MickD

The issue is finding a rod with 1/8 oz in its lure recommendation, and length enough to make long enough casts. However, length has its tradeoffs. Too long and it gets sort of sloppy, and unless you have a lot of room, it may not be best to go too long. From my experience I would recommend a 7 1/2 (or 7-3) foot rod which includes 1/8 oz in its lure recommendation, and preferrably with a mod fast action, although action is not the most important attribute. Power is. This rod would double as a good Ned rig rod. The reason I always include matching the lure recommendation of the rod to the lure weight one wants to use is that matching will set up good loading of the rod when casting. This will enable easier casting and longer casts since the rod will load well on the cast.

Keep in mind that a rod can cast a much heavier lure than its optimum if you lob it rather than "snap" it. If your main object is to cast light lures then a rod with light lures in its lure range is going to work. Lob the heavier ones.

Go to a grocery store that has a meat section, buy a gallon of water, take the water to the meat section and have the meat person weigh it on his meat scale. Write down what he says it weighs and then weigh it with your scale. Compare. The water will weigh a little over 8 pounds.

Depends on the knot. I use size 4 Fuji KT's with 15 pound leader and Alberto knot with no problems. The weight difference between 4's and 4.5's has to be negligible. I'd go 4.5, or even 5 unless you know how to tie a good FG or Alberto. 25 pound leader with a double uni makes for a big knot. I finish my Albertos with two half hitches of the braid pulled tightly to prevent unravelling.

Good that it's working for you. The changes must be subtle enough that you are not noticing them. But they did change. Notice the data in my earlier post where I simulated cutting about 4 inches off the tip. If I were to do that again simulating the cut from the butt the power would change less than cutting from the tip, and the action would slow a little also. I've lost a couple inches off the tips of a couple blanks and never liked them after that. Different strokes for different folks. But the fact is simple: When you change a blank's dimensions its physical characteristics (weight, balance, action and power) change.

I agree. I understand your point. But move the seat to where it belongs ergonomically, and the power and action are affected. And if you use two hands to cast, they will be affected even without the seat moving. The amount they are changed will of course depend on how much is cut. A little cut and one might not sense any change.

This is absolutely untrue. But go ahead and do it to find out for sure.

But if you measured it with CCS rules, it would change. I agree that the change you mention is very benign, but it will under the protocol of CCS change the power/action. What you mention is probably not significant to the real world. Depends on how much you cut off.

Boy, looks like data shuts the topic right off! Ghoti, I'll take your comment on rare disagreement as a compliment. From an expert like you, it certainly is. Gonna nail some big smallies tomorrow. A 6-10 on Friday, thought we saw some over 7. But they aren't 7 until you weigh them. I have to strongly disagree that they mean nothing. I've used them many times and found the direction they sent me was right on. CCS is the ONLY subjective measurement of what I will call "usable" power/action in blanks and rods. By usable I mean what lures do they cast well? Which blank has the softest tip? How do they feel? Since "parabolic" seems to be so important on this forum, which blank has the most "parabolic" action? Etc. I don't consider loading a rod until it breaks to be relevant for anything other than lifting an anvil. Ghoti, you say it's only good for comparison. But that's valuable. Say I have a St Croix SCV70MF and I like it. How can I get a similar blank now that St Croix isn't selling? I test others and find one that has similar power and action numbers, and I assure you, it will feel very much the same. CCS is very valuable.

OK guys, here are the data for a 7 foot spin rod both as is and simulated shorter at the tip by testing the second time from the first guide down from the tip top: As is length= 84 inches, weight to deflect to 1/3 its length = 450 grams Action angle 77 degrees at 79.5 length, weight to deflect to 1/3 its length = 460 grams Action angle 68 degrees. So what has happened is that the rod has gotten more powerful and slower in action (higher the action angle the faster the action). It will not load as well with lighter lures, so one could say its lower lure weight recommendation has gone up. It will load without being overpowered with heavier lures in its shortened configuration, so one could say its upper lure recommendation has gone up. The effective rod numbers, which are a universal indicator of power, are 16.5 and 19.2 respectively.

Depends on the definition of power, I believe. I was using the definition used in the CCS testing which measures power as the weight it takes to deflect the blank 1/3 its length. I will do a check on this. All I have to do is to test a rod two times, one as is and one measuring from the first guide down. The rod will be shorter, but I expect it will take more weight to deflect it to 1/3 its new length than it does in its original configuration. I agree that it ruins the blank in most cases. The reason the lower lure weight is affected is because the rod no longer loads as well at that lure weight as it did before. Because it is more powerful. In my opinion. I'll run a CCS on a rod and report back. Maybe in a couple days-going fishing tomorrow, lots to do today. Spoonplugger, I am talking only about power as defined by CCS. I don't dispute that the action slows.

I think you are mistaken. How can it not increase power when you cut off the weakest part of the blank? If the definition of power is the amount of weight it takes to deflect the blank a certain amount, like the 33% used in CCS, then power will increase. it will take more weight after you cut from the tip. Consider if you took two feet off a blank's tip, would it be more powerful or less powerful? It would be way more powerful, much slower in action. For smaller cut lengths, the effect is less but still directionally the same.

You can simulate what will happen by cutting either end before you cut. And yes, most do not cut the tip end, only the butt end. But you can simply use a guide a few inches down from the tip to simulate cutting the tip (guide taped on). You can simulate the butt cut by mounting the reel farther up the blank. Works to a pretty good degree/better than a "blind" cut. Most builders find a Dremel cutter the best for cutting blanks, but the principal no matter what you use is to use the finest teeth/highest speed/slowest feed as you can. Hack saws are not that great. Tape the cut area before hand to reduce splintering. I don't recommend any cutting. With the thousands of blanks available one should be able to find what he wants without cutting. But, it's not a perfect world and cutting will be inevitable, so follow the principals/recommendations by those with experience.

I like the Strike King 5 inch swim baits and the 3.8 fat Keitechs on a size 4/0 Gama worm hook, no weight on the hook. The slim cylindrical worm weights work well and clear in rocks better than the fatter worm weights.

It works much better with a moving lure like a swimbait than trying to swim a swimbait from a drop shot hook, won't get tangled on the cast, more snag resistant (sort of like a bottom bouncer), hook can be fastened to a conventional hook keeper without a length of line below it getting messed up. Trying to retrieve a swimbait at a reasonable speed with a drop shot will end up with the sinker line most likely trailing the lure through the water. I think there is confusion in that I'm talking about using a Tokyo rig not to punch through thick cover and not to work finesse lures, but to swim a 4-5 inch swimbait just off the bottom, or even up off the bottom. At least that 36 inch pike I nailed about 10 days ago liked it. I would not use it for normal finesse fishing lures like worms or tubes.

Bubba shot is nothing more than a heavy duty drop shot, so how it got into the discussion, I don't know. The Jika rig is fine, but it too is different from and has different attributes than the Tokyo rig. How I use the Tokyo is not punching, is not flipping, is not used in heavy weeds. It is used to retrieve swim baits along the bottom in rocks and along edges. Jika will not do this as well. The hook is too close to the bottom. Bubba is irrelevant. And the formed wire products mentioned early on are cheap and make it a piece of cake to make a Tokyo for about 1/5 the price of buying a finished Tokyo rig.

I like the wire in order to get more distance between the sinker (bottom) and the lure. With the sinker linked directly to the hook the lure is more likely to snag or collect weeds/bottom debris. I use it with 4 and 5 inch swim baits with slow steady retrieve and snapping them. Wire about 3 inches long works great.

Cabelas offers inexpensive looped wire, too, and it works fine. I don't like using hard wire because of the trouble I have finishing the loops off without leaving a sharp/hard end that I end up cutting my hands on. The Lure Parts Online and Cabelas are nicely finished, and the cost is really not an issue.

One of the problems on St Clair is the frequent huge wakes from the big cruisers. Mix those with a good chop, and it can get tricky. Just make sure you are not going too fast and missing seeing them coming. If you see them and act appropriately you can deal with them with any boat.

Please elaborate. thanks

I was not commenting on what G2 has or does not have. I just have personal repugnance for the aluminum fancy checks, sort of like too much lipstick on an older woman. I like the understated, but elegant, totally encapsulated, black winding checks. If I decide I need a check.

And when totally encapsulated in epoxy, they are at the same time unobtrusive and classy, while lasting forever.

Those with a high priority on weight should look on line for very small but inexpensive electronic scales so you can weigh the components yourself so you know exactly what you're weighing and how much it weighs. If you use a weight-proportioned epoxy you can get the mix exactly right, too. You can verify blank weights, complete rod weights, fly line weights, lure weights, guide weights (weigh a number of them and divide by the quantity), postage weights, very handy to have. Costs less than a carbon fiber grip.

The braids with the higher "carrier" counts will be quieter than the ones with lower counts. They will be more expensive, but worth it in my opinion. Braids last a long time, can be years depending on how often they are used. Hitena Pure Line is my favorite. I use 21 pound test because I want a stout line for bonefish, then use it for bass/pike/walleyes when I'm home. It is very small diameter so you can get a lot on the reel if you want, and it casts like other 10 pound test braids.

If the question is really about what colors are most effective for bass, then I have an opinion. For LMB, I've found nothing as effective as black and black and blue combinations, like junebug. For SMB, I've found nothing that is as often as effective as combinations of red and green, mostly green with a little red. Watermelon + red flake. Or candy, which has it all. But has to have some green to be in the top tier of colors.