MickD

I find that when properly lubed, tightening the snot out of it puts a set in the line that helps prevent the knot from loosening. The only knot problems I have is when I get lazy and don't put enough turns into the knot. I don't find FC to be as fragile when used as a leader as I do when it's on the baitcaster spool and it gets kinked trying to undo a backlash. Then it really cannot take much without failing. I have to admit that we may be interpreting "tightening the snot out of it" differently.

Anything but flourcarbon. Too much of a hassle, especially for non-experts with baitcasters. Mono of 12-15 will be the best casting, and will not sink, so will be good for surface lures. Braid has better sensitivity, casts quite well, neutral buoyancy, lasts about forever, and at about 30 or more pound test it casts well and is really strong. I like Suffix primium braid.

Is it possible you are experiencing the line sliding on the spool, which is in fact rotating? They are so smooth that rotation is not a piece of cake to detect when line is not solidly attached to the spool. What you describe seems almost impossible. If the line is not sliding on the spool, and the drag is set solidly, and the spool is not rotating, it is not engaging on the retrieve, which means a defective reel. After free-spooling, when you start the retrieve, you should hear and feel a click as the spool engages with the gear train connected to the handles.

Two piece rods have fine action and are not more fragile than one piece; you just won't find as many to choose from. I agree with those recommending a 7 foot rod in medium power, fast action. St Croix willl be a little more powerful than other brands described as medium power, and that's fine. You may find yourself fishing deep tubes and jigs, even drop shot, and a faster action is better for that. I use 15 pound braid with about 5 feet of FC leader. The leader provides a little "give," but I don't want a moderate action rod because, especially deep or with long casts, hook sets are more problematic.

What happens when a fish "tightens the dog snot out of it?"

Never had a problem with my older Curados. Daiwa has a great reputation. I think you are safe with both.

Relative to stretch, testing shows that it is not whether it is flouro or mono, the stretch is associated with specific line characteristics. So forget about that attribute of FC. Everyone has their own opinion, but there are a few characteristics of the lines that are not opinions, but are scientific facts. One is that FC sinks since its specific gravity is 1.5 times that of mono or braid. therefore it sinks better than the others, and is not suitable for surface lure casting. Another is that braid has almost if not zero stretch, and a much smaller diameter for the same pound test as mono or FC, so it is good for situations where you want max sensitivity, or ability to feel subtle bites. And if trolling or long casting, due to its small diameter, it will more easily allow you to go deep. It is my opinion that FC is less manageable than mono or braid for both spinning and bait casting setups, but that is not universally agreed to Some can make it work, and others, like me, cannot. I will use it only for very specific applications, and at the lower pound tests. It generally is quite stiff and harder to manage than the other lines. I don't think many will argue that FC is more fragile than the others when trying to free a backlash. When it gets a little kinked , it will break. Braid takes specific knots to hold properly. It is slippery. Same to some degree with FC. Lubricate all knots with all lines, but FC is really sensitive to not doing so. All lines have their strengths and weaknesses. I personally think that FC has too many weaknesses to justify it in most applications.

If the 35 by Pflueger is sized like Shimano it's fine for everything, IMHO. I use a Stradic 4000 all the time for bass and walleye. You will probably want to change line for some applications, like steelhead in rivers.

X2 on the u40. Some like to put a coat of Tru Oil gunstock oil on. It will most likely darken the cork a little, make the "grain" stand out a little more, and harden the surface a little. If the cork is pretty high quality, you don't really need to put anything on it, and it will wash up nicely when it gets grungy. The coatings will prevent the getting grungy to some degree. I usually use one or the other. Exotic burl cork absorbs these coatings more than regular cork, and the Tru Oil especially really brings out the "grain" of the burl.

The collective knowledge of a forum like this is truly awesome.

Return it, even if it's only paint damage. What damaged the paint could have damaged the fibers, and if so, it most likely will fail in service, sooner or later.

Get wrap epoxy instead of adhesive epoxy, as suggested. You will have to go to a rodbuilding supplier as hardware stores don't carry it. The working time varies with the brand. Prokote from Mudhole.com has what I think is the longest working time, which is way more than you need. Finish the guides, and if you notice quite a bit of it drooping pretty fast, blot it off with a paper towel by just touching it with the towel. Keep rotating every few minutes until it show no sign of drooping. You can check on it by touching the leftover in the mixing cup with the end of the brush, not the bristles (which youhave already cleaned with brush cleaner (also from Mudhole). Don't touch the wrap until the next day-ProKote takes a LONG time to get fully cured. For other brands that I am familiar with, like Flex Coat, the working time is not as long, but usually at least 20-30 minutes which should be plenty. Treat it like I said for Pro Kote.

No, the paddletails I use last forever.

Hyperbole alert! :-)

If fishing for fish bigger than panfish, it would be a bullet head jig with a 4 inch paddle tail swim bait. Color will depend on where I'm stranded.

Microwave is clearly the easiest to set up, (the set comes with the setup recipe) and for lines about like I mentioned before, it will work fine. The hardloy set is about the same cost as the set you highlighted. I suggest a premium tiptop ring; that's where any grooving will first show up. Hardloy guides will be fine for durability.

I believe that building rods to save money is a losing proposition. The big advantage of building is getting exactly what you want AND most likely a higher quality rod. Better cork, better seat and grip structure due to better shims and epoxy job, guide trains that are not available on most or all factory rods. more options in all areas. If saving money is your priority, then simply watch for sales of the rods you like and grab them then. Keep in mind also that the big companies can get prices on components that are very low compared to what we can get, so the savings, if there is a savings, is not that significant. It is a labor of love, not economics.

I expect a lot of disagreement with me, but I recommend all except the Dredge or any others tied on the Owner Deep Throat hook. My experience with it is lots of bites, but trouble setting the hook. Based on seeing a few fish with the hook barely penetrating the roof of the fish's mouth, I think that the sharp bend just past the barb is contacting the roof of the mouth first and preventing the barb from contacting the fish. I bent the hook to make it resemble a normal hook and it's better, more hook sets. It looks wicked, but is flawed, IMHO. I haven't tried all of the other styles, but they all look about the same with great colors, well-filled with skirt, finished well, good options, decent prices, generally highly regarded by others posting here.

That set will work fine for your plans, although for that length rod you most likely will not need more than 8 guides + the tiptop. I would set it up 16, 10, 7.5, then as many 4's to the end as you need. The image shows two 7.5's, and you don't want to use 2 of them. This will work for braids below about 20 pound test, mono about 8 and below. I would start with the first guide about 18-20 inches from the reel shaft in its farthest out position, then try to space the others to get a set of concentric bullseyes when viewing from the back down through the reduction guides to the running guides. Use as many running guides (probably 5) as necessary to get a good stress test.

I have used wrap epoxy over regular cork and burl before and have rods that are up to about 8 years old. It has held up well except for some yellowing, makes it look sort like varnish. l think epoxies may be better now, so am hoping that the yellowing will be less. This is flex coat lite. The yellowing on the older rods is apparent, but since the cork is sort of tan anyway, it does not really look bad. I have had no structural or scratching issues at all. Some may question the grip, but I find the smooth surface very pleasing to the touch, and the grip is more determined by shape than by anything else. Structurally this will no doubt be of higher structural integrity than wrap epoxy over rigid polyurethane reel seat shims (used as ramps off spin seats) which I have used tons of and had only one cave in which was diagnosed as insufficient epoxy fill between the shim bore and the blank. As you know, burl cork is harder than regular cork, so will be harder to dent.

I just have to brag about this one, the rod pictured, built on a RodGeeks blank, was auctioned last night at the local educational advancement foundation fund raiser, and it brought $500 from a very generous man who had won the auction on one of my rods from an earlier year. Being close to Lansing, MI, the Michigan State theme rods are popular.

He said to apply the pressure when moving the hook point into the sharpener, not while moving it away. I have had some hooks that seemed to defy sharpening too, (maybe the harder hooks? ) but most will take to proper sharpening technique. Some cheap hooks are so dull to begin with that it may take more time than normal to sharpen them. It could be that your sharpener is not working well due to dulling with use or clogging with residue from the hooks or knives. I have found that diamond sharpeners (the video guy had a diamond sharpener, if I'm not mistaken) work very well and do not normally get clogged or dull. I can. Jerking swimbaits off a rocky bottom. After a while I'll notice getting strikes but losing the fish in the first few seconds. Not getting good penetration.

Guides on the wrong side of the rod and the rod blows up? Wrong side, as in a spinning rod? The rod will not blow up. There is nothing about a spiral wrapped rod that will cause blank failure. In fact, it may be easier on the blank because the blank will not be forced into a twist by the guides on top. My comment of BS detectors was regarding claims of a 7 ' 9 " rod weighing only 3.5 oz. A few on the forum obviously questioned it, and it was determined to be untrue. So they were right, and the original post, which sounded so confident about this super light rod, the low mass sort of implied because it was spiral wrapped, was proven false. In conclusion, the BS detectors did in fact work. I meant no insult. It should be OK to challenge claims that seem a bit of a stretch.

Guidewear and other high end rain gear is fine quality stuff, but my problem with it is that for most fishing it is overkill, too warm, and lighter weight rain gear with layers is more versatile and practical. And cheaper. I have a great Guidewear rain coat, with a fleece liner which is removable, and it's great for cold weather, but not for everything else. I use it for probably less than 5% of my fishing, and I start the year early and end it late.

I think the BS detectors worked fine. Guides on the wrong side of the rod and the rod blows up? Wrong side, as in a spinning rod? The rod will not blow up. There is nothing about a spiral wrapped rod that will cause blank failure. In fact, it may be easier on the blank because the blank will not be forced into a twist by the guides on top.