MickD

Yes, take a vacation to the Bahamas, to a bonefish camp. Best idea yet. Leaving in January.

I can't think of anything "around the house" that would take priority over all the wonderful suggestions above.

Tie some maribou and hair jigs.

If true, the heat generated by tying the knot would be held more by FC (and therefore have more opportunity damage the leader ) than mono, which would conduct more heat away from the knot. i'm not sure the conclusion is true, or if true, significant. Just another opinion.

It's tough to do a good looking repair on this because it's very difficult to replace the cork with new without removing the guides, which I don't think you want to do. It can be done by making the part out of new cork, reaming the ID to the correct diameter, splitting the part cleanly with a sharp blade, installing it tightly wrapped (glue the bore and the surfaces that will be joined) until the structural epoxy cures, then sanding it to remove any misalignment showing along the glue line. Start with about 100 grit and progressively go finer. Clean it up as well as possible before taping - cleanup of hardened epoxy off a soft material like cork is not easy. Something that might work also would be to use structural epoxy inside the splits and at the bore if necessary to stabilize the piece, then cork filler in the voids, then finish sanding as required. When you do it, do both parts of the cork so they will look about the same. I'd say it's worth a try before going with the tougher job above.

It's not so much the action that's important; it's the power. Too much power will tend to ****** the lure out of the mouth of the fish. It's hard to not react too fast to the strike. But whether it's mod action or fast or whatever, it's the power, which applies the force to the line, that is most important. Stretchy line will help because it prevents the direct application of the power of the rod.

The jig looks very good. Other really effective colors are olive and brown. Smallies respond well to barring, so continue to use a barred slim, soft, hackle feather.

Tom, are your lips moving? ?

Well, I'm still a little skeptical based on the fact that friction, whether from brakes or bearings, is still friction. From the comments I get the impression that the differences are generally pretty small. But perceptions are powerful, and if we think there is an advantage in something, we really believe it. And options will not be as pleasing. Next time I have a reel serviced, I'll upgrade and see what I think. Part of my reluctance to do it is that a "butcher" reel "super-tuner" one time wrecked my first really nice reel, a Calcutta 100. Cost me over a hundred bucks to get a reputable reel man to build it into a 150, and it really works well again. It had sentimental value, so was hard to give up on it. Thanks for all your comments.

I've often wondered why I would want "slicker" bearings in a reel I was using that required at least some "control" from the anti-backlash controls. It would seem to me that they would only makes sense if I could cast with all controls off. ??

I was just about to ask about using a single hook, and there it was. Thanks! For those having trouble with tangling due to straight braid, why not add a couple feet of hard mono leader? It helps. My problems have been mostly snagging on the bottom, and I think the single hook will help that a lot. Mason hard mono leader material from fly tying sellers.

One thing not mentioned yet, but that is important, is that the duty cycle of marine engines is really heavy duty compared to cars. They operate at wide open throttle much more than auto engines. It takes very little HP to move a car down the road at 70 mph, and wide open throttle accelerations are rare compared with marine. What this means is major money for heavy duty components. Also, as has been mentioned, the emissions requirements require a lot of sophisticated electronics, sensors, etc. That is similar to cars, which have gotten very expensive, too. The good news is that with proper care, most will last a very long time. My 20 year old 4 stroke Suzuki ran like it was new when I sold it. I sold for a better boat, not for a better engine.

Maribou feathers are killers for SMB, and are about like the feathers recommended above, are fairly inexpensive at fly shops or on-line materials dealers. Get a medium sized whip finisher for jigs, smalls are too small to easily clear the jig head. I'd go to a fly shop with a jig head and ask the expert there to sell you a whip finisher that will work well for the jigs, AND ask him/her to show you how to use it. Keep trying with the whip finisher, as stated, once you get it, you got it. And there is no better way to finish the final wraps. There is a Sally Henson hard clear nail topcoat that is supposed to be UV resistant, dries almost instantly, not expensive and is better than some of the fly head products on the market. Some of them are pricey and they don't seal really well. The on-line jig images look to me like they have rabbit zonker strips, too. Rabbit is also very good for the same reason the saddle hackle/maribou feathers are-it never stops moving in the water. Olives and blacks are very good, white also for very clear water. Barred strips seem to have some magic in them.

Right on. It's not a bad thing to solve problems for some. If I contributed to the deterioration of this string, I apologize. Not my intent.

That's the way it is with any single inexpensive purchase, for the most part. Rodbuilding sources have it; most order it as part of a bigger order so the shipping isn't as big of a deal. One outfit that offers it for less than $3, and has a ton of great tackle, rodbuilding, lure making, stuff, etc, is Jannsnetcraft.com. If you want a threader, combine its order with other stuff and it takes the pain away. They have some pretty cool custom colors in a lot of lures. If you search for it, search for "Fuji stainless speed threader." Fuji catalog says it's for guides above 3.5 mm.

As above , Beetle Spin is very good. Another way to fish them that is very effective if they are in the top 6-7 feet of water are small Norman Crappie Crankbaits and Deep Tiny N's . The gel coat crawdad finish is very good, but not the only one that takes not only crappies, but bluegills, perch, smallmouths, largemouths, and walleyes. Retrieve quite slowly, stopping now and then if a steady retrieve doesn't work. The two lures are so similar that I really don't know what the differences are. But they both are very good lures, easy and fun to fish when that bobber is getting boring.

Please keep in mind that I never said the RTD didn't work or that the Fuji will work better for everyone. I was simply commenting that it's not my cup of tea. For me , in my condition, I like the simplicity and price of the Fuji. But the RTD is obviously is the right solution for many people for many different reasons. Some physical, some preference. No need to question those folks more.

This guy is not the type to call all rod builders know it all. He has just found that when his company started publishing CCS they had lots of noise from people arguing about their numbers. And he concluded it's easier to avoid the conflict by not publishing. Yes, CCS goes a long way in bringing clarity to rod characteristics with objective numbers. I don't disagree with your last statement. They probably employ wine label writers to write their rod descriptions.

I hope not to confuse more, but it is possible that fish getting off trebles when fishing from shore (long casts, right?) might be due to poor hook sets, not hooks tearing out. What line are you using? If mono or FC, on a long cast, with stretch, you won't be applying much force on the set. If braid, with no stretch, hook sets should by as good as it gets, maybe too good (meaning tear-out could be happening.) Good luck. When you get out of this you will know a lot more than you did going in.

"Micro" is a subjective term applied to guides that are small, but they come in many sizes, some not so small, (a subjective term), some quite small ( a subjective term). "Micro" really doesn't mean enough to allow anyone to answer a question like this that doesn't even include the diameters of the lines used. Will a single foot fly guide pass a uni-uni with ease? Will a double foot guide pass a uni - uni with ease? It depends.

I don't get your point. And if you knew who said it, you would know he is not a fool.

What matters for lure retention, for not having the lure pulled out of the fish's mouth, is the force applied to the line and the rate of buildup of that force. Let's go to the extremes for the sake of discussion. If you have a heavy power rod in moderate action is the force applied to the line more or less than that with a medium power extra fast action. Like the rod I described with the light lively tip? I don't know without knowing more about the specific rods. And most likely trying the rods. What I do know is that the SB841-3 works well with cranks and a lot of other stuff too. And what I think I know is that with the right power, extra fast actions will work with cranks. My son has two Anglers Resource Point Blank rods that I made for him, and they are a lot like the SB841-3. And he uses them for cranks all the time and has not trouble with hooks tearing out. Until we get to dealing with objective numbers for power and action, we will be struggling with issues like this. When I asked a manufacturer's rep why they did not publish CCS objective numbers he answered that it is so much easier to not offer them. He elaborated that when the numbers are out there a bunch of know-it-all rod builders complain the numbers are wrong. It's just easier to avoid the issue and say "medium heavy." I like the response above from spoonplugger, good stuff. I think that any time you see "mag" in the rod description, it will be extra fast action. But who would write "mag" to describe a fairly light power rod? But there is no reason you cannot have a light power extra fast action rod.

They aren't balanced until you put a reel on them. I know, go ahead and beat me up. But IMHO, balance does not occur until the reel is on the rod. And then, that darned lure is there to screw it all up.

The final weight will depend on design and materials, i.e. split grip or full? natural cork or burl (burl is about 1.5 times the weight of natural), or other grip material, guides (although this is minor today with most using small guides). I usually find my rods weigh about 1.6 - 1.8 oz + the blank weight. These are both spin and cast with graphite seats, split grips, and small or no foregrips. I just finished a spin off the Rainshadow SB841-3 and it was 4.0 oz. (burl cork, split grip, small foregrip), Fuji corrosion control stainless KLH reduction + 6 5mm KB's and Kt"s. The 841 is called a medium light power but it is much more powerful than that. The fact that it really is an extra fast action with a really powerful butt makes it a very versatile rod that will cast well anything from about 1/16 to 3/4 and will handle big fish well. I built on the same blank earlier and found the rod great for casting light squarebill cranks, works pretty well with tubes and snapping swim jigs off the bottom for bass and walleye. I plan the earlier build to be my bonefish spin rod for casting glider jigs when the winds are too high for fly. This type blank shows the inaccuracies in the power and action ratings from manufacturers. I think Rainshadow is a little confused by its having such a powerful butt coupled with a light, lively tip.

Search for fly casting videos. There are some good ones out there. Deneki and Orvis are ones I know.