MickD

CRB starter kit will be fine. Best to not invest a lot until you know where you are going. With every build you will become better, and more confident to allow you to confidently invest in higher quality/cost blanks and guides.

Neg rig fishes nicely on light power rods. I use a 7 foot 2 inch walleye jigging rod with the ned and it works very well. In open water and with light lures/light wire hooks like the ned, the rod is forgiving, casts well, but will handle good-sized fish just fine. I suggest longer rather than shorter lights and ultra-lights to help with hook sets. I used to use 6 foot UL rods and lost way too many fish to poor hook sets.

I don't think microwaves will handle 15 pound mono all that well. They work pretty well, but they are not magic. Even with 8 pound mono on one of my rigs, there is a "buzz" of the line through the guides on the cast.

Are you sure you don't have too much line on it and some line is contacting the reel frame on the cast? Reels don't usually "just go bad". But lube and line are variables that can change fairly abruptly. Obviously, I could be wrong, but I'll bet you find the problem if you carefully observe what's going on with the cast, be sure the reel is lubed properly, that nothing is loose.

Agree with bigturtle, but will add that I think that more moderate actions do better in handling lighter lures because they load over a longer length which I believe makes casting easier and imparts more velocity to the lure. No good data, just an opinion.

Yes, for 15 pound test mono on a spin reel. For mono I never go over 10, usually 8. If I need higher pound test than 8, and I do on most setups, I use 15 pound high quality braid. Casts like a dream. You may want to use a flourocarbon or mono (mono for sure if you cast surface lures) leader. You'll need to learn a good braid to leader knot. Most use double uni which is reliable and easy, but it won't go through micros well. Some don't use a leader. Braid does need better line to lure knots than mono or FC, the palomar is what most use, but there are others.

Why not ask Cabelas? They are very responsive.

If anyone is using mono or FC and worrying about sensitivity, change to braid. Will make more of a difference than any of the blank or rod variables. Re the definition of sensitivity, to me it is the ability to sense what's going on at the end of the line with my hand. How to measure it? I don't know. Sort of like porn. I don't know how to define it but I recognize it when I see it. How to build for it? Choose top of the line blanks, build with the minimal approach of the lightest components, smallest guides, and don't sacrifice ergonomics very much. A rod that is very very sensitive may not feel that way at the end of the day because your fingers are numb from gripping a skeleton seat or one too small for your hands. Good discussion.

A significant issue relating to lines is that the different lines have different specific gravities which can significantly affect how they fish different techniques. Nylon has a specific gravity very close to 1.0, which is the specific gravity of fresh water. Therefore the line will tend to stay at or near the surface when fishing surface lures, so will not tend to pull the surface lure under. FC has a specific gravity of about 1.5, so it readily sinks and will pull surface lures under, affecting their actions, usually detrimentally. Co-polymers will be in between 1 and 1.5, so will have less effect, but still some. It has for a long time been thought that FC has less stretch than mono and is therefore more sensitive, but that "theory" seems to be under serious challenge these days. I have no data, but expect the inherent difference between materials is slight if any. My own experience with a popular co-poly is that it's really stretchy, so I expect the differences in stretch have more to do with specific line formulation than with which material it is. Most braids are about 1.0 specific gravity. Some have a Gore strand which increases the specific gravity.

Based on my experience (Saginaw Bay), when the water is warm, like 75 or higher, they are sometimes shallow, but more often than not, they are deeper and almost impossible to find. As the water cools, 70 degrees, you will find more shallow. As the water gets to about 65 there are lots of smallies shallow, but that doesn't mean they are everywhere. With smallies, I think the best strategy is to search the rockpiles, and keep moving until you find them. If you find a rockpile with a signicant drop off, fish the deep side, too. If you see minnows, keep searching that area for longer than normal, trying different lures and colors. If they are there and active, you will soon find something they will take. Tubes are hard to beat, but the fish are very sensitive to color. If you don't know the area, a bass boat sticking in one place for a while may indicate fish. Don't close in on it, but since some of the rock piles are very large, you may find fish at a polite distance from the boat. As you move from spot to spot, make sure to record a waypoint for every rock pile you see on your graph. It may have the mother lode. Effective lures at different times are lipless cranks (good for search), tubes, wacky rig drop shot, drop shot in general, super flukes, and slow cranks. Watch for the splashes of smallies whacking minnows on the surface, even when there are significant waves, and try a surface lure on them. doesn't get any better when you find that action.

My two builds were the PB691MXF, not MLXF as I prevously stated. Will try to get some photos on. I think at least one of these will show pretty well the finish on the blank, matte with sort of concentric rings. That has to do with its unique construction, I believe. I should have said circumferential rings. Here is the second Point Blank.

I'll get out pics in a couple days, going fishing tomorrow, too late tonight. I built two of the PB691MLXF into casting rods. For my adult son. He loves them for all kinds of lures. Doesn't use for jigging. We wanted a rod to cast and twitch hard jerks very aggressively, and it does that very well. On Lake St Clair, when the smallies are hitting hard jerks, they will not touch a traditional slow jerk, like with a traditional crankbait rod, but they will go for a very aggressive twtich, and this rod does it fine. He also uses them for lipless cranks and other crankbaits. The first was built with regular cork, split grip, and the second with split grip Winn Grips. I used the Fuji system with the RV first guide and 5.5 (I think, maybe 5's) KT's to the tip. I really like that system. The finish is a matte gray with a sort of rough finish with a distinctive pattern unlike other blanks. It is quite attractive.

I strongly disagree with advice that recommends giving up on the rod. Consider that if the repair is successful, you have your Kistler back. If it is not, you still have the rod available for the guides and sleeves for future repairs. I'd like to know what the details are of the recommendation to "give up."

I've built two Point Blanks, not this one. I really like them, great blanks. Their publishing on CCS numbers is admirable, allows one to know exactly the power and action of the blank before sinking big bucks. Are you aware of their current promotion offering a $75 set of their perfect fit hardware with the purchase of a blank + reel seat? Really good looking hardware. www.anglersresource.net One thing to watch with the Point Blank is that the "cat's tongue" finish can be slightly distressed by tight wheels on a wrapping machine, so keep them loose, especially on drying where they are on the blank for hours. They look great with either of Fuji's candy red threads with silver metallic trim. The perfect fit stuff is available with red or silver highlites, which will com[plement the red thread nicely.

The rod can most likely be fixed so it will fish so close to the way it always did you most likely you will not feel the difference. http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/repair-oquinn.html Note that the best way is the over-sleeve, and if the sleeve can be glass, that's better (since the OD is larger than the ID, to better match the rigidity of the two the sleeve should have a lower modulus of elasticity. Make sure to prepare the surfaces properly for epoxy by buffing with a gray Scotch pad. The ID of the sleeve should be OK without trying to do this. Better to find a good rod builder/repairer to do it. I have done this with 4 rods and all repairs were successful. Give us your location and maybe a builder will respond.

If the line is flourocarbon it is definitely too heavy for spin. If mono, it won't cast all that well , but if the spool is properly filled it should not be jumping off. Sounds a lot like flouro. If proper fill doesn't fix it, take some of the line off and try a good, limp, 8 pound mono.

I have no data, but from what you describe, I would not think the line would have degraded. If all your tiptops are still in the original orientation, and other outfits are OK, (if not it might indicate you're really getting hot in the boat) then after measuring the line strength as suggested above, carefully check your guides for a cracked ring, especially the tiptop, Use a q-tip to feel for snags. Cracks can be hard to see, but can cut line.

Shame on you, Hootie. Now you can be blamed instead of me.

If you don't mind the cost, try the new American tackly Bushido Combat braid. I have it in 15# and love it (spin). After that, Suffix 832. My favorite FC = none My favorite mono: Trilene extra smooth

I think the "small fish" problem with the Ned rig is that it catches about anything that sees it, and since there are more small fish than big fish, you will catch more small fish. If you catch nothing but small fish, good chance there are no big fish there. I've not had a single experience fishing with it with my son, who was using big jigs/trailers, when I didn't do about the same as he on big fish (3-5 pound LM). thanks for the advice on Inn-Fisherman.

Are you sure? I think if you do it that way you are inducing one twist for every revolution. I've always checked to see what direction the rotor winds, clockwise or counterclockwise looking at the reel spool from the first guide, then make the line come off the line supply spool opposite of that. I was told that that will minimize twists. With some reels I've purchased the instructions have been to have the supply spool rotating as line is taken from it. Then I forget which reels those are so go back to the procedure above. Braid usually doesn't care if it's twisted some, I guess because it is so soft. But I suspect really twisted braid will do just what the post describes. Also, as mentioned, if the line is not wound under some tension, especially on an over-filled spool, that can happen. This happens most often with finesse techniques that don't develop much line tension on retrieve.

I cannot find the old ned rig series of articles/posts that covered all things ned rig. Can someone help?

Disagree.

I'm not familiar with most of the places others have recommended, but I use Zenni for prescription glasses. Titanium frame progressive lineless bi-focals for $106 a couple years ago. They work well. The only problem I see with dealing with on-line sources is that you don't get professional fitting as you do when buying local. Sure beats the about $500 from my eye doctor. http://www.zennioptical.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BING - Search BRANDED&utm_term=zenni optical promo code&utm_content=*Zenni - Promo

Molay and Redbirds on Monday gave you the answer. The first and second posts in answer to your question. Then me on Tuesday. Just saying. . .