MickD

Easy fix. Take it off and put on mono. You can fool around with all the expensive and favorite lines of others, but to take the short route to good casting, go mono. Life's too short to try to make FC work. Mono is so easy.

It is not, in my opinion, a manageability trade in since stiffness is an advantage in leaders. It is, as others have stated, stiffer, harder, tougher than line. One application where it is clearly superior is blade baits. Being stiffer, it won't tangle on the jerks as much as a limper line.

As a last resort, if it doesn't work out, keep it for parts and possible sleeves for repair of other rods.

Use a Q-tip, rotating it inside/against the ceramic rings on all your guides, especially the tiptop. If cracked the crack will snag the fuzz on the Q-tip. Switch to mono.

If you're serious about helping them, trade rods with them. Then coach them as to what you were doing with it.

I think the only practical way is to bore a foregrip to the right size (slightly oversize of the blank so it will not be under stress when glued to the blank) based on measurements of the blank, then carefully split it, glue it on (wrapped firmly but not super tightly with something like electrical tape), then sand to eliminate the joint as much as possible. If the joint is too obvious for you, then wrap the grips with Winn wrap or similar product. I'm talking cork. I have not worked a lot with EVA. It may stretch over the micros, but I doubt it. Of course, all the guides can be removed, then reinstalled, but I don't think that is what you are asking about.

Flouro makes a great leader if you use leader grade flouro. Use the right knots and selection of pound tests and get the lure knot to be the weakest link. I use flouro leaders until they get too short, never having a failure in the length of the flouro or at the line to line knot (unless I've been lazy and not replaced that knot after a long time getting beaten up by the guides.) Having said all this, leader grade hard mono makes a great leader, too. I use whatever I have in the right pound test.

That looks like it might be an 8 mm. Because the ring is grey (it is grey, right?) it is not SIC, most likely hardloy or some other lesser ceramic. SIC is black. The frame is dark, but not black, right? I don't believe there is a current Fuji like this. Maybe others with more experience than I with other brands can think of a good sub. But you need to find your calipers and get a good measurement on the OD. Then look at a big supplier like Mudhole.com and try to find the closest match. Most important will be the frame color and ring color. The guide doesn't really look that bent. Is it mostly an alignment problem? If that is the case it may mean the guide is loose on the rod, that the wrap has failed. If that's the case, re-use the guide after checking the ring ID for cracks by running a Q-tip around the ID. Sorry I cannot be of more help.

Got it, have to replace it. I'd still give Shimano a try, but with a pic we may be able to help. Is it a single foot guide or double foot guide? It's probably a size 6 as there is no 7 and an 8 is probably too large. If the finish is darker than other stainless guides, it may be a titanium frame guide or a titanium oxide or other "titanium" framed guide. I'll bet it is a Fuji. I could find no reference to "Deportivo," so if that's an old rod, the guide may not be available any more. A close approximation will most likely not be noticed on the rod. But a photo will help.

Measure the O.D. of the ring to correlate with catalogs for guides. Sounds like it's probably a 6. Would help to have a photo of the guide. Have you contacted Shimano? If not bent severely, or to the breaking point, you may be able to bend it back to the original shape. Avoid involving the ring itself while bending. If you bend right at the ring it may pop out.

https://www.pricefalls.com/product/attwood-trolling-motor-quick-connectors/8129137 do a search on eBay , also.

Someone was having trouble finding a 15 inch Tennessee grip. To easily make one buy a straight cork grip from Mudhole, cut the tenon off, put your reel retention rings on, then add a fighting butt to each end. Look at the Mudhole straight taper fighting butts and buy two, then cut off so the OD at the smaller end matches the OD of the straight grip. Piece of cake, looks good.

I thought you were talking Helix, so the software spec I gave may be wrong. Go onto your unit and find out what version of software you have, then go to HB and find out what the latest is.

This isn't quite the same problem I had, but when I updated from 1.35 to 4.0 software, my problem with different images right/left was solved. Be sure to return the unit to factory defaults before updating software. Detailed instructions on HB customer service website. Even if you thingkyou haven't changed anything, do the return defaults anyway. Takes only a few seconds and may avoid having to send it in. I expect another more expert than I will chime in.

You guys really think it has 4 wheels instead of 2 for a reason? I think so too.

I am interested in why you do not recommend it. What is the risk?

I had the trolling motor and electronics on the same battery for 18 years on my old boat, but it was just a single 12v battery. Worked fine. But now with a 24 v two battery array I wasn't sure whether I was missing a potential problem. I'm not sure I want to screw with the wiring. I'll put the appropriate low voltage warning into the depth finder and carry a jumper cable with me in case I screw up, for at least the short term.

Anyone know if there are any problems supplying the depth finders off one of the 12 volt batteries in a 24 v trolling motor array. Better to have it go dead than the starting battery.

Best smallmouth surface lure I ever saw was a chug bug my son had that was sort of irregularly spotted white (or bone) and black. If you took a bone one and made splotches of black on it, you'd be close. The lure of his invariably beat everything else. but second place is bone.

Make sure the screw is tight on this one. If it loosens, tighten it. Use Loctite.

I agree with those who think it really doesn't matter. The skirts and trailers get all the attention, and the lead sort of disappears. But, if you want to paint them, Testors model paint comes in tons of colors, is easy to use (buy a bottle of thinner for cleanup when you buy your paint). If you want to toughen them up, Sally Henson clear hard coat works well, dries almost instantly.

I have never heard that this size relationship affects twist. It is a reasonable guideline for rod design, but didn't know it affected twist. You are a fan of Microwaves-the first Microwave guide is certainly not half the diameter of the spool. How do you reconcile this? Not trying to be hostile or anything, just discussing, trying to learn.

I agree that your finesse rod, where sensitivity is of most importance, would be where to put the money, like the Avid. Rods for cranking are not critical for sensitivity. I also agree that ML is not a good power to buy if you are limited in the number of rods. Its value is too limited. But I would not recommend a MH power unless you are going to cast lures in the range that the MH recommends. You want the rod to load properly. Longer rods generally will give you longer casts. You asked about backing. A few things to know about braid. It is very slippery, so if you try to tie it directly to the spool, it tends to slip, causing the whole spool of line to rotate relative to the spool. So many use backing of mono, also with a piece of tape , to fasten the line to the spool securely, then tie the braid on with double uni knots (easy/reliable knot). Keep the knot well buried so it doesn't catch the line when casting. braid lasts a long time, often years. when it gets looking sort of worn, cut a few feet off, then reverse it on the spool and you're good to go again. Two Avids would be great. There is no chart. Keep in mind that power ratings are sort of subjective. As stated by someone a St. Croix medium power will be a little more powerful than most others. I would give priority to the lure weight recommendations. Pflueger reels are highly regarded by many on this forum, and they are smooth, have good drags. I have one and the only thing I dislike about it is that it appears that the spool lip is located farther forward relative to the stem than Daiwas and Shimanos. This is personal preference, but you might want to evaluate this in person, reels in hand. You can easily get by with only two rods. Get started that way, then let your experience guide you as to whether you need more.

Rods are rated by two different characteristics, power and action. Power refers to how much force it takes to deflect it. Heavy takes more than medium heavy takes more than medium takes more than medium light etc. A measure of this is the recommended lure weight and the recommended line pound test. The most important thing is to get a power that is about in the middle of the lure range you plan to use. That way the rod will load properly on the cast and will cast more easily. Action refers to where in the rod the initial deflection takes place. The descriptive terms are fast, medium, and slow, with extra thrown in to describe the ends of the action spectrum. If the initial deflection is limited to the tip and doesn't go far down the blank, that is an extra fast or fast action. A medium fast goes farther down the blank. A medium goes even farther. A slow will show deflection going way down the blank. Traditional fly rods are an extreme of the descriptor "slow action." Jigging, finesse fishing of plastics, spinnerbaits are fished best with fast or extra fast action, with the power dependent on the weight of the lures to get good loading. Treble hook baits, cranks, surface, etc, are fished best on a medium action or medium fast. These actions may be a little easier to cast. But more important than action is the matching of the power to your lure weights. If I were going to cast a large range of lures I would get two different powers in either fast or medium fast, or one of each depending on my lure plans. Since you are fishing from shore with a long line, it would be better to go with faster actions rather than slower in order to get a better hook set. Since you are sort of new, don't bother trying to get a baitcaster to work. I love to use them, but I've been doing since I was a kid, and they are not difficult for me. But to start with BC is not something I would recommend if you want to fish instead of get frustrated. Since you are shore fishing go with straight braid (for distance) at first, mottle the last few feet of line with a sharpie to camoflage it, and stick with about 15 pound test of a name brand braid. You will have to learn a couple good knots for braid, as it is slicker than mono and the right knots are critical . No way around it. Don't go above 15 pound test as it will cost you distance. Stay away from flourocarbon line, too many troublesome variables. Many can make it work, many more cannot. FC leaders are ok because they don't get onto the reel. Double uni knots are easy and reliable for tying FC leaders to braid. With spinning the rod is more important than the reel, IMO. Your first priority should be to get the rod power you want, then the action, then the reel. Don't be afraid of BPS and Cabelas or other companies' combo deals. They are a good way to save $$. I would stick to name brand reels like Shimano, Daiwa, and Abu garcia. There are others as well. Some reel servicers do not service off brand reels. There are many opinions on this, and there is merit in many of them. This opinion of mine is my attempt to take into consideration first and foremost your description of your background and what you are trying to accomplish.

How do you carry them to the water? This really sounds to me like the reels are getting dust/sand/grit in them. And when that happens, it will take a lot more than an amateur cleaning to solve it. Believe it or not, some carry in the back of a pickup, and how they stay in decent shape, if they do, is a mystery to me. If you are not careful about keeping them clean in transit and storage, then that is most likely your problem. This goes way beyond any chemicals in the garage, IMO. Some reels have a characteristic "whine" when casting, but it sounds precise, not irregular/grindy, and there is nothing that can or should be done.