S Hovanec

BOTH! You can never have too many DS rods on deck! Use the Fenwick for bulkier baits and the Phenix for smaller baits!

I've tried Vanish 3 times since it was released. The original and twice after it was supposedly reformulated. They all got one trip, then the trash can. My time on the water is too valuable to use crappy line. After I ran out of my 2000 yard spool of Halo, I tried Inviz-X. I now use Inviz-X as my leader.

What I would suggest is to drill a small exploritory hole through the butt cap to see how deep it goes. That's what I ended up doing after I took the first inch off.

I'm guessing it was how they made it feel less tip heavy.

........it'll be a piece of cake!!! Glad I opted for the Dremel first instead of the miter saw. I would have ruined an $80 blade. The butt cap was a 2" long x 1/2" dia. steel plug. Looks like its gonna be a 5" extension now!! Contact cement dries much faster when it's sunny and 60 than it does when it's 30 and windy! Rough block. Ready to ship out!

clean, straighter edges are the biggest benefit. It doesn't throw finish around like you think.

I applied and dried at 18 rpm for years. Now that I got the power wrapper, I apply at ??40-200?? And dry at 10. Now the 18 rpm seems brutal when I have to use my old motors.

Does this mean lost by using, or just unable to locate it amongst the overabundance of gear in my basement? If it's the latter, I lost one of my Chronarch SF reels somewhere.

The other thing I find funny about your end of Erie vs. ours, you guys can use straight braid out there and still catch fish. Sometimes a 6 pound fluoro leader is too heavy at our end of the lake. My buddy, Capt. Matt runs straight braid on all of his bass rods and slays the smallies out of Buffalo.

I fish too slow, even for myself sometimes. I don't move when I should. I move when I shouldn't. We could be catching a boatload of 12-15" smallies and I'll pick up and move. IMO, big fish don't associate with the dinks. I have A.D.D. with baits. 2 or 3 casts without a bite and I'm switching. I won't uncover or launch the boat if it's raining. I'm a 3 trick pony: dropshot, tube and dropshot. I fish in the past too much. I'm sure there's more, but this is what I can come up with off the top of my head.

In the spring it doesn't matter. In the summer, I have spots that I will not fish when there are other boats around. When there are boats around, I never see them on my spots. I'm not saying that nobody else fishes them, but when I'm around, I've never seen anyone on them. I also don't give people a reason to fish the bent rod pattern. I have actually not set the hook on bites when other boats are cruising by so people don't see that I'm catching fish. I don't like people well enough to play bumper boats with them.

After some contemplation, I've come to the conclusion that I must be "that' friend.

Jamie isn't gonna give up his good spots that easy!

Welcome. I'm from south of Pgh, but most of my fishing happens way north.

I showed up for a club tournament once with just this bag and 3 rods in my boat. This is all that was in it.

That's funny and a lot of truth in it. If I would have not done the 3 projects before buying my current boat, I could have been able to afford a 20' Pro-V with a 225hp instead of a 17' Mr Pike with a 135hp!

RodGeeks just came out with a line of travel blanks. 29 colors to choose from.

The test drive suggestions will not stop because a motor will run fine all day on muffs. It needs to be under load to really tell you if its worth its weight on scrap or not.

I put a ProMariner ProTournament 3 bank in my Lund when I bought it in 2005. Never any issues and it's still going. Can't remember the price point though.

Was toying with the plate idea too. Was thinking about putting it on a texalum tube.

Sounds like that rod might not be the right tool for the job if the guides can't pass your desired connections. Guide size should be selected based on using the smallest possible that can pass your connections. Rod manufacturers have left a bad taste with some about micros because they slapped them on everything they make and failed to inform the consumer that they may not work in all applications.

As said, 10# is too heavy for bass size spinning reels. Next problem could be the spool is overfilled.

Depends on the brand/type of finish, sometimes heat won't soften it. Take an exacto blade or small drill bit and just spin it in the guide by hand.

What noone has mentioned yet is that none of the lines will wear on your reel or your guides. What will wear on your gear, no matter what type of line you use, is the microscopic debris that gets deposited in the pores of the line from the water. The dirtier the water, the more abrasive your line becomes.

I have a 7'6" MLXF that I use for deep dropshotting. Working on a frankensteined 8' m/xxf for the same purpose. It's quite an interesting feel.