this one.
Model Recommendation
Therefore, I recommend all models from 6.5 foot to 8 foot. They have roughly the same blank, the same feeling, the same softness, and the same recovery.
And make no mistake, although they are the softest rods of what I have, they will absolutely handle accidental big fish. Like I mentioned with my 9 footer, I almost horsed a carp out of the water last summer. Therefore, with the 9-footer I have no doubt that anything freshwater you will pull out.
Also, with the 8 footer I caught a 40 inch muskie! The rod compressed all the way to the handle and to be completely honest, I never felt overpowered by the huge muskie. Keep in mind I was only using a 6 pound line, getting all kinds of head shakes, and the blank was just absorbing everything perfectly. My point is, even if you accidentally hook a large fish with these rods you do not need to worry about it being too soft.
Conclusion
With these models, the rods are simply amazing and looks like a piece of art. If your buddy comes fishing with you and sees this rod, and you tell him that it’s a $300 rod, I really think they would believe you. It’s simply beautiful.
Finally, be sure to check out more of our beginner and buyer guides, such as the best trout lures for small streams.
It’s also important to keep in mind that line weight is not related to the weight of fish you can catch. That’s dependent on the strength of the fish, the flex of your rod, and even the current.