MickD

Most enjoyable, designing and constructing grips/seats assemblies. Least enjoyable, wrapping micro guides. I don't grind feet nearly as much as many other builders do. I seldom do more than use a little 150 sandpaper scrubbed lightly across the feet to gain a little "purchase" for the thread. I'd rather not disturb the surface any more than absolutely necessary.

I'm not soaking any reel or reel part, like the spool which includes the drag assy, in water. While some may argue with this logic, I see no reason to do it and there is risk of damage involved. Why take it when there is no necessity. I was at one time advised to soak the fly reel attached to the rod in a bucket of fresh water after using it in salt. I refused (and just rinsed with a hose) and had no problems. Others who followed the advice were not so fortunate. One $600 fly reel had to be rebuilt and a big name fly rod had its grip loosen.

St Croix.

I think I saw only one mention of swimbaits, the Keitech Fat. That's excellent in 3.8 (I think). Also the Strike King KVD perfect plastics coffee shad in 4 or 5 in (5 is not too big for smb). I fish them on darter head and long shank ball head jigs, 3/16 oz, most often in white. For rip rap I would try a Tokyo rig with a skinny tungsten sinker to eliminate snagging as much as possible. Try fairly aggressive lift and fall and also slow steady until you find what they want. When they are "on" these things they hit fast and aggressively, often on the fall. Make sure you leave a good hook gap-only down side of these things is that hook sets can be a problem. Last week I caught about 6 of the 9 that bit. I forgot to mention that one reason I like these is that you can cover a lot of water efficiently with them. Some of the other options, while good, take a lot of time to figure out whether or not there are any fish there. And a lot of time to cover water as you are searching for them.

It is my experience that they move in and out, often a couple times a day, and I cannot predict it. Unless you can find some warmer water, then I would expect the fish to be there. Otherwise I think you just have to keep looking, keep moving.

Personal best smallmouth after 8 hours without a bite or even seeing evidence of fish. Finally found them, took 8, best five 25 pounds, PB = 6-11.

Stop worrying and go fishing. Fish don't break rods; fishermen do.

The distance towed is the least important consideration. If you can tow 20 miles you can tow 200 miles. The other issues, especially braking, are the important ones. But if the manufacturer of the vehicle says it can tow 6800 pounds, or whatever, you can be sure they know that it can-there will be no cooling issues, no durability issues, no stability issues. But braking is special, and if you're towing anything over about 3000, in my opinion, you should have trailer braking regardless of the vehicle. I am a retired automotive engineer with a lot of power train experience, including towing, including engine cooling, including transmission cooling. If you get the towing package it will have the cooling equipment to handle towing in very hot weather, grades, etc.

I have found that chatterbaits are really not that effective in most situations. In spring, for largemouths, fairly shallow water, OK, but not better than spinnerbaits or swimjigs. Most of the time I'll go with swim jigs or spinnerbaits, in blacks/blues, trying different trailers, especially boot tail swimbaits. The boot tail swimbaits are often white.

There are many other factors in the quality of rods and their cost than just sensitivity. Sensitivity is not the only way to justify higher prices. Cork quality, for example. Or other grip materials for better grip, lower weight, etc. Integrity of the build, as in not using cardboard for seat shims. Higher quality guides for better corrosion control. Higher quality seats that don't have plastic hoods that break in a few years. Lighter for better comfort, if not sensitivity. Better quality control to eliminate problems from getting into the field. Yes the buzz word now is sensitivity, but it's not the only factor in the quality of a rod.

Thank you! I appreciate your comment. By the way, first try at Sag Bay tomorrow.

30 pound braid is too heavy for most spin outfits, IMHO. Premium braids in 20 are very good, but for most braids, about 15 casts well. I never use mono or FC on spin any more, all braid. But when I used mono, about 8 pound was max on reels like that.

If you have the guide wrapping/epoxy down pretty pat you've gotten the hardest part down. Assembling grips/seats/etc isn't that hard. Locating guides can be learned pretty quickly. Lots of good info on line, videos/tutorials. Unfortuneately there is a lot of bad info out there, too. But there are some pretty reliable sources, so if you want to go further, let me know and I'll get you pointed in the right direction.

XF action is a good choice for drop shot because for a given total rod power the tip will be softer so that gentle bites will be sensed without the fish feeling as much resistance as they would with a slower action/same power. When one sets the hook the lower section of the rod quickly comes into play. I don't think it's critical, but I do believe that XF is optimum. Probably XF action, medium power.

When there are multiple failures it usually indicates that the rods are being damaged by striking gunnels or similar impacts, gettin jammed, high sticked, etc. Fish don't break rods. Fishermen break rods.

Hitena Pureline, 21 casts like 10 of most braids. No problems, lasts for years. I've never had a "bad spool" of any line except the old Vanish. But those were not "bad spools," they were just Vanish. After Hitena, I recommend anything Suffix. I think all of the newer 8 "carrier" braids are very good. Some will say, "boy, those are expensive lines!" but since they last for years, are they expensive? And, you only go around once. Make the best of it.

The only way I know to correct waviness is to lightly sand off the ridges with sandpaper on a block. If you don't use a block you will not sand just the ridges. Be careful not to go through and affect a decal or the blank. Then apply another coat, not too thick. Maybe another light sanding and another coat. Of course the best thing is to avoid it in the first place. I NEVER apply epoxy in a volume that will result in my having to wick it off the bottom. If one is putting that much epoxy on, it's asking for trouble. The second problem that many have is fooling around with the epoxy too much. One should be able to within a total time of a minute or two apply it, check it out, fix any bubbles, then LEAVE IT ALONE. As Ghoti says, apply it immediately after mixing it. I do the long sections first before the wraps since the waviness will show up more there and I want the freshest epoxy on there. If the wraps are a little wavy looking then another coat will probably fix it since they are short, not long like the decal/butt area. If those reading this have not already read the link I offered in a previous post, find it and read it. Good stuff by a real expert.

I have never been able to master applying wrap epoxy with anything but brushes. I don't recommend using much heat. Some do and do well with it, but I have found that too much heat will make for waviness. I warm the wrap epoxy a little by immersing the bottoms of the epoxy containers in warm water for a couple minutes, but it just makes it warm and not hot. The room is about 70 degrees. Yes the longer sections are most troublesome, but using strokes with the brush that are longitudinal with respect to the blank, long strokes wetting all areas but not so much that it drips off. I use lite build and use two coats. Excessive build with one coat can cause waviness. Here is a good tutorial on wrap epoxy. https://www.rodbuilding.org/library/betterepoxy.pdf

Regarding waders, yes go breathable. And I believe you get what you pay for, meaning that the more expensive ones will most likely be in the long run a better deal. One thing that is very important is to get a comfortable foot. My waders don't have well formed feet, and the foot material is the same as the rest of the wader. The result is that putting my feet into the wading shoes jams up the material against my toes making it very uncomfortable. I think that neoprene formed feet would be much better.

Any of the FC's sold as "leader" will be harder and supposedly more abrasion resistant. However, hard mono leader material is pretty stiff/hard, too. I like a stiff leader because it keeps baits like blades from being so tangle prone on the cast and retrieve. I'm now using a couple of the Hitena fly tippet materials.

The end of what? Not sure my lighter will be accurate enough on the water to burn only what I want it to burn. The braid needs no "bead," with the added half hitches, and IMO, neither does the leader.

First, I agree that the requirement to tightly/aggressively/strongly set the knot is essential. However, your emphasis on having no braid tag end left is misguided. The braid is so limp that an eighth of an inch of tag is of no consequence. And trying to cut it off with no tag left is risky, possibly getting the instrument cutting the knot itself. Your method of going back through three times is fine, but I submit that doing two half hitches of the braid after setting the knot is more effective. Ever try getting a tight knot of braid to loosen up?

You need no more than 6 out and 6 back. BUT. . . to make the knot fool proof set it very hard (wet with spit), then finish with two braid half hitches to prevent any chance of unravelling.

It can be done under a split grip if the layout of the rod allows the joint to be under the seat. If you can work that out, no one will know and the rod will work fine. The only problem with this is that the extension and the upper blank may not match. Which is what I encountered on the one I just did. I put abalone between the seat and the butt and some up above the seat to match, and it's a great looking rod.

I used to do this before GPS, but never got it accurate enough. I guess it would depend on the water/distances involved. Obviously, GPS is the way to go now.