MickD

It is a great casting line. 12-14 pound test is about as good as it gets for casting performance. I've not yet tried Big Game, but will.

Thanks on stacking. I don't know that rod blanks act the same way, with a sudden and and extreme buildup of resistance to bending farther. It has been my understanding that it is simply that at some point they simply fail. I have seen it in a number of writings on "high sticking" of blanks, which is bending them beyond 90 degrees, that the blanks are not in fact applying more force to the line when bending beyond 90 degrees. If flexing the blank to 90 degrees and continuing to apply force, I think they don't experience "stacking," but just fail at some point. The geometry of a rod blank is not the same or even similar to a bow's limbs so if they acted differently, it wouldn't surprise me.

How does one know he's overloading a rod. A. It breaks. B. If you're talking about casting, it will feel sort of soft, the lure won't start forward right away, but will lag. You will notice it flexing way back toward the grip, especially with moderate action rods. C. If you're talking about lifting or setting the hook, then don't flex the rod more than 90 degrees. If you're going farther than 90 degrees, you are going too far and inviting failure with modern graphite materials. What is stress testing? It is only a method that builders use for locating guides on the blank, nothing more. The blank is flexed and the line through the guides observed, then position adjusted depending on how the line is going through the guides. I don't know what "stacked" means. Making one rod out of two sounds like an expensive way to get a sub-par rod. Blanks and rods come in a myriad of actions and powers, all DESIGNED for specific functions. A rod made from two will be an approximation based on blank diameters and not on action or power. If you get something good, fine, but I submit that will be an lucky accident. Buying a specific blank or rod is much less of a crap shoot, and probably will be less fragile.

You are failing to understand that when you float the boat off the trailer this way, at least the way I do it, it's a very gentle process; the rope is slack most of the time, a little nudge now and then. The stresses involved are not even close to the stresses that motor endures on the water-they are minuscule.

With up locking you can make a small ramp off the front of the seat hood, same diameter as the hood or slightly smaller to facilitate finishing it if finishing is involved, and the transition from the seat to the blank is seamless. Use a size 17 seat (straight, not aero) and the ergonomics are good. Makes a very comfortable setup that is also very handsome.

I do it exactly this way and it works fine. If you loop the rope around the head of the trolling motor you don't have to stand on your head to reach it when on the water. The forces are all negligible so it won't damage the motor.

Another old lure that still catches a ton of fish is the rigged worm with the white or orange spot,usually in purple. Ike-con, Mann's, if I remember correctly.

The problem with this is this is that a marker buoy cannot keep your boat near it, but spot lock can. Even if you're setting up a new rig, digging out a backlash, answering nature's call, having a sandwich, applying sunscreen, adding or removing layers of clothing, etc etc etc. It allows one to hang the boat from the wind and fish a spot without constantly working with the motor, and a marker buoy cannot do that either. They really are not equivalent.

I had a Cabelas AGM starting battery in my old boat for a number of years, now have one in my two year old boat. They have been great batteries. No experience with the larger size 27 used for trolling motor. They go on sale now and then, and that takes some of the price bite off.

When one has an empty horizon on one side and a shore 5 smiles away on the other, I think anyone will find markers easier to "interpret" than a fish finder screen. When I'm fishing smaller water I don't use them much. Agreed, spot lock is wonderful.

Marker buoys are in no way obsolete as they are instant to deploy, they accurately mark the spot, and are a piece of cake to navigate back to. You instantly and accurately know exactly how far you are from it, unlike GPS. I also will place a way point, but use it only for finding the buoy in case I've drifted off it quite a ways (as on Lake St Clair, Sag Bay, other big waters when I am out in the middle of nowhere) or navigating back to it some other time. Spot lock works very well in holding the boat where you set it. I find the bright orange the easiest to see, all other colors don't work nearly as well. The H shaped ones, due to their shape, stop playing out line when the sinker hits bottom. I think the round ones are unbalanced to accomplish the same thing.

When comparing spin to cast it probably makes more sense to compare inches of retrieve per handle revolution. The only advantage of a low ratio bc, like a 5:1 that I've found is that it keeps me from retrieving too fast. Might be similar for deep cranks + the torque advantage.

I don't agree. If the Harley did nothing more than a bike it would be a bad buy. The RTD does nothing more than the Fuji. But those who want to buy a pedal Harley are free to do so. The Fuji does what the RTD does at much less cost, not much can go wrong with it, you don't need two different parts for different size guides, and it works on micros. Someone said the RTD doesn't, but I don't know. You use the Fuji in much the same way you do the RTD, put the line through its loop, then run it down the rod, the Fuji by feel, which works just fine. I'm not doubting that the RTD does its job; I'm just pointing out an option that to me makes more sense for a number of reasons. (Does the RTD work with micros? If it doesn't, it doesn't do the job for the most challenging application). Both of these devices, and for that matter other guide threading devices, work on the same old principal that has been used for threading fly tying thread through a bobbin throat.

One can never have too many rods. You made a good buy.

Fuji Speed Threader, no moving parts, no adjustments, no loose parts, $2.99.

To find a diver contact the nearest diving club-stores that sell diving equipment most likely can help. There is most likely little to no metal in it, right?

As stated above, there is no objective way of evaluating sensitivity, so what you are dealing with here are opinions, not facts. The CCS frequency measurement is probably as close as one can get to objective data, but no one answering the question has the data. If they did they would offer it. I'm not saying the rods suggested are not good, sensitive, rods, but which is the most sensitive? It's all opinion. The best you can do, in my opinion, is to buy the rod with the "most premium" blank material (whatever that is) and the smallest, lightest guides. Finding guide weights is no piece of cake, but titanium micros or Pac Bay Minimas are probably as light as it gets.

You can go over the rated lure weight on rods. Start gently and work your cast velocity/rod loading up. It will be pretty obvious when you approach overstressing the rod. When you start forward on your cast, the lure won't start forward instantly-there will be significant delay. But your original question was answered quite well above.

I have no experience with the heavy power Point Blanks, but I think the secret of their medium power blanks is they have a really solid backbone and a really light, lively tip. When you do the CCS on most of them you'll find their action angle is very high, about 80 degrees. There are many blanks called X fast that have AA's more like 75-76 degrees. This makes for a very versatile rod. When casting light lures the tip does it; when casting heavier lures some of the backbone gets involved and it still casts well. It's hard to overpower them when casting. I guess the light, forgiving tip keeps fish on quite well, and it could be their materials and design/construction keeps their light tips from feeling sloppy. They do in fact seem like they do about everything well. I would be interested hearing other opinions on why they seem to do everything so well. One of my favorite Point Blanks s a 6' 9" 600 gram power rod with 80 degrees AA. Interestingly I have found a 7 foot 3 piece travel blank that is said to be made of RX6 material, that tests exactly 600 grams power with 81 degrees AA. It feels a lot like a Point Blank in spite of weighing a few tenths more. It casts light cranks very well and because of its long, strong, backbone, handles big fish very well too. It feels pretty crisp with Fuji CC micros as running guides. The manufacturer calls its power medium light while Fuji calls theirs medium power. It is a much more capable blank than any other ML blank I have fished. It even works quite well on finnesse techniques.

I expect direct to lure is best, but if you choose to leave the split ring on the lure, fasten to it rather than just leaving it hanging. I really don't think it makes a lot of difference unless you're using light, small, cranks.

The reason for dropping the engine to a vertical position is to assure that the lower unit drains properly. You hadn't even mentioned the engine, but that is the highest risk, IMHO. My dealer mentioned to me a practice that he said was used by duck hunters in cold weather. As they leave the water, with the lower unit out of the water, they start the engine, letting it turn over only a few times. But time enough for the water to eject out of the indicator stream fitting. it's visual so you will see the water spit out for only a second or two, then no water. This indicates the water pump in the engine has no water in it. Drain and overflow refer to live well, I assume. They have no pumps so should drain nicely and not be problems. My dealer last year shut off the valve on the live well pump. I had not done that on another boat for 20 years with no problems, but it seems to be a part of his winterizing. He might have put rec anti freeze in the line but I don't know. I would think that running that pump dry with the boat out of the water would be adequate, but possibly someone else will chime in to clarify. My current boat is a Lund.

Keep in mind the article refers to what the author considers a problem specific to the fall season. He is not referring to other seasons.

Watching fishing shows seems to indicate to me that pros are often using more moderate actions for techniques where most of us seem to prefer. fast or extra fast actions Based on the bends in their rods (the regular TV shots, not the GoPro shots). Anyone else notice this?

I believe by definition all graphite rods are "composites." There is also the common practice of joining two different materials, like two different moduli of graphite material, or combining sections of glass and graphite in the same rod. A mention above states that a series of rods most likely will have all the different powers and actions made from the same material, and I believe that is generally true. The way that different powers and actions are made from the same material is by changing wall thicknesses and tapers through the shaping of the sheets of material. This video explains it well, even showing how multiple sheets of the material are sometimes used on the same mandrils to give different powers and actions. This is an interesting video from Seeker.

I would be surprised if it were different anywhere. I think live wells count as "possession," but I have to admit, I'm speculating. ?