Lead Head

Red flake... and its not even close.

I completely agree with "any Daiwa SV". As the thumb gets practiced and he gets comfortable with the mechanics, he can check out a shimano and maybe get some more distance. I have seen a few people with no experience able to effectively cast (if not accurately) a SV after only 20 minutes or so.

Interesting line choices... The stretch of mono will make the extra fast feel a little less fast, while the lack of stretch from the braid will make the moderate fast feel a little faster. Try switching the reels and see if the rods feel different. Either way, I would use the extra fast for bottom contact and the moderate fast for moving baits (excluding jerkbaits and walking/popping topwater, those probably work better on the extra fast).

Grabbed 3 NFC Delta blanks for $140 shipped. If they fish as well as the 1 I already have they were an amazing value at under $50 a blank.

Use your most successful t-rig plastic (creature or craw preferably) as a trailer, then fish it like a pegged t-rig. This isn't the "cure-all" way of looking at a jig, but in my experience it is the easiest way to help someone new build some confidence in jigs.

Tatula casters are pretty user-friendly, if you can swing it, Tatula sv (or any other sv spooled Daiwa) are SUPER user-friendly.

One of the most frustrating, expensive, and rewarding rabbit holes you can go down. Few things bring me more satisfaction than setting the hook with a rod I built. You will indeed love it.

I keep 3 spools of floro, and 2 spools of copoly. The floro is for leaders, and the copoly is just in case I need to respool. I didn't use copoly on any of my setups (mono, floro, and braid) but I figure its a good middle ground if I need to respool a mono or floro reel. If big game came in smaller spools I would probably keep that instead of the copoly.

I look at the leader a little differently. I'm lucky to go 10 casts without a retie using 25lb floro. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I will retie about 3 times before replacing a 6' leader because I don't like it to be less than 3-4'. If I was using straight floro I feel like I would waste even more line trying to keep enough on my spool. Maybe my way is wrong, but it works for me. That 37lb muskie catch is impressive! I have got a few gar up to the boat that were likely near that weight, but never on tackle that light.

For jigs... I use braid for easy managing, sensitivity, and longevity. 40lb braid instead of lighter for a easier to manage line diameter. I use the heavy leader to hold up to sharp rocks, and gar (not worried about pike or muskie down here, but have lost several jigs to gar...). Gar getting me isn't super common, but I have been in the rocks almost every outing for over a year (often times never leaving). I have caught size and numbers fishing behind other boats. They are using spinnerbaits and cranks and rarely bottom contact baits. I assume because they lose too many. The heavy leader let's me get into those rocks without losing a jig every other cast. It is also common to have a hooked fish drag my line across those rocks especially if he has any size to him. I don't know if I would get more bites with 12lb line, but I do know I would have to buy at least 10x as many jigs and spend way more time re-riging. I also know the chances of me landing anything 3lbs+ go way down after smaller diameter line is compromised on the rocks. @WRB it may very well be the Bubba syndrome, but my waters are dirty and full of perils, from what I can tell yours aren't, so it isn't all that amazing to me that we sometimes use drastically different gear. I do use 12lb mono and 14lb floro for most moving baits, but my line is rarely rubbed against or dragged across rocks with those. At least, not on every cast. The post was asking about jigs.

Try putting a small electric fan under the cover and leave a gap for air to move (I'm assuming you have power to charge batteries). I've never tried it but it couldn't hurt.

I wouldn't use a razor, if you scratch into the paint or coating of the guide you are inviting rust (depending on guide material) and you definitely don't want to damage a insert. You could try low heat (think warm, not hot) and hard plastic like a credit card. If that won't get it off I would suggest just ignoring it. If its inside the ring or you can't ignore it, return it.

I have had great success with 40lb 832 to a 25lb sunline sniper leader. I started out with straight braid for years. Started using the leader to fish chunk rock. As I started moving to other cover I left the leader in place and had only positive results. Now I use the leader nearly always in all cover, pitching, casting, and skipping. About a 5'-6' leader, just outside the tip when pitching and outside the reel when casting. It works for me.

I suspect fishing medium divers from the bank will be... problematic. In my experience, fishing treble hooks "up-hill" is expensive. Because of this I would suggest you look for the most budget friendly medium divers that you have confidence in. For squarebills, 6th sense crush 50 is by far my favorite.

NFC makes several extra fast composite blanks. Look into the Delta line, and the X-ray neo.

95% of the time I pitch and skip with the same setup. 95% of the time I'm using a 3/8oz Siebert dock rocker with a rage bug trailer. As I have gotten better at roll casting and skipping, I find myself pitching less. Most times it's faster, gives me the same entry into the water, and keeps the hook away from my hand. Obviously boat position and casting angles force me to pitch often enough, but it is no longer my preferred method for low trajectory casting. If I could cast as well with my right hand as I can my left, it would likely be rare that I pitch at all.

I very much prefer a floro leader (over mono) for neds because I feel like it sinks more naturally. I prefer braid to leader because I feel like it helps me have a better feel for whats going on with semi-slack line. The biggest reason I settled on this is I get far fewer gut hooked fish. Just a personal preference.

I swing pretty hard and haven't failed a leader knot on hookset yet, and I use what is considered a sub-par leader knot. The "not really a GT knot" from a misinformed YouTube video that I started using close to 2 years ago still hasn't given me a reason to give up on it and is super fast and easy to tie.

I have had really good success fishing jigs with a 5'6"-6' fc leader. I want it outside the tip when pitching and outside the spool when casting. I use 40lb 832 to 25lb sniper for fishing jigs in rocks, the fc holds up much better than straight braid. I don't know your reasons for wanting a longer leader, but if you can settle for shorter you can use any reel you want.

I ordered 4 blanks (1 x-ray, 3 delta) from NFC when the sale started and had them in less than a week. They obviously had inventory and shipping quickly. Apparently, based on other people's experiences, that isn't always the case, but all my experiences with them have been positive.

I think NFC is still running a big sale. X-ray blanks for $85 ($95 really) is a pretty good buy, especially if you are getting multiple rods and only need to pay the shipping 1 time.

NFC x-ray SJ-736 (built casting) Daiwa SS SV 103 (gears upgraded to 8.1.1 and carbontex drag) 3/8oz jigs mostly, occasional 1/2oz

You could always look into custom rods, or building your own.

My normal response to people asking about fluorocarbon is seaguar invizx or sunline sniper. If those 2 are unmanageable, or too expensive for you, you will probably be a far happier fisherman if you stick to a quality mono.

Lol, its all good. Really had me scratching my head though. All input is appreciated.