Switching to 54" ultra light

[Budwinn42]

Alright guys, I've always been a 24" HT Ice blues guy, I'm not a huge fan of spring bobbers but my buddies seems to be out fishing me since they got their new patriot custom rods and the spring bobber on the 24 inchers is the only way I can hang. I just bought a 54" ultra light and I'm wondering how much of a change I should expect when setting the hook. I know my ugly stick UL needs a hard pull when fishing in soft water, but how much is it going to change my fishing style on the hard water? Hoping you guys can get me prepared to out fishy buddies so I don't have to buy the beer next trip haha

[Knoodles]

My opinion is your buddies are out fishing you with spring bobbers because they can detect the bite better.  You will get a lot of different thoughts but I switched from feel and tip fishing years ago to a spring bobbers.  Like you my buddy was out fishing me like crazy.  We mainly target crappies and I was just not detecting all the bites.  It is crazy how little a crappie will move a spring but if you set the hook he is there. 

I was stubborn and fished without a spring for 2 years before I gave in but now I will never look back.

How your new rod will affect your fishing depends on its build. Good luck. 

[troutslayer97]

54in is too long and you need an actual ice fishing rod.  I have a 36inch ultra light jigging rod that they no longer make and it basically is a strike indicator because the action is sooooo light.  But go out and get a spring bobber! You can see whats going on with your bait 10x better!

[OneBucketMike]

In the "old" days, I seen guys use whippy 6' rods (they were called Bluegill rods) used mainly in the 1000 islands and Sandy Pond that were very successful for 'gills/crappie as they could sense bites and make a "smoother" hookset to not rip the jig out of the crappie's mouth. But they were more of a Spring ice thing when the weather was warm and you would hole hop outside-obviously not too good fishing in a shanty. Haven't seen them in 30 years though-todays high techies use camera and the low techies use spring bobbers. Sometimes the fish require a jigging action that the spring bobbers can't provide-each his own-I've seen guys catch fish with 2" diameter floating bobbers.  Good luck and cya....