MickD

I'm surprised no one yet mentioned that for most of us mortals spinning works best for the lighter lures. What "lighter" means depends on one's skills, but at some "light" lure weight it becomes very difficult to get good casts. No doubt, for power, BC is better than spin.

I tied a couple palomars with 15 FC and pulled on the tag end. I do conclude that it's not that hard to break the knot when pulling on the tag end. Lesson learned.

Then the drip shot rigs that have the hook and swivels would be needed for this scheme to be reliable. So if the palomar is used up the line and the sinker snags it's likely to break the palomar, just like if you catch a fish on the lower jig. I'll have to experiment with this. My son does it all the time and I don't remember his ever breaking the palomar when snagging the sinker, and he does not use sliding sinkers that simply pull off. By the way, my response to the TRD question was not that I was considering the TRD to be on a jig on the bottom, but on the drop shot hook up the line. The Elaztech minnows work well there and I expect a TRD would too.

Come on, guys. How does a minnow feed when near the bottom? Often by going head down, in a vertical attitude, and pecking toward the bottom. What would a Ned TRD on a drop shot do? It would float up at the tail, head down, looking like a feeding minnow. Which is why the Elaztech minnows are such good drop shot lures. And why a TRD would also work.

mudhole.com, getbitoutdoors.com

I think what the OP is referring to are what I call "inside bends," where deeper water intrudes on shallower water locally forming a sort of valley into the shallower water. Inside bends are, in my opinion , great spots which are natural ambush points for predators.

LOTs of good info in this string of posts. For example, I never knew the power numbers related to pounds. If you want to start measuring the power and action of your rods to get OBJECTIVE numbers, read up on the CCS system. It really helps take the mystery out of this topic. I measure all my rods, all the blanks I get, and know in advance how they will work for different techniques and how they relate to each for power and action. https://www.common-cents.info/ It was conceived and developed for fly rods, but it works for all rods. Putting the CCS power (in grams) and Action Angle numbers on the rod is more valuable than any number or word description in the OEM specs/label. Interestingly, Dr. Hanneman, who developed it , recently passed away.

The weight near the butt, like from decals and weaves, means little regarding sensitivity. What counts is the weight at and near the tip. So very small, light, guides, light wraps, translates to high sensitivity. Given that the blank itself is a high modulus, well-designed blank.

I think power is being ignored. You cannot really discuss performance of a rod without considering both power and action. It's power that drives a hook home. Action just describes where in the rod does the rod bend. Slow means throughout the whole length of the rod, right into the grip most likely. Extra fast means mostly just at the tip.

As the post above says, you will not likely ever use the max drag on a reel. And you can put any line on any reel regardless of its max drag spec. One thing to consider in addition to others that have been mentioned is that when you apply too much force to the fish, even if the rod and line can take it, you likely will pull the hook out of the fish's lips. Some fish, like crappie, have pretty fragile lips. I use only a fraction of the drag capacity even though on most of my reels it's only about 12 pounds max. Like MN Fisher above.

The important part of cutting any rod that has longitudinal fibers or cloth is to use very high speeds and very slow progression through the cut. Dremels with cut off wheels are ideal, as mentioned. I would tape on both sides of the kerf.

Depending on how you define "working harder." It takes the same power to cruise down the highway whether using 8 cylinders, 4 cylinders, or 1 cylinder, but with fewer cylinders doing that work, each has do generate a larger share of that HP if part of an engine with fewer cylinders. But, it doesn't take much power to cruise a truck even at highway speeds, so the cylinders are "not working very hard" even with a larger share. It takes a lot of power to cruise a boat, even on plane, and they operate more often at wide open throttle and higher RPM's, so the duty cycle of boat engines is much different than that of auto/truck engines. And they are designed for it. Does a 60 operate any more efficiently than a 75, both cruising at the same "efficient planing speed?" I expect the difference is peanuts. Of course the 75 will use more fuel at wide open than will the 60, but will get you home sooner. If it were my decision I would take the highest ouput engine that didn't throw the boat out of balance due to its weight (assuming all being considered are within the specs for the boat). And I would not commit until I had tried it out.

Not much. Most of us tend to overthink this rod spec stuff. Please forgive.

15 hp is a 25% increase over the 60, will make a significant difference. The only reason I would not go with it was if its weight would be too much for the boat. The suggestion to try it before spending the bucks is the right way to go on major purchases like this.

Yes, after you take the braid through the loop and HEAVILY set the knot then do two tight half hitches with the tag end of the braid. The half hitches will be "on top" of the finished knot. Have you ever tried to get a tight wind knot out of braid? I have never been able to do it. Tight half hitches won't come out either and will prevent the tag end from slipping back out of the loop, which is the only way the knot could unravel. Adding the half hitches is doing exactly what is done at the end of an FG knot. If it were not for the half hitches on the FG, it would unravel .

I don't know. Seems like stiffer tip, all else equal, would transmit something from the line better. Maybe. Longer length, less transmission. Maybe. You got it, I'm not committing. But. . .

Sensitivity cannot be objectively measured, so we all can have opinions that cannot be dis-proven. Most knowledgeable people agree, however, that weight is the enemy of sensitivity, that the best sensitivity comes from the lightest rod. So that leads to the high modulus blank materials, often very costly, often argued to be fragile, but also argued to be very sensitive. Action and power, in my opinion, are moot. It's about the material the blank is made from, the design of the blank (stuff at which you and I will never be expert), and the weight of the guides and wraps. Lighter is better. This might lead to the conclusion that the lower power rod, which can be made lighter, would be more sensitive. Might. You have presented two blanks of different lengths and weights (I assume their weights are not the same, but I don't know). I would guess that the lighter is the more sensitive one. Who can prove me wrong? I know you are out there and will try. :-)

The only rod I ever broke setting the hook was a glass rod. I had one of my Point 'Blanks pretty well wrapped around my trolling motor shaft this last year, and it survived. I don't think that one can conclude that glass is always tough and graphite is always fragile. There is much more to it.

I practiced the knot watching TV and got pretty good at tying it, but prefer the Alberto because it's a little more straightforward and doesn't have the big loop of limp braid which I think will be hard to control in a windy boat. It comes out the same size as the Alberto, has the same requirement to really set it tightly, and most likely has the same tendency to occasionally unravel if not topped with a couple of tight half hitches. I have NOT fished it. It should be as strong as the Alberto since it is so similar, depends on the mulitple wraps of braid around a doubled leader. My knots were 1 mm in diameter with .41 mm leader (20 pound test) and .15 mm braid (15 pound Tuff line). Basically same as the Alberto.

Modulus went over 25 %. 25% of what?

Kreh knot too big for what I need. The whole idea of finding a reliable, small, knot is so that it passes through the guides cleanly. Especially small guides. If you tie a leader so short that it doesn't pass through the guides, then just about anything will work. A big swivel will work. I didn't find the shin knot that easy to tie, will try again. But it seems to me much more confusing and hard to accomplish than the Alberto knot. To each his own.

I see it now in the OP, sorry I missed it. Not to worry, just do as I say above, as waynorthbassguy says, or ignore. All will be well.

You are dealing with the subjective descriptions of rod power, so it will be tough to get 100% confidence in the solution. But Bushidos are fine blanks and Don Morse knows them well, so his advice is probably about as good as it's going to get. Contact him and discuss what you are trying to accomplish.

What is "it" in "it kinked up?" I cannot figure out what you are talking about. Sounds like it might be that the FC has a "kink" in it around the rod tip? If that's it, just pull that area of the FC through your hands under tension to heat it and straighten it out. Or ignore it.

I submit that that final step is not enough to make it reliable. Nearly, but not absolutely. Please read on. I've been working at that knot now for a couple years and now and then have had them unravel. Even when I've concentrated on sticking the tag end back through properly. I think I finally figured out why I might be having problems and others may not. I use stiff leaders, FC leader material, up to 20 pound test, but usually 15. Even at 15, especially with the very fine braid I use (less than .006 diameter) I believe that the braid tag end sometimes gets out of the loop which is harder to close tightly with stiffer leaders. The only way I can figure that that knot can unravel is if the braid tag comes out of the loop. To make sure it is reliable with the leaders I use it has to be VERY TIGHTLY set, just like an FG, and two half hitches, each individually tightened against the knot (half hitches made from the tag end of the braid), have to be added. I've never been able to get a tight wind knot out of braid, and I dont expect a tight half hitch to ever unravel.