MickD

Avid is a great choice. I'm sure that the top of the line BPS and Cabelas rods will not disappoint, also. St Croix is appreciated for making them in the USA. I have not fished Dobyns, but have repaired one. The grip had very poor quality cork and the front area of the grip ahead of the reel seat was coming apart. I know a lot people comment positively on the actions/sensitivity, but I would not buy one without seeing it in my hands first. Even then I would be unable to evaluate the structural integrity.

Usually a longer rod is easier to get distance with than a shorter rod. You are asking about power but you need to consider action as well. If you watch the pros fish cranks they use moderate actions instead of fast. The reason given is that the slower action is more forgiving on the strike and fighting the fish, leading to fewer trebles ripping out. I really like a moderate action. Actions like this are usually called crankbait rods or actions or popping blanks or actions. They are , in my opinion, best suited for the cranks and not for jigging, drop shot, or other techniques where you want more sensitive rods. As for power it all has to do with matching the lure rating of the rod to the weight of the lures you plan to use. If the rod does not load properly it will be more difficult to cast for distance, and I believe less easy to avoid backlashes because you are pushing it. It is better to go over the lure rating and cast more gently than to push a too powerful rod down to lighter lures.

The Cason's I have used is their water based clear.

A lot of personal preferences/"do it my way" going on here. IMHO, get a baitcaster and let nature take its course. You will find techniques that work best with spin, some others with BC. You let your experience guide you after you get basic skills on both. Just get the best quality BC reel you can afford. With spin, the rod is the most important; with BC, the reel is most important.

Let's try to sort this out. First you had a problem with flouro that you spooled yourself using a rotating feed spool on a pencil. That will introduce a single twist with every revolution of the reel. Put the spool on the floor in a way that the line comes off that spool opposite of how it goes onto your reel. That is if the reel rotor goes clockwise looking at the front of it, the line should come off the feed spool counterclockwise. Then you "got it respooled" with old Trilene. How was it respooled? The right way or the wrong way? And was the trilene mono that had been in the garage all winter in CT? Nylon gets hard a brittle in a cold, low humidity, environment, like northern garages. I think if you get some fresh, quality, line and spool it properly you will have no more problems. Attention to detail using the right techniques.

Here is an attractive bass pro combo: http://www.basspro.com/Abu-Garcia-Revo-S-Baitcast-Reel/Bass-Pro-Shops-Bionic-Blade-XPS-Trigger-Rod-Combo/product/1410160700361/ I recommend the 7 foot right retrieve medium power rod. It has an Abu Garcia Revo reel, and they are VERY good reels. I have always found right retrieve BC reels to work best for me. I suggest you go to a store and handle the combos (any brand) and compare for yourself whether left or right feels better. I think the medium power will be more forgiving for a beginner than the stiffer rod, and you can go above the lure weight significantly and still have good loading of the rod. Going lighter than the rod rating doesn't work as well. They have a combo with the same reel and micro guides if you would prefer that, but it will mean that line to leader knots would not go through the micros as well as the standard guides. I really like the micro rod grip better than the regular, but that is personal preference. I've used both designs and they both work well. A friend prefers the shape of the regular guide grip. Would be great to go right to a BPS store.

I use a lot of braid and use flouro leaders. But I had an experience last year using 10 pound white nanofil without a leader casting super flukes in shallow fairly clear water to LM bass, and my son was kicking my butt. I added a couple feet of flouro and started catching fish. I think there are times when flouro is not necessary, and times when it is.

Agree with don't switch, add the baitcaster. There are techniques that are best done with spin. I think BC's have better ergonomics for a lot of fishing, easier on the hands for a long day of fishing than spin. Also the ability to immediately let line run with just a flick of the thumb is valuable at times. I believe that with BC outfits the reel is the most important part, so get the best you can afford. I have not tried all brands, but find the Abu Garcias and Shimanos very easy to use. Start with braid or mono, not flourocarbon, and start with easy to cast lures, like spoons, weight transfer stickbaits, about 5/8 oz. Don't go too stiff on the rod. It has to load properly with the weight of the lures you will use. Don't bother at first trying to match the guys who say they can cast really light lures on the BC. Use your spin for that. Check the reviews on BPS or Cabelas. While not all reviews are honest, if you find a number of them complaining about certain aspects of a product, they are probably valid.

Thanks. I found it by searching, and see the Duo Reallis lures on Ebay. Got to give it a try.

Ok, a very fast tipped rod, good butt strength, but I don't know what the technique of spybaiting is.

Thanks for the tip. I'll bet I have not always been tying it correctly. I'll try it again. I would like to make it work as it is much more streamlined than the double uni. The thick line has only two thicknesses in the knot.

What is a spybait rod? I've heard it and haven't figured it out yet.

Rubberized cork for me. I think its durability is bulletproof. There are too many kinds of plastics, some good and some bad, and you cannot really tell what grade you are getting. EVA may be as durable, but in the old days it was not. Since it is a plastic, at some time one would expect the UV to get to it. Not sure today. And I don't particulary like its look, but that is just personale taste.

Relative to 6.6 vs 7.0, I don't think 7.0 will be too long. I generally like the longer rod, but if you do a lot of tip-down techniques, maybe 6.6 will be better. I only have a couple 6.6's, probably 20 7.0's or 6.10's. Sounds like you have a lot of knowledgeable votes for the lighter power.

A testimony to how effective and versatile the drop shot can be, right, Goby King?

Yes to flouro on baitcaster. (and spin) Flouro is sensitive to failing if it gets nicked or kinked, so brands worse than others. Think Vanish a few years ago, maybe better now. I use Cablela's flouro line, usually in 15 or 20, and have no trouble. If you want the best, get some flouro that is designed for to be leader instead of line; it will be harder and less easily damaged, and it is not a problem to be hard for leader use. I've tried the Alberto, which I think is just a double Albright, but I have had too many "mystery failures" of the knot, and I have given up on it. Obviously since others have success with it, I must be doing something wrong. But I don't know what. If you can get it to work it is probably the smallest line to line knot which will make it through the guides more easily than other knots. I use the double uni knot which is not hard to tie reliably, but it too in time needs to be retied because of the wear and tear going through the guides. Since braid is so slippery, and flouro so easily damaged, make sure you have at least 5 loops on each line, and be sure to lube the knot as you carefully pull it tight, alternating between pulling on the two lines and pulling on the tag ends, helping the knot to form right as it gets tighter. At the end, give it a really good hard test pull and you will have confidence it will hold. The double uni is a little big when you use flouro over about 20 pound as each line will have 5 thicknesses in the knot. I would not advise trying to get any line to line knot through really small micros. I find about 5.5 mm guides the low end of what works well with braid/flouro. For slow retreives of surface lures, use mono. It doesn't sink as fast as flouro. Flouro, even just as a leader, can sink enough to screw up the action of most slowly retrieved surface lures.

I finally licked the drop shot effectiveness gap last fall; now I keep a dedicated rod fully rigged. I had had trouble catching anything on a drop shot for long time, but found it very effective on fall smallies in about 3 feet of water. It kept the plastic just off the trashy bottom and was very effective. Another time same story in about 12 feet. When I settle on the rig dimensions I tie the sinker on, or tie a knot to prevent it from getting thrown off by a jumping fish. Keep trying the drop shot and you too will probably finally "get it."

It is easy for a newbie in rodbuilding and repair to overheat the blank and damage it. The best way to avoid that is to apply tension to the tiptop as you heat it. Then when the hot melt gives the tiptop will slide off with no excess heat having been applied to the blank. Just use a rubber band hooked over something to provide the tension.. There is a problem with using epoxy or superglue to attach the new tiptop- it will not come off without applying quite a bit of heat in the event your new one needs to be replaced. Better to use hot melt. The best way to do this is to cut some hot melt chips from the hot melt stick and put them into the tiptop tube. Then gently heat the tiptop barrel to just melt the chips (you can observe the ones that stick out the end of the tube. Slip the tiptop onto the blank and you're done. If you didn't get the tiptop aligned properly, just reheat it a little to get the hot melt soft and twist it into alignment. There is a hot melt stick designed for this that is available at rodbuilding shops and sites, but any will work fine unless you live in a hot climate and let your rods get hot in a rodlocker or car trunk. Which you shouldn't do anyway.

there are some strings here on setting up a baitcaster and some on "how to." I haven't read them but bet they will help. Also google for on line videos with term something like "how to cast a baitcasting reel". I fully agree with the others that flouro is not the line for you. I've casted with baitcasters for 50 years and have trouble with some reels and some flouro. I just went through the flouro vs mono on an outfit and found Trilene XL 14 to be an order of magnitude easier to cast than the flouro I had been trying to use. Don't get discouraged. If millions of others can master it, so can you. Just learn as much as you can, use the right setup and line, and leave spinnerbaits and the lighter stuff until you become confident. Lipless cranks in 1/2-5/8 oz are good for learning, hard jerkbaits with the weight transfer systems are good. Sinkers, as mentioned are good. What you want is a dense lure that doesn't have a lot of wind resistance. Someone asked about braid. The better grades of braid, the ones that say they are round, are fine. If they are not round they have a tendency to bury themselves into the line on the spool, and cutting braid off the spool of the reel is not fun. I've used them a lot, usually in about 30-35 pound test. Don't set your drag to anything near that test or you may overload your rod and you likely will rip hooks out of fish. Braids are the toughest relative to getting damaged by picking out backlashes. Flouro damages very easily, as others have mentioned.

The late David Green thought so little of hot sauce that he charged extra if he found it on your reel.

Forgot to mention, in case you go Cason, Cason said to not apply two coats a day, let dry overnight.

Cason's has a couple different cp's, and I've used one and didn't like it. I dont remember which it was. When I called Cason's about it I was told they would send another type that would work better, but it never came. I would not trust the Cason's. It was not as effective as the U40. ANY white thread is VERY hard to keep really white when wrapped over a dark blank, so, IMHO, you cannot overdue the CP process. First, make sure your wrap is very solid, no gaps. Your wrap is done, so just make sure you look it over very carefully and burnish any suspect areas. Make sure you have CP that has not been frozen, mix it well, and use multiple (I'd go with three) coats. Be careful to get coverage everywhere. Give each coat plenty of time (many hours or overnight) before reapplying, and do not apply epoxy until the next day. Be sure your build site is not cold. That is a great looking wrap!

Pool cues have been used. I hear they are pretty cheap at yard sales and pawn shops. Here is another idea for spin: http://clients.criticalimpact.com/newsletter/newslettercontentshow1.cfm?contentid=9599&id=1069

Rodbuilding is very rewarding, especially if you like great rods, like creating things, like beautiful things, and don't mind spending a lot of time on a hobby. I'm not sure I would call it addictive for me since I can go quite a while between builds. I find fishing more addicitve. If you are considering getting into it, don't plan on saving money on rods unless you are planning to build some pretty expensive blanks. You can buy a lot of very good rods for $100 or a little more. Especially if you watch the sales. Keep in mind that you will get better with every rod, and considering this I would not build an expensive blank like a St Croix SCV until about the third or fourth rod. Consider also that even if you build your own wrapping station, which isn't that hard to do, you will sink significant money up front for supplies/tools and a dedicated spot to do your wrapping/glueing/fitting is very nice (you can keep it set up all the time). Obviously, from the previous posts, many consider it addictive. I got into a hobby last fall that I found truly addictive, was doing it with every spare minute, and that is fly tying. Fly tying will take significant up front $$ and significant time to get skillful, too. If you plan to get into building, Flex Coat has a nice series of videos easily found (Google) on line. Also, buy a book or two, Tom Kirkman has a couple that are very good. Rodbuilding.org has a very good forum from which you can learn A LOT.

I prefer cork because I like its looks and in the old days, EVA or whatever the black foam was would disintegrate from sun after a few years. Maybe better now, but since I prefer the look of cork, no reason to go EVA. For spinning rods I use very little cork. http://clients.criticalimpact.com/newsletter/newslettercontentshow1.cfm?contentid=9599&id=1069