kickerfish1

You done good!

Very nice collection! I am waiting on a few pieces before I do a "family photo" of mine. It will probably be a few months yet before I get these pieces but it should be worth the wait. I suppose I could do one of what I have now but I have too many moving pieces (reels in for service, rod shuffling, and things in transit).

Big hands = big gloves!

BPS and dissapointment in the same sentence seems about right to me. Outside of seeing something in person before buying it or swapping stories with the locals there I have no real reason to go there any more. It isn't the same store it was 3, 5, or even 10 years ago. Seems like a move on their part to cater to the newbie and budget fisherman. (See their move to discontinue carrying Daiwa products)

Congrats, some of the best factory rods I have ever used. Enjoy!

Looks like we need to do a conference call with St. Croix to satisfy/convince some...

I bought the travel vice from Cabelas. It costs about $70 but perhaps you could catch it on sale or find some kind of coupon to use. Most vices require you to use a clamp to set them up on the ledge of a table. With the Cabelas travel vice it comes with a stand on it so you can set it anywhere on a flat surface and you are all set to tie. I have probably done about 300 jigs with mine maybe more and it is still working just fine. If you prefer the clamp style it has the assembly pieces to be able to put it on the edge and clamp it down like a traditional vise. Here is a link to the vice. May be worth a look. I haven't used a more expensive vice so if you want something above $100 I would take a look at some of the options others have suggested. http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/fly-fishing/fly-tying/tools-vises%7C/pc/104793480/c/104721480/sc/104340780/i/103884480/ez-travel-vise/1514840.uts?destination=%2Fcategory%2FTools-Vises%2F103884480.uts

Glad I don't use St. Croix rods. Period

I would go with a push button. Seems the easiest for most kids to use. Spinning reels are easy to but can be more tricky with line twist, flipping a hail and holding the line and such. I always see it as a progression. Start them using something simple and as they master it or start to enjoy fishing more slowly introduce better equipment to them. You just don't want them to have sift through problems and frustrations which will sour them on the sport. If they can cast it themselves, get bit, and catch and reel in fish they will he happy.

Not sure what you consider to be a bright color? I like black and blue, green pumpkin with chartreuse, and green pumpkin with orange. These are what I use the most in dirty or muddy water with low visibility. I have had decent success with a combination jig using black, purple, pink and bit of blue.

Tim is a good dude! The T3 platforms excels with braided lines though they will fish just fine with any line. I use braid on one and flourocarbon on the other. One is currently without a rod but it will likely get a custom build. That 3d breaking is pretty nice with all external adjustments.

Was that the T3 MX member "Tim S" sold? They are great reels with very nice features. What did you want to use the reel for? There are several nice rods that would like nice wirh it.

Not at all. Your warranty will be whatever you and builder decide on. If something fails some will replace a guide or such for parts cost of maybe on their dime if it was their mistake. If the blank is broken I am sure most will tell you you're out of luck. It would cost them whatever your material and shipping cost was to get it made again and back to you. Maybe he will build it again without charging labor the 2nd time but that will highly be unlikely. If you get one fish it but treat it like your baby. So for a custom rod consider: 1. Parts cost for the blank, guides, components, and materials. 2. Shipping cost 3. Labor cost You would be hard pressed to get a decent custom build done for under $150 with labor and shipping. If you drop $300 plus you will get a very high performance rod especially for feel apps.

Looks pretty nice to me!

Am I correct to say the heads alone are $3.45? Did some checking on the New-Tech website and that is what it appeared to me. The heads look interesting but I have a hard time paying over $2.00 for a painted head with a weedguard. Have you used them much to comment on how they perform and come through cover? On a side note I do like the Dirty Jigs skirts. Seems to be of very good quality compared to others I have used. I bough a few dozen 5 packs when they ran their Black Friday sale. Love the color selection and getting 5 skirts for $4 is a good value. I believe I paid under $3.50 a pack when they had their sale.

If you email them they will simply tell you to join the mailing list. I don't believe they will tell you when or how much until the sale has gone live or just before. There next site wide sale will be Memorial Day and I would bet anything it will be 15% off. It has been 15% for quite some time. The only 20% off sale is Black Friday. I would PM board sponsor Susquehanna fishing tackle and ask what their best price would be on the rods and reels you are looking for if they have them. Perhaps they could give you a "deal" on a rod and reel combo.

It may be worth adding that Dobyns is redoing some of their rods this year. The Extreme saw a move to Fuji guides and a better blank. The Champions are getting Fuji guides too but I am not sure about a blank change. If you are referring to the older Champions I am not sure how they will stack up against the Powell Max rods. I used to fish jigs and worms on the Savvy which many refer to as dead. I didn't think the blank was bad at all for feel though I have upgraded since.

Performance I would put the NRX against up with anything. Warranty would go to St. Croix.

Another vote for buying the heads and skirts separate and assembling. Part of what you pay for in a mass produced jig is labor and packaging materials. Like WW2Farmer noted buy the boss heads and skirts and put them together yourself. If you look at the wood walker heads for example, sold in 4 packs for $6 and skirts sold in 5 packs for $3.5 that is about $10 bucks to make 4 jigs for a cost to you of about $2.50 per jig. Then look on their website for what jigs you can find for $2.50 a piece. (That's right, there aren't any)

If distance alone is your biggest concern it may be best to opt for a heavier hollow body frog? I use the Zoom Horny Toads and feel like my distance is quite good. Braid may help too some for distance if you aren't using it already. I throw my Toads on a Dobyns 734 Savvy rod.

Unless it was a limited production run of a MB or Evergreen rod I would have a custom built. You can buy all the neat looking rod components through Matagi and get your blank and guides from a US supplier. Some of the lure of JDM rods are the unique components used like the Slant Bridge handle and unique reel seats. They just have a different look to them that you really don't see with rods in the US market.

Orichi XX, New Dobyns Extereme HP, or Loomis GLX as a rep sample or lightly used would be my suggestions. I believe Kistler could build you a full handle Helium 3 for under $300. Another option would be going the custom route. If you are concerned about matching colors to a reel, length, guides, reel seat etc... it would give you the most user input if you are kind of picky about those aspects of a rod.

Interesting how a question directed towards "light weight" shifted more towards balance. OP hopefully there are enough pieces of info here to help you out some.

Add Digitaka to the list

Well, up until the last few years most reels were between 6.5 and 8.5 ounces when looking at the low profile options. Something lighter than 6.5 like the Steeze or Core came at a premium. Now it seems like all manufacturers are offering sub 6 ounce reels and some offering sub 5 ounce reels. Rods are hard to find very light. Problem is as the length and power of a rod increases so does the weight. The Zbones are very light and weights are posted on Kistlers website. You could also have a custom built on a decent blank using minimal components and bling. If you are talking about a bait casting rod and reel I would consider anything under 9 ounces to be quite light. I have a Core 50 on 6'10 Cumulus rod that weighs a whopping 8.5 ounces. I paid about $500 for new for the combo. Really depends on what you have to spend and what would feel noticeably light to you?