onthefly

I have terra vice but the rotary version about 45$ I think it's a little better than the one you got but for what you need it should be ok

I second that never had a cut off or scuffed up leader but I suppose it could happen not worth your will to think about unless your swinging flies for world class Atlantic salmon in some foreign land. I usually don't fish bead chain for black bass and stripers.

On pac Bay rod I use a outbound short 8 . I think it is a 1/2 over anyway. It throws dear hair bugs fine it's consider medium fast rod. If you get a medium action rod I would stick to the line weight for that rod. Like I said earlier I strive for putting right in the zone I want. If you want to experiment with lines look at maxcatch site their line are pretty good quality and cheap I probably own about 20 of them from 3 wt to 12 in single hand and spey . I would not spend arm and leg on top of the line until you learn what what suites your style. Here are some fish from this year on my setup

When I wade or even kayak fish for lmb I value accuracy more than distance. Sometimes there is just a 2 ft hole in the pads you need to hit from 50 ft away. I would recommend a medium slow action that might be better on accuracy at that range . Personally I use a self built Pacific bay blank that probably cost less than 200 to build. An 8 wt would be the perfect size. As for pre built rods comparable to that I would recommend the maxcatch premier. Redington also has a few mid action rods in your price range that all will perform if you want to buy American. I've also heard good things about wild water rods. Even cheaper. My switch rod was less than 100 and has good components and cast just fine so I would think their single hand rods are good also

Life time supply maybe you can spool up 100 yard shots and sell them. Will Pay for the whole spool just an idea

Another thing to seat needle properly after taking out and cleaning it. Slide it back in until it just stops or resistance from nozzle is felt don't jam it in or leave it to loose with no contact with the nozzle. Just barely seated. If you jammed it in you could have split your nozzle the metal is very thin . It happed to me I know. Tighten nut in back once seated . If you take nozzle off to clean look to see if split. You use the little wrench to take off don't over tighten it as well. If leaking around nozzle threads some use bees wax on threads but a thin strip of Teflon plumbers tape can help seal the threads from leaking. As well

Couple things nozzle could be clogged take nozzle off and soak in alcohol. Check for air leak around fittings. Thin paint could help. To high or low pressure could be the problem. If to high could be getting tip dry. Take the outer cap off when spraying pros do this use finger nails pinch and scrape the tip . Look for dried up paint then you might have tip dry. For correct pressure start on the low side. Try spraying and work your way up until you like the spray pattern. To paint, if you have two stage you should be pushing down on trigger then back. Just don't pull back. this will gunk up tip , drying occurs thus blocking your nozzle and tip. When changing colors wipe out cup with lint free towel. Then shoot cleaner through. Until all remnets of previous color is gone

Yeah looks like some rapids just south so don't blow by you take out spot. I would use some senkos, rabel wee craw maybe some poppers and 4 inch kyteks on a 1/8 to 1/4 oz head.

Be careful I've heard of some class 2 or 3 rapids around there if I come up with the location or name of the area will let you know

Might be a good shad fly will try something similar this spring on the Delaware

Nice I tye the same pattern for Susquehanna small mouth imitates the emerald shiner I use a fish skull mask on it that's the only difference

From my experience river bass are less likely to tangle with the bigger craws when the smaller and more abundant ones are easier prey. One of the reasons the rusty crawfish is taking over the Susquehanna. Their claws are so much larger than the native species and they grow to larger size in general.

You could use mono eyes but when you have a Charlie style fly with no eyes the hook will follow the path of least resistance because of the fibers tie in at the head and sweeping back towards the hook point so it should ride hook up especially on a size 6 or 8

Came up with hellgrimite for trout and bass. I like these salmon hooks on bigger patterns they are heavy wire and help get them down. Wooly bugger like I'm calling it hell-of-a bugger. Not proven yet but should work in the spring. Use two different lead size to taper body and weave light and dark chenille to color top and bottom. Cone head also. Rabbit strip tail. I leave top chenille long before thorax dubbing loop and pull doubled up section over dubbed thorax. Tie off at head

Size A rod thread for spinning deer hair, 6/0 uni for most other things occasionally mono