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[Hoop71]

Going camping on San Juan Island in Washington and there several lakes stocked with bass and trout.

I have ultralight gear with 4lb test  for trout so will be using that for bass as well. Can't carry separate gear for bass as I am taking my motorcycle down and have limited space.

I will purchase some lures/soft bait etc for bass so what would everyone recommend?

Want to bring a variety of tackle depending on conditions.

Cheers,
Dan

[fish fishburn]

Largemouth fishing with ultra light gear is a great way to tear up your gear. You need a heavy action 7 ft rod with a least 20 lb test. My favorite baits are a 5 inch flipping tube rigged weedless on a 5/0 gammy wide gap hook. Also a 6 inch Sluggo rigged weedless with the same hook no weight on either. Cast into the open pockets and let it sink. When its on the bottom just wiggle it slightly and rest. If you see your line wobble or move sideways reel up the slack while lowering you tip  and set the hook hard in an upward motion. You should be setting the hook hard enough to cross his eyes lol. Fish everything from 6 inches to the weedline. Largie fishing is like hunting while fishing. I throw topwaters as well to locate aggressive fish. My favorite lure for this is a white mouse. Cast and burn it back to the boat. The blow-ups are unreal. The hookup percentage is not that great but like I said I mostly use it to locate fish then I go to my other weightless weedless baits and pick em off one at a time. Fish slow and methodically while using the plastics. And always watch your line for unusual movement. A lot of the time you wont feel a bite but will see you line going sideways. My favorite colour for the flipping tube is green with gold flecks and black with blue flecks. The sluggo is either black or white.

[bald_seagull]

tube jigs green flake, pumpkin flake or just plain white
or a 3 inch worm green flake or pumpkin flake texas of wacky rigged they pick them right off the bottem so dont be afraid to pause your retrieve for 3 or 4 secs at a time. You only really need the heavy gear if you are fishing heavily weeded or sloppy areas to pull fish 
across the top. Also with light gear you have to use thinner hooks to get the hookset good. 

[pwn50m3 f15h3r]

Largemouth fishing with ultra light gear is a great way to tear up your gear. You need a heavy action 7 ft rod with a least 20 lb test.

I doubt you would need 20 lb test for largies in Washington. And if people can fish steelhead on ultralight gear, people can easily fish bass on ultralight gear.
I find that smallmouth bass, which many say fight harder than largemouth, have half the power-to-weight-ratio that rainbow trout in steams do.

[Hoop71]

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far, keep them coming!

I think I should be OK (not ideal) but OK with the light tackle as I think the larger bass are only in the 5-7 lb range, not monsters from the southern US.

[fish fishburn]

5 to 7 lb largemouth are huge fish and they pull like a tractor. Trust me I have been fishing them most of my life and they will destroy your ultra lite gear. Just saying.

[fish fishburn]

pwm50 its obvious you have never fished them.

[bald_seagull]

fishburn

i agree with you that 5-7 lb buckets pull very hard but i doubt there are fish that big anywhere in washington.
depending on the lake you can use lighter gear back home i fished a pond with a medlight carrot stick and stradic 2500 with 8 pound braid and a floro leader so i could throw texas rigs and tube jigs weightless from shore as the slow the sink the more fish i seemed to catch and the biggest bass i weighed was 7lb 2oz. The 100 acres pond was a flooded quarry, so no logs to get tangled on and mostly rock bottom so the weeds couldnt get their roots in tight

smallies fight harder than bucketmouths no question, they just tend to hold in more open water therefore less of a rush to land a fish to prevent tangles 

[MetalAndFeathers]

Wacky rigged senkos.

[bald_seagull]

Wacky rigged senkos.

i like that setup as well but only if i have some rubber o rings to slip around the worm so its not one fish per worm or worse 1 good snag and its all ripped to shreds

[MetalAndFeathers]

i like that setup as well but only if i have some rubber o rings to slip around the worm so its not one fish per worm or worse 1 good snag and its all ripped to shreds

Hmm thats wierd i seem to lose on worm per 4 fish i catch maybe i use thicker ones?

[bald_seagull]

Hmm thats wierd i seem to lose on worm per 4 fish i catch maybe i use thicker ones?

could be i buy yamamoto senkos, could be i used too heavy of a hook 1/0 through 4/0 ripping to big of holes in the plastic   
havent fished for bass out here though only back in Onterrible
i bought a tool from bps that lets you slip and o ring over the worm no problem then i put the hook throuh the ring no the work and since you never punction plastic it never gets fudged, i prefer the texas rig with those corkscrew baitkeepers for the sole purpose that it flies just that little bit further than a wacky rig when going weightless. 

[MetalAndFeathers]

I use yum senkos and 1/0 gammies.