Chance_Taker4

what would your opinion on a light line soft tip blank? I throw on 6# test when I DS.

I've never thought of staying with a 10. That just changed everything lol

I got a dual athletic scholarship to college in Golf and Tennis. I would much rather teach my wife tennis than golf.

I have two squarebill rods that I interchange often depending on the situations. I throw a 6'9" M/MF Carrot Stick Pro TI or if I am trying to bomb it as far as I can I use a 7'1" M/F Abu Garcia Villain

I fish as a co angler 90% percent of the time. Unfortunately I have been hooked more times than I care to admit. Every time I see the boater fishing the front and not the side I just brace myself for impact. I have not needed to go to the hospital yet and only went past the barb on two different occasions *knock on wood*. I am also a 7 handicap in golf and refuse to teach my wife to play. I don't have the stress level for that.

I think I got my guides all picked out. I'm going with the ALPS LF 16-8-6 and ALPS PMK Mini guides size 4 as runners.

The tangle free guides are what I looked at. I'm looking for small ring spinning guides for the exact reason you stated about rod tubes. I want to do the 16-8-5.5 and 4 setup. I'm only running light fluorocarbon through it so I don't have to worry about knots

That's my next task. I've been looking at ALPS guides and Fugi K series but that will be something I start looking at over the weekend. Got the real seat, grip and blank picked now.

After some research I am favoring the Rainshadow Immortal Imms610mxf I live within 10 minutes from Janns and they have the Revelations for $50 and Immortal for $70 so I am torn between those to blanks.

Looking for a good blank to build a drop shot rod. I am leaning towards the MHX Drop shot blank but mud hole doesn't carry Alps components and I prefer to buy everything I need in a order. So that means I am looking at get bit outdoors at rainshadow blanks. My budget is a blank around the $75 range and I am open to any brand.

May I ask what reel seat that is? I am building myself a rod and want the evolve seat 13 uses and that looks real close to it.

I work for baits so to speak. I sell at extremely low margins but I sell only to regain the expenses of making baits for myself. I do not wish to do this full time or to make a living just to help cover my personal and professional expenses. My gripe and frustration is when a customer contacts me saying he wants a bait I don't currently offer so I got spend a couple hundred on this mold for the customer to order 4 packs. Then when I put the mold on my site it gets no other orders. I wasn't sure if other people are just saying no to special order molds or requiring a large quantity to do it.

Personally I love the Kustom Kicker Jig Deposit Swim Jig head. It is very thin and works in all situations and I cannot find a match that looks and works like it. It is very similar to what you have created which gives me enough intrigue to try a bait made with this mold. Ill attach a link to the Deposit Swim I was talking about. https://www.bigbassusa.com/Kustom-Kicker-deposit-Swim-Jig-p/2k-deposit-swim-jig.htm

So I had a soft plastic business for about 4 years. I recently closed up shop because of frustration. I would bend over backwards for my customers and it came back to bite me. I would get emails almost daily asking if I could get a certain mold or color that I did not offer on my website. So I would go out of my way to get whatever the customer wanted. Then they would order a couple packs once or twice a year and I was left with molds or coloring that the masses were not interested in. So my question is, because I am debating on relaunching my site and opening again, do you go out of your way to make every customer happy or do you just send them to what is already offered? I was also thinking of different ways to combat the special orders either by charging more for them or putting a minimum order requirement for the order.

30# vicious No Fade Braid

Its not the inserts that's an issue. I have owned almost every rod Denali has made (Jadewood, Rosewood, Noirwood, Kovert, Kovert Lite, Lithium) Every rod except for the Noirwoods had an epoxy issue with guides that break loose and fall off the rod. If it was one or two I would say user error but 7 out of the 10 I owned did it and my repair guy made a comment about it as well when repairing them.

I have used a ton of Denali Rods over the years and I was a firm believer in their original Kovert line. The Kovert Lite is one of the lightest rods I have held. However as with all Denali Rods the guides come loose and fall off rather quickly and without notice and to me the Kovert Lite is not the most sensitive rod in that price range.

I have a really close friend that runs the fishing section at my local BPS and a angler who is sponsored by BPS that fishes the club I do both have said this. But it will only effect the store that are within close distance to another. Where I live there is 2 BPS and 1 Cabela all with 50 minute drive and all three stores would compete with one another is they didn't try to set the stores a part from one another.

I am not a journalist but it just seems like Quantum was pushing Kevin with all their products and all of a sudden they drop his name and his backing. the manager at my local shop was the one that planted the seed in my head when we were talking about his rods being discontinued. I've been a fan of KVD since I started fishing. I think it would be strange to see him using anything but Quantum. But like I said earlier Ike never announced his departure from Daiwa. His rods showed up on Ebay and people started speculating then he is seen with Veritas rods on his boat and then Abu Garcia announced he had jumped to them.

I have been window shopping rods and reels lately and I was browsing Quantum's new gear. I noticed that all of the KVD signature line is gone except for the Team KVD. Even the local fishing shop is discontinuing the Tour KVD rods. It also seems that KVD isn't "backing" the new gear like he did the Exo and original Smoke. I seen he was doing promos for them at ICast. Could this be a developing story of KVD and Quantum separating or am I looking to far into this? Kind of reminds me of when Ike left Daiwa for Abu.

It is most definitely stiffer than what I am used to. I use a Med Mod Fast for other walking baits and walking is a breeze with that rod.

I am constantly changing my gear I only hold onto rods and reels for 3-4 years. So If the rod lasts three years before it breaks I consider it money well spent. But I also agree somewhat with IndianaFinesse if a rod breaks after three years it is user error or neglect whether intentional or not. I do believe that it can take some time for a defect to arise but not three years. I would lean in favor of Megabass. After a year all defects would show their face. Why should a company lose money on a product because of user error. I understand St. Croix does it but it is just bad business. I believe a company should stand behind their product and if there is an issue from the manufacture then they should replace but they shouldn't replace if, for example, you snapped the tip setting the hook on a stump or break a guide when putting the rod away.

This is me with almost all Xcalibur baits. My favorite squarebill crank was the XCS, Lipless XR50 (I know it was relabeled by Booyah One Knocker), and the EEratic Shad Jerkbait. Now everytime I go somewhere and see Xcalibur baits I buy them no matter what they are or even in colors I use just so I have some when they become non existent.

I'm left hand dominant and use RH reels and my wife is Right hand dominate and uses RH reels.

Veritas 2.0 for $65, Fenwick Silver Hawk for $59, Dobyns Colt $79, or my personal choice would be the Lews Mach Speed Stick. All will be great choices but I absolutely love my Mach Speed Stick from Lews.