NOC 1

Sounds like a great choice for top water stick baits.

Yep, I've been waiting and picked up 3.

X-ray blanks are scrimless unsanded blanks.

To keep it simple think of the fast, as in a fast action rod, as referring to how "fast" the tip reaches it's maximum bend and so how how fast it transfers the load to the lower sections of the blank. . An XF rod has a very thin flexible tip and so requires little weight to bend it until the tip is directly pointing at the load. After that point, the tip is not bearing any additional weight and all the remaining weight is handled by the lower rod sections. The same rod with a Moderate action on the other hand has a stiffer tip. It takes more weight to bend it to the same point, so it is "slower" to pass the load.

LOL, Yeah, and from a guy who says he fishes a Skeeter to boot.

No problem, to each their own, you care more than I do about what you think of me.

A bought a Kistler Z-bone, 6'9" MH/F this year and it is the best bottom fishing rod I've ever used. With light line and a tungsten shaky-head I can feel pieces of gravel. Got it for about $350 on sale.

Can't speak for others, but I'd count you twice..

Yep, 5th word in the OP, though much of the info applies to either I'd think. I figure that the "egg-beater" clan just doesn't want to hear from the "coffee-grinder" tribe on this one.

Yeah...I'm that guy who missed the spinning reel part...

I think they are decent rods. Definately well built and pretty well balanced. But that said for the price I think you would be better off with a Falcon Lowrider +-$129 or Falcon BooCoo @$100. The issue I have is that they aren't very sensitive though they probably seem sensitive if you are upgrading from a $50 rod or just about any Abu rod under $300. So, to me it depends on what you are wanting the rods for. Cranks, Lipless, Swimbaits, Spinners, etc, the Dobyns are good rods....Shakeyhead, jigs, worms, Texas rigs....go for the Falcons.

I put TSI321 on my spool bearings, and anti reverse. Grease is OK for everything else. It protects better, it stays put longer and doesn't affect the performance in any negative way, plus it usually feels a little smoother too I think.

Thanks for the tip. I have a Kistler Z-bone and really like the blank and have been wanting to buy a few more X-ray blanks and build some of my own.

I use them on an Abu, a Flueger, and a bunch of Daiwa. I think that all of the reel feet are pretty much the same OK. Most of my reels are made with Magnesium frames and you don't want them to scratch if you can help it. It tends to corrode easier and differently than aluminum. Aluminum corrosion is more or less self limiting. It will form a coating of Aluminum oxide that will seal the metal off from more corrosion. Magnesium...not so much. Once it starts it tends to keep corroding and it will crumble away pretty quickly if exposed to salt.

Where the heck can you find X-Ray blanks for $75? Every time I look they are $250, maybe $200 on sale. As near as I can figure, any company that is depending on Loomis for blanks is going to have the same problems. NFC also has an F rating from the BBB. Kistler, who uses NFC blanks also suffers the same problems. They are having a Christmas sale and have very very few rods to sell. They have alianated many customers because they cannot deliver warranted replacements in any sort of reasonable time (if ever). What is it with Loomis? Has he gotten to the point where he feels like he is doing everyone a favor by deigning to sell them a blank? It seems like every single business associated with him, including his own, cannot deliver rods or blanks and end up ignoring the customer. I've heard that G. Loomis owns Edge rods, but I don't know if that is true. His name is all over the edge website.

I use these on all of my reels

Yeah, we lesser types will just "settle" every time. Too stupid to pick up nuance I guess.

The Z-bone is right up there with those rods when it comes to sensitivity I think

That is exactly what my son uses for at least the jerk-bait and small square-bill. Which is not to say they wouldn't work just as well for the other, but he just always has one or the other tied on to that rod.

Well, think about it. An arrow goes down the range flexing back and forth in an oscillation. Carbon fiber seems like it would be better at this than aluminum. On the other hand,geing good at flexing is quite the opposite of what you want in a fishing reel.

In the $300 range I would suggest a few different Combos. 1....Falcon Lowrider with a Diawa SV TW 2...Shimano Scorpion on the same rod or...if you want to a bit higher on the rod but keep it around $300.. 3...Falcon Expert with a Daiwa Fuego reel 4....Kistler Magnesium with a Fuego (or the better Kistler KLX on sale right now for $231, normally $300) There are about 100 more excellent options beyond these, that I'm sure someone will recommend, but these are mine and I can assure you that these options will get you top notch gear. The Falcon rods all fish like they cost double what they charge.

I am pretty lazy on this I guess, but I do several things. For starters I usually use the same brass for one gun only so I only neck-size the brass. New brass gets a generic load and is fired in the gun. To find the OAL I take one of those empty once fired cases, trim to standard length, put the bullet in it with a very light crimp and carefully chamber it 3 times rotating it about 120 degrees each time. I'll do that at least twice and when I'm satisfied, I'll measure it, subtract a hair and crimp it hard. That way I have a template round which I can just measure when I need to. I also keep that info in a little notebook (which I have), but If I lose it I can always measure the example round.

Unlike cigars which like a 60-70% humidity ammo ideally wants a 0% humidity. The good news is that ammo is pretty tough. Think about it, you can still by ammo that has been in government storage since the 1950's and it's a cinch they aren't in climate controlled facilities. Personally I store my ammo in a 24 gun sized safe that I converted to shelving. I load my own ammo for about 15-16 calibers so it gets packaged several ways. Loose rounds go in the low flat disposable food storage containers along with a chunk of VCI foam. The stuff that ends up in boxes just goes onto a shelf in stacks. I stick a couple of larger VCI sponges in the safe and call it good. I wouldn't worry about using the VCI or desiccant packs really, but it is so cheap that why not. It really isn't that big of a thing for ammo unless you are loading some special Match ammo that uses a very light or no crimp. I'd worry more about storing your guns.

I'm generally a fan of stepping up, and admittedly have zero experience with house brand reels, but I have to ask. If you like the reel, why wouldn't you just replace the Instant anti-reverse bearing? I did the step up thing a while back and have a ton of older top of the line reels such as Steez, TD-Z etc. Some of them are 15 years old and have had parts like that swapped a couple of times by now. I would never throw out a reel I like just because a bearing wore out. Kind of like buying a new car because the tires wore out I think.