CAMO STIX
I saw this rod on sale at the Cabelas website for $30, regular price $130 so thought why not I ordered it.
First though props to Cabelas I ordered Sunday 5:30pm and the rod arrived today 11:00am not bad at all considering I was told on phone it would arrive by the 13th, well it did.
GREAT
Now the rod
I bought the Mossy Oak Break Up pattern 7' Med power.
Looks is of course the 1st thing that is noticed and it does look neat to me and my son thinks its awesome. All but the cork is covered by the pattern guides covered too.
The cork is OK nice mostly smooth with just a few pits but feels good. I compared it to my 2 StCroix Premier rod's cork and very close I would say.
In hand it has tip-heaviness and I measured it at 10 1/2" balance fron center of reelseat. With my reel on, a Pinnacle Deadbolt Classic, the balance went to middle of foregrip (1 1/2" in front of reel). The reel I think weighs around 8.5ozs. The rod feels somewhat light but no actual weight for it yet will take to work and weigh it.
It is a Medium power with fast action 8-17# line, 1/4-5/8oz lure. I did go out and fish with it for about 1/2hr. I used senko & 1/8 jig/baby craw and noticed the tip seems a bit light was flexing more so than my Smoke rod that is Med Fast. The light tip loaded fine and jig distance was adequate with average effort 70' or so.
Sensitivity; I took the CAMO STIX along with my 6'6"Premier
and the lures mentioned above fish them side by side and not really much difference. I could tell when I touch rocks on the bottom when slowly dragging jig and feel the senko weight while hopping it a bit. I did toss jig in front yard and from grass to mulch could tell the difference of the bumpy grass to little chunks of wood Im like "oh, there we go" I didnt think I would noticed the feel texture difference.
Another thing I noticed was the quietness of 20# PowerPro through the guides its like silent. I think it might be due to the camo coating on the guides.
Overall for $30 I think I got a good deal.
Here some pics