MickD

I think you are never going to get 20 pound mono, floro, or copoly to work well on a normal size fresh water reel. It is simply too heavy. If you need more strength than about 8 or 10, get it with braid (15-20 is what I recommend) used with a leader no stronger than you think you need (I recommend 10-20, the smaller the better for clearing the guides cleanly). You can help with the braid to leader knot by using the FG, which isn't the easiest to learn to tie well, or the Alberto. The double uni is an easy to tie knot and works well with floro or mono below about 20 (with braid) on all but micro guides. If you limit yourself to about 15 on the leader and 15 on the braid you probably can use any knot you want. I agree with J Francho on the snaps.

It looks to me that all recreational boats must have "an efficient sound producing device." Not necessarily the Lund horn we are discussing. The Lund horn would comply, but is not mandated by USCG. A whistle or bell will suffice. I see Lund as not having to include the horn to comply, just as they don't have to provide nav lights to comply. The owner is responsible for items like this. Make sense? I think this brings the issue back to the marketing issue of whether the horn is standard or optional. U.S. COAST GUARD MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR RECREATIONAL BOATS Bell, Whistle Every vessel less than 65.6 ft. (20 meters) in length must carry an efficient sound producing device. On Federally controlled waters, every vessel 65.6 ft. (20 meters) or larger in length must carry a whistle and a bell. They must be audible for 1 nautical mile.

Such a nice looking rod, shame to mess with the wraps. Observe how the line gets tangled, probably coming down from the top? If yes, you might try bending it down about 30 degrees so it will shed the line and still work as a keeper. The one I had trouble with on the side was at 90, and it was a drop-shot keeper, open at the back. Line would actually go into it. I built two rods and both my son and I had the same tangling problem. I'm going to replace them this winter. This one is not open, so some little change may make all the difference, so if you work on it, go slowly. Also look at how you are handling the line and bail. Maybe there is something in that action that could change the situation.

I don't often do it, but when I get really ticked off, as you are, I ask for the representative's supervisor. If they refuse, which has not happened to me, I plan to write a snail mail letter to the person at the top of the org chart. I cannot imagine someone with real authority not simply giving you the horn. So much to lose for $50. I had a cable routing issue on my new Lund, routing so bad it was ridiculous, IMHO. The dealer said they were all that way, but I didn't find anything like it on the images on their brochures. And my buddies identical boat was much different. I contacted Lund customer support and he called the dealer and asked them to contact me immediately for a fix. They did and the tech came up with a routing that solved the problem, no cable changes or tearing up the boat. I have been very surprised that neither Lund nor the dealer has called to see if the change was satisfactory. There was a chance it would increase efforts unacceptably. I would think the dealer would want to know if they should be routing all the boats the new way. But nothing. This is the same dealer that told me I had no need to know how deep the water is if going faster than trolling speed. Pretty sloppy by both. I do love my Lund, though.

Careful with the heat, folks. If the heat will affect the epoxy, it very well may affect the blank. They have a similar heat tolerance.

Fill it with epoxy, turn the screw into it when it's firm but not hard. A little Sally Hensen fingernail topcoat to ensure no leaks. Should be fine.

IMHO it is not about the fight, it's about the hook set. With tubes and other big hook (single) lures, my ML rods just don't cut it. Need more power for the hook set. I think sometimes smallies grab on and don't let loose for a while, and if you don't really whack them on the set, the hook may not be in their jaw when they let loose. I can't be absolutely sure of the reason, but last year I lost 3 in a row after what I thought was a good set, using ML. Changed to M and no more problems. I use the ML's for small cranks now. My best tube rod is a St Croix Legend (5 series) 7 foot, M fast. St Croix's are a little more powerful than most others, so I'm a little higher than a normal M for power.

I looked at the ad for the rod and cannot find the keeper in the pic, so it must be at 270 degrees? In front of the fore-end? I've been in discussions with rod-builders about the best place for a keeper. Opinions run all over the place, but I've found that keepers on the sides do catch line more than those at 180 degrees just in front of the fore-end. I have one I'm about to remove and replace, having believed the proponents of 90 degrees. Not seeing it leaves me with no recommendation except to remove and replace it. Not a big deal for an experienced builder. You most likely will get recommendations to put it behind the reel, and I've tried that too. I don't like it because it puts the lure near the hands when picking up the rod But it doesn not tangle and is out of the way when fishing. If you want, you can clip it carefully off and use a removeable one, like the Fuji. Or use the frame of the first guide, but that puts the lure/hook way up the rod leaving no chance to put on a rod sock with the lure in the keeper, as I do with single hook lures when storing in boat tubes.

Tell me why not, please. I did it for the last 18 years without a problem. That boat was all 12 volts though. But I see no reason why taking the electronics off one of the multiple trolling motor batteries is a problem. But I don't know everything, so please elaborate on what the potential problems are. thanks

Correct. I think it may be the high current surge associated with starting the motor. One indicator of low voltage is also when your fish finders shut off when you didn't turn them off. that is an indication of a battery being in a low state of charge. If your starting motor and electronics are on the same battery, this is not one signal to ignore. I have a new boat that was professionally rigged and they wired the electronics off the starting battery, which in my opinion, is not optimum. The starting motor should be on its own battery, unaffected by the use of anything else on the boat. I'd rather lose my trolling motor or electronics than the my engine. I am reluctant to tear up the boat and wiring to change it

Probably a low voltage due to current surge of starting the trolling motor.

If it's breaking just beyond the tip the knot is not the issue. I suggested being very sure that the tiptop was not cracked because if it's breaking near the tiptop every time, then the usual culprits most likely are not the cause. If the knot were the problem it would break at the knot. If the knot was good it still should break at the knot. If it does not, something else is at work here. I agree that the 20 lb is too low for a casting outfit.

Norman Deep Tiny N. Or Norman Crappie Crankbait. They are almost identical. Crappies, bluegills, and larger fish too. They have a really good action compared to many other small cranks.

Mostly 5 star reviews on Amazon. Nothing below 4. A little pricey, but it appears, according to the reviewers, to work very well. I think I'll just keep using my "no-tool" method since I'm getting pretty good with it.

I'm betting your tiptop is cracked. Be sure to do what Ktinman86 suggests with the Qtip before making other changes. If it is cracked and you don't replace it nothing else will solve the problem.

20 for inshore, but I suggest 15 for fresh water. Longer casts, strong enough for almost anything fresh.

It looks like an icon for the boat trolling motor battery or depth finder source battery condition. The remote battery condition icon is to the left of it. Not sure, but one thing that might be going on is the setting for low battery on the depth finder may be feeding this icon. If you have that setting quite high the motor and/or depth finder will work fine, and the depth finder might report to the remote that the setting has been crossed. The depth finders may be on your starting battery, so it may be reporting on that battery, which is more important than the trolling motor battery. The depth finder units draw about 3 amps each. Maybe someone who really knows will post.

If using lighter mono and lighter power, hook sets could be more of a problem, especially with bigger hooks. I gave up on a ML Mod rod for small swimbaits on bullet jigs because I was missing too many. I would have them on for quite a while, then lose them. I think with some lures the fish bite them and hold on, and to get a hook set you have to drag it out to where the hook can set in the jaw, and I think in my case I wasn't able to reliably do that until I went to a M power F action. In both cases I was using braid with short FC leader, so line was not an issue. By the way, I had caught a lot of smallies on that original setup until one day when I went about 1 for 5 fish hooked. Did the fish go from "inhaling" to just biting? I don't know. My son in prep for an informal tourney fished largemouths without hooks in the lures and said he was surprised how long he had some fish on with no hook being used. It's not unusual in Lake St Clair to have muskies take smallies, nowhere near the hooks, and hang onto the fish until you force them pretty close to the surface.

Would not damage/bending that is severe enough to damage other parts be detectable by vibration/feel?

Have you changed any equipment, like rod, hooks, or line? If yes, think about whether the changes could have affected hook sets. Like stretchier line or less powerful rod, slower rod? Duller or larger hooks which don't penetrate as well?

A heavy duty cable strap through the holes in the handles will work well, in a pinch. If the handles have holes, like they always used to. But the best solution is a lock that keeps the handles from turning, by themselves or a thief. Man, what a bummer, I really feel for you.

You don't put it over the guides. If the rear grip is cork, try to find a piece that matches pretty well, form the piece into the shape you want, carefully bore and ream it to be just slightly oversize to the blank, then carefully split it. You want as clean a cut as possible, so you may want to practice a little first. Then epoxy it back together on the rod, making sure you close the seam as well as possible. Locate the seam at 270/90 degrees to minimize seeing it. Then sand both the fore and rear grips to the same appearance. The seam will be minimal if you did a skillfull job. Apply a sealer to keep the refreshed cork and the new cork looking good, U40 won't change the color, TruOil will make it darker and bring out the grain some. Not a piece of cake, but if it's important to get a fore-grip, it can be done without re-wrapping the whole rod.

I love the Siebert jigs in general, beautifully done, so many patterns it's like filling you fly box. But I have had trouble with the Owner hook, which has the squareish bend. I've had trouble with hook sets and found one fish where the hook barely got into the roof of the mouth. It appears from this experience that that square shoulder at times touches the roof of the mouth before the point of the hook, and just slides across the roof of the mouth. With that particular jig I bent the hook into a round shape and had no more failures to set. Interesting that some love it and I've had trouble.

Two of the best jobs I've ever had, paper route and working in a small sporting goods store. Got the discount, didn't take a lot of money home. Two of the best jobs I've ever had, paper route and working in a small sporting goods store. Got the discount, didn't take a lot of money home. Brings back the memory of my boss floating a local river and cleaning up on rock bass and smallies, with photos of LOTS of fish. Used an F7 Helin flatfish, silver chrome finish. After that we sold hundreds of them over the next few weeks. Neat post, thanks for starting it.

Humminbird recommends a Y cable and a second transducer when users have trouble getting the mega transducer to properly display depth at speeds over about 5 mph. Supposedly the unit uses the mega transducer signal at low speeds and the other transducer signal when the speeds are higher. I don't know how that happens, and don't even know that it does, but Humm says so. The mega can be properly placed, depth and angle, to read properly at all speeds, but it is not easy to accomplish. I'm talking attached transducers, not through the hull. More detail can be found on Humm customer service, search for depth at speed or some term using speed.