Shadowing Practice: Five Things You Should NEVER DO While Ultralight Fishing! - Learn English Speaking with Video

Five things you should absolutely never do when it comes to ultralight fishing.

Hello and welcome back to Fish Anything.

For those of you who are new to the channel, I absolutely love ultralight fishing.

For those of you who have been watching for a while, you already know that.

As much as I would rather be outside today actually fishing and filming on the water and trying to catch fish, unfortunately we've gotten a ton of snow recently and the wind is really high and it's really cold.

So this is a good excuse to sit inside and talk about this topic.

If I'm being honest with you, I've had this topic in my notes for a long time and I'm just now getting around to it.

So hopefully you enjoy it, but really what today is all about is things to avoid while fishing, and specifically ultralight fishing, because if you avoid these things, you'll have less headaches on the water,

and hopefully you'll catch more fish.

These are really simple things, but I would say for those of you who are either newer to ultralight

or a little bit more amateur in your fishing journey, I think these are extremely relevant, and they will help you.

But for those of you who have a lot of experience, this is probably a little bit more of reminder.

That all being said, I got to give a shout out to my brother-in-law, Ty.

He is the inspiration behind this video.

Ty and I fish every time we get together.

We always have a great time.

He puts the mule jigs and ultralight equipment to use every single time, but unfortunately he's learned the hard way on some of this stuff

and that's why I wanted to call out this topic in a video

so that way we can reduce headaches for all of you.

So with that being said, let's get to the first one.

And oh by the way, these are in no particular order.

First First and foremost, you should never cast too heavy of lures on an ultralight.

What I mean by that is every single rod that you pick up, whether it's ultralight or not, has a set of ratings on it.

So in this case, this ultralight right here is 5.5 feet long, but it's rated for 1.32 ounce through 3.16 ounce,

which basically means that anything above 3.16 ounce is not intended to be fished on this blank.

And unfortunately, I think that people make this mistake quite often.

They'll grab a rod, they don't necessarily look at the ratings, and they just start or casting whatever on it.

If I was to throw like this popper right here, which is probably like 5 eighths ounce or a half ounce, if I threw that on this rod,

what I would ultimately do is likely damage this blank while I'm fishing it, and eventually, my guess is this rod would actually break on a cast or potentially on a fish.

Now, sadly, I do think a lot of anglers make this mistake, and when they do, unfortunately, I think they start to blame the rod company, but it really isn't the rod company's fault.

It's really a user error.

If you're casting gear that is going to ultimately strain your equipment too much, you're only asking for problems.

So I would just say this.

Pay attention to the ratings it's okay to probably push them a little bit, but if you are casting on the upper end of the ratings, just be a little bit more gentle in your casting motion.

I would not be casting super hard with something that's a quarter ounce on this, because I think that that could potentially damage my equipment.

The second thing that you should never do is lock down your drag.

Now this is an ultralight rod, and this is intended to utilize the drag, pretty much no matter what size fish we're talking about.

Whether you're going after 6 to 7 inch bluegill or 14 and 15 inch trout, you need to make sure that those fish are positioned to peel some drag.

If I'm using 6 pound braid and I lock it down

and maybe that braid is strong enough to pull those fish in, the rod may actually end up having way too much strain on it.

So what will happen is you may actually end up breaking your rod

because you're putting way too much flex on it and you're not giving it any cushion.

So that's what a drag is all about and that's why

when it comes to choosing a reel you want to look for a reel

that has a smooth drag and Specifically with ultralight fishing you really want a smooth drag

because oftentimes We're using really low diameter weaker line

and you really have to rely on

that drag to make sure you're not snapping your line

So ultimately don't ever lock down your drag with a spinning reel on an ultralight setup

Because that's going to put way too much pressure on your rod

if all of a sudden you're catching a bunch of bluegill and it's doing okay, but then you hook into that 15 inch bass randomly, and that's bound to happen, and your drag is locked down,

you might find your rod explode about halfway back to the boat.

And that's no fun, because then you're out of commission and you can't fish anymore.

The next thing actually has to do with the reel as well.

So after you've got your drag settings proper, and you go to make a cast, open that puppy up, make the cast, but do not engage your reel to close the bale.

Close the bale by hand.

The reason that's important is because that's going to actually reduce line twist.

Now the last thing you want to be doing

when you're out on the water fishing and trying to catch as many big bluegill or whatever you're after as possible, you don't want to be dealing with line twist.

It is a total pain in the butt and it takes fishing time away from you.

And we all know that fishing time is precious.

So every single time I make a cast, I open it, cast it, close it by hand.

I never reel the handle.

And it may seem simple and it may seem like something that shouldn't make a big difference, but that little split second oftentimes leads to like a couple loops of line coming out.

And then all of a sudden they start twisting up and they lead to line twist and it creates such a headache.

And I'm telling you, one simple step to remove that headache, it's worth it.

Okay, number four.

Now that we've got our gear all dialed in, the next thing actually relates to landing fish.

And this one is very simple and self-explanatory, but I think a lot of people still make the mistake, and quite honestly, I still make this mistake, and I know it's the wrong decision to make, but I still do it.

When it comes to landing fish, after you've got one hooked, never, ever, ever try to land the fish by grabbing the line.

What you do when you do

that is essentially you put all of the point of pressure from right here to the jig, and so what's happening is you're putting way too much tension on a short piece of line right there,

and even if you're fishing for smaller fish and you've got a little bluegill pinned and you grab the line, it still may be enough pressure to actually snap your line.

So then not only do you lose your gear, but you lose the fish and then you got to retie.

So you're costing yourself both fish and time.

And that's about the worst thing you could possibly do.

So never ever grab your line to land fish.

That one sometimes is hard, if I'm being honest with you, especially when you're bank fishing, because we don't always have nets with us.

And sometimes all of a sudden you got a big fish, but I'm telling you, try to find a way of landing

that fish without grabbing the line because the second you touch that line, you are risking losing everything.

Don't grab the line.

Now last but certainly not least is actually very similar to the last one, but it all has to do with your rod.

So what you should never do, and this is actually across the board, but definitely with ultralight, never high stick your rod.

What do I mean by high sticking your rod?

It means that when you're landing a fish, you're grabbing up the blank.

If you grab right here, what are you effectively doing?

You're getting rid of all of this.

This is the strongest portion of your rod right here.

This is the backbone of your rod.

If you grab right here, you're putting all the pressure between your fingertips and the rod tip, and that's the weakest portion of the rod.

So when you do that, you're increasing the likelihood that this rod right here snaps.

The other thing is you might potentially break the line by doing this, but I would say you're actually most likely to break your rod.

And that's no fun because, you know, some of these rods cost over $100.

Some of them, you know, are a little bit cheaper, but no matter what you pay, you never want to waste your money by snapping your equipment.

So never, ever, ever high stick a rod.

And I can tell you, I made that mistake when I was in high school.

And it was actually a bass fishing setup.

It was like a medium power rod.

but I went to swing maybe a two pound bass and I, you know, I was pond fishing.

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I grabbed about halfway up the rod blank on my medium power rod

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and I swung that fish from the pond to the bank

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and my rod just exploded halfway up and it was totally my fault, but that was a valuable, you know, lesson for me.

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Fortunately, it was a really cheap rod.

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It was like a $30 rod.

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So I did not break like a $200 piece of equipment, but it was a good lesson and I've never made that mistake again.

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So these may be simple reminders for a lot of the anglers that watched today's video, but I'm hoping that these help someone that's a little bit newer to the sport,

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because ultimately I want you to have fun on the water.

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I want you to catch a lot of fish on the water, and I want you to have the least amount of headaches possible, because fishing is meant to be fun.

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And I think we all know, for those of you, for those of us who have been fishing a long time, we all know that sometimes fishing can be a headache if you make these simple mistakes.

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So don't make them.

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If you have any questions, or if you would like to add any other things to the list, drop a comment below.

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Otherwise, if you want to watch some actual on-the-water ultralight fishing, make sure to check out some of the videos

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that I link in the description below

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because I have got a lot of fishing videos and I would love for you to take a watch.

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Have a good day.

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We'll catch you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Five Things You Should NEVER DO While Ultralight Fishing!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rod, fish, fishing, ultralight, drag. This video has 116 sentences and 1939 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:21. The speaker talks fast, about 232 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
ultralight noun	/ˌʌltɹəˈlaɪt/	An aircraft that weighs very little.
reel verb	/ˈɹiːl/	To wind on a reel.
ounce noun	/aʊns/	An avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.
headache noun	/ˈhɛdeɪk/	A pain or ache in the head.
bluegill noun	/ˈbluːɡɪl/	Any member of the species Lepomis macrochirus of North American sunfish.
blank noun	/ˈblæŋk/	The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim.
halfway adverb	/ˌhæfˈweɪ/	Half of the way between two points.
angler noun	/ˈæŋ.ɡlɚ/	A person who fishes with a hook and line.
braid noun	/bɹeɪd/	A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration.
oftentimes adverb	/ˈɔf.ənˌtaɪmz/	Frequently; often.
bale noun	/beɪl/	A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
explode verb	/ɪkˈsploʊd/	To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off.
pond noun	/pɑnd/	An inland body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is smaller than a lake.
intend verb	/ɪnˈtɛnd/	To fix the mind upon (something, or something to be accomplished); be intent upon
reminder noun	/ɹɪˈmaɪndə(ɹ)/	Someone or something that reminds.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
lock down verb		To secure (something).
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
call out verb		To specify, especially in detail.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
get around to verb		To eventually begin or return to some task.
get together verb		To meet, to gather together, to congregate.
pick up verb		To lift; to grasp and raise.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

What do I mean by high sticking your rod?
If you grab right here, what are you effectively doing?
You're getting rid of all of this.
We'll catch you next time.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have been watching · have been fishing
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you avoid these things, you'll have
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being said · is not intended · is intended
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've gotten · I've never made

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 50 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: cushion /ˈkʊʃən/, shout /ʃaʊt/
Long words — get the stress right: explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, fortunately /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/, diameter /daɪˈæmɪdɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like ultralight, reel, ounce.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →