MickD

No thanks. Spent too much $$ already. I'm good with what I have.

You can get braid that sinks-has the Gore fiber/thread. I don't use FC for anything but leaders-have burned a lot of money on it without finding one that handles well. Mono for surface, of course.

Didn't cross any ethical minds.

In my opinion, pulling a 4 pound fish into the boat with just about any rod is asking for failure. I'm sure proper technique in doing it can cut the risk, but it's still risky. https://www.rodbuilding.org/library/rodusage.pdf

Dead nuts on-target response, DVT. I've done many repairs of this type and have never had a complaint on the action or power of the rod after repair. I even repaired a fly rod that needed both internal spigot and external sleeve, and the CCS numbers did not change from when the blank was new.

I would recommend graphite, will most likely be lighter than any glass you can find. I'm sure someone will correct me, but any action and power that can be done with glass can be done with graphite. And most of the time it will be lighter and more sensitive. The most important part of the power question is that the recommended lure weight should fairly closely match the weight of the lures you will be casting most of the time. This is because if a rod doesn't load well on the cast, it will be difficult to cast. Most like moderate to moderate-fast for cranks.

The units on which you plan to display the data from the one SI transducer have to be capable of displaying it.

Don't worry about braid. Usually the only guide to get grooved will be the tiptop, and they are easily replaced.

That's what my son has told me many times. Says he doesn't want to waste a lot fishing time looking for the body. ?

I didn't know BC reels had cupped drag washers, but loosening the drag between uses on any design seems positive. Unless you're taking a long elaborate process to set it. Which I don't do.

It is my impression that the reason to loosen the drag is to prevent the drag washers, the compressible ones like felt or other non-metallic material, from taking a set. For BC and spin, same principle. Steel springs should not take any set unless they are compressed into the plastic zone. The plastic zone means that the steel has yielded, and won't recover. No one designs a spring such that it will be stressed so high it enters the plastic zone. That's instant failure. I hope your bait shop guy is competent-these new BC reels are pretty complex. Would be easy to screw it up.

That sounds rational. :-)

I might have missed it, but don't see mention of varying speeds. Seems to me that with "fat cranks," very slow retrieves are often the best. Coupled with the already mentioned stop and go.

I believe that what the last post is referring to is the fact that when all are linked with ethernet you can select the source for each so that the two in the back (and the one in front, for that matter) can read the from the same transducer. So they don't need separate mega transducers. Which should save some $$. Correct me if I'm misinterpreting.

Next time you go fishing don't take anything with you except cranks. Be sure to have a Rapala DT of appropriate depth rating. Force yourself to use only cranks and I expect you will find a way to catch fish on them. On my last SMB outing I caught fish only on cranks, although I tried a lot of other stuff. You have to know that if millions of fishermen catch fish on cranks, you can too.

I really don't think line capacity is an issue with a baitcaster unless you plan to troll with it. Even then, with the right line, any reel will work.

I'm not familiar with the relative prices, but the difference would have to be very significant for me to sacrifice the ability to easily cast lighter lures than 3/8. I also have never had a bad experience with a Daiwa "anything," but I have with Quantums (not recently-I don't consider them any more.) I think that sooner or later you are going to want to cast lighter lures.

If you are constantly whacking tiptops off, you are doing something wrong. That is abnormal to repeatedly lose tiptops. The most expensive tiptop you get will not retain to the blank any better than the cheapest. If you are constantly losing rings you are hitting them on the boat, most likely. I lost my first ring ever this year (a 25mm ring on a reduction guide) and it was abuse - I was fishing two rods and a fish knocked the rod into the head of my stowed trolling motor really hard.

I have used 40 pound braid on baitcasters and have not had the digging problem. On king salmon , too, so have had some fairly high drag settings. Of course most casting reels' drags (the ones I use, bass reels, not bigger reels) only go to 12 pounds or so, a few higher. I expect you'll get some responses from those who have used these lines with higher drag settings. Valid concern.

I've used a lot of both companies' products and have never had trouble with either. (other than color fading with old Power Pro) But if I know no details about the products I'll use Suffix. Every product from Suffix just seems top quality.

Would St Croix customer service not be the best source of info on this? The biggest issue is the size of the tube, not the ring. The tube must be just a little bigger than the OD of the blank at at the tip. As long as the ring is fairly close to that of the running guides, it will be OK. I always use SIC ring material for tiptops as that is the guide that will groove the quickest. Tubes are sized in 64'ths of an inch or in mm's, and rings are sized in 64th's with the size being the OD of the ring, not the ID of the ring. If you were to order a tiptop with the ring size the same as the running guides, or close, and the tube size just larger than the OD of the blank at the tip, you will have it. (get the same finish as the guides).

The guide rings are ceramic; plastic isn't hard enough. The tube and legs of the tiptop are probably stainless steel and the tube part of it is either hot melt adhesive attached or epoxied on. If it is hot melt it is easy and low risk to SLIGHTLY heat the tube with a butane lighter or similar heat source and pull it off. The best way is to put a string through the eye and provide tension when heating so the tiptop will come off when the hot melt melts and you won't overheat the blank. If it does not come off easily, with little heat, then it is epoxied and will require a lot of care and a degree of skill to get it off. I would recommend hiring it done by a pro builder. Won't be expensive. Bottom line is that with an epoxied tiptop the amount of heat required to get it off and the amount of heat that will damage the blank are very close together. Easy to over heat. Yes, it probably got bent after the ring came out or bent during the event that knocked the ring out. It has to be replaced.

If the Yucatan is slipping, it's not tied right. The video below is what I tied and while I did not test it objectively, it is obvious that it is a very strong knot.

the Yucatan appears to be a very strong knot. When tightened it causes the leader to wrap the line so it ends up being 3 leader thicknesses + two braid thicknesses in diameter, which is not nearly as small as the FG. But it may be small enough depending on your guides. The double uni is, I believe, about 5 leader thicknesses in diameter+ some for the braid, so is bigger than the Yucatan.

Here is the twist tie that I mentioned recently.