MickD

St Croix rates their rods conservatively for power, so their medium power is often more of a medium-heavy to other brands. You did right with the St Croix Medium Fast.

Treat it with respect and it will last forever. Rods can be structurally damaged by knocking them against things, jamming the tip into bulkheads, etc etc. All good suggestions from the other posters, and I suggest you read this: http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/rodusage.pdf There is a tradeoff involved with moving from the sluggish, heavy, types of rods to the light, sensitive, responsive modern graphite rods, and it is that the new rods simply will not take the abuse the old rods will. It is a good tradeoff, but you have to change your ways or you will have a $300 rod in two pieces very fast. I compare it to a manual transmission car. You can fail one in one minute if you treat it wrong. Treat it right and it will last forever.

If you want an eye-opener, compare the strength of the frames of the Amtak NIA with the Y Fujis in titanium. No comparison, Fujis much less prone to bending and breaking.

What's available in 6' 3"? Just hundreds if not thousands of blanks at 6' 6" that can be shortened from the butt 3". If it's a good blank at 6' 6", it will be a good blank at 6' 3".

It's not OCD on SIC tiptops, it's common sense. If anything is going to groove, it's the tiptop. Been there done that with cheap tiptops. SIC on tiptops makes sense.

I will use anything above carbaloy. Even they will probably work for guides, but I always use a premium ring on the tiptop. I've never had a cheapo guide ring groove, but have tiptops. My ring preference is to go with what I want either for weight (like titanium frames) or appearance of the ring and frame (l really dislike the old flat, gray rings. So ugly. Also any ring that's fat. So where I always end up is with a decent quality ring because cheap rings are not put into titanium frames, and I avoid ugly gray rings and poorly made/poor metallurgy frames.

If you are asking about how to space micros, you space them the same as any other guide. If you find that spacing allows more line contact with the blank that you like, add a guide or two. An extra guide or two does not, at least to my experience, cost any performance attribute of the rod. For spinning rods, the real issue is the reduction train; after that use all guides the same size spaced so you like the way the rig under stress looks. I don't think there is a chart that answers all the possible questions for all possible blanks for all possible guide types.

I think you have to be more specific about what you are asking for.

There are so many good options to this obsolete line that, in my opinion, wasn't very good when it was new. Try Suffix Premium Braid or Power Pro, and I think you'll be very happy. Try 15 pound test-it's stronger than 15 and adequate for just about anything. It wil cast better than 20.

I think if I were wondering what comparative material costs were, I would go to about three suppliers' web sites and find out exactly what the costs were for exactly the configurations I was looking for.

Depends on the fish, what fall rate they like that particular day. Sometimes they like a fast fall (1/2) and sometimes a slow fall (1/4). But many are favoring a 3/8, so maybe that will do it all. I like the Berkeley chigger craw, sometimes I cut off an inch of head to make it shorter. Whatever color the fish like, but mostly some shade of green with blue and chartreuse in it, or blue/black.

From my stock I've found that Batson and Fuji are interchangeable but not Pac Bay, yes, using the threads. But the threads mentioned are not the same.

Racerx, keep your Berkely to use for sleeve parts if needed in the future.

WiGuide, if your rod is a special one you'd like to fish with again, it most likely can be repaired. Check the link I posted earlier. Based on your description of it probably not being sound, the best way to treat it is probably to cut it cleanly at the damage and sleeve it as described in the link. If you're lucky and no guide is involved, you only have the reinforcement wrap to do after the sleeve process. Be sure to scuff the outer surface before applying epoxy, use no alcohol or other spirits.

Try some reels at a store, measure what you like, buy it. Or another with the same length.

On size 16 casting seats, Batson will work on Fuji, but Pac Bay will not. I think but am not sure this is true for size 16 spin seats as well. I'm hoping to get Fuji to offer a bright silver so I don't have to do this any more.

No no no, don't even think of using steel. Read the link I've posted and/or talk to Delaware Valley Tackle. If $25 + double shipping is too much, read the link. You may want to take a shot at it yourself. It's not that difficult. Or a local repair guy could do it. Or do the sleeving yourself and have a local pro do the wrapping.

I agree with all comments above, but will add that the line has a lot to do with your casting experience. If you're having trouble, go to a limp line like Trilene XL in about 15 pound test, Yozuri hybrid copolymer same test (or whatever it's called). Stay away from flourocarbon. Braid of about 30+ pound test can be good, too. When all the recommended adjustments and the right line don't work, try a Shimano Curado.. i like them better than Revo's but my son likes the Revo's better. A lot of this is individual preference, the right line, the right setup, and practice.

Do nothing with the rod until you read this: http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/repair-oquinn.html There is a high probability that your rod can be repaired to work as well as it did before, just a little section of mismatch that you will probably not notice when you get used to it.

If you do not use the keeper, don't put the hook through the eye of the guide and don't embed it into the grip. Put it through the frame of the first guide.

If they are not "eating it" then something is not consistent with their instinctive preferences at the time. I think more likely they are just thumping/bumping it as I have foul hooked a few when this was happening. As stated above, change color, size, blade type, anything. I think color is the most important.

If you plan to use a leader in the 20# range I see no need to go up on line strength for most applications. Flipping is a different story, and you might want to consider braid in the range of 50 # test with no leader. Tie direct, lure to braid. In my opinion, the best braids are Power Pro and Suffix Premium braid. There may be others as good, but I am not familiar with them. When I try other brands, I sometimes get a surprise. With Power Pro and Suffix, high quality, good performance, no surprises.

I would never try to teach my wife how to fish a BC outfit, or drive a manual transmission, or fix a problem on the computer. Some things are best left to those other than husbands, or left to the student to teach themselves. Having said this, you, as a knowledgeable BC fisherman, have an obligation to provide her with tackle that will enhance her odds of success. First, a moderate action rod, a good reel like a Curado, some easy to use line like 14 pound test XL mono or equivalent, the web address of some good tutorials on learning to cast BC's, next some practice plugs, next some spoons and lipless cranks, some easy to cast 1/2 oz jigs, etc etc. You see the progression, from easy to challenging. If she is really interested, she will pursue the skill and succeed, if not she won't. But you will have done all you can to help her succeed. What you don't want to do is to make her success your responsibility. It has to be her responsibility.

I don't think it is as much about eating the fish as it is in the culture of keep. I also think a good percentage of the fish don't really get eaten, but it's the culture. The key is in education, as someone else said. We just have to keep plugging along, teaching that a really good fish can be caught more than once. We have two similar lakes here, both private, one a lot more private than the other. I went five years without catching a legal bass on the less private lake. My son lives on the more private one, which has a strong catch and release culture, and we go out and catch 20 or more legal bass in a couple hours, usually with a few 4 pounders, two five pounders the same day this summer. That can only happen with a catch and release culture. It's pretty easy to convince people if you have the time to talk to them that the fun of fishing is not in the cleaning and eating as much as it is in the catching. So why not catch more and clean less? In some instances where lake management indicates it is better to take the fish out of the lake. In those cases, I don't even care whether the fish end up as food or fertilizer.

Wonderful workmanship!