Delaware Valley Tackle

The Ambassadeur reels are fine for bass fishing. They are effecient and dependable fishing tools. These reels are easily upgraded as well. If there is a draw back, it might be in weight and profile if those matter to you.

If the bottom is so soft as to make your bait difficult or immpossible for the fish to find,you can try a drop-shot rig.

For jig and plastic fishing where sensitivity is most important, I suggest the highest quality rod you can afford with reliable, manageable reel. For moving baits like deep cranks that have resistance during retrieve, you may want to scew the budget a little more toward the reel. As stated above, all in all, the rod is what hooks and fights the fish.

If the shim is in place and the reel is maintained, the pawl cap shouldn't require much attention.

Modulus, scrim, resin and wrapping process all affect the characteristics of a blank and unfortunately, there are no industry standards as mentioned. Components like guides and reel seat also vary. 90% or better of rod failures are the result of mishandling or misuse of type. I'm not familiar with the Field & Stream line but if I were to consider a store brand, BPS seems to do pretty well. At the end of the day, rely on your own experience. If the rod lasts and does what you want at a price you're ok with, that's all that matters.

If you bought it new, return it for a replacement. If it is second hand or out of warranty you can send it in to us and we'll take a look.

For un-weighted plastics, a good starting point is a 7' Med/Fast spinning rod. This should handle baits <1/2 oz and handle any size bass you'd hook in cover where you'd throw such a bait. For fishing light contact baits I'd suggest the highest quality rod your budget can handle regardless of brand.

The MHX blanks are top quality and come with a life time guarantee. I build most of my personal use rods on them. They are comparable to other companies' offerings at 2 & 3 times the price. They also offer a super high modulus line that just rolled out last week.

You may not be as far off-base as you think. The brands in the OP run more in the $160-$180 range. There are some very high quality blanks available at reasonable prices. Custom rods don't have to break the bank (unless you wan't them to)lol. PM or email me if you'd like to discuss options.

These pre-built rods could be called hand-crafted, but IMO don't qualify as "Custom" due to the lack of in-put from the user.

If you're fishing the same depth and current conditions, I'd suggest spooling braid on your spinning reel as well. 20lb/6 lb equiv.

Looks like you may have reeled a jig head or worm weight into the tip?

To remove damaged tip: hook a paper clip to the tip-top and a rubberband from the clip to a nail in a work bench. Pull on the rod to stretch the rubber band while holding a heat source (lighter, candle etc) under the paper clip/ tip area. Allow the top to pop off as the glue softens. You can clean remaining glue with a finger nail. To install new top: Choose a replacement top with the correct tube size.Tops are sold by ring size(mm) x tube size (64th inch) It should slide on without force but not flop loosely. Heat the glue and when liquid dab onto tip of blank and quickly slide new top in place being sure to line up with existing guides. Excess glue can be peeled off the blank.

Metal docks are well worth fishing, especially if that's all there is. If there were a metal and wood dock side by side, I'd probably fish the wood one first just because of the wooden legs.

Haven't fished that lake, but in general fish seem a little later than usual in moving shallow and spawning. Check some deeper staging areas and look for active beds.

Shimano makes quality reels, however this is one of there lower end offerings. You may want to consider a higher end second hand reel or a BPS PQ on sale. VBS is Shimano's centrifugal brake design.

Why limit yourself to one brand or lineup? If you mix and match you may end up with a better total arsenal plus experience with other brands to refer to in the future.

You really should have a schematic in front of you before you attempt reel disassembly. Keep in mind that they don't necessarily show disassembly/reassembly order.

We can do a nice custom build for him on a ML blank. Email me if you'd like to discuss details and options

.ghoti. I couldn't agree more. Very well stated points with supporting data.

Weight added weight anywhere on the blank has a negative affect on sensitivity. With that said, a small amount of weight on the butt area would have the least affect and admittedly probably less that human hands could detect. Weight can be added with after market kits without affecting warranties. They're just a cap filled with washers or quarters slid over the butt cap. A chair leg tip from the hardware store will work for this. On a new build I'll use a little lead tape under the grip or epoxied into the blank end.

When building a rod, if at all possible I have the reel on hand and your right, I-ll move it forward and back to get the desired result. If this means that the butt would be unacceptably long (or short)I'll adjust accordingly. Since this is largely a preference issue, I'll add just enough weight to the very butt end to achieve the feel the customer wants. As a personal example, I'm not really tall, 5'9" so I prefer a butt length of about 9". If I were to do a 7'10" flipping stick for myself, the extra length and short butt might result in a tip heavier than I want so I'll add just enough weight to get a feel I can live with, which probably will still not balance ona fulcrum at the reel. Example 2 - I'm building a 6'3" drop shot/finesse rod with carbon Tennessee handle, micro guides and will get a 2500 Ci4 with braid. My goal being the lightest most sensitive rod I can get. No way will I add any weight to this build.

Balance of a rod is a personal preference with no right or wrong. The rod should be handled with the intened reel mounted. When held in a loose grasp, the tip may lean forward (tip heavy),lean up (butt heavy) or balance (neutral). Neutral or "Balanced" feel is preferred by many especially for a jig or plastics rod that is fished with the tip in the air. My personal preference is to not add weight to any rod unless absolutely necessary.

While, IMO, the E series Curado does feel less substantial in hand than some of it's predesessors, they are a well built quality reel. Any manufacturer can have a bad one here or there and Shimano's customer service is pretty good. As far as the Curado vs Calcutta question goes, that's more of a matter of features and application than quality.

There are a lot of fine choices for a baitcast reel in the $100 price range. It's almost hard to go wrong. If I were to buy a store brand reel the BPS PQ is a safe choice. I prefer either dual breaking or centrifugal only. Whatever brand you settle on, setup is critical. There are tons of posts and articles on the site to walk you through the process.