MickD

Improved clinch works fine on FC for me. I have had a couple strange failures of loop knots with FC fly tippet with flies. Failure is not in the knot, or unraveling, the loop simply breaks. So I went back to the improved clinch and have had no problems since in spite of very high stress on the knot. ??

I'm not slamming your options, but suggest considering a Daiwa Fuego, too. Great reel for the money.

I don't think the fish care how high the wind gets, but I get off when I'm not confident of maintaining safety.

Humminbird has a great customer service dept easily accessible by phone. It really helps to have your unit powered up while talking to them, so their power supply is very handy. One unit powered up with it, though.

How is this accomplished? I should have mentioned that while the action will slow it will get more powerful, which is not what you want. I ascribe to the philosophy that one can never have too many rods, so do another. If you try butchering this rod up you probably will end up with something that's not good for much of anything.

I don't want to see it. Then it can be any size I want it to be. ?

I use braid with FC leader, ML power or M power rods, drop the rod slightly then quick but "light" snap up. I don't catch every fish, but don't miss enough that i consider it a problem. I cast out from the boat short casts and fish right under the boat.

It comes in metal tubes and opaque black little bottles with translucent feed tips + a black cap that fits over the tips. I have had it harden in the tip once when I forgot to put the black cap back over it. So yes, it's pretty fast. in the amounts I use, the odor is no problem, hope toxicity is not, also. I see where it would not be appropriate for other uses. (other than flies).

Every reel I've bought has been like glass when new, and I've left them alone. (Shimano/Daiwa). I've never found a reason to change.

Under a lamp? I use UV cure (Solarez) in fly tying and it cures under my flashlight in less than 10 seconds. That's a small quantity, but with a lamp like folks here are talking about, I would think seconds rather than minutes would result in a good cure. You may be wasting a lot of time, so experiment to find out.

Yes it can. I would use the thinner varieties. Solarez and Loon from fly tying sources. I expect finishes like Lumiseal and Permagloss, water curing polyurethane fishing rod blank finishes would be better, thinner, very hard, never yellows, dries fast.

I'll admit I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I looked for nail tech UV stations and all that I saw shielding the bulbs so one cannot look right into them. I would not use a station that did not shield the bulbs. Food for thought. You cannot undo UV damage. I'll butt out.

https://www2.lbl.gov/ehs/safety/nir/assets/docs/uv/UV lamps safety tips.pdf

How do I know if I've missed 4 strikes if I have not detected them? Sort of like "I almost hit 4 deer last night driving home, but I never saw them" ???

I was responding from MI fishing , too, and have no experience in the south. I'm not sure fishing to spawning bass requires any specific color. Are they not just taking anything that gets into the bed away?

For just about anything, but especially cranks and surface.

Yup, tubes and Neds work well for largemouths. I use conventional tube jigs, but with the other methods I've been seeing, I have to branch out a bit. I agree that greens are the best for both LMB and SMB, but black and blue is good for LMB too.

How does gloom and doom threaten bass? I think in MI the biggest threat is the proposals to allow tournaments during the spawn. This not immediate release, but the traditional "take em to a distant weigh int tournament."

Ned rig, the little one, New Money, 6-7 SMB. New Money is mostly green. Smallies like green. An acquaintance who does pretty well only takes one color to Lake St Clair, and it's of course. . . green. My best tube color is usually green with red fleck, but last trip of the year a green with all sorts of colors of flecks worked best.

The most important to the success of this presentation is the proper rod, which is a length of your choice,but not too powerful and not too fast! Med light power is right in order to get the right acceleration of the bait when snatching it off the bottom. you want it to start a little slow then accelerate, and after that you want the bait to fall while you are maintaining a sort of soft contact with it. Med light power, moderate to mod-fast action. These characteristics will also cast easily. Braid is mandatory, but pound test of it and the leader is not that important. If you are just steadily/slowly retrieving them after the cast then anything will work. For the best hook sets, rig the swim bait so you leave a large gap open , which means putting the hook not that deeply into the lure. Just under the skin, not through the center.

I watched the video, and the tool accomplishes exactly the same thing that my "tool" accomplishes, tight weaves that don't come loose in the middle of tying the knot. It seems to use a lot more line and leader, and costs a lot more. Not worth it, IMHO.

I have solved for me the FG tying problems. My problems were that holding the line in my teeth often didn't work as it would slip before i got the knot done, and the line coming from my mouth was hard to focus on. Using the tool pictured allows one to solve both problems. 1. Set up your rod so you can put the braid under tension, the usual start point. Set the length of braid coming to you right so you can keep tension on it with a slightly bent rod. 2. While seated, put the tie through a belt loop, then wrap the braid around it a number of times. It will stick to the tacky surface and not slip. 3. Tension the braid and tie your knot in front of you waist high on the braid coming from the rod to the tie. 4. Set the knot in the normal way, lots of force using the business end of the leader and the business end of the braid, not the tags. 5. Loosen the braid and make the finishing half hitches or whatever you finish the knot with. This tool allow the weaves to be formed tightly enough that they don't slip at all when doing the very high force setting of the knot. They are perfectly aligned, no slipping from the teeth, no looking cross-eyed at the knot as you make the weaves. I use 20 weaves, all in succession without intermediate tightening. They are already tight when they are formed. Try it. I don't usually tie them in the boat. If I break one, very rare indeed, I use another rod. They last so long and are so reliable that breaking one while fishing is not an issue, so I tie them in my pole barn before fishing.

I agree.

I also recommend not trying to match it. It will look worse with an inevitable mismatch than with a neutral color that doesn't clash, like grey. Grey is available everywhere.

If you want to keep the investment down, I believe the priority goes with the console.