MickD

How are you modifying actions?

Kudos again for Humminbird phone customer service, fast access to knowledgeable agents who can make decisions on their own and make things happen.

No experience with components off Ebay. But my experience with other purchases is that you want to buy only from companies that have OVER 99 % satisfaction ratings. I personally don't think it's a great idea, preferring to deal with reputable companies and known brands. "I know they are probably junk. . ." Then why would you even consider it?

Not too much, unless you happen to be fishing extremely clear water, then you might want to go lower. But, FC is fragile, and I would not go much lower unless I was striking out and thinking the fish might be seeing the leader. I fish pretty clear water in Sag Bay MI and Lake St Clair with 15 and have caught one big bunch of fish in the last year.

If they chipped their guides the sharp edges would cut their line. Grooving of modern guides by braid is a myth. Grooving of modern tiptops is not a myth, which is why I always use premium ring tiptops, like SIC.

Wait until closing time. All the girls get prettier at closing time.

I don' think that seat is any bigger than others, and don't think there is much to be gained from a different seat. Additionally, replacing a seat with another is a major tear-up of the rod. I certainly would spend a lot more time with them before I would consider tearing them up. It seems that with palming, the biggest factor for comfort/ergonomics would be the reel, not the seat? Is that upper reel bigger than the lower,or just a photography distortion?

I assure you, a properly tied FG will not fail by slipping or unraveling. I think the failure will be in the FC leader.

Would not a hair jig fished with little or no motion be a good idea? I think one of my first choices would be a blade bait.

You just have to experiment to find the right weight jig, size of tube, color of tube, for what the fish want. Even in still water smallies sometimes want a fast fall rate, sometimes slow. Start with 2.75 as suggested , in green with red flake, the darker the water, the darker the green. Some fishermen around here fish only greens. I would think eddies in addition to the cover suggested already. Smallies like the edges/current breaks, on the slow side.

The Alberto is definitely a smaller knot than the double uni which has 5 thicknesses of the the FC, which is usually very much thicker than the braid. I don't believe the FG is bigger than the Alberto even with the half hitches. They are tied onto the braid, not the FC. Regardless, it goes through the guides cleaner than any other knot I've found. And it doesn't unravel like the Albertos sometimes do (with me) . I know the Alberto works fine for most, but not for me when snapping small swimbaits off the bottom.

For those having trouble with the FG, the biggest issue I had with tying it was that the braid would slip out of my teeth before I got the knot done. I solved it with one of those little brightly colored reformable ties, sort of like a thick twist tie. Sit in a chair, fasten the tie to your belt loop, wrap the braid around it many times with the tension on it, then make the knot basically in your lap. Far enough from the old eyes to focus well, no slipping from the teeth, and with every weave you can feel it snap into position. About 20 weaves. Finish it as you prefer, but make sure to pull it really tight to set it. A well tied FG, taken apart, will display the FC deformed by the braid seriously. If you don't see that, you're not setting it well enough, or not tying it tightly enough to allow you to set it. I admit, not a piece of cake, but this method is the best way I've found to tie a reliable FG.

Then you did not in fact put a 50-50 mix onto the wraps. One possible cause of this is, of course, doubling one component by mistake, or not mixing thoroughly enough, (many mix for 3 minutes), but also by taking the epoxy from the edge of the mix where it's most likely not to actually be mixed well enough. I'm presuming you are using an epoxy that calls for 50-50 by volume AND using syringes. Some are specified by weight. Rarely. If you mix epoxy correctly, it will not fail to cure.

If you have a PC open the picture in MS Paint. There is a "resize" button, click on it. Then, making sure the "maintain aspect ratio" box is checked, and the reduce by percentage is checked, fill in the reduction box with something like 20. The pic will be reduced to 20% size and you then, under the file drop down, save it under a new title. If the original is "BigBass," then save it as BigBassResize" That file should fit under the guidelines. If it doesn't, go to 10 %. I'm sure Apple has a similar app right on the computer that will easily resize pics.

No need on the uni to only use three, no advantage and some risk. I think the blood knot is a little smaller in diameter than the double uni. It is what is used in making fly leaders.

My experience with the Crazy Crawler was that it was basically a fancy Jitterbug, but not as effective. I also think the soft lures like the Strike King toads would be just as effective, probably more. For streams/creeks, I think smaller is better.

Not correcting, just adding data. One of us is maybe quite long in the tooth. I bought a couple of the crawfish cranks you were recommending a while ago. Pressure is on you now. ?

I had one 64 years ago.

I love fishing my old Calcutta 100 with 5.2 (I think) ratio. I use it mostly for swim and chatter baits , which I tend to reel too fast most of the time. I think it's about 40 years old now. Still a very nice casting reel.

I've never had a guide groove and have used braid for many years, even on the old cheapie rods I used to use. I have had tiiptops groove, which is why I always build with SIC tiptops. Even if a tiptop grooves, it's pretty easy to replace, unlike guides. Carbonlite should be good with braid. the FG knot is hard to beat, so learning to tie it is worth the trouble.

I mostly use FC, mono for surface when I need a leader, and I use leader material or fly tippet. Leader material is stiffer than line, and I believe more resistant to damage, although that is debatable. One thing for sure is that the stiffness is an advantage when fishing blade baits as it helps prevent the leader from tangling with the hooks. It also sinks (mono is about neutral buoyancy while FC's density is higher than water, about 1.5) so makes sense for bottom finesse techniques.

I had just about forgotten about these when my partner got a big smallie from a group that had already seen us.

I believe that is what is the base color for Rodgeeks. Check their site for their colors and pricing.

I would not buy another trolling motor that did not have remote control (deploy, store, trim, spot lock) and the equivalent of spot lock. More expensive, but well worth it.