MickD

I've done a lot of looking, consulting other sites, my rodbuilding groups, and I conclude you in fact do live in the rod-building outback. I can find none within about 4 hours of you. Sorry, I thought there would be someone near there.

I have a Maxxum in the garage with broken cable anchor, but everything else works. If you decide it's a small, easy to ship part that I can take off and send, let me know. If you have interest I will check the model number.

There is an objective action measurement process, but manufacturers don't publish the data since builders misuse it, hassle the manufacturers. But it exists, called CCS, and I've tested many blanks of all types with it. Yes, some manufacturers specs overlap, but I've never found an XF that wasn't faster than the same manufacturer's Fast. And most XF's are in fact faster than most Fasts. One thing to consider is the line. If you are going to use mono or FC I would not be afraid of XF being too fast. With braid, maybe an XF could be too fast depending on your preferences and techniques.

Put a rubber band through the eye of the tiptop, tension the rubber band, then heat it slightly with a lighter. The tension will allow the tiptop to come off the instant the hot melt melts. This is to prevent heat damage to the blank. If it is hot melt it will come off with very little heat. If it doesn't come off right away, I recommend having an expert take it off. It is a real balancing act, as stated above, to get epoxied tip tops off without overheating the blank. If you cannot find a builder reasonably close, I recommend you come back and get some detailed instructions on how to handle the removal of an epoxied tiptop. Do not use epoxy to put it back on, use hot melt, preferably one called "ferrule cement" or "rod repair adhesive," or something like that. One of the higher temp hot melts is OK, they all allow easy removal. Failures of hot melt attached tiptops are usually due to too tight a fit, which scrapes off the hot melt. Or due to not getting enough in. Best way, cut some slivers and drop them into the tube of the tiptop. Be generous. Then heat the end of the hot melt stick and get a good amount onto the tip of the blank. Heat the hot melt, not the blank. Now heat the tiptop slightly, it doesn't take a lot of heat-experiment to get the right heat. When the hot melt is at the right temp slide the tiptop on and rotate it to the correct alignment.

If you're selling an outfit, don't sell it to a dealer. You will get much less from a dealer than from an independent buyer, and to them, it's the outfit, not just the motor. My dealer told me he thought I could get $5k out of my old outfit; I thought I'd start high and go down so asked $6k. My phone rang off the hook with responses to Craig's list. I told everyone not to come expecting me to go down and still had 3 guys interested. The first one took it for $6K. Regarding this discussion about the motor size, I agree with whoever said that it depends on how fast the owner wants to go and how dear the money is to him. Either answer could be right depending on his priorities. I don't know if I saw it in the discussion, but if he plans on a lot of people in the boat, like a family, that is different than just fishing alone or with one guy.

If what you mean by "taking it apart" means going way in, taking layers of parts off, I would not recommend it. Reels are so complicated today that it is very easy to not get them back together again. Leave that for an expert, like DVT or other pro reel servicer. You should not have to do that anyway in the reel's first year. When time, not yet-it is NEW, I recommend taking the side plates off and lube what you can reach. A single drop should do for the bearings, spool shaft, wipe the surface of the weight contact drum with a little oil on the finger, a drop on any moving part, including the handle grips, and the part that dries and gets dirty the fastest, the level wind pawl and worm. It probably won't be that dirty, exc maybe for the level wind pawl. If you can see gears, get a little grease on them, or at least a drop or two of oil. Some may have other opinions, but that is mine.

The anti-reverse keeps the handles from moving when line is pulled from the spool. I don't think it matters what it feels like when trying to reel backwards. I don't reel backwards. If it prevents the handles from moving backwards while fishing, the spool gives line freely when the thumb release is released, and it reels in freely, it's good to go. Leave it alone and go fishing.

l don't think down image would be affected since it is not "directional" and its depth is constant, but not so for the side image. I doubt if side image will work well for the reasons you state. Not moving, rotating, etc. The Ulterra motor, with which I am familiar, carries a transducer doesn't support down or side imaging on my Helix 7. I think you'd have to mount a separate transducer to the motor. I have the choice of reading the motor's transducer and getting only regular sonar or using the mega transducer on the stern and then getting side and down data from the rear of the boat. Perhaps an expert on this will chime in.

If you're not using braid, try it. Does wonders for strike detection. Also, I think it helps to keep just a little tension in the line. Not enough to move it, but without slack, and with braid, anything screwing around with it will be easily felt. Now and then move it, just to be sure. But avoid slack. I think both pinching the barbs and circle hooks are effective. Nothing is perfect. With circle hooks you don't want to do a traditional hook set, you just start reeling and the hook slides around the mouth and snags the corner of the mouth. Honest. It's hard to discipline yourself to do it, but when you get good at it, you'll gut hook fewer fish and you won't miss that many.

In general, even with Lund, the base engine is the minimum they recommend, but they are working against other builders' price points. Most of the time more HP is better. For example, my Lund 1650 comes priced with a 50, but I opted for the 60 and am very glad I did. It seems perfect for the boat. My old boat came with a 40, I got the 50, and it was very good. The down side to more HP is if the engine is of a higher displacement series and weighs more. Which may be too much weight on the transom to balance well, especially on the "hole shot." My son's Crestliner 17.5 has a 115 and is fine. But you're looking at a bigger boat. If 150 is the next size up, I'd go for it.

If you get strikes from muskies, but no fish, it may be because, like barracudas, muskies sometimes take a big object sideways, to cut it in half, returning to eat the other piece. You may need to make it like a barracuda fly, with a hook near the tail. Your flies look very good, and I envy the thrill you get from the muskies.

As if all the arguing about what it is and is called isn't causing confusion.

Why does it matter what we call it (Ned rig) or what we are doing? I also liked the pinned Ned series of posts because it gave a single place to find info on the Ned, or "Ned-lite," or "almost Ned," or . . .

Yes.

http://www.mudhole.com/Graphite-Arbors-FA?quantity=1?quantity=1 The shims above come up to almost 30 mm, and are the Pac Bay shims. These are the most rigid and solid of the ones i've used. Only problem with them, and not that big a deal, is they are black, so the dust is black and it stains a bit. I always paint the ones I use so that there is no color difference between them if I use more than one on a rod. Fast drying hardware store paint is fine. Cobble a paper clip to hang them from.

No problem, ghoti. I respect your work and opinion, too. If one likes a bigger diameter foregrip, it can still be made from rigid poly. But it will be very difficult to finish with epoxy cleanly if it's on the rod when the finish is applied. Do the final finish before putting it on the rod. Regarding the diameter, if you've tried an uplocking seat with the ramp about the same diameter as the hood and didn't like it, fine. Different strokes. But if you haven't tried it, I suggest you do. It feels much different than a downlocking seat. Larger diameter, smooth. For finesse fishing it works very well. I'm really interested in seeing the final build and how it works out.

I agree that it looks like it will be almost impossible to get the grub onto that hook. The barbs look much like those on my favorite darter head jig, and I had real trouble getting a Z man minnow onto it without screwing up the orientation on the jig.

I have made many rods with the seat shims for ramps, and have had one failure. It "collapsed" from finger pressure. Post mortem showed that I had not filled the bore at the front adequately with epoxy, and there was a void which didn't support the material properly. I repaired it and it's going strong. All of the rods pictured in the article are going strong with no distress, no dents, no dulling, no scratches, only a yellowing of the epoxy. This shows on the rods with ivory painted shims, but not on darker colors. It is not slippery when wet. With some fish slime, probably, but so is cork. Carbon fiber grips are often finished very smooth and with epoxy, and no one is complaining about them. It is the shape that determines grip, for the most part. I have not used this stuff for butt grips, thinking that might be too stressful. I don't carry my rods around in the back of a pickup. I think transporting rods improperly is where many get damaged and where, if the front ramps are going to get damaged, it will happen. Just be sure not to leave any voids like I did on that one of about a ten rods. You might cobble up a rod with an uplocking seat and the diameter of the front ramp equal to that of the front of the rod seat hood and see what you think of the feel. I think you'll like it. The approx equal diameters let the hand go where it wants with almost no perception of going on and off the ramp.

I have no idea if the price is right, but the boat looks like new. One comment from experience from my old Monark, if the rod locker on the side lets the rods move fore and aft, then it is possible that they will move while trailering and break the tips off as they contact the bulkhead. Not hard to cobble a fix, but be aware. I broke 2 rods in mine before I figured it out. I have a Rebel 1650 SS and love it.

I agree with balance comment. Especially when I hear talk about a rod by itself "balancing well."

i have no data, but I cannot believe that EVA will be as sensitive as cork. But I think either will be fine. I don't use EVA because I don't trust it for long term durability, long term in sense of it working for my kids. Most sensitive and lightest is carbon fiber, clearly. Don't do a foregrip, not necessary. If you want something there other than the blank to touch, turn a piece of rigid poly reel seat shim to the shape you want, just under the diameter of the front of the seat paint it to match the look of the rod, then a couple coats of wrap epoxy for top coats. I do this all the time, light sensitive, durable, good looking , good feeling to the hands. Make sure you generously apply epoxy to the bore and blank. This stuff can fail if you leave voids. If you want it larger in diameter than the seat, completely finish it before installation. If you make it bigger than the seat diameter putting the last coats of wrap epoxy on will be very difficult to do cleanly. Keep in mind that burl cork is almost twice as heavy as regular cork. If you want weight behind the reel, it may be a good option in order to gain a little weight. http://clients.criticalimpact.com/newsletter/newslettercontentshow1.cfm?contentid=9599&id=1069

Now consider the guides. For casting I really like the Fuji system, with the #6 RV, then a couple or three KB's then the rest KT's to the tip. I like 4.5's for casting. I see no real need for spiral with guides as low as these and a power as low as you're talking about, but whatever you do, keep the guides on the upper half of the rod small and light for max sensitivity.

I have built a number of Immortals or what was called RX8 before they called them Immortals. I have built 3 RX7's or Revelations as they are called now, same blanks according to Rainshadow. I have to state that the REVIP70M popping rod is one of my favorites. It is a medium power, a little shy of medium per CCS power=319 grams, action angle 65, which means med-fast. It is a great rod for a lot of things, like small hard jerks, 4 inch swim baits on a bullet jig (jerked off bottom in a good cadence) , small cranks. The surprising thing is that the rod has such fast recovery. Feels very sensitive. Makes jerking very easy, and it gives a sharp enough twitch to entice Lake St Clair smallies without feeling too stiff. Too stiff will give a fast twitch, but with little or no feel. I'm not explaining it well, but it's a surprisingly fine blank for the money. I would not hesitate to take the word of Rainshadow regarding the small differences between REvelation and Immortal. They are not going to tell you they are the same, so if they say "little difference," it has to be a very little difference. I am not recommending the 65 degree AA blank for your use, just commenting that REvelation is very sensitive, very high performing for the money. A real sweet spot somewhat unappreciated, like American Tackle Bushido fresh water blanks. I'll bet, based on my experience, that the 6-10 ML XF Revelation is one sweet blank. It sounds to me to perfect for your intended use, and with the endorsement from Rainshadow for your use, even better. Keep in mind they could have tried to influence you to the more costly Immortals if they didn't believe in this new Revelaton.

Yes, a few. I have not used it under really good conditions for a surface lure, however. A good friend who fishes similar waters says it's a killer.

I have not used the WP very much, no experience with what you mention. With many other lures, especially spinnerbaits, smallies will many times just whack it with their heads. I notice this by getting a lot of hits without hookups, then I'll get one in that's foul hooked. It means that they are not fully committed. Something is not quite right, like skirt color, spinner blade color, etc. If I experience that with the WP I'll change to another type surface lure, probably a Chug Bug and work it slower. I don't think color is that big of a deal with surface lures.