MickD

I agree with DVT re filling in between the skeleton parts. What you are doing is making a conventional reel seat very difficult. The Pac Bay contour seat suggested is comfortable due to the swell, and unlike the Aero seat, is uplocking which for most anglers keeps the seat threads out of contact with the hands. Which is good, IMHO. Tennessee seats, if done really well, are good for comfort and will lock the reel on well. But if not done exactly right, will not hold the reel as securely as other seats. Here is another way to skin the cat which works very well for comfort, sensitivity, and beauty. http://clients.criticalimpact.com/newsletter/newslettercontentshow1.cfm?contentid=9599&id=1069 I suggest Riley foam or Pac Bay shims for the ramps. They can be machined by inserting a snug fitting drill bit into the bore and turning them on a drill press. No lathe is needed. If you fit them properly to the blank you won't even need a winding check- a small filet of epoxy will suffice.

Rodgeek blanks are made by St Croix, and from all I've heard, are very nice blanks. It sounds to me like appearance is a priority with you (as it is with me-if you are going to do a custom rod, and you can get really good blanks in about any color you want, you might as well make it look as good as it performs,) I have done matte black rods, and while they look good if done right, I really prefer glossy blanks for appearance. A little detail that does make a difference, glossy finishes don't show minor screwups in applying the wrap finish as much as matte finish blanks do. Rainshadow Immortals are a little pricey, but are wonderful performing and very classy looking with their gloss titanium chrome finish, a finish that goes with just about any color wrap. I presume you're considering 4 piece. I will build nothing else in fly rods now. I don't believe there is a discernible action difference between 2 and 4, and the 4's travel so much better. A new product that really makes sense on a fly rod is the Winn Grip. Take a look at them and if there is a color that works, you may want to give them a try. Better grip and comfort than any other material, IMHO.

I notice that the site does not show all the colors, but what you want are the HD skirts on this page: http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/silicone-skirts/360733.aspx# Ask Jann's to send a hard copy catalogue; it's one every fisherman should have. They have three skirts in this group that are called bluegill, the 092 Bluegill, the 165 Baby Bluegill, and the 738 Bull Bluegill. The first is truest to the bluegills I see around here, the baby is a little paler, and the bull is brighter, with some orange turning to yellow/gold strands along the bottom. There is also a pretty bright 090 pumpkinseed and 788 Sunfish. These are really nice skirts, $3.79 for 5. They are the quick change type like the Terminator design, so they are easy to use, they stay in position on the spinnerbait better than any rubber ring type skirt I've seen.

I expect custom making your own to match your bluegills is the best option, but if you're lazy like I am, check out JannsNetcraft.com.

You said you want the best, not necessarily the cheapest, so go Simms. My experience in tropical fishing is that all of the wicking type ones will work fine and be comfortable even in the hottest weather, but the nostril holes on the Simms makes it the best. Might take a little practice with any of them to get them to fit properly.

When you use a long leader after the swivel it gets really inconvenient casting the rig, so I suggest no longer than about 18 inches. For rigs with a line to line connection that can go through the guides, lengths of 3-6 feet are often used. I usually go longer in clearer water, shorter in cloudy or weedy waters.

Agree with WRB. In addition, I've found that on occasion the change from one weight to another will change the sink rate to better match what the fish prefer. Both with smallies and largemouth, jigs/trailers and tubes.

I built a green Rainshadow and really like its looks. Wrapped with a lighter shade of the same green with three orange single thread accents in the wrap, ending with three orange threads. It really has a classy, traditional, look.

I think the best line pick, which is on my list of gadgets, is a small crochet hook. I also agree that some device to handle a big fish, like a net or lip grab tool is essential.

Winn Grip is now offering a tape for restoring rod grips. Remember that Winn has done golf club grips for a long time and understands tacky very well, either warm or cold, dry or wet. They have it right. Give the Winn tape a try. It's called Winn Grips Superior Rod Wrap. Second best would be a name brand tennis grip wrap, like Wilson or Prince, others may be good, but I have not used other than the two mentioned so cannot testify.

I see two knots, a snell knot and what I think is what is called an overhand knot. Am I missing something?

I would be very surprised if wax will satisfy you. Every guide I've removed left a significant "gap" with the texture of the thread on the blank where the guide was removed and a couple humps of wrap epoxy at the ends. If you do try wax, then conclude it is not good enough, be sure you remove the wax before applying epoxy. I've not been able to restore the original appearance of the blank so i smooth out the area as best I can (at this point you may conclude that with epoxy over the area it will look good enough, so apply the thread wrap epoxy) then put a decorative wrap that makes sense for the rest of the rod on the spot where the old guide was.

I apologize to Decal Connection if I was wrong on the setup charge. If you can get what you think is an acceptable price on whatever you need, that's great. I do decals myself, design them with complex graphics and sometimes photos, will have to check what Decal Connection will do. I'd love to have them do my decals. They not only have the advantage of colors that don't fade, but they can do colors that inkjets just cannot do, like white and metallics, all with great resolution.

You can do decals on an inkjet printer, use OEM ink, not the refillable types (some fade FAST in the sun), get your media from Papillio, matte white vinyl is very good and prints well. Any simple graphics program can be used to design the decal. BUT, the most reliable decal project will be a decal from a good source like decal connection. But there is a significant setup fee which makes one of a kind not very palatable.

Decal Connections is top drawer. But if you just want to sign a rod, consider that your handwriting is what it is, and has character. Did your dad write his name on his tools with a vibratool? Mine did, and every time I use one I remember him and his character. So your signature, even if you're not proud of it, on the rod may be just the right answer. To do that it is best to have a board with a groove in it to steady the rod and put the surface of the rod at the same level as your hand. I have the best results with Bombay India Ink from Hobby Lobby or similar stores in an old fashioned nib/pen. Smooth the point by rubbing it on fine sandpaper first, practice on the barrels of ball point pens, then just do it. Before you finish the signature, test one of your practice ones to see if the epoxy causes the ink to run or not. You can spray with a fixative (clear fast drying from a hardware or craft store). Then, depending on what you find, finish it appropriately.

Not sure where in the north you are talking about, river or lake, etc. Recent reports from Lake St Clair MI indicate that jerkbaits, silver buddies, tubes, lipless cranks are all producing, but not all at the same time. Interestingly, to get good results from the jerks, the very sharp snap, snap, stop works with the hit on the stop. This takes a fast action rod, and very aggressive, sharp, jerks, unlike the slower jerks that work on largemouths. Silver buddies are good for search, drifting tubes to find fish, casting tubes when you find a group, lipless cranks on days when the fish are most active.

Make sure you release immediately or you will most likely destroy the reproduction from that bed.

Not sure if the lip or the spool skirt was dented. If the lip, make sure the concrete didn't nick the lip, which can damage the line. If it did, smooth it up.

I appreciate your desire to be honest, but I really cannot see an ethical problem if you comply with the company's warranty rules and the rules don't include a statement requiring the rod to be scrapped. In other words, if the company doesn't ask you to trash the rod it should be yours for what ever you want to use it for. The O'Quinn method of sleeving rods works very well; I've repaired three and they work fine. One neat thing you can do with scrap rods is fit a fly swatter into the blank about a foot up from the grip. Any pontoon boater would love to have one.

They still offer a split belly swimbait, not sure if there is a difference. For a lot of info on rigging and fishing them go to the In-Fisherman web site.

I don't believe the 4000 is too big for bass. I have two and they are my favorite reels for bass/walleyes/inshore salt. They are hardly any heavier than the 3000, have a bigger spool so are a little better with higher pound test lines. The only problem is that spools are really expensive, so if you need extras, you may want to go with the 3000. Price the spools to see if I remember right that the 3000 spool is much less expensive. Now and then a 4000 shows up on Ebay for a reasonable price. I also have a Shimano Symetre that for about $100 is a great reel. If I were buying new I would have to go that way and save $100 for extra spools. I also have heard great stuff about the new Abu Garcia reels in the $100-$150 range. I think their drags are rated at higher capacity than Shminos in similar sizes.

I have never found a flouro that casts as well as Yo copolymer. I haven't tried them all, of course, but I've tried quite a few that purport to be soft casting flouros. And they do not handle as well as Yo.

Most people have a tendency to strike too soon on surface lures. I do much better when I consciously wait just a bit after the fish's strike to set the hook. I've used Yozuri Hybrid co-polymer , too, and it is a very good casting line, stretch similar to mono. I don't remember having any trouble with it sinking too fast for surface.

I have read that his philosophy is to at first fish very fast to find ACTIVE fish, then he may slow down if necessary. He usually uses spinnerbaits for his search mode, I think. This looks to me like he is in his search mode.

you want the line to float, you want it to cast easily, you want it to retrieve without a lot of noise, You want to slow the whole process down so you don't set the hook too soon, what else can do all of these except mono?