Mike ..... I even said please. LOL Seriously though, I knew someone would comment, which is why I added the "There are varying degrees of slack ya know" And taut actually means ..... at least going by Webster's dictionary's definition it means

Taut adjective: having no give or slack : tightly drawn.

I don't see a whole lot of wiggle room in the definition of the word taut. But I do see some wiggle room in the definition of the word slack.

Slack /slak/ adjective 1. not taut or held tightly in position; loose: "a slack rope"

There is a big difference between a line that is tightly drawn, and one that is laying in a pile on the floor. Hence the "There are varying degrees of slack ya know"

Also, if you noticed, I used the words "slack or semi slack line" to account for what individuals might term as slack. As to your assertion that line can't be slack if there is water pressure on it .... why can't there be slack line if there is water pressure on it? A pile of line laying on the bottom of the lake is just as slack as it is laying on your floor, or on the deck of my boat. You aren't going to feel anything on the line laying on the bottom of the lake either.

Anyhow ...... I know you aren't going to feel anything on completely slack line.

As far as vibrating fish go. I have only seen that in person, one time in my life, when I actually watched a male bass fertilizing a nest. That thing was shaking like crazy. It was definitely cool stuff.

El, yeah. I'll shoot you an e mail. I really only bass fish, so look for bass in the senders name. I'll also put Rodbuilding.org in the subject line.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I finished the rod today and it's on the dryer with first coat as I type. I ended up at 7.5" on the rear grip. I forgot to measure how much I cut, but I cut off probably at least a half inch of the reel seat, keeping enough for the nut to be able to loosen enough to receive the reel, of course. And, I installed it with the nut at the butt end of the rod.

p.s. I used foam pipe insulation (I had some left from another project) instead of the cork to do the mock up so I wouldn't be reaming extra cork needlessly. The only mistake (pretty stupid really) I made was once I was satisfied with everything, I cut and reamed the cork, check fit, etc... good to go so I built up the tape arbors for the reel seat. I was ready to epoxy everything and it hit me. I left the rear grip in place while I built the arbors. SMH, oh well, it wasn't a big deal, just cost me a few minutes. Just glad I caught it before I started mixing the epoxy.