Chris Catignani

If money is your main concern...then just carry two of the 13" tires. When you get a flat....replace both.

Not necessarily a "must have" but if you find yourself looking at maps while fishing...its nice. There are times when your sitting still...the map tends to rotate. Steady Cast will eliminate that. It orients the boat on the map...the way it pointing. For example... Sometimes I will point the boat up stream on a river and drift with the current and use the trolling motor to slow the boat down. Without Steady Cast...My unit would rotate 180 and think Im heading down river and the map would rotate also.

BPS has a clearance on St. Croix Bass X $124.99 St. Croix Bass X Spinning Rod | Bass Pro Shops

For what its worth, I have a couple MHX blanks I build on for crank baits. CB841 for rattletraps and square bills and CB843 for deeper stuff like 300 series bandits. MHX Crankbait & Swimbait Rod Blanks - Free Shipping | MudHole.com

Mastering Rod Building on Apple Podcasts

Welcome...

I have also noticed a smell from ProKote...pretty weird. If you hold the rod at a 45 degree angle, you can see the rod through the guide rings. Do this in front of a window or light background. In cases where the guide is too small and your not able to see the inside of the guide. You can see that the guide is symmetrically centered with equidistant space on each side of the rod.

I would probably drop-shot, ned, shallow crank bait...but like @Delaware Valley Tackle said...some things are subjective. Could also be a good live bait rod.

Kevin....you have a peculiar situation. You will inevitably come across someone who will tell you that "its not rocket science". Just assure them that it is.

I agree....I have never had epoxy go out of date. I have come to just ignore any yellowing in the hardner and just use it. Its inevitable and the yellowing causes are numerous: sun, UV, air, heat...etc..etc

@Logan S Dude...those rods look great.

You see a lot of catfish and striper rods with two foot runners. All the old school baitcasting rods for bass had two foot runners. So...if thats what you want to do, go for it. It not needed for bass but its also not unheard of.

Those Alabama bass are no joke!

I always get those swapped...

I broke two rods at once! Dropped a 2x4 from a rafter in the garage...right into the boat.

Typically the brakes are for adjusting the spool for the first part of the cast and the tension knob is for the end of the cast. All this adjusting is to give you a longer non backlashing cast...but not every one fishes that way...ie if all you did was pitch with a specific rod and reel the setup would be different.

Crystallization of epoxy resin is not any indication of being bad or old. Solid form is its natural state. Usually, its fluctuating temperatures thats a catalyst for crystallization. Simple heat treatment mentioned above will remedy crystallization. A more controlled temperature of about 50°C will make sure you dont over cook it or damage any additional properties it may have (especially the paste resin).

Hey...dont get me wrong. I will flip docks all day...but not if someone else is fishing, swimming or just plain sitting there. I do the same thing going down the bank...if someone is fishing, I go around. Now...that being said, I also expect the same in return. I really hate it when someone runs by WOT on plane within casting distance.

Just because we have the "right" to fish...doesnt make it right to fish. Give people some space.

If the guide foot is loose under the wrap...then you can just glue it back with epoxy or super glue. ...or just give it a shot at re-wrapping it.

I can't tell you how many rods I turned by hand...seem like I would just rotate the rod 180 degrees every 5 minutes for a hour and every 15 minutes for the next hour. I was using FlexCoat High Build...Some of the epoxies today need a longer turn time. I have a dryer I made that would turn off after two hours...I had to change the program to three hours when I started using ProCoat.

A floating Rapala...like a size 3 would be good too. But try wading the river...up stream.

RPM on the motors I have are 6 RPM.