MickD

Good choice. I just talked with a good friend that I gifted with a rod built on that blank and he just got back from a day on St Clair where he and his partner took about 45 smallies. The rod is now "his favorite rod," and he can now "feel the bites." I don't think we will find solid "verification" on internet forums.

When you mentioned that it was very unique more than once. Unique by itself means "one of a kind." Something is either unique or it's not. There is no degree to unique. I was just trying to bring some clarity to the discussion of the action of the rod. Getting "technical" might bring some objective descriptions into the discussion. Sorry if I offended. It's a good string, good subject, glad you started it. Again, sorry.

From experience, as you say, fishing a number of rods with known ccs numbers.

Rapala DT series, get the depths that you think will most be used in your fishing. Great cranks!

Everyone brags about their lightest rod build without mentioning an objective measure of the power. Even the Feather mentioned, what is its CCS ERN? Not mentioned. There is no value in listing "the lightest. . . " without including an objective measure of their lenght and power.

What is the ERN of that 2.9 oz blank? That's a pretty heavy blank for someone looking to build a light rod. Not with Point Blank. They publish CCS specs on all their blanks. NFC plans to publish CCS numbers for all their blanks, but until they do their subjective descriptions have no relationship to CCS spec numbers. By purchasing from only those manufacturers who provide CCS numbers you will be moving the industry in the right direction.

Sounds like an XF that is lower in power than you are used to. Learn to do the CCS testing and you can put numbers on it for power and action. Then do the true natural frequency test to get numbers on recovery and you'll have an objective description that can be used to duplicate it in the future. I assure you, it is not "one of a kind."

What you describe is typical of XF actions. They cast well a larger range of lure weights than other actions. The disadvantage, if there is one, is that they might not bend as far into the rod, depending on their power, and might make it a little harder to stay hooked to the fish. This is less of an issue in longer rods. I get it that you think it is unique, but there are a lot of XF blanks available to builders. I think the Rapala DT series of crankbaits is a gem. You can get them for most depths and they have a great selection of colors. Good quality hooks, and they just work.

Good choice on the Fuego, a very easy reel to learn on. I would recommend starting with about 14 pound quality mono, though. It's the easiest to cast, IMHO. 6-6 would be a good length, I'd try to find something with a mod-fast action or mod. Graphite for lowest weight. Regarding length, depending on the technique, type of cast, and height of the fisherman, shorter rods can have "benefits" that longer rods don't have. I think the 6-6 is the right choice.

Regarding pound test of the line, it does not matter relative to the rod rating. Use whatever works for your skills and techniques. And don't bend the rod more than 90 degrees. The closer you get to pointing the rod at the load, the less the stress on the rod. It's about your rod handling technique, not about the pound test. Sort of like the clutch on a manual transmission car. Treat it right and it will last a lifetime. Treat it wrong and you can fail it in seconds. For a new baitcaster I would strongly recommend starting with mono line. It simply casts the best of the options and isn't fragile like FC is. I simply don't use FC any more. Too frustratingly stiff on spin, too fragile for the inevitable backlash on baitcast. I've been fishing baitcasters since I was a kid and still get backlashes now and then. FC can fail with the first backlash. I really like Suffix Elite in 14 pound test. I think mono in the 12-16 pound test is the sweet spot for most baitcast applications. If fishing heavy cover, you may want to go heavier. But I would learn on 12-16.

A good plan, but I've not found it effective since with many longer rods the grip length has to be so long that the butt gets caught in my elbow when going from low to high or vice versa. On one of my first builds on a premium blank I used a stock length rear grip on a spin rod and had this problem. I ultimately had to cut about 1 1/2 inches off the butt to fix it. OUCH!

It's not rocket science. The longer the rod , the heavier the rod forward of the hand, the harder it is to balance. And the only way to balance, depending on the reel, it is to add weight behind the hand. Choose your poison. I just build the lightest that I can with the ergonomics primary in my priorities, and adding weight to the butt is something I just do not do.

Regarding interesting bird sightings, in recent years in the spring white pelicans are seen in Saginaw Bay, MI. They are in migration to their summer homes in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the NW Territories. When I mentioned this to a friend he asked what I had been drinking. Then I took him fishing there and on a bright sunny day we had a formation of 7 fly low right over us. I took another friend there and we saw another group of them. When he told his Detroit friends about them the question again was: "What have you been "drinking? They have been present in Lake St Clair recently also. Eagle sightings in Saginaw Bay are pretty common. Last trip we saw 4. I know of two nest sites near Bay Port. On Lake St Clair last fall out a few miles from the Canadian shore I saw a bird flying from the north towards our boat. It was a blue jay flying very low over the water, and it turned out that he was about out of gas. He piled into the boat and took refuge under the console. After a while he came out and went to the front of the boat where he just sat there while we fished. After about half an hour we motored in to the shore, went into a channel, and when inside moved toward him thinking we would put him onto a sea wall. Out he flew into a nearby tree.

Another way to get back in is to step onto the horizontal fin on the lower unit, reach for the tilt switch, and tilt the motor thus raising you to where you can more easily get into the boat. I put anti slip tape on mine for this reason after I used the method to get my brother back in one time.

I don't know several people who have even caught a 7 pound bass. And boat flipping bass that large? I'm surprised there isn't a report of several people breaking their rod. Doesn't pass the smell test.

That wrap looks fine to me. You might narrow it up a little more, but it's close to ideal if not already there. IMHO. I use the locking loop, 3 wraps around the base of the guide, for all single foot guides. I have had a couple small guides pull out when the locking loops were not used. Not very often, but has happened. It is so easy and fast, and unobtrusive, that I have chosen to use it all the time on single foot guides. I don't always use the recommended blocking wraps after the locking loops and haven't had problems. https://www.rodbuilding.org/library/forhan.html Regarding filing the feet more, that too is a personal choice where some grind to get a really low slope and some, like I do, just give it a light brush across the foot with sandpaper to give a little bite to aid the thread climbing. I don't like to take the finish off the guide feet unless it's necessary, and most of the time with Fuji guides, it is not necessary. I've been accused of being almost "sacriligeous" of the "unwritten builders' code" by not grinding to a low slope. Your rod, your process, your choice. Obviously, the rod will fish the same regardless of what you do.

You don't need that much wrap outside the guide. A few wraps to get solidly started before climbing the guide foot is all that is required. On the first couple guides it's not a big deal, but on the tip you want to keep the wraps as light as possible, and weight is a big deal out there on the rod. Weight out there slows the recovery time of the rod.

I just thought of something else that may not be obvious, be very careful in handling the rod with the guides only on by some temporary measure because if a KT or similar micro guide falls off, you may not find it. When I take my builds to the garage for the stress test I always have a line passed through the guides so if one falls off the blank it will be held by the line (which is fastened at both ends to the blank).

The problem I have with rings to hold guides on is that they have to be slid down the length of the blank and you need a few sizes to work well. Also, they don't, in my opinion, work that well with the really small feet of the Fuji KT micros I use. For the stress test (use a version of the two line test on Fuji's site or elsewhere-easier since the guides don't take the load of stressing the blank and they can be moved without unloading the blank). Many do use rings; I just have never found them as handy as : First I use narrow masking tape to initially locate and hold the guides for the stress test. When I get them located I mark their location on the blank with a china marker just a little off from their desired position (so I can wipe the mark off after the guide is wrapped). I then use hot melt, just a tiny bit, applied to the foot of the guide to stick it to the blank in the proper place for wrapping, then wrap the guide. It takes a little practice to get this down pat, but I have made it work. After wrapping the alignment of the guides can still be adjusted slightly before (and after) applying CP. Once epoxy is applied you will NOT be able to move a guide at all. Which is what you want.

You might keep in mind the hassles that can arise when you start selling. Federal Excise Tax, warranty issues, response to rod abuse, time pressures, nebulous not-objectively-stated expectations. You probably have noticed the discussions on the subjective specs most companies use and how different people interpret them differently. Even within the same company often the action and power specs are all over the map depending on the technique they are pushing the blank for. I only build for me, my family, and a local educational charity.

Use the rod lure weight recommendation, match it to your planned lures, to pick the power, not the subjective "M" or "MH" or "H."

Can you tell if the thumb bar is coming back up properly, all the way up, when you start the retrieve cranking? If not, the "linkage" that makes that happen could be worn and not giving full travel. And look to see if you can figure out how the thumb bar disengages the reel when pressed, see if the "linkage" that makes that happen is positioned properly, working properly, not worn. On some reels how this all happens is pretty obvious and troubleshooting is pretty easy. You just have to get into it in detail.

You may be surprised that your apparently joking comment is most likely true. I have tested many blanks and rods of all price points and have found that the true natural frequency (TNF) is generally higher on the higher priced "premium" blanks and rods. Most experts believe that sensitivity is proportional to true natural frequency. One thing that is obvious is that the higher the TNF, the faster the recovery from deflection.

About 6 feet, mono or FC. Easiest, most reliable knot, IMHO, is the double uni, easy to tie, hard to screw up, but it's a little on the large side so may not clear guides well with heavy leaders or really small guides. I use the Alberto with the braid tag tied tightly onto the end of the finished tightly set knot with two overhand knots to prevent unravelling. Quite small and very reliable, not difficult to tie with a little practice. I think that really long lengths of leader don't make a lot of sense. If one is going that long why not just use mono or FC for the main line? The FG is clearly the smallest knot, and tied correctly, can be very strong, but many have trouble learning it and tying it reliably. Some suspect that some braid coatings can affect the knot. I have used it, but had too many "phantom failures."

Some rods transmit those axial forces better (so that they can be felt) than others. Compare an old Ugli Stick to a modern graphite rod. Most rod experts for many years have believed that sensitivity of the rod is proportional to the stiffness to weight ratio.