Diablos

The process of breaking down a guide and re-wrapping it should only take 15-20 minutes depending on trim bands. You have to consider that he/she may not have the matching guide in stock and if you would accept a similar guide to speed things up or wait for the perfect match to be ordered. The finishing(epoxying) of the guide can be up to a 48 hour process depending on what manufacturer's glue the repairer uses and whether he likes to single coat or double coat and his definition of tack-free and ready to fish.

I am going to say that most bass fisherman will have their left hand firmly wrapped around the reel while reeling with their right hand when fighting a fish. Due to the lightness of the set-up there is barely any torque from the reel. Saltwater guys tend to use the foregrip as a hold point and spiral wrapped guides will help when there is a heavy reel to keep from moving around.

I have made a few bass rods that are spiral wrapped but I don't think there is a huge difference on such light rods. Most bass fisherman including myself rarely fight a fish for more than 10 seconds. In saltwater when fighting fish from bigger depths I feel it makes a huge difference.

Saltwater fishermen know what the ocean can do to gear including cheap pliers. The Van Staal pliers are not for everyone but a online search will show that they are purchased and discussed more than you may think. A 100% freshwater fisherman could easily buy a cheap pair of stain-free needle nose pliers and have them last a while. There is no denying that there is a market for everything in between.

I use these in both saltwater and freshwater http://www.amazon.com/Tsunami-Ultra-strong-Aluminum-Pliers-7-5/dp/B004RC5AT8 If you want the best fishing pliers made then these are them. http://www.basspro.com/Van-Staal-Titanium-Pliers-6-39%3B-39%3B-or-7-39%3B-39%3B/product/58210/

I was on Snipatuit in Rochester today and the blue bird skies made fishing lousy. The water temp was hovering around 68 and figured fish would on the move. In 4 hours, I got 5 fish with nothing bigger than 14inches. The only lure that produced was a Lucky Craft sammy. I tried texas rigged senkos in open spots in the lily pads, frogs over the pads. I stopped dragging the mojo rig through grass after the 3rd pickerel. This was the 2nd time I've ever been here and the underwater vegetation was everywhere. It made me remember why I hated it the first time. For those who ever thought of fishing there, the max depth is around 4ft depending on water level. The lily pads seem to cover a lot of the shore line till about 20ft out in only about 1.5ft of water. After that in turns into thick milfoil/coontail till about 3ft deep then open water at 4ft deep with very little structure. I got all my fish between the 3 islands.

I only invite people who can withstand the awkward silence.

I purchased about $100 worth of gear; mostly soft plastics and punching gear. I did purchase an Abu Garcia Revo SX Gen2 at Walmart for $74

I use the Garmin Echo 550C in the bow. The unit has worked fantastic for over a year and has a great picture. It has a ton of features for a budget fishfinder. The Garmin has the clearest picture of any unit in this price range in my opinion.

I would rather pay a guide on an excellent public lake than farm fish in a managed area.

I personally have no confidence with tubes and feel awkward when I try to fish them. There is no denying though that at times they can be lethal when fished properly.

Nothing overly sentimental. I still have my first "high end" rod/reel combo from when I was 16(38 now). A Mitchell Copperhead that cost all of $30. And I still have my first custom bass rod that I made when I was 22.

Some sort of set-up for fishing lipless cranks.

Too many to choose from but right now it would be the Culprit Fat Max worms

I make custom saltwater fishing rods for a living. Been doin it for 20 years. The shop I work at has 3 power wrapping stations, 1 finish station with 30 9rpm dryers, 1 cross wrap station, 1 set-up station for grips and seats.

I never felt that buying expensive lures would change my fishing experience. Is it going to help me catch a 10lb'er? Even if it does, I still cant justify the $40-$100 it would take. I'm all about quantity over quality. Quantity is what keeps me on the water. I would prefer 10 Huddlestons over 1 Roman Made, while someone else would prefer 5 banjo minnows to 1 Huddleston. I know for some people it's a passion to collect beautiful hand-made lures and enjoy the craftsmanship myself, but I think with my pockets rather than with passion.

If the company is willing to replace it, then by all means let them. But as a custom rod builder, I tend to be cynical when it comes to broken inserts. A 4 week old rod that's been used multiple times will probably have some user error when an insert falls out.

I had a decent month for only fishing 5 times. Most of my fish were caught on worms being slowly dragged through and around grassy areas. Frogs were slow for me with only a few small bass through the lily pads. I just bought a bunch of heavy flipping and punching gear and plan on fishing a few ponds and lakes that are pretty overgrown before summer is out. I will admit though, I did have a blast catching 3lb bass on the Mojo rig on 5lb test flouro. The only two baits I used were a Zoom finesse worm and the Missle Fuse 4.4

DVT(Delaware Valley Tackle) is an excellent option who also advertises on this site. Another good option is Otterods. He has his photobucket page and email floating around the internet.

I use the Alberto knot for joining light lines such as 6lb to 10lb flouro leader I use a regular albright knot for joining wire leaders because the wire can get bulky I use a back-to-back uni-knot if I'm joining lines of a similar size such as 50lb braid and a similar diameter flouro leader.

Mark is correct. Gloomis has a line labeled worm & jig. I use to think that way also, that wormin meant finesse style fishing and throwing things like weightless trick worms. Now wormin to me is worms or lizards with weights

I generally buy $75-$150 reels and get about 3-5 years out of them. I would rather buy a new reel than invest $30-$50 maintaining them. The only reel I maintain is my Stradic CI4

I'm guessing you're paranoid about getting hooked in the hand. Use a net or a fish gripper/boga grip

Most people have limited time to fish and wouldn't care if the moon flew away.

In the 20 years Ive been building custom saltwater fishing rods, I have never replaced a guide due to "braid grooves" The only materials I have ever used were hialoy, aluminum oxide, alconite, sic, hardloy and cermet.