BobP

Different strokes for different folks, but I never paint a rod blank. I've taken plenty OFF to lighten the blank but to add weight to a blank when I don't have to just seems wrong if you care about performance and not just "looking good". I certainly wouldn't go to all the trouble required to do it right just to get a different color. JMHO

Sounds to me like you prefer spinning gear, can use it effectively, and are comfortable with it - and are considering baitcasting just because everyone says it's better in some respects. Well, yes, the baitcast guys are right. It is superior to spinning in some important areas. But when all is said and done, unless you are considering a career as a professional tournament angler, fishing boils down to catching fish and having fun and I say whatever increases the joy - do - and whatever takes away - don't. Personally, I go exactly the other way - I don't pick up a spinning rod unless I absolutely have to. And I'm not above kidding a good buddy about his penchant for using those "fairy wands". But for at least 80% of fishing presentations, a spinning rod will work perfectly well if that's your preference. It's only when you get to real heavy line stuff like punching weed mats that spinning really begins to take a back seat. JMHO.

YZ is a fluoro coated line so its refractive index is mainly determined by its nylon content, not the fluoro coating. So IMO, no, YZ doesn't have the same low visibility as 100% fluoro. The coating will help to reduce water absorption, which is a good thing.

Would it work? Maybe but it's designed to adhere to plastics, not epoxy impregnated graphite, so you'll just have to try it and see. I would definitely degrease the blank with denatured alcohol after sanding it with 400 grit paper. You don't want to shoot new paint on a gloss surface - especially since you don't know what that surface is.

I buy other brands but think BPS has been trying to upgrade their crankbaits lately. The problem you run into is that their crankbaits are mostly made in China and Chinese fishing products have lots of variability in performance unless the buyer applies a demanding level of quality control - which BPS has not always done. Not saying that some of the BPS crankbait models are not good lures - I'm sure some are. But personally, I'm not going to sift through the chaff to get to the wheat - life is too short and fishing time is too valuable to waste.

Baits with lots of buoyancy are more lively and that's why balsa baits have a fish catching advantage. Load a balsa bait up with enough ballast that it will cast like a heavy plastic bait and you defeat the purpose of the design by dulling the action. Does it make them a PITA to cast them? Yep, but the pain is worth the gain.

I don't think there are any concerns at all. If it has been "stored" in the back of your pickup for 3 years, run the line off the reel and reverse it so the newer line is now on top.

In field tests,10 lb mono gets 1 ft deeper than 12 lb mono. Whether that is enough depends on the crankbait and how high/low you hold your rod during the retrieve.

What I most often hear is your drag should be set at 1/3 the rated strength of your line. Who actually does that with a scale? Almost nobody. Like most guys, I set the drag and then pull some off the reel to insure it has some give, but not too much. Probably around 4-5 lbs. 4 lbs of drag will whip any bass pretty quickly. The only reason to crank a drag tight IMO is if you are fishing heavy vegetation like lily pads with heavy braided line, where you don't want ANY give.

I always cut my blanks out on a jig saw or band saw and then used small Dremel sanding cylinders for most of the rounding-over on crankbaits. The cylinders come in 2 grits - I use the fine grit. The downside is you have wood dust flying so a particle mask is recommended. More lately, I've started using a wood carvers Murphy knife to do the gross parts of rounding over, saving the Dremel for blending the facets cut with the knife into the curvature of the bait. A Murphy knife will cut any type of wood used in crankbaits and using it instead of a knife not specifically designed for wood carving is comparing night and day. I got mine about a year ago online for around $15. Different guys use different methods and I think it's mostly a function of what they started out using and became familiar with. So it's mostly what works for you - knives, saws, sanders, rasps, lathes, etc.

In the art community, stencil material is called frisket. It's a roll of clear plastic film with adhesive and a paper backing. Various types have different stickiness to avoid lifting paint off an art project, and the frisket can be easily cut with an Xacto knife. Stencils for crankbaits are different from most art projects in that every stencil needs a mirror image stencil to do the other side of the bait. I get around this by cutting my stencils from frisket but leaving the paper backing on them so I can simply flip the stencil over to do the opposite side of the bait. Of course, this means the stencil is just held against the bait with your fingers while shooting paint instead of being stuck on the bait. But frisket material is light enough and conforms enough to curved surfaces that I can do that and seldom have and boo-boo's. Using flip-over stencils also lets you save your stencils for future use, which you can't do if you use stick-on stencils. I've built up quite a library of stencils and only need to cut a new one if I want to do a new design. Of course, there are other ways to make crankbait stencils. If you have a model crankbait that you paint many times, you might want to make form-fitting stencils for both sides of that model. In that case, I suggest you go to tackleunderground.com, the Hardbaits forum, and do a search on STENCIL to get the procedures for making that kind of stencil.

I build 25+ ft crankbaits but for practicality, I like a 4.5 or 5" hollow belly swimbait on a 3/4oz jig head, exposed hook, thrown on 20 lb braid. It's just simple to use and is versatile for any depth. Cast it out, let it hit bottom, and slow roll it back. It gives you longer contact with the bottom than any deep crankbait and bigger bass love them.

Fluoro will get a deep crankbait maybe a foot deeper with a little more feel during the retrieve. Whether that is important enough to pay a premium for fluoro is up to you. I use fluoro for lots of things but most of the time, I throw cranks on 10-12 lb copolymer line like Yozuri or Izor. I think feel is important when fishing crankbaits but I use a graphite rod, not glass, and copolymer on a graphite rod gives me enough sensitivity. There are all kinds of considerations about line type and size that you can take into account but unless he has 20 bass rods in the boat, Average Joe will be fishing crankbaits on 12 lb nylon monofilament.

Screw eyes will work but are not nearly as durable as thru-wiring. If you use them, I'd use the longest I could find and fill the hole with epoxy or superglue before screwing them in for final assembly. But really, thru-wiring is not much harder to do and will make the baits much stronger and more durable. I use SOFT temper stainless steel wire for thru-wiring - at least .032" diameter, more often .040". The soft temper wire is much easier to bend accurately and will hold up fine.

When I spend $ for fishing equipment, I buy the best quality stuff I can afford and I don't care who built it. American company wanting to compete? Great! Build the best, better than Brand X assembled with components from country Y in country Z, incorporated in country Q, and I'll be first in line. All the talk about what constitutes "built in the USA" is like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin - pretty much useless IMO. Don't like it? Hope for the invention of time travel and go back to live in 1950 before the modern world developed. BTW, fishing reels used to backlash like crazy back then!

If you're talking about removing acrylic latex paint with no topcoat on it, I just run it under warm water and use a toothbrush to scrub off the paint. If you're talking removing paint that has been topcoated, that's a whole 'nother thing and depends on what kind of topcoat you used.

MCU (moisture cured urethane) is one of the best topcoats in terms of looks and performance, especially on plastic baits where its thin clarity gives baits a real "factory look". The downside is it is very hard to store for any length of time without hardening in the container. Don't know your procedure for topcoating, but I find it best to coat the lure (brush or dip) and then just hang it up by the lip to allow any excess MCU to drip off the tail of the bait. Don't rotate the bait after coating it. If you do, the MCU can accumulate in a pool on the bait, typically on the lower tail section. It skins over very quickly so liquid MCU is held against the paint long enough that the aggressive solvent it contains blisters the paint. I just dip'em and hang'em, making MCU the quickest and most care-free topcoat you can get - except for storing it.

I don't fish LR Shocks myself but repaired a few belonging to a relative, on which the guides nearest the reel seat had been broken. I wasn't impressed with the guides on the rods but otherwise, they seemed like decent sticks - not high end but good value for their very modest price. I do have a BPS Carbonlite ML spinning rod, which is pretty unimpressive compared to my alternate, a $150 Shimano Crucial dropshot rod. Again, I don't like the guides on the Carbonlite compared to standard Fuji guides and the hook hanger on my rod began to rust off soon after I bought it - obviously, the Chinese factory used a non-stainless hanger. Not a fair comparison since the Shimano is $50 more than the Carbonlite but then again, I don't condone a rusting metal part on any rod, at any price.

I'd try fluorocarbon and if that's still too stretchy, then try braid with a leader. It's all a system: reel, rod, line, hooks, and technique. If you need more hooking power, there are ways to get it rather than with a stiffer rod. I'd look at every other component before changing the rod, provided it cast well and adequately transmitted the feel of the crankbait during the retrieve.

Maybe it's unwarranted bias, but I think any baitcaster with a graphite frame will flex enough that its long term durability is questionable. I bought several Pro Max 1600's from the early 70's on Ebay that are still going strong. Round reels, reliable design, aluminum frames and 6 internal bearings that make it as smooth as butter. Heavier than modern reels but not by a lot and you can easily get parts for them. I upgraded the drags, the spool bearings, added updated clutch frames, and faster 6:1 gears to them. I keep lusting after newer reels - and buying them too - but the old reels just refuse to die. Whatever the manufacturer, there are certain reel models that become classics because they work well and develop a reputation for trouble-free durability. Curado CU200's, Calcuttas, early Abu Pro Max, etc. If you're a guy who changes his reels out every 2 years, that doesn't much matter. But I get a kick out of a tough as nails reel that lasts and does exactly what it's designed to do for years and years.

Well, one consideration on Frog Toggs - their bib style pants don't include a front zipper. That can be pretty inconvenient if ya gotta go, so I recommend the regular pants style. I really like the performance and the price on Frog Toggs, it's hard to beat. Cheap enough that I keep an extra set in the boat for guests, just in case.

I rarely caught bass on hollowbellys until I started fishing them on 3/4 oz jig heads. I use a conical shaped Owner jig head. Big advantage - you can cast it a mile and cover water at any depth down to 25-30 ft. Yes, it works.

I'd have to say centrifugal but only because I use a lot of Shimano reels. I have a JDM Shimano Scorpion with dual centrifugal system - an externally dialed centrifugal system complemented by a separate internal centrifugal system, and it casts into the wind about as well as a spinning reel. Too bad Shimano never brought that system to its US product line. On the other hand, I also have an Revo SX (don't know what "generation") that has also worked flawlessly for years, so I think that rather than considering centrifugal versus magnetic, you have to look at the particular braking system in the particular reel you are considering. Some reel designs are just more prone to backlash than others and it's not just the braking system that determines that. For instance, I think most round Abu reels with their simple 2 post centrifugal brakes are Backlash City. But I have several old round Pro Max 1600's that prove you have to look at the whole reel, not just the braking system. You can install 2 black brake blocks in a 1600, turn the cast control knob all the way off until there's slight side play in the spool, and cast it all day without the reel even thinking of backlashing. And the 1600 will cast farther than any Shimano I own because almost zero braking is needed, while I have to use both cast control and 2-3 centrifugal brakes on all of my Shimanos - and still get a few "professional over-runs" during a day of fishing. jhoffman - I think either braking systems work primarily at the end of the cast, while the cast control knob works to stop backlash at the beginning.

They are originally glued with epoxy, along with the cork rings that make up the handle. A double syringe of 5 min epoxy will do the trick.

Tom Kirkman lives in the vicinity so that's why the rodbuilding org seminars are in High Point, Winston Salem and environs. You didn't say what experience you have in building rods, but before making plans, you should build a few rods for yourself, friends, and family to get a taste of what's involved. It requires exacting detail work and you also have to deal with demanding customers, so it's not for everyone. I build rods for myself and a few friends. I enjoy using them and saving the money I'd otherwise pay for a factory rod but wrapping rods is not something I enjoy "in and of itself" as a hobby. And doing it as a business requires some investment.