.ghoti.

Despite my aversion to doing so, I have started saving reel boxes. Just in case. In reality, once I get a reel, I'll upgrade spool bearings and drag washers, do a full internal polish, add bearings where posible, and put on a four bearing handle with smooth knobs. Once I've done all that, they are really mine, and it's very difficult to part with them. Besides, who am I to argue with anybody elses neuroses. I have a lot more fun argueing with my own.

I keep thinking I want to try a 70mm handle. But I just can't quite pull the trigger. I have all Daiwa baitcasters, and have 80mm TD-Z handles on most of them. A shorter handle equates to a lot less wrist movement when working baits. I know the common thinking is to use a longer handle for more "power". I'm 6'1", 270lbs. Lack of power is not an issue. Besides, I know how to properly use rod and drag to subdue the fish.

I have a casting combo dedicated to shakey heads. It always has a jighead rigged and ready to go. I'm most comfortable with casting gear, so I use it most of the time. Except when it doesn't make sense. S Hovanec gave the exact right anwer. Spinning gear is what you want for drop-shotting deeper than about ten feet.

I actually prefer a shorter handle. 80mm is just about right for me. I'd like to try a 70mm sometime.

I saw the creepiest thing in the water a couple of years ago. Fishing with a buddy at Trophy Country, in Missouri. I'd spotted what looked like from a distance like a mostly submerged soccer ball. We fished all the way around a small cove before getting close enough to see what it was. It was a small deer; maybe a year old or so, dead as old dad's hatband. It was suspended in the water, with the top of it's head just breaking the surface, and the completely intact body hanging straight down. It was bleached out to an almost pure white from head to toe. Creeped me out. We left. Didn't catch any fish back in that area anyway.

You're saying nothing good at all about this company. What the %#$^* are you thinking; asking for a raise? With that attitude you should be looking for job.

I wasn't being skeptical. LOL Nice reel, except for the handle being on the wrong side. BWAAHAAAHHAAA!!!!!

I'm just about finished building my rod building / reel tuning bench at my cabin. When It's done, I'll take some pics and post the Team Daiwa starting lineup. I'll put the SS SV front and center, because I think it's going to prove to be the best reel I have.

Just got a Daiwa SS SV. Used, but doesn't look like it. 5.3 ounces, hedgehog air bearings, smooth as your baby's bottom, quiet as a church mouse. Spooled,it with #8 supernatural and mounted it on a 7' ML Kistler Helium LTA. Was casting and pitching a bare 1/8oz jighead with no problems. I have five Alphas. I hope this thing doesn't turn them into the red-headed stepchildren of my reel collection. I'm in reel trouble if that happens.

Now that's funny, right there.

Simple Green, is very effective, cheap, smells pleasant, and is biodegradable. Perfect Solution is great for more stubborn, old grease, but has a much harsher odor.

I've never understood this either. When I get a reel, once I've determined that there is no out of the box warranty issue, the box goes in the trash. I keep all schematics. I also keep any lube that may come with the reel. I figure I can use it for something. The small "tools" that sometimes come with reels are cheap pieces of trash, and also go in file13. I once had a guy interested in buying a reel I had up for sale, and his first question was about "box and papers". I told him sure, I got boxes and papers. What do you want. I can give a cigar box, shoe box, bread box, cereal box, even a tampon box if that's what you want. Papers? I got newspapers, toilet paper, wrapping paper, and I can go buy some rolling papers if necessary. Just let me know what kind of box and papers you think you need. I'll make it happen. Needless to say, he did not buy the reel. Got a little pissy with me about the whole thing, he did. I got a chuckle out of it, and sold the reel to somebody else.

6'10" Daiwa TD-X spinning, 25 size Supreme XT, 6lb Invisix on the main spool, 8lb supernatural on the spare spool

You bet. Just don't hold your breath. It's gonna be a while before I have any time to devote to this. I'm teaching five courses this semester, working on a plant-wide power monitoring system as a side job, and trying to get a cabin fixed up before it gets too cold. I'm coming up for breath sometime, just not sure when. On a positive note, at the cabin I have my rod building / reel tuning bench almost ready to put in service.

That's the beauty of it. It can be as simple, or complex, as you'd like it to be.

An occupational hazard for a musician, my friend. And yes, it takes one to know one.LOL I used to drink way too much. Now I don't. There some days I'm pretty sure I don't drink enough. I like wine. My wife and i will split a bottle for dinner a couple of times a week. I'll drink a beer or two now and then. I'm partial to single malt scotch and fine old cognac, but I never drink very much of either at any one time. Moderation in all things.

Tom Kirkman, and some of the guys on the rodbuilding forum have been building a Common Cents System database. It has a considerable amount of information freely available. It would be a fine thing, if all of us who are interested would sign up at rodbuilding.org and contribute to the database.

Had the very same thoughts myself. Is this a case of great minds think alike, or feeble minds never differ?

Hi ya Sonny. Good to see ya back.

You've hit the nail on the head. A steady state vibration would tell us the resonant freq; where in the spectrum the rod or blank was most efficient at vibration transmission. I don't think that would be of much use. I would also be very disturbing to find that an Ugly stick at 2.5KHz was better than a GLX. Which again, would prove nothing. You sound like we may speak the same language, so here's my best thought so far. I considered using an LVDT. Instead of hooking up an excitation voltage to the coil and reading the output windings for distance measurement, I would configure a DAQ card for ac voltage output and connect it to the output coils. take a little experimentation and probably a buffer amp, but it should stroke the plunger in and out. It would have a limit on upper freq, but I don't think I need to measure high freqs. Impulses are what I'm after. What do you think? At this time, this is all blue sky thinking. I have way too much going on to be able to do anything other than think about it.

Kent, that would produce a steady state vibration. The frequency would depend on the size of, and the tension on, the line. This could easily be measured, but, as I said before, I don't think it would give me anything useful, other than resonant frequency. I totally agree with DVT, that the Common Cents System is the way to go. This system yields easily measured numbers which, while being of only some value as absolute numbers, can be of great value for comparative purposes. The system does not ,however, make any determination of sensitivity. Still, a great concept, developed by a creative thinker. But, I don't think we will ever get rod and/or blank manufacturers to measure and publish this data. Hell, a lot of them won't even publish rod or blank weights. When I started thinking about this, what I first had in mind was taking some response measurements from a blank, and then taking the same measurements after the rod was built. Then start putting together a data base, or spreadsheet, showing what effect different materials had on the numbers. ie, does EVA damp the rod more than cork, or foam arbors vs tape vs graphite, different reels seat, split vs full grip, guides, etc,etc,etc. I think many of those comparisons would show slight differences measurable by precise instruments, but imperceptible to the human hand. But, and here's a big but, maybe several of those measured differences added together would produce something we could feel. That's where I was going with this initially. But all these discussions about sensitivity maid me start thinking along those lines as well.

It's a little early in the season for this much crowing and groaning, isn't it?

This!!!! I've been thinking about this measurement thing off and on for a couple of years. Ever since I had to buy, and learn, LabView for a project. In talking to an engineer friend, who is also a fisherman (he's mechanical, I'm electrical) he thought that by applying a steady state vibration, all I would accomplish would be to establish the resonant frequency for each blank. Interesting, but ultimately of no practical use. I don't think a bass, or any other fish, vibrates. A strike would be an impulse. That has been my dilemma. How to apply a repeatable, variable, controlled impulse. This is a solvable problem, but one I have put on the shelf for a while. I will get back to it sometime soon. Sensitivity, being subjective, would not be what I would be trying to measure. What I would be after would be quantifiable data, for comparative purposes. Objective data, which could possibly be correlated to subjective perceptions across a wide sampling of people. I do believe this could yield some useful results. By the way DVT, the project which got me started with LabView was to measure taste. I signed a rigid nondisclosure agreement to get this project, so I can't discuss details, but I can say the measurements recorded for analysis, were relative rather than absolute.

If you still have the insert, and it is undamaged, you may be able to epoxy it back in place. I've managed to do that once. I've failed at that more than once. Wrapping on a new guide is the correct way to fix the problem.

I've been thinking about doing that. I have LabView software, and a couple of DAQ cards with inputs which will accept just about any type of sensor's output signal. Also have a few low range accelerometers. It would not be difficult to develop an application to measure vibration transmission. At this point, I have no time for such a project. And, I don't really know what I would use to apply a realistic input signal to the rod blank. I've put some thought into this this and have conceived, and discarded, several ideas. I'd be interested to hear some of your ideas. Keep in mind, that for this to have any relevance at all, whatever I use to apply a signal to the rod will have to be controlled down to a very fine level. Tapping the end of the blank with a stick is not going to work. LOL