spoonplugger1

If I remember right the spybait has small treble, I myself would probably go Delta for that. If you go the other way concern yourself with the proper power not to pull hooks under load over tip action.

8 ft. that power isn't near as popular as it once was, 8 1/2 ft now is more the norm. Take what you can get at that price.

Like this.

The easiest way is to carbon tube oversleeve the entire grip. Simply slip a graphite tube sleeve over your existing rear grip and go fishing.

Grip interface is the same for 20 mm and smaller reel seats.

The reel seat parts all get larger as the size goes up and they get longer also, the reel's foot also gets longer and wider as the reel gets larger. Abu's round reels to 6500 use the same size foot as their smaller bass reels, 7000 and larger, the larger reel foot found on their deep sea reels. A size 20 mm trigger reel seat will fit both the bass and larger size reels so I use them on rods that could have either, for instance an Abu 6500, or the larger foot found on the Shimano Tekota, either are popular salmon/musky/catfish/etc. reels. The 20 mm also usually fits on all the graphite, composite, and glass blanks I build on. If I feel the need for a blank exposed reel seat larger than 17 mm, I build one out of a non-exposed trigger reel seat, takes 15 minutes, or so.

PSLLD 20 mm, and the PLSSD smaller size.

The PULS seat was designed for Bluewater use with larger reels that would crowd your hand on a normal trigger reel seat. Fuji has had another without the exposed blank area for decades, some of the musky anglers are using them right now on their rods.

That powder is freeze dried helium, the new secret rod lightening material. Only takes a drop of water to activate an entire rod full. Sshh! Tell no one.

Michigan, I believe it was called the hot hands grip, developed by Vibronics Rods. His rods have been outside the box and winning money for over a decade.

The lightest, most sensitive grip by far is the grip with no arbors, developed about 10 years ago.

The origin reason for graphite sleeved grips was to hide the looks of a bunch of marginal, cheap cork, the foam core came later. Decide what is important to you, set your priorities accordingly and go for it. If you look at the stuff Riley Rods has done for a longtime, you see very little of the Graphite pattern.

I've fished a time or two with persons that can't keep their hands out of the hooks, in front is probably safer for them if they have a foregrip to space it out away from the reel seat. I drill a hole in my trigger and call it good for my casting rods. I was also shown years ago the idea of using a fly snake guide as a keeper, makes getting your hook free easier and traps the lure a bit better than a dropshot keeper style does IMO.

The K series guides are not the lightest or cheapest Fuji guides, I see no benefit on a trolling rod. 8 would probably do it. I have not had any problems with the G2 style grips in rod holders, if he didn't mention he had a problem I wouldn't mess with the grip. My rod holders cradle the reel and very front of the grip only.

The G2 grips are heavier I think than the similar NFC version, it's probably because of all the trim pieces, bling adds weight. The NFC grips only have a forward arbor that is prefit and an EVA butt cap that also acts as the rear arbor. They also have split grips, overall they have a bunch of graphite grip types, including fly grips, all US made on-site and on sale still I think.

Depends on the build and the size of the guides, when you get into the micro guides there is little difference in weight, I had to start weighing 20 guide groups to get my scales to measure repeatable results.

It's not the first time American Tackle has sold a graphite tube rear grip/reel seat assy, there was the Matrix assembly some years back.

They are called slick butts.

I use a paper clip, rubber band, and piece of string. Tie the string to something, the rubber band next, paper clip clipped to the tip top. Put some tension on the setup, heat the tip top, it will pop off as soon as the glue releases so you add minimal heat to the blank.

All rods stress more fibers on the outer diameter than in the middle, that is why even the high performance bamboo rods were hollow. The rest is dead weight with lessening stresses on it till you reach the center which has virtually none. You really didn't think the new skinny, thick wall blanks were more aerodynamic? Just how wind resistant does the big end close to your hand have to be? You may have exactly the same weight and material in a brandy snifter and a beer mug, which one will survive a fall? Take a look at the St. Croix rod, to get the power they needed they increased the diameter, more power, less glass and weight to get there. Wasn't long ago people were complaining about the slight weight difference increases of the thin diameter, heavy wall design of the Graphite USA rod blanks, even though they were the only all graphite rods out there that have survived decades of hard saltwater use, including rail rod use and not blow up, now they flock to them from others because sales speak tells them they are sleeker, more stylish, you wouldn't want to mention they are heavier and warranty returns dropped because of it. They haven't gone to the GUSA layup so they are not as durable still. There is a reason why the fantastic Point Blank blanks are all larger diameter, light, responsive blanks. You can graph it simply, draw a circle using a quarter, now make a pie graph out of it, any angle, now drop a dime in the center. You now are looking at the difference in action fibers activated by deflecting two blanks those diameters at that angle. It's not linear as you can see, it's exponential because of Pi, all math is effected by 3.1416 when messing with circles.

E glass modulus is around 9 mil, S glass is 12 mil, a bass rod many have used for crankbaits was built on both glasses, the difference in weight was 5/8 oz. So the S glass blank is 24% lighter and 33% higher in modulus.

I hear you, I haven't gotten past the point where more light and magnification doesn't keep me going.....yet.

Looked in all my old catalogs, when tip top tube size is mentioned, it is listed as a 6.0 or 6/64 size. Original real G Loomis rods had Pac Bay guides, after Shimano bought the company, Fuji. The Fuji guides are all stamped with an "F". The ceramic ring sizes changed over the years early rods started with 8s, my early 90's rods were 6s and they probably still are today.

Gudebrod has been gone for maybe a decade now, as is Rice and others. Haven't seen much E thread used in my 40 years of doing this, what do you use it for, decorative wraps?

Mcipinkie, Sure we are, fiberglass is durable but heavier, less responsive, less handy in some situations. I have glass, composite, and varied graphite. If you have a fishing situation where strong, large fish are involved that are going to put your gear and you at your limit, what if you have a graphite rod,, much lighter and handier that will get it done for decades, what do you bring? If your trout fishing brush laden streams where accuracy and casting space is all important, which do you pick, a very fast reacting, abrupt graphite rod, or a slower loading glass rod that gives you a bit more time to get it right on the spot. If it's a tight line, tip down presentation, is graphite still as important, how about slack line presentations, tip up? Which is more likely to keep a light hooked fish on, or treble hooked fish? I don't keep myself up at night worrying about this, but if I haven't done it, how can I recommend, or recognize what others may need? My name is on every rod, even my own, it means something.