MickD

Yes, but not as easy. Carefully remove the old one. For the new one I usually bore the hole using a drill press, but it's easy even with a drill press to not get the hole in parallel to the axis of the butt. You also want to mark the drill or engage the stop so you don't drill through. The aluminum winding check presents a complication, too. You don't want to damage that in removing the old butt. If it comes loose in getting the old one off be sure to put epoxy on the bore and the surface that touches the cork. I would simply repair the one you have to avoid any complications that might come up with a replacement process.

MI DNR has a map of Portage at this site http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/MANISTEE/PORTAGE_LAKE.PDF WhWhen you are there consult any bait shop you can find. I've not fished them but have heard they are good. Couldn't find a map of Onekama. Also in the area are Lower Herring, which has good walleyes and SMB, good map on line for this one, too. Rocky areas at and just north of the launch, the inlet is good in the evening, rocky along the reedy south shore, long edge into the deep goes out from the west end of Collins Bay, and smb (and walleyes) hang out along it, on the deep side. Check out the launch pretty carefully-it used to be too shallow but expect with high water it will be fine. Arcadia Lake goes right into Lake MI and smb at times hang out along the rip rap and around the pier heads. Inside it gets shallow and weedy straight in, but the area around the launch, and from the launch out, has depth and is good. LMB are found there, as well as SMB, some of good size.

I will only add that clean up has to be done before the epoxy hardens or it will be a tough, precise, sanding job.

When accuracy side to side is important I cast directly overhead at the target. Usually all I have to adjust then is the distance. I think the worst mismatch for accuracy is if the rod is much stiffer than it should be based on the weight of the lure. I also think that while not as important as matching the lure weight, a more moderate action is probably more accurate than the faster actions.

Speaking of water clarity and leader specs, A-Jay uses 10 pound mono, Big Game Green, and he fishes pretty clear water in his neck of the woods. And from his photos, he does quite well (understatement). As Papajoe says, leader visibility with this presentation is probably not nearly as important as it is with something like drop shot. I often use a premium FC fly tippet in 12 pound test and I'm not having knot problems. Or visibility problems, I think. Hard to tell if something was down there and saw it and didn't bite. I can only evaluate the ones that bite.

A-Jay, you fish a lot of water similar to what I fish, ever snap tubes or swimbaits and get one hung up on a rock, yank it a few times, and it finally lets go and a smb instantly hits it? They were there looking at it move around with the yanks, then as soon as it comes free, they nail it. Cool.

Swim jigs (skirted jigs- see sponsor Siebert Outdoors in right margin) with tail parts of worms or swimbaits for trailers are very effective (and versatile) for LMB. When LMB are active, they hit them on the fall. After they get to bottom, sometimes the fish want them dragged slowly, sometimes hopped, experiment to find what they want. Greens and black/blue/purple/blue craw.

Don't you get about the same thing by just putting the hook through the swim bait at 90 degrees? I would think the best orientation for the hook would be vertical even if one wants the bait horizontal.

I don't think it's the knot; it's the 8 pound FC. FC is fragile and snapping is very hard on knots. Try a leader grade 12 pound FC. Or go mono. But I still think 8 pound is too low for this technique. I think when you go stronger with leader grade your knot will work just fine. The stiffer leader grade leader material will help keep lures from tangling on the snaps, too.

Rapala DT's are very good in the green colors and live river shad, chatterbaits in greens or black matching trailers (grubs and tail parts of worms work very well), spinnerbaits are always worth a try for LMB (fish are very sensitive to color with spinnerbaits, based on my experience. Sometimes light colors and chartreuse, sometime black is all they will hit).

The A-Jay method works for a painted aluminum boat which is what he and I have. I have only cleaned my boat once with the dilute CLR. After that first cleaning all I do is reapply the Lucas, which takes about 10 minutes max on my 16.5 foot boat. What spots occur over the Lucas coat come right off with more Lucas. Piece of cake. With Lucas there is no waiting for a wax to form a dry dull coating that has to be buffed. You just spray it on and wipe it off. No waiting, no dry dull coating.

Start with dilute vinegar, then work up to dilute CLR or similar. No abrasives. Once you have the stains off then put on Lucas Slick Mist. Then when you come back from fishing use only the Slick Mist which is very easy, quick, and will keep the engine looking like new. Even if it's black. You will be amazed at how good the engine looks and how easy it is to keep it that way.

The issue is not left or right retrieve, it is that the handle is a folding handle and it hasn't been "unfolded" to its working position. Back off the nut on the other side so there is free play on the handle side and move it to get the finger grip to be pointing out, then tighten it back up. It's designed to make the reel more compact for storage, especially when one has a bunch of rod/reels to fit into a small space. I expect you've already figured this out.

it could be as simple as not zooming in enough. I must have had exceptional units for the last 10 years or so because I can get accuracy down to less than 10 feet with ease. That is based on going back to spots where if I'm on them, I can see them, so know exactly how accurate. But if you're not zoomed in enough, you can think you're on them and you're still a ways away. I agree with A-Jay, GPS is not the best way to stay on a spot. Once you find where you want to be, use a floating marker for precision and ease of seeing exactly where the target is. By putting a couple out, with the target in between,you are sending signals to other fishermen that they are not welcome inside the markers.

tubular glass is better for that. I think a solid graphite piece would concentrate the stresses so much at its ends that the repair will fail. Find a piece of a tubular glass rod (graphite will work, but is a little more risky, but it has to be tubular so it forms an external sleeve, not an internal spigot.) to use. Very good article below. https://www.rodbuilding.org/library/repair-oquinn.html

Fuegos are hard to beat. I'm not familiar with Lew's , but a lot of folks on the forum like them. I'm wondering why your Shimanos are giving up. With proper care and maintenance they should last a lifetime. If you are not keeping them clean, keeping them from getting dunked, and lubing regularly, cleaning not nearly so often as lubing, then your new reel will go too. Sorry for mentioning it, but we have some real lax people on the forum who don't seem to realize how important proper care is. I hope you're not one, and if not, your new reel should last a long time.

If you conclude you need bait Gulp little grubs like waxworms work great, and are pretty tough, are clean to handle, don't mess up the boat. What more could one ask for? Really, they do work well.

I think companies have a maximum IQ limit on people they hire to answer customer inquiries. They simply don't often get what one is asking. You'll like the products you're ordering.

I think it's in "setup" where you assign the transducers for each function. You can have your trolling motor be the source for some and the mega transducer at the stern for others. I can't imagine you don't have a big flat one at the stern, the mega transducer. Humminbird offers a power unit that allows you to screw around with the Helix in the house, plug into a 110 outlet.

Is it off the rod now? If yes, that's good. If not, use only a little heat and it will come off if Lews used hot melt. If it doesn't readily come off, take it to a pro builder. Getting an epoxied one off is not easy and blank can easily be damaged. When I say a little heat, if done right the tiptop will be uncomfortable to touch, but hardly. I hook a rubber band on to the tiptop and put tension on it, when it gets hot enough it will slide off. IN ONLY A FEW SECONDS OF HEAT FROM A LIGHTER. iF IT DOESN'T READILY COME OFF, STOP. Ask Lews for the size. And brand/model number. Or measure the OD of the tip for the tube size. need it in 64's. The ring size is tougher, you must measure the OD of the ceramic ring, not the ID. Use a micrometer or similar for this. Need it in mm. Then order the next higher tube size from what you measure with the right ring size in mm.

What he said is right. I'll repeat that the most important thing is that the power be right for the lure weights you want to throw. Fast or Xfst action does not tear trebles out of fish's mouths, but too much power can. If the power is too high, regardless of action, it can tear the lures out. Power determines the force you are putting on the fish. In fact a heavy power Xfast will have a lighter tip than a heavy power moderate action. So it's easier to deflect the Xfast of the same power. But it won't deflect as far before cranking up the force quite rapidly, so if you go through that lighter tip too far. . .

Keep a tight line.

It's much easier to simply crush the barbs. I think taking the barbs off in some way is a great idea.

This discussion is very interesting. Objective numbers for rod action and power can easily be measured by the CCS process, but this process measures the reactions of the rod/blank using the whole length. From the tip of the tip to the tip of the butt. BUT, that's not how rods are often used. They are used from the GRIP to the tip when one-handed casting or fighting the fish. And from the tip to the tip when two handed casting. The position of the grip does not enter the CCS process either for blanks or rods. This has been a point of confusion for me for years. Still working on it. In CCS the rod/blank is supported at the tip of the butt and at 10% of its length up the rod/blank. So a 9 foot rod has its second support point up from the tip of the butt 10.8 inches. A 7 foot rod has its second support point at 8.4 inches up from the butt. From my testing whether that second support point is at exactly 10% or not is not significant. For a long time my rig supported all lengths at 10.8. And I still correlated with manufacturer data quite well. i've since added a support point to be used for shorter blanks at 8.4 inches, but the difference between the numbers using the different lengths is within other test error and cannot be found. What does this mean? It means the characteristics of the upper part of the blank have a lot more to do with how a rod performs/feels than the characteristics at the butt. Which is probably why i've never liked a rod that has lost length at the tip top. Even a couple inches. Bottom line for me is that CCS accurately describes how a rod will feel and perform. If you like a high modulus graphite rod from St Croix, and if you can get a high modulus graphite rod from Kistler with the same CCS numbers and similar guides, you will conclude that the rods perform very similarly. If you like one you will like the other. For those not familiar with CCS go to this site. It is applicable for all types of rods although it started with fly rods. http://www.common-cents.info/ Still learning.

I need "lock-up" to be defined. And where does the 20% come from? I'm just trying to understand. thanks Also, "it moved. . . " What is the "it" that moved? Can't be length, sounds like it's the "lock up" point since 16.8 is 20% of 84, the original length of the rod. But you just said the lock up point hasn't moved.