OilfieldCowboy

In that case I suggest reading through this thread:

I have moved from the usual players (PowerPro, Suffix, etc) to Fins XS. So far I'm happy with the transition. Also run YGK sinking braid on rods where I would prefer to not have any line float.

No one drag setting is good for all situations. If I don't feel like a longish fight, I will set my drag to about 50% of the breaking strength of my line or leader (whichever is weaker) with a fishing scale. That is assuming that 50% of line breaking strength won't require me to lock my drag down tight, which I refuse to do. If I am okay with a longer fight, which I generally am because I would rather have one good fight for the day than have 10 fish in the boat, I just pull on it by hand to set it where it feels okay. If I hook into one and its just pulling line without any resistance I will change it mid fight without a seconds hesitation.

That was generally my experience with previous generation Stradics compared to their Ci4+ brethren. I would either have to step up a size or two on the Ci4 or run a Stradic to get good balance. It is the biggest thing I've never understood about people running less than 3000 sized reels on rods longer than 7'. My 5'6" UL trout rod wears a 2500 size Ci4 reel because that is what balanced it. ETA: And with the above, I do realize that the C3000 size is the same body as the 2500.

The vast majority of my rods are 7' to 7'6", but I have been considering building a few shorter rods. Based on the other posts in this thread it seems like there isn't a reason against building a 6' ML for Ned rigs specifically.

I'm currently in the process of building a rod holder to bolt into my bed because I fear to repeat a similar instance last summer when I broke 4 rods on a rather bumpy section of gravel road when things came loose in my bed. Thank you for the reminder that I need to get off my rear and finish that project over the holiday.

I tried to learn left handed since I had always ran spinning reels that way. It never felt correct, so I switched to right handed and everything made sense. I was unwilling to switch hands until after the first few casts, now it is just normal.

I have one ultralight trout spinning setup with the same braid on it from 2010. Most of the others I swap out when I'm bored and have a new brand/type to try. If I could settle on a universal braid I could buy one bulk spool of the two I get (one for spinning, one for casting) and have it last at least the next 15 years.

My main manufacturers for reels are Shimano for spinning and Daiwa for baitcasting primarily. I also have a smattering of Abu Garcia, Okuma, Quantum, and Lew's depending on the application. As for rods, by sheer numbers if you include my ice fishing gear, I heavily favor St. Croix. If you count all fishing gear, it would be Sage due to my fly rods.

For me it is line diameter, not breaking strength, that determines what braid I run on what setups. 50lb is generally close to 12lb mono diameter, it handles nicely on baitcasters and when spooled on with adequate tension limits the severity of any digging in.

My "light tackle" baitcaster, sitting on a Dobyns DX702C, is running 50lb braid and I wouldn't go any lighter personally. It was casting 1/6oz spoons last weekend like a dream.

Sounds like you need to respool that line with a lot more tension on it. Just go somewhere you have enough room to run all that line back off your reel; street in front of your house, park, local pond, whatever. Tie that line to an immovable object, I usually just tie it to a bench or fence post so I don't damage any trees. Walk all that line off the spool down to your arbor knot, crank the drag down as hard as you like, and reel yourself back in while keeping some good tension on the rod. Have been doing that for at least 10 years now and in that time have had very few instances of digging in unless it is just the top layers that have been cast out and reeled back in without any tension other than the lure. I now have a setup where I can put up to 10lb straight line tension on whatever I'm spooling, and let me tell you how tight that will pack it on your reel. It is rather amazing.

I wrap the braid around something other than my finger when tightening. Last night I used the smooth shank of a 3/8 bolt when tightening down Alberto knots on 10lb 832. I usually have a pair of pliers or a chunk of dowel in my tackle box to use when tensioning knots or breaking off braid while in the field, don't want to cut my arms up like I have in the past salmon fishing.

Only if the images are wrong, clearly shows NFC's logo in this one: https://www.kistlerrods.com/store/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/2785ef4cf69538cabd193a5e626a7a21/2/_/2_helium_3_reel_seat_cast_2017_web3.jpg

Perfect for my intended use on a line counter trolling reel.

Will do. It prompted me to make another order of primarily terminal tackle and line. I picked up both the SS112 and SS140. Unfortunately, they won't see much use until next spring.

I just picked up a spool of the 0.008in dia line to give a try, thank you for the heads up on this brand.

Green mirror 580G is what I've been buying for as long as I've had Costa's. The only lenses that work better for me are Smith Chromapop, but they don't hold up nearly as well.

Since you are all over the place anyway, and I have no experience with the blanks you listed, have you considered United Composites? They have a bunch of 5'6" and 6' 0" options that meet your requirements of jerkbait weight. DHX Dual Helix - UC56XXH-L has a lure rating of 1/2 - 2oz. DHX Dual Helix - UC56XH has a lure rating of 3/8 - 1 1/4oz.

I go back and forth on my opinion of Ebay. There are a lot of factory seconds, QC rejects, third shift manufactured, and just straight up counterfeit products on there. It is a definite "Buyer beware" place to purchase from, even more so than Amazon. With that said, I have bought a pile of fishing gear off there over the years, just have to be cognizant of the fact you might receive complete garbage.

Two of my three NFC blanks showed up last Friday, both of the UC 70LXF blanks showed up today. Currently have three spinning rods in the works, once those are completed its time for the United Composites, followed by the North Fork.

Harding and Sons is who I order my custom cases from. I have a few one, two, and four piece cases so I can leave my reels connected yet still have everything protected laying in the bed of a truck going hours down gravel roads for backcountry fishing. ETA: they are who I use for hard cases. I have had local upholstery shops sew me soft cases.

I'm much less worried about delivery time on UC blanks then I am about the NFC blanks I ordered a few weeks ago. I hope to see those blanks by October, whereas the UC blanks should be wrapped and finished by mid-summer.

Ordered two of those UC 70LXF blanks to build into a pair of spinning and casting rods. Will report back on how the casting performance is with very light gear once everything is complete.