FAST action or extra Fast

[Texas Rig Adam]

I recently bought a St. Croix Mojo 6”8 medium Fast and Extra Fast, at a garage sell for $10 each both in perfect condition, I wanted to designate one of them for top water only. Wanted some input of the fast or extra fast would be better.. it’s going to be a few weeks possibly months before I can test them out on the water, as I am still rebuilding from the hurricane and I’m working 7 12s.. Thanks

[LionHeart]

IMO fast and x-fast are very similar.  Since you're talking medium power rods I assume you'll be using poppers and such.  If that's the case I'd go with the fast.  I like a little bend to the tip with treble hook lures.

 

The x-fast would be good for light worms and plastics I reckon.  Congrats on the good deal.

[Ariffy]

1 hour ago, LionHeart said:

IMO fast and x-fast are very similar.  Since you're talking medium power rods I assume you'll be using poppers and such.  If that's the case I'd go with the fast.  I like a little bend to the tip with treble hook lures.

 

The x-fast would be good for light worms and plastics I reckon.  Congrats on the good deal.

 Like he said Fast and Extra Fast are virtually the same 

[JLBBass]

6 minutes ago, Ariffy said:

 Like he said Fast and Extra Fast are virtually the same 

Not in the St Croix line up! You can tell the difference immediately! I would use the fast action for topwaters, unless you’re talking about small poppers or small stickbaits. For bigger stuff, the fast action is the one.

1 hour ago, LionHeart said:

IMO fast and x-fast are very similar.  Since you're talking medium power rods I assume you'll be using poppers and such.  If that's the case I'd go with the fast.  I like a little bend to the tip with treble hook lures.

 

The x-fast would be good for light worms and plastics I reckon.  Congrats on the good deal.

^^^if you like more bend in the tip, you’re thinking the wrong model. You want the extra fast. It has that immediate bend in the tip for poppers, and a quick backbone for hookset.

[Ariffy]

2 minutes ago, PolarKraft195Pro said:

Not in the St Croix line up! You can tell the difference immediately! I would use the fast action for topwaters, unless you’re talking about small poppers or small stickbaits. For bigger stuff, the fast action is the one.

Oh my bad I wasn't aware of that 

[Darren.]

Handy charts, but it will vary by manufacturer.

The second one is from TFO rods...

 

 

 

https://tforods.com/quick-guide-rod-actions-rod-powers/

[Scott F]

Try them both out and see which one YOU like best for topwaters or any other presentation. You may find your preference is not the same as those who post. 

[jbrew73]

I'd try the exfast for topwater. I had a mojo 6-8 fast and it just felt to slow to get the action I wanted for poppers and spooks.  

 

Try them both and see which feels best for you.

[LCG]

Thats an awesome deal. It's really personal preference but I find the 6'8 m-xf very versatile. YMMV 

[Angry John]

St Croix xfast is really fast.  My 610mxf is the fastest rod I own.  It's not great for trebles but is my favorite rod for single hooks.  The hud grass minnow is the bait I use the most on the xfast rod and it feels like it was made for small single hook swimbaits.  For top water I use a 66mf avid with 14 lb xl.  That system just seems so right for poppers, 90 ploppers, and the duo pencil (the smaller one). I change the spool to yhb 6 or 10lb for jerkbaits depending on size.  The smaller 1/4 ounce stuff gets 6 and the 1/2 gets 10.

[LionHeart]

22 hours ago, PolarKraft195Pro said:

 

^^^if you like more bend in the tip, you’re thinking the wrong model. You want the extra fast. It has that immediate bend in the tip for poppers, and a quick backbone for hookset.

No Sir, it's the 'other way round.'  The faster the action, the closer to the tip is where the rod stops bending.  With a treble hook popper, I want bend.  

 

Maybe what I said earlier didn't come out the way I meant it to or maybe we are both saying the same thing in different ways( it's early). Either way, I'd use fast for poppers, but they are almost the same action.

[Brad in Texas]

Another way of thinking or pondering rod action is just to consider it "slack" as if one is discussing pulling on a rope or elasticity pulling on a rubber band.

 

Then, choosing the proper rod becomes an exercise in how it will be used, the intent of the rod. Darren's little pictorial on "action bends" does a good job detailing the differences. It shows a relatively slow action for drop shots, likely it means the finesse version, since we know that with small hooks and that particular presentation, that we let the fish sort of swim into a hook-set, the angler is much less involved. A violent hook-set on a rigid fast or extra-fast tip might pull the hook right out of a fish's mouth. But, in other presentations, it needs to be sudden and you don't want that extra split second for a rod to bend down to its lifting point.

 

Same for line selections where sometimes we want little or no elasticity, other times we want some give, some delay.

 

*** Hey! This is also one aspect of the athleticism involved in fishing that the pro guys can carry along a dozen or more rods/reels, all different lengths, strung with different lines, different power ratings, etc., and they are able to make almost instantaneous adjustments with their casting, different hook-setting requirements, and more. Pretty cool. It'd be like an NBA player lining up to shoot an extra point and the height of the rim were variable up and down by a foot or more, the distance one stood back away varied.  

 

I suppose in a sense, angling with multiple set-ups is sort of like golf!

 

Brad