I have been fishing 5' UL for almost two decades now, but this spring I fell for a 7' Shakespeare MicroLite rod. On that I put an old Shakespeare 225UL Alpha reel (the ones with the bronze and the fleck coloring from maybe 2006 or so, but still my favorite reet). I spooled it with 4# GAMMA ESP Ice (breaks at 4.9# with a diameter of 0.006"/.15mm). I was throwing 1/64 black head on a #10 hook with a black 1.25" Bobby Garland Itty Bit Swim'R tail. All I carry are black jig heads (powder painted) and this tail only in all black and all white. That is all I find I need. One color or the other works or nothing works. I keep the buggy whip rigged in the car with me. I get to fish on a whim.
I went sunfishing for about an hour and a half on the way home from the supermarket this morning. It wasn't a fish on every cast but it got pretty close to that. I put em all back but could have kept 8 or 10 big enough to fillet. All of em were big enough for fry hards. I had a blast.
I used the ice line because it is softer than summer lines and lays beautifully on the spool. It is also sensitive to a fault even being soft.
There have been a couple of pike and small largemouths at a couple of pounds that have joined the party in the past on this rod. That is great fun! The Alpha drag is just plain smooth, too. Those little reels have landed 38" and 40" muskies for me using standard GAMMA poly flex 4#.
One doesn't need to spend a fortune to have fun with this sport.