MickD

Seems like if it is really .010 it would be stronger than 6 # test. But if it's really around 6 pound test, it is too light. For casting quality I use braid with about a 10-15 pound premium FC leader grade leader. Works very well.

This is a great question, but it goes beyond live crawfish, IMO. It's not sacrilege to fish live, but it may not be the most effective direction to take. It has been my experience that plastics and artificials in this environment will usually outfish live due to the plastics options available and the ability to make plastics do what you want much better than you can do with live. And there are options that on a given day might be more effective, like super flukes if the bass want minnows. Critters that emulate hellgramites. Surface. And one gets more time on the water since He doesn't spend time catching bait and doesn't waste time handling/carrying, changing water, etc.

Depending on the failure the rod might be repairable using the process at this site. I've done it many times and the rods have all performed so well that it it were not for the visual change I wouldn't know they had been broken. Go to Rodgeeks.com to find out what St Croix blanks are available. Blanks called "Rodgeeks" are very well-performing blanks regardless of where they are built. There is a lot of misinformation out there about Rodgeeks/St Croix.

My advice is to make sure you do everything you can to support her getting to enjoy fishing. Then you two can take some pretty great vacations in the tropics and combine fishing with regular getaway vacations. She'll be thrilled to see how hard most salt species fight. Bahamas is really good for combining fishing and sun/water/etc.

Regarding Hitena using the figure 8 knot for testing for knot strength. They state they use it because it is consistent between different tyers while the usual knots like the FG, double uni, and palomar vary with the skill of the tyer. They get about 90-95% with the FG and palomar, which are the knots they recommend.

I have not seen it either. But logically, I don't think it emulates the performance of the knots I use. I have seen no indication of inferior knot strength with the pureline, and since it's white, it's color fast ( :-) ). I use it so far for finesse presentations + casting jig-flies to bones. For the line to leader I use the FG or double uni. Since it and the leader are so small, the double uni works on all my rods, even with the small micro guides.

FC - None (exc premium leader grade for leaders, then Orvis, Hitena, Rio, lots of solid choices) Braid - Hitena Pureline. Expensive, but: Lasts for years, 21 pound test is only .006 diameter, casts great, no problems of any kind. I first bought it as a line for my bonefish backup spin outfit, and have since used it for my finesse/tube outfits, and love it. Hitena gives all the specs for their products that one could ask for; everything they make is top quality.

A graph that has true, effective, trouble-shooting diagnostics built in.

It's hard to imagine any rod being overloaded with 4 pound mono unless it was previously damaged by striking into a hard object or had a manufacturing defect. I take from the photo that the break shows considerable "shredding, splintering." Am I right? If yes then a repair is tough. I've done a couple, but it's not a sure thing. Have you told your story to the blank manufacturer. I would expect they would have a warranty that would get you a new blank. Not perfect considering what you put into the build, but better than nothing.

Stick to that position. That's too nice a rod to screw up.

Weight? Hellova fish for sure!

Yes, put paste epoxy in the bore and on the blank. It will squeeze out, but won't run like liquid. Use generous alcohol to clean up while it's still not cured. You will want to load it against the aluminum winding check to prevent a gap from forming, not much, but just to keep it tight against the check. You can cobble something up for that. Maybe rubber bands as earlier suggested.

Come on guys, all FC is not the same. Putting all FC into the equation when the poster says he is using up old line for leaders is not helping. He stated that there was leader in the FG, so the failure was in the leader, which probably failed right at the knot due to some distress involved with the knot. It's a scenario that should be expected when using old line for leaders. Consider getting a 30 meter spool of premium LEADER GRADE FC. It's not that expensive, and most of us will use 5 or 6 feet of it at a time, and the spool will last probably the whole season. And I'll bet it will end the failure problems. Mono is fine, better choice than co-polymer. Try the hard mono designed for leader use. 6-20 feet may be changed to 6 feet with no detection problems. For 10 pound braid I would try 10 pound or 12 pound leader and use a knot like the improved clinch at the lure. The goal is to stop the fragile braid failures at the FG and move it to the lure knot. Which the improved clinch should accomplish.

Not a big deal for an experienced builder. Since this is, if I'm not mistaken, a pretty special rod, I would not recommend that an inexperienced person try it. I think you want it done really well. The system I'm using now on my casting rods is the Fuji with the RV 6 mm reverse two foot guide as the first guide, then single foot 5 or 5.5 mm KB's and KT's to the end. It will cast very well and the guides are small, light, and unobtrusive. I don't go smaller than 5's on a casting rod to keep open the possibility of using line to leader knots.

Yes, but not as easy. Carefully remove the old one. For the new one I usually bore the hole using a drill press, but it's easy even with a drill press to not get the hole in parallel to the axis of the butt. You also want to mark the drill or engage the stop so you don't drill through. The aluminum winding check presents a complication, too. You don't want to damage that in removing the old butt. If it comes loose in getting the old one off be sure to put epoxy on the bore and the surface that touches the cork. I would simply repair the one you have to avoid any complications that might come up with a replacement process.

MI DNR has a map of Portage at this site http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/MANISTEE/PORTAGE_LAKE.PDF WhWhen you are there consult any bait shop you can find. I've not fished them but have heard they are good. Couldn't find a map of Onekama. Also in the area are Lower Herring, which has good walleyes and SMB, good map on line for this one, too. Rocky areas at and just north of the launch, the inlet is good in the evening, rocky along the reedy south shore, long edge into the deep goes out from the west end of Collins Bay, and smb (and walleyes) hang out along it, on the deep side. Check out the launch pretty carefully-it used to be too shallow but expect with high water it will be fine. Arcadia Lake goes right into Lake MI and smb at times hang out along the rip rap and around the pier heads. Inside it gets shallow and weedy straight in, but the area around the launch, and from the launch out, has depth and is good. LMB are found there, as well as SMB, some of good size.

I will only add that clean up has to be done before the epoxy hardens or it will be a tough, precise, sanding job.

When accuracy side to side is important I cast directly overhead at the target. Usually all I have to adjust then is the distance. I think the worst mismatch for accuracy is if the rod is much stiffer than it should be based on the weight of the lure. I also think that while not as important as matching the lure weight, a more moderate action is probably more accurate than the faster actions.

Speaking of water clarity and leader specs, A-Jay uses 10 pound mono, Big Game Green, and he fishes pretty clear water in his neck of the woods. And from his photos, he does quite well (understatement). As Papajoe says, leader visibility with this presentation is probably not nearly as important as it is with something like drop shot. I often use a premium FC fly tippet in 12 pound test and I'm not having knot problems. Or visibility problems, I think. Hard to tell if something was down there and saw it and didn't bite. I can only evaluate the ones that bite.

A-Jay, you fish a lot of water similar to what I fish, ever snap tubes or swimbaits and get one hung up on a rock, yank it a few times, and it finally lets go and a smb instantly hits it? They were there looking at it move around with the yanks, then as soon as it comes free, they nail it. Cool.

Swim jigs (skirted jigs- see sponsor Siebert Outdoors in right margin) with tail parts of worms or swimbaits for trailers are very effective (and versatile) for LMB. When LMB are active, they hit them on the fall. After they get to bottom, sometimes the fish want them dragged slowly, sometimes hopped, experiment to find what they want. Greens and black/blue/purple/blue craw.

Don't you get about the same thing by just putting the hook through the swim bait at 90 degrees? I would think the best orientation for the hook would be vertical even if one wants the bait horizontal.

I don't think it's the knot; it's the 8 pound FC. FC is fragile and snapping is very hard on knots. Try a leader grade 12 pound FC. Or go mono. But I still think 8 pound is too low for this technique. I think when you go stronger with leader grade your knot will work just fine. The stiffer leader grade leader material will help keep lures from tangling on the snaps, too.

Rapala DT's are very good in the green colors and live river shad, chatterbaits in greens or black matching trailers (grubs and tail parts of worms work very well), spinnerbaits are always worth a try for LMB (fish are very sensitive to color with spinnerbaits, based on my experience. Sometimes light colors and chartreuse, sometime black is all they will hit).

The A-Jay method works for a painted aluminum boat which is what he and I have. I have only cleaned my boat once with the dilute CLR. After that first cleaning all I do is reapply the Lucas, which takes about 10 minutes max on my 16.5 foot boat. What spots occur over the Lucas coat come right off with more Lucas. Piece of cake. With Lucas there is no waiting for a wax to form a dry dull coating that has to be buffed. You just spray it on and wipe it off. No waiting, no dry dull coating.