cadman

I have not come across that video. I will look at it today. My buddy said it is one of the best spinning reels he has had. Thanks for the link.

I am cleaning a reel for a friend. According to the schematic, it says that I need a clutch tool to remove the clutch cap to remove the ARB. With that said has anyone done this and if so is there any other way to remove the clutch cap without the tool? Thanks in advance

As long as the reel doesn't fail, I don't care.

That's interesting. Haven't seen anything like that before. If I were to do bulk order. I would make a silicone mold to hold the jig, hook and mono. Then pour in epoxy and let dry, or maybe something faster like hot glue. I don't know of an easy efficient way to make these.

Oh ok. So I have poured jigs with weedguards in the past and the weedguards fused into the lead. On this note, I have also used Sevenstrand and Surflon stranded coated wire and it fused as well when pouring. So my thoughts are this, why not put a piece of Surflon ( or heavy mono) under the hook shank in a mold and pour the jig head. You can put a bend on one end which will go into the mold (to hold it in place) and leave the tag end long to be cut and bent later. The only problem might be, is powder painting the jig. I do know that the Surflon or Sevenstrand should hold up. I am not sure about mono, however if it is 90 lb then it might. If you want the keeper stiffer, you can glue it or epoxy it to the hook shank. I would opt for epoxy. This would eliminate wrapping with wire or thread. This is worth a try if you pour jigs. Just a thought or I might just be totally wrong. I will try this later tonight when I get home and see if I can post a pic of my concoction.

I am late to the party. What is the point of having a flexible mono keeper? I am curious and would like to know. I have several ideas, but until I find out what the logic is, I don't want to post something stupid. Can anyone enlighten me please? Thanks in advance.

I personally would use 90 lb Surflon or Sevenstrand. When you bend it it will stay in that shape unlike monoor fluoro. What it is, is stainless steel stranded wire, coated. Below are two charts to show you what the thicknesses are of different surflon, mono and fluoro.

I'm not that extreme, however I try to keep my gear meticulous. If I have to lay my rod and reel down I will lay it down carefully and not drop it on the ground or in my boat. All my rods and reels have covers on when not used. By doing this over the years, all my rods and reels have worked flawlessly and I have never had any problems with them. Also resale value stays high if you take care of your rod and reel.

You can also lift the handle on the stem, and use an air gun and blow air through it one way then go through the other end. I'm sure you will blow out all the sand. Do it until it feels smooth. This has worked for me in the past.

I pre-make all my jigs before I go on the water, hand tied, done. I use basically blk/blu. brn, brn/orange, green pumpkin and black. I make all these colors in 15 of each of the sizes, 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 oz. That's it. I put all of them by size in my Plano 3700 box. I do not have time to tie jigs on the water or switch skirts. To me it is time wasted instead of trying to find fish. Nothing wrong with doing this if this works for you. I have never found a color I needed that I didn't have in my tackle box. All the colors I have work at some point. I'm not saying creating your own color on the water doesn't get more bites. I just don't see that as a solution to fishing that particular day. JMO

I have a dedicated reel for every rod as well.

From the boat

Yes it does work. I use it on all my Big Game, Yo-Zuri Hybrid and any mono type line. I use so much of it, I buy it by the gallon. Good Stuff

It was called Naked Bait Co., Skirt expander, I remember the gimmicky plastic tool that almost everyone had. The company went out of business. Then the business and patent I believe was sold to someone else (don't remember the name) and that person never really produced any to the market. They do come up for sale on e-bay sometimes. I have a tool called the skirt Master Tool. It has three prongs where you put the rubber collar on the prongs squeeze the handles and it opened up the collar to insert your skirt. I used to know the owner, I believe he passed away. His family I believe still makes them. If I find the link I will PM you. I believe they were around $30.00. You can check these out also on Amazon. Type in: Fishing Skirt Band Tool...in the search bar. They have a few that would work.

As far as wire, I use copper wire. 24 Ga (.020) thick. It works really well. Just remember don't over tighten it, because it will break. You can buy it at Hobby Lobby, Michaels or Jo-Ann Fabrics. Any craft store. Also you may have some laying around from an old motor armature or a heavier extension cord that is broken. As far as a wire tying tutorial, PM me your e-mail and I will send you a tutorial on how I wire tie my skirts.