Delaware Valley Tackle

Nice grips. I like the minimal grip on the spinning reel. Long grips serve no real purpose.

Micros are light enough that you're still ahead of the game in an all on top design but, yes, spiral wrapping is the way to go 90% of the time.

Static testing is THE way to place guides. Charts will get you close, but by not static testing you miss out on a advantage of a custom build. There is nothing wrong with the line touching the blank in a deep bend as long as the line doesn't dip below the blank. Keeping the line totally off the blank with micros partially defeats the purpose because too many extras are needed. 1 per foot of rod length plus 2 plus the tip should be about right. I alway have a few extras just in case. Like everything else there is a right and wrong way to conduct a static test. If you want to really maximize the whole setup you can spiral wrap the micros and use even fewer.

Welcome Steve! I can vouch for community and mgmt here as both a sponsor and participant. I'm just up the Delaware from you in Milford Pa at the top of the Watergap. Hopefully we'll meet and maybe even fish a little one day! Mike Lawson Delaware Valley Tackle

The rod should be the main tool to fight and move the fish. There's really no need to winch fish in. I like fast reels for short line situations where a fish can pick up the bait and swim right at you putting slack in the line. Also for burning baits and getting buzzbaits on plane quickly. You can do the same with a 6.x:1 it's just a little more work.

Each design has its pluses and minuses. My mind often wanders pondering how cool it would be blend design aspects of several different reels into one. I imagine patents and such make it almost impossible.

Invest in a decent reel and your learning experience will be less frustrating and you won't "outgrow" the reel. Shimano Citica, Revo S, Daiwa Exceller, BPS Pro Qualifier.... anything in this range will last a long time and be fairly user friendly. Centrifugal brakes are a better choice IMO especially to learn with. Check the Skeet reel thread for more tips for beginning baitcasting.

Much a do about nothing. Cabin fever must be at the root of why this thread is 4 pages. Shimano could change their reels names to Good, Better, Way Better and Awesome and certain groups of features will still cost X. People will buy one or shop elswhere, then the marketing wizards will come with another approach. It's a never ending circle.

If you haven't, check out the sticky above about baitcaster setup. spool up with 12lb or heavier line and practice with a heavier weight. Peel off a cast and a half worth of line and put some electrical tape across the spool. This will keep the inevitable backlash from digging in too deep making it easier to clear. make sure the rod you are using is appropriate the weight of the bait you're throwing. If the the casts still go off target you need to adjust your release point just like throwing a ball.

To me, power and action are both important. The action can be easily seen by flexing the rod. The power is invisible until you put a real load on the rod. That may explain why a particular manufacturer would label that way. In theory, line rating is the test strength of line that will fail before the blank over loads. A properly set drag will protect the rod and reel as well as the line so I pay less attention to line ratings. How you use the rod greatly affects how much load it can handle. For instance, if you point the tip toward the fish and pull them in you can exert all the force you want on the braid because the rod has been taken out of the equation. Lure weight ratings are a better judge of how a rod will perform. It gives you an idea of how big a bait is needed to load the rod to cast properly.

I'd still stick with PQs on sale for Lightening and one along with a M/F casting rod if you don't wan't any spinning tackle.

I've spec'd out an A-rig rod and chose a swimbait blank. It has more moderate action and heavier power than a normal jig/worm rod. If you'll be throwing a lighter rig once ina while you can probably get by with what you have. If you're throwing a 1 1/2> rig for a good part of the day a swimbait style rod will make it more enjoyable.

It sounds like you don't have a ton of tackle. What do you have for setups? To cover most all the basics in bass fishing your goal should be: a MH/F baitcast rod and 6.4 or 7:1 reel for jigs and plastics>1/2 oz MH/Mod baitcast rod with a 5:1 reel for deep cranks and other trebel hook lures M/F spinning rod and reel for baits<1/2 oz Forget the Enigma, and grab a low ratio PQ, a Pflueger President spinning reel and spend the balance on rods with the budget scewed toward the spinning rod since sensitivity and feel are less important for the moving baits.

Screws threaded into plastic are a short cut I don't care for but as for the internals, I don't see any more plastic than in other reels based on that same platform (Pure Fishing).

IMO the E series Curado was encroaching on Chronarch territory in features and price. All Shimano did was put the planets back in alignment so to speak. The line as a whole has several quality reels at price points to appeal to a range of budgets. Add this to all the other great gear out there as JF mentioned, there's something for everyone.

Graphite and carbon fiber are the same thing. The cabonlite may be a higher modulus graphite which reduces weight/stiffness. Any modern high modulus graphite rod blank has a level of brittleness as a trade-off for the reduced weight. If they are handled with a reasonable level of care they should hold up fine. Be aware of boat cleats and flopping jigs or weights that can dent or ding the surface. These compromised damaged spots are what lead to failures. As a rule avoid any motion with any rod that flexes the tip beyond 90* to the butt. This not only puts undue stress on the blank, you are losing a mechanical advantage over the fish.

Backbone is relative to power but not exactly the same thing. A rod described as having "a good backbone" would be your example of a softer tip but still heavy power. Basically a rod that would load and cast a relatively light bait but still allow you to fight a fish out of cover. This is what the term means to me and how I apply it in desiging and specing out a custom rod. Others may use the term differently.

Sounds good.

All I can add is another vote for the President (reel). They're hard to beat on a bang-for-your-buck basis.

Smooth Drag. I'm skeptical of such a wide price variance for what are supposed to be equivalent bearings offered at 83% off the competition. I just can't see any company leaving that money on the table.

I sell Boca Bearings for the same price less a 10% discount to BassResource.com members

Scott, It's hard to do justice to this topic in a forum post but I'll try. The real problem is taht there are no industry standards for rod specs. It's all subjective on the part of the manufacturer. Getting the vocabulary down is a good first step. Check out this if you haven't: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/rod-actions-power.html. Power and Action are independent of one another. And Action and tip stiffness are independent of one another. A slower action is not the same as a soft tip. Taper is a term of its own and is a description of the relation of the tip to butt diameters over the length. The taper is one design element used to get the desired power/action combination desired. Any of the combinations you mentioned are possible up to a point. A "Fast taper" would have a larger diameter butt that tapers quickle to a relatively fine tip. This is conducive to a fast action but just how fast depends on other design elements.

I don't know about these specifically, but I have received warnings about couterfeit bearings so it does happen. If a price or products appears too good to be true it probably is.

Most casting rods with micros use a size 4 which will pass a well tied Albright joining 65# braid and 17# fluoro. Plus, leadrers aren't always necessary. Icing and floating debris are the other 2 factors in employing micro guides. FWIW I use them almost exclusively on the bass rods I build for my personal use.

I haven't fished one but from just handling they seem too whippy. Not all glass or glass composite rods are like that.