rubba bubba

This year my son's Boy Scout summer camp is going to be at Camp Roy C. Manchester on Kentucky Lake, near Aurora (near Jonathan creek I'm told). It'll be the week of 7/18-13 and was looking for your help on: - typical patterns/locations for this time of the year (I assume summer/deep pattern, but I understand Kentucky lake isn't very deep). Hit the docks nearby? - anyone familiar with shoreline options in that area that I need to make sure I go to? (Or areas I could reach by canoe) - recommended baits - anything unique to KL that the locals love but outsiders normally wouldn't try?

Welcome to 2003.

2 rod lengths so the knot is just outside the spool if I were to pitch. Re-tie at around 3'.

Does anyone make a standup jig - something like the Megastrike Shake2 - with a wide-gap hook?

I got mine at Michael's for $4 with coupon, in their jewelry making section. Much better than the Rapala one I have.

I have 2 lefties - 1 had a small bit of stickiness as mentioned but a drop of oil on the level-wind guide solved that.

Might want to get your humor-meter checked.

The knobs are replaceable, just not sure what replacement options are available. I imagine one could put the PQ knobs on this reel but I haven't gotten around to checking into that yet.

I haven't cracked mine open yet, but I like how the drag star is metal, unlike my Curado 51. Note - I fully agree there's no performance difference between a plastic/metal star, I just like the metal star better. Mine were a bit sticky but that was because there was no lube on the level-wind guide. I'm not big on the EVA foam knobs, but I like them better than the ridged-rubber knobs on the Extremes. I greatly prefer the rubber knobs of the Curado the most. I think the way they made the centrifugal braking adjustment external was clever. It limits you to changing by pairs, only, but you can fine tune with the mag brakes if desired.

I went to grab a couple of the new Johnny Morris Carbonlites (lefty) - they were sold out (both righty/lefty) so I got the rain check. They arrived yesterday resulting in a wait of 4 calendar days (I went on Fri morning). The engineering on these is much better than I was expecting; a definite steal.

Whipped a couple up; pretty simple and pretty cheap:

Spot remover for stand up (don't shake, but hop the bait). Megastrike for angled Regular ball-head shakeyhead for lay down 3 different presentations that each have their time and place.

There are benefits to using a leader other than line visibility which Dodgeguy can't seem to grasp. Like all the other tools we fish with, braid leader benefits are situational - there is no "1 setup is best for all" rule.

Can you send a closeup pic of the guide?

I've used both the Lobster and regular on 3/8-1/2 with equal success. The Lobster made for a long presentation where the head/pincers stuck well beyond the skirt, but I have pulled in some real fatties with that setup.

Agree 16 is too big to start with. Here's the standard numbering for Fuji's Concept system to use as a starting point (I've made many 7' rods with these numbers): 12 - 10 - 8 - 7 - 7 (fly) - 6 (fly) - 6 (fly) - 6 (fly) - 6 (fly) As Delaware said, you can even go to the 4 fly's if you want to go micro. I agree, though - 2 people who aren't sure how to build a bass rod isn't a good recipe for success.

I just saw your questions - - the handle I made myself; it's just a matter of epoxying cork rings and then shaping the cork as you see fit - price - I get wholesale pricing so it's not accurate, but regular pricing for all those components would be around $95 or so, I'm guessing.

You have a couple of options. As mentioned above, ohya has them for $133 which is a bargain since they were $180 list/$150 ebay until the closeout: http://ohya.com/products.asp?cat=91 The Lews reels are excellent reels but they are very close in size to the Revos. If that size works, you can't go wrong with a Lews. The only other economical option is the new Johnny Morris Carbonlite which is very close in size: http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shopsreg;-Johnny-Morrisreg;-CarbonLitetrade;-Baitcast-Reels/product/1110020501438/274203?cmCat=CROSSSELL_THUMBNAIL

Water temps are 67-69 in Naples and they are both starting to spawn (some bedding action but not a lot) or are literally on the cusp of spawning. They're all staged and ready to go.

I used the graphics straight off of Mudhole's site and then just worked them in Photoshop along with the other text that I added. I print them on a certain brand of white decal paper, but I outline them in a black box. There's not much more than that, depending on how good you are at Photoshop.

I made them myself via photoshop since the ones that come from Mudhole are so poor. Or at least the first decals they made were; the ones with these blanks were better but still bad. Roy.

It's been some time since I've made any rods but I got around to making a few spinning rods for my old man and his fishing partner. Neither use baitcasters so I helped them out with the next best thing. If you've seen any of my other builds you know I prefer my wraps to have color, but I made a black stealth build that I liked much more than I would have thought.

Fishing with it and seeing it float.