MickD

I don't see why a spiral wrap would be worse than conventional, or a spinning rod. Sounds more like a rod sock problem. With Simple Spiral all the guides are on the bottom exc the first and second.

How do you know it's not 80. Or 60. Or 20? I know it looks like it should reduce friction; I can "envision" a reduction, but the question is how much. Based on data.

As with most issues, the "acid wrap" is, IMO, highly overthought by us rodbuilders. I have never seen any evidence that spiral wraps cast any better or worse than conventional. That includes ALL the various designs, including the really easy Simple Spiral. It works just as well as the more sophisticated and difficult to lay out designs. The only true advantage to the spiral is the reduction in torquing while under load, and it follows that the advantage would be the most with the higher power rods. I personally don't notice any torquing with my lower power conventional casting rods. Bing Videos The Spoonplugger comment about how the very tip of the rod behaves is right on target, and failures in that area of the rod are common, but never caused by a fish or a cast.

Very good points. Especially the braking issue. I narrow mindedly was focused on cooling and basic ability to tow. I stand corrected.

Just in front of the front grip at 90 degrees and I've never had line tangle on them, either drop shot keepers or closed keepers. I don't like using guide frames as it puts the hook too far out onto the rod which simply doesn't work with rod sleeves.

I've had two Lunds, a 14 foot tiller and a 16.5 single console, Rebel I think. Both were fine boats. Lunds are structurally very good, fish more like wooden boats than most aluminums. Not a lot of resonant vibrations or flex from running over waves, just a good solid feel. My single console has no tendency to be tippy like someone mentioned. I would not worry about going a little over the 1500 pounds trailering limit if you are not trailering in hilly country. I expect the limits is quite conservative.

I agree. This just may be the worst position for a keeper that I've tried. My dislike stems from two issues. When handling the rods one puts his hands into this area a lot, and if a lure is there. . . Also, when fishing, my hands get into the area and I feel the keeper jabbing quite often.

I too have tried lots of keepers and positions, and have settled on 180 degrees, the bottom, just ahead of the reel seat/ramp/front grip for both spin and cast. Line never fouls it, easy peasy to get to. I like either open bottom drop shot keepers of the Norman Miller design or single foot wire fly guides, 2 or 3 size. The advantage of 180 is that it's easy to get to but line never fouls it, and it never is in the way of my hands while fishing. Single wire fly guides in black chrome are handsome when viewed, but essentially unobtrusive. Can be bent to function like a drop shot keeper.

I think most problems with attaining max casting distance is the tendency to pause after taking back the rod. This disrupts the proper loading of the rod. One should, for max distance, go back then forward without hesitation. It's entirely different with a fly rod since one has to wait for the line to travel back to then properly load the rod when coming forward. With spin and baitcasting try to make the stop in between as non-existent as possible.

I have two, both smooth as a goose sh... If one is not, I wonder if it has been taken apart when new to "clean and lube it properly."

I would like to see the objective data that supports the 90% reduction in friction of the T wing vs conventional. Yes, always the skeptic. Worked for a chief engineer who said "Only God may come without data."

Of course you can use most rods for different techniques. Rods have 3 major characteristics, length, power, and action, and unless one of these is way out whack for whatever technique you want to do, any rod will work. Today's craze for "technique-specific" rods is designed to sell rods.

Much of the fishing and rod building stuff on Amazon is priced exorbitantly, so I avoid Amazon. If using polyurethane, be sure to get exterior. Most wouldn't like poly since it will change the feel of the cork a lot more than U-40. I personally don't mind harder feeling grips and have even used wrap epoxy on some of mine. l That really looks good with the contrasting look exotic cork rings.

Lots of good, lots of wrong, info here. Most experts agree that epoxy has a pretty long shelf life and that if it deteriorates it will do so by crystalizing. A few short shots of microwave will fix this. I have had it for many years and it's still good. Certainly 3 years is not out of the question. If in doubt, throw it out. Don't buy big bottles until you know your use rate. Wrap epoxy is specially formulated to break bubbles, be flexible, and level nicely and stay fairly clear as long as possible with today's technology. Adhesive epoxy is specially formulated for long, flexible, and to be tough as opposed to brittle. Many hardware store epoxies are brittle. Don't take a chance, go with the stuff formulated for rodbuilding. If you get Yorker caps for your epoxy bottles you can cut the neck at the right place to hold a syringe, and simple leave the syringes on the bottles. That helps preventing using the wrong one-if you do that after using them, the epoxy left in them will cure and lock them up. Don't apply so much epoxy that it drips off-better to use a couple thin coats than have it dripping and sagging. Mix it thoroughly and gently for a solid two minutes, scraping from the edges of the pool to the center. Take your epoxy from the center. I take it you know that wrap epoxy and epoxy adhesive for grips/seats etc are two different animals. A good epoxy adhesive is the gel type, Rod Bond and others. They stay where you put them. Don't skimp on grip and seat epoxy-not enough epoxy is the biggest cause of failure of grips.seats on big box rods. Sooner or later, if you don't use syringes, you will screw up and have tacky epoxy. Only a few builders are good enough at gauging amounts to avoid this. Syringes are cheap and last almost forever. Get ones designed for rod building-they won't have any contaminants in them that could cause fish-eyes. Fex Coat is a good company, making good products, and they have some good videos, as does Mud Hole, GetBit, and others. I would believe these companies before I would believe opinionated forum builders with unknown credentials. That my opinion. 🙂

What they see and how/why they react are two different things. I don't think bass think. Cambridge Dictionary: "to believe something or have an opinion or idea:"

Premium FC fly tippet material is about as thin as it gets and has the advantage of being a little stiffer than FC designed for line rather than leader. Stiffer is better for a leader, and if worried about visibility, use a little longer length than you might otherwise use.

It works fine, just don't apply so much epoxy that it's dripping off. I use lite style and usually use two thin coats. No dripping, less sagging. But it will work with any epoxy. Best 70 degrees F or warmer. Humidity doesn't matter.

It's not that bad with most epoxies-you can simply rotate it 90 degrees every 15 minutes for a couple hours. I'm assuming you don't put it on so thick you get footballs. I used to do this all the time before I cobbled up a turning rig. Sally Henson is a good solution for old rods like this, or even "nice" rods that need just a touch up.

I agree. Either get a map of the lake or experiment with countdown lures to determine the deepest spots accessible to you, and concentrate on them.

If you're looking for stiff leaders, Rio and Mason make some fine hard mono leader material. Look for "hard mono".

Anyone with an Android device,( phone, Kindle, or tablet, ) can for NO INVESTMENT within 5 minutes know the true natural frequency of a rod or blank, storing no equipment other than a way to hold the rod. Which wrapping stands will do just fine. I know which option I'll stick with. I appreciate your answering my question, but I'm not about to go that route.

So what does this rig cost? Are you sure sensitivity as felt by the hand is the same as vibration transmission? That's debatable too, and getting into that opens an entirely new can of worms.

Alex promised a test on his "sensitivometer" a couple years ago, and tested two blanks that were miles apart in length, action, and power. That is obviously a bogus experiment. Then he promised to have the tool at the rod building show and do the test on two similar blanks, which he never did. And as far as I know, still has not. Lots of trumpets and noise, no action. While I agree that TNF is not an absolute measure of sensitivity, I believe with two blanks of identical or similar length, action, and power, THEN TNF will be higher for the higher mod rod and that rod will be more sensitive than the other. Manufacturers, including NFC, tout their high mod blanks as being more sensitive. It is harder to argue of these two similar blanks with differing TNF that the higher TNF will be less sensitive. There is no scientific logic that supports that argument.

The app measures time between events. Time on Android devices is measured by crystals or similar absolutely accurate devices. There is no calibration to go out of whack. There is only one physics. I believe most readers have enough info and have already decided what the facts are. Not by the traditional definition of action. It will be faster responding to deflection but the action, where it bends, will be slower.

You are advocating a position that is against simple physics when you say the shape of the bend does not change and that the natural frequency doesn't change with added weight out on the blank, like big heavy guides. It's obvious you are unwilling to consider that physics is at work here, and is in control. I did not take issue with your ringing the bell testing; I only said I cannot find that predominate frequency after guides are added. With the apps I have tried the response is too messy to identify the "bell's" frequency. What app are you using to measure it.