Tim Kelly

AFW do a 1x19 strand brown plastic coated wire in 11 and 17lb which is very soft, fine and easy to use. If you knot it, with a 2 turn half blood/clinch knot to the hook, pulling the tag end to tighten the knot and do the same to a tiny swivel at the other end I doubt it would affect your presentation very much, if at all, and would protect you from pike/pickerel bite offs.

After trying umpteen casting reel seats I fit TCSM seats now. They're inexpensive, easy to fit and size, comfortable and reasonably light. I can't claim to notice any difference in sensitivity between these or the ones with the cut away where you can put your finger on the blank. I think that's a bit of marketing.

Well blow me down! The L&L made a big difference. Virtually all the resistance appears to have gone. The guides didn't even look that grubby to me. Great shout there, thank you Fishindaddy! Lesson learnt there definitely. I guess going all Amart on the tackle really does make an appreciable difference. Looks like I've got some rod cleaning in my future. Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.

Yes, it's definitely not the bail roller on the reel, that was my first thought. I still feel it if I pull the line through the guides under load. I'll give it a good clean with L&L and see if that cures it. Would be annoyed if it were that simple, but also relieved to have got to the bottom of it! Lol

Slider

Thanks for the help ghoti. I've been impressed by the microwaves generally. I had to get a set to try to see whether it was a gimmick, and I'm a believer! The creaking line issue is just an anomoly I've never come across before. The creaking/resistance is something that only happens when you start reeling, once you get the line moving through the guides there's no obvious drag. If nobody else has noticed this problem it must either be something I've done, though the guide spacing looks fine to me, or an issue with using mono with the guides maybe?

I don't, but this is my first try with Microwave guides and there are no excessive angles at any of the guides to my eye normally, but wondered whether there was something specific about these guides. That's why I tried bending a guide out a bit to see if reducing the angle of the guide made any difference and it didn't appear to. I've been doing this for a long time, but almost only for my own use. I'd be surprised if I've built more than 50 rods and only two or three of them for others, so while I have been doing it a long time, through many changes of the available technology, a builder who has been doing it for customers for only a couple of year would probably have more experience with things like Microwaves than me. I appreciate everyone's input.

I used a bit of plastic aquarium tube from the motor to the rod connection. Quite honestly though, the rod dryer Mudhole do for like $35 makes it not worth messing about with DIY solutions.

Have you been able to get on the website today? I've been getting an access denied message all day.

I doubt that's the cause. I've been building my own rods since I was about 12. 48 now and haven't noticed this problem before.

Using a glass rod already. It's a system that works fairly well as the place is full of little pike. The soft rod and mono combined with a slow sweep set are good enough to set the hooks in the target species, but more often than not the pike don't get hooked. Method in the madness somewhere! LOL

Yes, thanks I realize that would work, but I think it would be expensive on lost baits. The 12lb CXX is just so forgiving.

Scouring the internet I came up with the Luhr Jensen 1/4oz Hot Lips Express (great name!) Looks like it might do what I want. Any comments about this bait?

Can you still work a weighted bait through the snags and timber on the bed? Would be a great solution as my problem is fishing through snaggy water around 10ft on relatively short casts. The standard 3XD gets around 8ft with 12lb CXX and if I could get 10-12ft out of it and still get it thorough the rubbish I'd be made.

Can anyone suggest a crankbait the size of a 3XD which runs a little deeper? Been doing well on the 3XD, but if I could get a couple more feet out of it with the same line I'd be delighted. 2" body length.

No. Checked for that and it happens at a different guide if I put a different amount of bend in the rod.

I have a set of microwaves on a light power MHX spinning rod, which I like for the ned rig with 6-8lb mono. Question is, has anyone noticed a slight juddering/resistance with the microwaves when the rod is under load? When I make contact with a fish and start winding there is a definite bit of resistance and slight creaking, for want of a better word, in the line. Been experimenting with the rod today and it seems to come from the guide in the middle of the most bent part of the rod that causes this, wherever the bend is. I tried bending the running guides out a little to see if it was an angle thing, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've never noticed this with any of my other rods with fuji K guides or any of the other American Tackle size 4-5 guides on other rods I've made. Any ideas?

Ejector seat release cords. Don't mess with them.

Have you tried winding it faster?

It's certainly very difficult to follow the tournament. Other than checking out the weigh in at the end of the day I haven't discovered any sensible way to keep track of it as it goes along.

The reels listed above are also different retrieve ratios as well as left and right handed. Choose the right retrieve ratio for the intended applications.

When you build your own rods the weight of the guides on the rod becomes a very obvious factor. When you have a bare blank and give it a wiggle it feels super crisp snapping back to straight in an instant. Put a set of guides on it and that feeling is reduced. The bigger and heavier the set of guides is the more profoundly you feel the difference. For a rod to feel super sensitive you want that snap back to straight to be as crisp and dampened as possible. Anything you add to the bare blank reduces it.

On the other hand, I think the lack of weight on a blank, especially a spinning blank, makes an appreciable difference to the rod's sensitivity and learning to tie an FG knot gives you a far superior knot to an Albright or double uni. The end result is just better. More sensitivity and a stronger knot. The cost is a little bit of learning and a small increase in time, though you so rarely need to retie an FG that I would guess the time taken is actually shorter over a season of fishing.

What a great looking boat! That would suit me down to the ground.

I think glue sounds unnecessary. I make my last half hitch a double turn and haven't had a problem with the hitches coming undone. The half hitches are what secures the knot, so it's worth doing a few of them. If you only did a couple of half hitches then I expect glue would be insurance against it coming undone, but it's a loads of extra work and mess.