bulldog1935

Jim's onto something, but you can make glass, especially S-glass, light weight and make it faster by increasing the rod blank diameter. My St. Croix Legend (S-) Glass is rated MM, and is the most perfect spinning rod for kayak fishing I've ever used. It's also surprisingly light in hand for glass. Kind of by definition, glass is always going to have a softer tip than tubular graphite. As an aside, but maybe still appropriate, I have a glass/graphite blend Lamiglas Perigree fly rod, 7-1/2' 5-wt, that is an absolute pocket rocket, stunning light weight, and here, blended glass/graphite works better than graphite alone can - making a stronger rod and better taper than graphite alone, while lighter weight and crisper action than glass alone.

Sufix 832 is great. The first generational improvement in braid was finer-weave 8-strand braids, and coating them with silicone rubber to give them better manners. The next generation of braids has gone two ways, finer weaves, up to 12-strand, stronger, harder center core strand, and better wear-resistant silicone coatings. If you compare Japanese braids, the latest YGK and Duel 8-strands, X-braid and "hardcore" more than double the test for the same diameter as Sufix., e.g.: 14-lb vs. 6-lb at 0.006" diameter 22-lb vs. 10-lb at 0.007" (per Jun at japan Tackle, PE#1 = 0.007" is the finest you'd want to fish on a baitcaster) 46-lb vs. 20-lb at 0.009" They're getting so small that they perform best on shallow spools made just for braid.

Viognier really does answer your question about white wine for strongly flavored meat, especially smoked pork. Like Chardonnay, Viognier has the potential to produce full-bodied wines with a lush, soft character. In contrast to Chardonnay, the Viognier varietal has more natural aromatics that include notes of peach, pears, violets and minerality. However, these aromatic notes can be easily destroyed by too much exposure to oxygen, which makes barrel fermentation a winemaking technique that requires a high level of skill on the part of any winemaker working with this variety. The potential quality of Viognier is also highly dependent on viticultural practices and climate, with the grape requiring a long, warm growing season in order to fully ripen but not a climate that is so hot that the grape develops high levels of sugars and potential alcohol before its aromatic notes can develop. The grape is naturally a low-yielding variety, which can make it a less economically viable planting for some vineyards.[3]

exactly - stout butt, fast mid, short soft tip - a perfect dry fly rod, and that pretty much defines solid tip finesse rods. That's how they get such a wide range in lure weights, 1 g up to 20 g in the same rod - the longer the rod, the greater the upper lure weight - because increasing weight loads in a band farther down the rod - same idea as fishing close with a dry fly leader alone, while also being able to cast out 60' (3/8+ oz) of fly line. The Japanese currently offer light game bait and spin rods out to 9'4". Just like in a 90-y-o Thomas cane fly rod, the stout butt gives you power to turn big fish. The Japanese have been making them a long time - this one is 12 years old - 7'9", 0.4 g to 6 g, will protect 2-lb test, and can fish 10-lb. solid tip, and note the extra weave graphite on the butt. I've been fishing these Japanese rods inshore (for winter glass minnows) that long - they're not for little fish, but for casting little lures a long way.

30 lb Power Pro V2 and 8-lb mono are the same diameter, so the spool capacity is the same for both. If you want to stack line and use different diameters, you can use this calculator.

something to keep in mind, in PE#1 diameter (0.006" = 0.165 mm, which is recommended by Jun as smallest diameter for baitcaster), Sufix 832 is 10-lb test, and YGK X-braids are 22-lb test. Also, here's the best online calculator for calculating spool capacity with different braid diameters:

rod leashes are for rods that are out of sight and out of mind, and not in a locking rod holder - it's possible to drag a rod off in the mangroves, et.al., and not see it happen Conversely, a working rod temporarily in a front rod holder doesn't need one. If you're fishing offshore, probably want all your rods on leashes - otherwise, a mackerel might run off with your rod. If you're going through the surf, you need your rods strapped low on your boat, because spilling is likely. I make my own rod leashes with quick-release buckles The swivel clip lets them slide along a trolley line to keep the bungee length short, and still reach 360 around a 16' boat - the loop on the quick-end twists around both reel foot and rod. Soft paracord is good for the rod end and the flat paracord is even better There was also a youtube of a power boat driver intentionally turtle-ing kayakers in a cove with his boat wake - during a pro bass tournament. It would be a shame to loose a half-dozen rods and reels even from an improbable event. There's also boat docks - este. It's not really about You (but rod leashes), pick what You want and knock your lights out.

Fits in western TN where my family is from - hardwood bluffs and muddy bottoms - and probably many places in the Southeast. Driving the high-bermed highwys across the muddy bottoms, you see what look like mud puddles along the road - these are borrow pits, where they took the fill to build the road berm. You can stop at just about any one of them and catch 5-lb bass on just about any lure you daub in there. As far as the live part, it's going to be states where you can fish 12 mo/yr (sans ice auger).

About those old NLW reels, Meek, Talbot, Shakespeare - nothing casts like them until you get to modern baitcasters. Tournament distance casters used them for 60 years until Abu NLW CT ball-bearing reels came out in the '80s, and some still use their Meeks and Talbots. You guys like the old stuff? - Fishing Rods, Reels, Line, and Knots - Bass Fishing Forums (bassresource.com) My girls grew up fishing slip bobbers in the limestone creeks with whatever tackle they wanted to play with - first they'd make me catch grasshoppers in the back acre. They had Eagle Claw Featherweight rods with Zebco UL-1 spincast, but they always wanted to use the old stuff. My older daughter's go-to was this 1937 Luxor on Airex glass rod.

I don't have a Lowrider, but have an Original, Many original originals, and a couple of Glass - would be hard to count the number of Falcon rods I've bought both for my dad and me over the past 40 years. A buddy not long ago bought a Falcon MF inshore spinning rod at my recommendation and loves it. Here's my daughter catching big sheepshead on the flats with a Falcon Open Hook Special ML spinning rod.

How far back you wanna go? 1914? You can still do it, and it's still fun (I especially like fishing this with early morning topwater), but in it's own way it has become niche tackle, and I wouldn't want to give up the rest of my niche tackle, either. Not exactly a side, because one rod for everything was common for 100 years and more. Everybody used braided silk, and you varnished and waxed it if you were going to fish dry flies. That said, Theodore Gordon probably daubed worms with his fly rod, also. If you lived close to trout, your one rod was probably a fly rod. Shortly after WWII, the newfangled monofilament came out. Before spinning reels took off, there was a line of Colorado reels designed to fish mono on a fly rod - Humphreys, Magic, Fre-Line. They were used for float fishing and casting spinners and jigs using mono on a fly rod. They fell by the wayside when spin-fishing became popular.

When I post photos on forums, people are always telling my how nice I keep up my gear. I obviously didn't buy it new but this Hardy St. George is from 1917 - fished it 5 years and then sold it for more than twice what I paid. more than once I've bunged my knee falling while protecting the rod and reel

your thumb should never quite leave the spool - you should be "reading" the spool with your thumb, but if you're set up right and casting longer than you need, your thumb will be applying brakes while your cast is dropping to help put it in the right place. You can do something similar on spinning tackle with good manual bail technique - you feather the line at the end with your finger tips.

Jim, the Lew's that has mag + centrifugal is the Inshore and Custom Inshore, with a horrendously heavy spool add-on. (maybe I'll take a photo later with the palm cap removed)

The Guadalupe coldwater tailrace is often jokingly called a Trophy Redhorse Fishery. We love catching redhorse suckers, it's a sign of truly matching the hatch - we call them Guadalupe Redfish. According to Gary Borger, the IQ of a trout is 6, and the IQ of cyprinids is 12. They don't look bad next to a 1918 Thomas Special.

Not to offend, TP (SP, CL) doesn't have a mag brake. you're adjusting the stand-off of this centrifugal brake race, which adjusts both the starting point and the force applied to the bellcrank brake pads. There are no magnets in the palm cap or spool end. I vote for engaging all the centrifugal pads (leave them in from factory) and using the dial to adjust-out initial spool overshoot, as designed. Set it high to anticipate a little jerk in your cast. You'll be dialing it down as your cast gets smoother, and dialing it back up again with lighter lures.

I have the Lew's Tourney Pro, and it has a very nice and lightweight centrifugal brake. This is a really nice centrifugal brake, and the light weight it adds to the spool is its best quality. (Same set-up in the Team Pro SP, and Custom Lite) Borrowed this graph again from Jun at Japan Tackle - It shows brake force versus spool velocity Spool tension is always a constant load on the spool - this is the brake that is costing you distance. Your best cast distance will be with spool tension set as low as you can get away with. As you get good, you will be dialing this lower and lower, and eventually may only be using it to dial-out spool end-play. The centrifugal brake does its best work preventing initial spool overshoot, and little-to-no effect on a slow-moving spool. You can get away with a higher setting on the centrifugal brake with some, but less effect on cast distance. So my recommendation is start your centrifugal brake set - not to max - but to 80 or 90%, and work first on dialing down your end tension. You use more on the centrifugal brake setting with lighter lures. After that you can work on dialing down your centrifugal brake, as your cast gets smoother. Remember that any jerk you put into a cast is only backlash. Also that the end of your cast is all thumb. Since I'm here, mag brakes have their best effect preventing mid-cast wind backlash, and my longest-casting baitcaster in coast wind is Super Duty G (not counting my Abu CT surf reels with both centrifugal and mag).

In German wines, the Riesling Kabinett is early season and is dinner wine. Spatlese and Auslese are late and later season, extra sweet and sweeter, and are desert wines. 5 years is the perfect age to drink a German wine - better then than sooner or later.

The choice white wine for smoked pork is Viognier. (vee-yon-yay - there, you can pronounce it, too) It has the body to stand up to strong-flavored meat. Best I know is Becker Vineyards in Texas, and never had a French viognier that was better. Around here it's $15/bottle. Since Riesling was mentioned, there's a little bit of Texas in every German wine. Germans and Alsatians began arriving here in 1840, many were driven here by the grape blight in Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer valleys. They sent back Texas muscadines to Germany, and only the hybrid grapes survived the blight. Good thing, too, they brought us Alsatian smoked, dried sausage. (this is venison from Dziuk's meat market in Castroville)

Had a trout reel initially ice-seize at 18-degrees from the condensation of first taking it out. After the ice sublimated, it fished fine again. The day also got really nice.

I remember this covered on another topic a few months ago. I'm a procure advocate, and got that way from a guide trip 40 years ago. The "attractant" factor that so many people disbelieve is worth disbelieving. The reason to use a bait scent is to hide the smell and taste of Us on the lure and slow down rejection. Also to mask the steel and lead - if you don't believe me, taste a piece of lead. It makes a huge difference with salt fish, also with salmon. My Alaska guide buddy wears gloves when he handles all salmon bait.

sorry I'm late - my niche fly rods for hill country limestone creeks are venerable glass, mostly Phillipsons from the early 70s, and all 7' or 6'6" - most are rated 6-wt, but glass tends to fish well with a range of line weights. You have a pretty new rod, thanks for showing it. ok, and a John Pickard Driggs River cane 5-wt thrown in the niche, also

agree, it's always best to get out first and figure out what rigging will improve operation for you. The worst thing you can do is drill holes in your boat and decide later that's not where you really wanted them. With good planning, you can also do most rigging without drilling holes, including a no-holes trolley.

The Alphas Air would be my Daiwa choice. If you want reliable casting on the 1/8 oz, a shallow spool reel aimed at 1/16th oz is just going to improve your cast reliability with 10-lb fluoro or 20-lb braid. The Tatula 100 has about 3 times the spool depth, and the SV TW 103 JDM looks nice, but still has a deeper spool that doubles the line capacity. I filled my 1/8 oz (inshore) niche on a similar light-in-hand and light-tip ML rod with the Lew's SP to get their new shallow spool, and was delighted with the result last trip, throwing 1/8 oz.

If you want to try jig fishing for crappie at night, blue is top color for night-time fishing.