Angry John

Cool man thanks, thats the store that is close to my house and i visit often!!!

I have a bunch and get great deals. Simmons sporting goods has some of the best deals. They ebay returned items and overstocks. I got a steez for 275 shipped when the ex came out.

#4 lb yhb is still tough line and will handle a good size fish. If your not using at least a 2500 sized reel that would be as high as i would go. #6 is decent on a 2500. P-line flouroclear is a lot thinner and i was using 8lb on a 2000 sized reel for trout. It is very thin but stretch is a lot.

I have a 5 inch shad that i have thrown for about an hour. Nice bait but no fish yet. It was in a little pond so i dont even know if there are large bass in the water i was testing in.

Unless you spend a lot of time throwing mag size or deep divers like a norman 22 then you will be just fine with a 6 something reel. If your not spendy then you will not have these baits for the few occasions they are the bait. Almost all my reels are 6.3:1 except my new alphas sv which has a much lower ipt.

Punching, frogs and swimbaits are the moneymakers of casting reels. When you need big power in a small package they shine.

If your ok with used i have seen a lot of high quality reels on ebay lately. The 2006 size certate is an amazing reel and would go great with the avid or legend rods for drop shot and shakey heads.

Higher end equipment will have higher modulus graphite and not be a durable. How are you rough on rods? Are you stepping on them or rolling them up in car windows? If you want a blank that is very durable you may want to check out some of the glass cranking rods. The blank will put up with more abuse than any graphite rod ever would. There are also a lot of hybrid blanks that will do better. Guides I would go with double foot. This will increase your weight but single foot guides will bend and break a lot easier. As previously stated the ugly stick is about as durable of rod your going to find!!!

One piece will be a better rod if you can move it without breakage. There is no connection in the middle which causes a dead spot in the action. Two piece rods are not bad just the single piece rods are considered more sensitive with a little better action.

Small bends are no big deal really even less if the bend is in the forward back direction. Side to side bends could cause a blank to torque and cause fishing issues. If its an avid or above i would call. The rods made in the US should have good QA and you pay for that higher standard...

Spinners and a swivel i say yes. I get the smallest size ball bearing swivel and snap that they sell at BPS or Cabellas. I have never had an issue with catching fish with them on and no line twist issues after using them. They are tiny and do a great job. I like in line spinning baits with french "mepps" or Colorado type blades. They start up and stay going a lot better than teh willow blades that the normal rooster tails use. I like a #1 most as they are a good indicator bait and you can catch everything on them from gills to rock bass to trout. I will upsize if i catch them on the small #1 to a 2. My top 3 river baits. 1. A kvd square bill in bluegill in size 1.0 2. A dean rojas cane tumper worm in 4" 3. Small brush hawg in green pumpkin. Any small worm will work, Brush hawgs are great anywhere all the time and the SK square bill does not get hung up as much, works and is not very expensive. Some 2.0 ewg or round bend hooks a few weights 1/8yths and a coulple squarebills and you should be off and running. If your in love with the idea of a snap but dont need a swivel like on the crankbaits owner makes a great welded snap that i use a lot and are great. The smallest size will work well in a river situation. I always tie direct for plastic presentations.

I have that ETB rod that your looking at and its a great rod. Your right the handle and rod overall is wonderful. I have had mine for quite some time and i had an issue where the epoxy holding the top reel seat screw to the blank failed. I cleaned off the old stuff and re-epoxied the handle and i am back in business. I own more than a few high end rods and this is my favorite spinning setup with my daiwa advantage 2000 spinning reel.

i own two steez reels and i would not know how you would brake one. If you need it fixed i could take a look at it for ya! I picked both of mine up for right around 300 dollars new. I could not stomach the idea of paying full price. I like a lot of the older reels so thats what i suggest. Seems people want only a brand new reel and i have not tried most of the new stuff enough to recommend it. The new aluminum steez might be the reel your looking for but being brand new it will be high dollar!!!

Rcbs and a lot of other people sell knobs. Check out hedgehog studios and ebay. The tackle trap has knobs to.

Wow what a parting shot.

Been there twice and did horrable. I do better at the golf course pond at orville

Let me know if you guys want to get out, I seem to do ok but i am sure there is a lot of local knoledge to gain. I have a yak so i can bring one other. You will get front seat and i do all the paddling as i need the exercise...

If your around and want to fish i am new here and learning the lay of the land!!!

Tons of people are painting baits and its a way for them to sell a product for people who want to do it themselves. I have not seen the sk bait but i am seeing more and more companies doing it.

https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/calculator-sizing-a-battery-to-a-load.html You may find this helpful when choosing the size of battery for your project

I was looking at a helix 7 and was considering batteries in the 30 amp range. The u-1 was what i am currently thinking of using. The deep cycle batteries have less life cycles depending on how far down you drain them. https://www.batterystuff.com/batteries/rv-marine/agm/8AU1H.html This is the battery i was considering. You make be able to track one down cheaper i have not dont my low price scrub search yet. https://www.batterystuff.com/files/8au1h-deka.pdf This sheet shows the discharge table and how much life you will get depending on depletion rate. I would like to stay in the 60-70 percent range to get a little better life. Your draw seems to be a lot higher than the helix 7 di gps. The life of a gel cell seems to be a lot higher but they require a special charger which may turn you off. Let me know what you figure out as i am currently working a very similar plan.

So i went into the place, kind of empty in there. The staff was nice and was more than willing to talk shop. My daughter had to use the rest room and they accommodated. I talked about guide repair and they did not have the guides from my rod, which is not really out of the box so i said i could track down the right one. I asked to see some of the work they did and found it to be very unsatisfactory. The repair guy claimed that most people just bring in junker rods and dont care about the quality of the repair. If you were in a pinch and had to have a working rod i still dont think i would let them do it. If i need something i would go back as they were helpful and nice and i bought a bag of tungsten weights just because i went in. I am currently working on my work bench and if i cannot find anything in the area i will start practicing. Who knows others in the area might need a good repair guy.

Thats why i was trying to read your settings as the red on red was very hard for me to read. I use a fluke style so i dont have all the choices you do. Now that is something you will remember for every. Great to hear your back up and rolling. Have a great time!!!

I would not leave the brand new batteries connected while your not working on the problem. Be a shame to destroy a brand new set!!!

I have most of the stuff to build rods and I do a lot of my own repairs. This is a dobyns champion rod that was broken during a military move so I have to have it repaired professionally and provide a receipt for the repair.