Cranking Rods

[Cwitherington3]

Well it's about time for a new cranking rod just thought I'd get some opinions on which ones are the best.

[Alpha Male]

maybe not the "best" but i really like my Veritas rod. I felt that as a reaction bait rod you dont need a 300$

[ww2farmer]

Your price range is a good thing to post. A $70 BPS cranking stick is a darn good cranking rod.....but there are $400 cranking rods out there if you want to spend that much. Asking what is "best" without stating your budget is just asking to have a landslide of confusion start.

[gulfcaptain]

Your price range is a good thing to post. A $70 BPS cranking stick is a darn good cranking rod.....but there are $400 cranking rods out there if you want to spend that much. Asking what is "best" without stating your budget is just asking to have a landslide of confusion start.

I agree, BPS Cranking Sticks are pretty nice, have 2 of them but also have 2 Falcon's as well.  All depends on what YOU like and want to spend.

[Cwitherington3]

Whoops didn't mean to leave my budget out... I'm looking in the $100 to $170 range

[gulfcaptain]

do you want a composite, graphite, or fiberglass?   Yes even more questions to narrow down the search

[Alpha Male]

St croix premier, Pinnacle Perfecta.

[masterbass]

st croix mojo glass

[CJV]

iRod genesis 2 stone cold square bill rod. $150

[rawjuice]

I love my BPS Crankin Stick, 5 years and going strong

[Grantman83]

I haven't really had a bad experience with cranking rods in almost any price range. The DSG tec-spec (original black series) can be had for like $30 if you can find them and it is a great rod even for it's normal price.

Mojo glass and veritas cranking rods have a good rep in the lower end your price range as well.

Higher end rods are going to get you better guides, better components and more specific actions depending on who you go with. You also need to know if you want glass vs graphite.

If you are going to have one rod go for a 7ft Mhm and that should handle a wide range of treble hook baits for you. If you can get a deal from Ron at valley sports, I would suggest the dobyns champ 705cb as it can throw almost anything and is my primary cranking rod. It is at the high end of your price range and you could probably get 2 of the other choices for that price is you wanted to diversify

[roadwarrior]

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/pinnacle-optimus-xlt-dhc-review.html

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I loved the SR705 Lamiglas and have customs on that blank. The current EXL 705 ($120) is also a glass rod but I'm not sure how/if it compares to the classic SR.

[ww2farmer]

These are the cranking rods I either own now....OR have owned in the past, I'll give you my thoughts on each and let you take it FWIW:

 

 

7'10" Heavy power/mod. action Legend Tournament "Magnum Cranker". Good rod for bombing big crankbaits like SK 6xd's, lots of back bone for ripping baits out of grass, and pretty light for a darn near 8' rod............but it also almost $300. What I didn't like about it, is that I tend to fish baits on the lower end of it's rating more than it's mid to upper range. It was a little too stout IMHO to load up and cast SK5xd's very well, which is what I use about 80% off the time for my deep cranking...........Also it has about ZERO uses other than deep cranking. I did not like it for shallow or lipless baits, and space is limited in my boat so having one rod for one bait was not getting it done for me. But if you want a rod to throw 6xd's, DT20's, and other 1oz.ish size baits this rod is almost perfect for it.

 

7'9" MH Kistler Argon "cranking" rod....I never got to use this rod enough to form an opinion, it broke on like the third fish I ever caught with it, and Kistler did NOT have any in stock to replace it with, nor were they too concerned with helping me out warranty wise sooooo......moving on.

 

7'6" MH Abu Veritas Winch: Not as whippy as some cranking rods, it fishes the 5xd's better than the big St Croix, and handles 6xd's OK...has more versatility than the St Croix, I also toss bigger square bills (2.5 etc) , and 3/4oz. lipless cranks with it, nice and light, and balances well. This is the rod I currently have, and time will tell if I like it for the long haul.

 

7' MH/Mod St Croix Mojo "crankbait".....this was a great rod for square bills, mid depth (wiggle warts, bandit 200's, etc....) and 1/2 oz lipless baits..........AS LONG AS you were not around grass, which is where I do most of my cranking. Even with braid, it loaded up too much IMHO to get a clean "pop" out of the grass, but other than that it was great.

 

7' M BPS Cranking stick....even though it was labeled as a Medium power it popped baits out of grass better than the Mojo, and it handled everything the Mojo tossed just as well and was a few bucks cheaper to boot.......for some dumb reason I got rid of this rod on a whim and kick myself for doing it.

 

7' M Abu Veritas Winch....like the BPS Cranking stick, even though it's a Medium power, it pops the baits out of grass better than the Mojo, plus it's lighter and balanced better. This is a rod I currently have, and I fish 1.0 and 1.5 size squarebills on it, 1/4 and 1/2 oz. lipless baits, mid depth baits (wiggle warts,etc..) and I have even tossed some top water with it, which I didn't do with the Mojo because it loaded to much instead of worked the bait. I like this rod, but honestly, I should have just kept the BPS cranking stick and been done with it.

[BigMoneyGrip]

I just got a Crucial crankbait rod, 7'mh/mf and love it. I've got about 2 hours with it and it does cranks really good and seems like it will be a versatile rod. I just wish the handle was a couple of inches longer.

[Mike L]

I use Phenix X11 composite. Its on the high end of your range tho.

Its loads up like a champ and with a curado I, can throw a 1.5 sq. bill a mile.

The X13 is a 7'6 in the same ratings.

Mike

[Cwitherington3]

Thanks everyone for the input! I'd really rather a glass rod and I'm starting to lean towards a duckett ghost in 7'6 MH. Just because most of my rods are duckett the only thing keeping it from happening is iv heard bad things about the eyes on ducketts popping off when you use them for cranking

[Bjreg3]

Duckets Ghost! Can't go wrong there.