I have a newer one, i fished with it a few times, i got the 7 MH at Scheels for 70 bucks, i was ecstatic at the deal i got, i bought the rod for spinnerbaits and such. i feel its got a heavy enough backbone for a lot of applications, and i can cast and pitch alot of things pretty far. i love fenwick, i dont own many rods but two of them are fenwicks-
as far as using them for cranking- icould see myself cranking with the MH, ive already used it for lipless cranks and it handles them well....sorry i dont really know anything about the older rods, but fenwick makes great stuff