QED

I recently bought some new old stock (NOS) Fenwick UL spinning rods from the HMG and Gold Wing series, the latter of which was their top-of-the-line UL spinning rod (US domestic market) at the time. Work wonderfully, but I wouldn't consider new Fenwick rods these days - they are now just a TM brand that was bought out by a conglomerate and the old Fenwick is but a footnote in history.

I have several of their ultralight, Tennessee handled spinning rods which I use regularly and one of their old pistol grip HMG heavy casting rods. They used to be considered high end domestically, but now not so much.

I'm in this camp too.

I prefer to maintain a small set of colors for any particular lure that has empirically demonstrated utility. Not a philosophical choice but rather a pragmatic one. Once you factor in lure size, type, and color, the combinatorial explosion makes it impossible to explore all the options.

About the usefulness of feathering the line with one's forefinger during a cast? Absolutely.

I agree that empirical measurement trumps simple physics/math models.

So I'm not a fluid dynamics expert, but consider this gedankenexperiment. Consider a perfectly flat blade vs a cupped blade of identical perimeter size/shape and thickness. The frontal area of the flat blade should be less, so less direct drag on the former using simple Cd*A analysis (though the Cd of the cupped blade isn't necessarily higher than a flat blade). The cupped blade should have more "lift" via Bernoulli so it should move off-axis more so than a flat blade, which should cause even more drag. So what am I missing?

Please explain the fluid dynamics/physics on why this would be so. My experience runs counter to yours and the physics is what it is.

Flatter blades create more resistance than more cupped blades? Not in my experience. The latter have greater frontal area and greater surface area when comparing blades with the same perimeter size/shape.

In the San Joaquin County delta, we had so many different types of fish that you might catch, including some salt water varieties, I found that using UL caught you more fish of all types without precluding large fish, so that is the only way I fished in middle school and high school. My first baitcasting rig was a UL Shimano setup in high school.

BTW, the Charlie Brewer book on "do nothing fishing" is available on his site for cheaper than at Amazon. Just bought it about a month ago. https://www.sliderfishing.com/ - thanks to a fellow BR site member who posted their URL.

I figured it out on my own in the San Joaquin County delta system and at Lake Comanche and Pardee Reservoir. I do note that there was mention of some Billy Westmoreland branded (or endorsed?) UL spinning rods in the BPS catalogs that were around when I was in Jr. High.

Booyah Pad Crasher 2" 1/4oz in Cricket Frog scheme. They have a Bullfrog scheme also, but this one has a bit more brown/bronze hue.

Being ambidextrous with casting helps when you are fishing in tight quarters or from the back of the boat. I'm right hand dominant so I usually cast spinning gear with my right hand. My first casting reel was a right-hand reel which means right hand retrieve so I learned to cast with my left hand so as not to have to switch hands to start the retrieve. Learning to cast equally well with either hand is a good skill, just as it is in pistol shooting.

Thanks. These days, the taxidermist doesn't even need the fish. Just a picture! High tech marches on...

Not being argumentative but when I use Bill Dance's hold on my rigs, dropping the index finger straight down is way ahead of the reel spool lip. Of course, one can bend one's finger back to reach it, but that seems unnatural. What you do seems to work for you, so keep on keeping on. Whether bikes or fishing gear, I'm big on ergonomics and Bill Dance's hold doesn't work for me at all.

The Poison Adrena line is also made in China, though the notice is in very fine print. Not a great selling point, but the rods are still pretty awesome.

Watched an episode of Bill Dance Outdoors and he stressed the importance of feathering the line with one's forefinger on spinning gear. He holds the rod with just his pinky behind the reel stem, but he uses larger reels than I do. I use small form-factor reels (500/1000) so using his hold would put my forefinger too far forward. I use 2+2 fingers around the stem as a consequence. So rod grip vis-a-vis the reel stem is perhaps a function of reel size and not a universal thing.

1/4 oz Blue Fox Vibrotail jig on a jig spinner with #3 Hildebrandt blade. Very similar to the Beetle Spin but much more effective for me. Caught bass, striper (>10 lb), catfish, crappie, bluegill, catfish, etc. both large and small on UL/BFS gear. So I don't think the blade size is a huge factor and #3 is my favorite in this application. The jig is long out of production so ebay is the only source.

I grew up in the central valley (CA) and used to fish the delta and Lake Comanche most often. Fairly open so a longer rod worked well. I currently fish in a small lake on a mountain in Silicon Valley and it has tules so one often has to squeeze in between them to cast from the shore so a much shorter rod is in order there. Not enough info to provide you useful feedback. What bait weight range do you plan to use? And what is the environment that you are most often going to encounter?

C50-HM (high modulus). One of the earliest specimens and has the Nike swoosh in Italian colors which they stopped using after they got a cease and desist letter. But Italian bottom bracket! ? Though they have used English threading on certain models.

Not surprisingly, availability date at Tackle Warehouse pushed out to December 1. Oy vey!

Not quite that simple. A lot depends on design intent, directionality of the carbon fibers within the layup, ratio of fiber-to-resin, etc. High modulus graphite can be better if properly utilized. High end bike frame manufacturers use finite element modeling to optimize frame shapes and fiber directionality. Has the fishing industry reached this level of sophistications?

I am a huge fan of high end gear, but one needs to fish enough to learn what qualities matter to you most in the style of fishing you enjoy most, so buying high end from the outset probably isn't a good idea.

Did some quick-and-dirty research and it turns out that the algae doesn’t kill the fish by toxicity but rather can kill them by depleting oxygen levels when the algae dies and decomposes.