New St Croix rod

[Sir Shamsalot]

4 hours ago, waymont said:

I think the aluminum oxide guides are the cheapest guides Fuji makes. I think it’s a bummer  they went with those guides. I think the Fuji Fazelite guides are really excellent, and are very reasonably priced. They should have gone to those instead.

Not all of the St Croix models are tip heavy. However some are. I would never buy a St Croix without holding it first. I had two legend bass rods that were so tip heavy they really bothered my wrist, but I also have two Legend Walleye rods that are incredible.

I got one of 2020 Legend Xtremes which are incredibly well balanced. If they honestly took the lessons they learned with that rod series and applied to these new rods, the tip heavy concern will be over. Which.... St Croix said they addressed in one of their first promotional videos "Rod Tourque" of the new series.

 

Then again, if you go out and buy a 4.8oz reel and stick it on an intermediate level priced rod HF rod and then start complaining about tip heaviness, you deserve every dog-head-tilt-look you get. A vast majority (where the bulk of the money is ) of anglers don't buy $400+ reels to go on $400+ rods. They buy what they can afford, and a good manufacturer will figure where that's at and engineer their products towards that.

[.ghoti.]

The Avid line is made using SCIII prepeg. The new Victory line is made using a blend of SCIII and SCVI. This is a departure from previous practice. Before this, SCVI has only been used in the butt section of rods as reinforcement. The Victory line uses  bland of SCIII and SCVI along the entire length of the rod. 
 

Something new to check out. Cool. 

[A-Jay]

On 2/20/2021 at 1:46 PM, .ghoti. said:

The Avid line is made using SCIII prepeg. The new Victory line is made using a blend of SCIII and SCVI. This is a departure from previous practice. Before this, SCVI has only been used in the butt section of rods as reinforcement. The Victory line uses  bland of SCIII and SCVI along the entire length of the rod. 
 

Something new to check out. Cool. 

Thank you.

A-Jay

[waymont]

2 hours ago, Sir Shamsalot said:

I got one of 2020 Legend Xtremes which are incredibly well balanced. If they honestly took the lessons they learned with that rod series and applied to these new rods, the tip heavy concern will be over. Which.... St Croix said they addressed in one of their first promotional videos "Rod Tourque" of the new series.

 

Then again, if you go out and buy a 4.8oz reel and stick it on an intermediate level priced rod HF rod and then start complaining about tip heaviness, you deserve every dog-head-tilt-look you get. A vast majority (where the bulk of the money is ) of anglers don't buy $400+ reels to go on $400+ rods. They buy what they can afford, and a good manufacturer will figure where that's at and engineer their products towards that.

Huh?

[Sir Shamsalot]

3 hours ago, waymont said:

Huh?

Sorry, I think I grabbed the wrong quote. 

[fishwizzard]

The new spinning reel seat has my attention, I hold a spinning rod with my entire hand in front of the reel stem, which really really limits my rod choices.  Hopefully they come out with a shorter ML/XF.  

 

 

[Allen Der]

1 hour ago, fishwizzard said:

The new spinning reel seat has my attention, I hold a spinning rod with my entire hand in front of the reel stem, which really really limits my rod choices.  Hopefully they come out with a shorter ML/XF.  

 

 

Check out the Eyecon vertical jig rod

[Deephaven]

4 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

The new spinning reel seat has my attention, I hold a spinning rod with my entire hand in front of the reel stem, which really really limits my rod choices.  Hopefully they come out with a shorter ML/XF.  

 

 

They sell their blanks.  Can build it or have it built anyway you want.  I have a few spinning rod blanks that are now baitcasters.

[ArthurLK11]

On 2/19/2021 at 10:22 PM, iabass8 said:

New rods are very lightweight but still annoyiny tip heavy based on the pics floating around.

 

the 610mlxf being roughly 2.9oz sounds awesome

You know the rods are tip heavy based on looking at pictures of them?

[iabass8]

13 minutes ago, ArthurLK11 said:

You know the rods are tip heavy based on looking at pictures of them?

A shop had some in stock and a certain somebody mounted a reel on them and showed the balance point on all the casting models. It was similar to the legend tournament bass. Bad.

[Bluebasser86]

On 2/19/2021 at 8:37 PM, kingmotorboat said:

I’ve yet to try a st croix due to the tip heavy I always hear about and I primarily own dobyns. This series though the talk of balance really has me intrigued 

I use primarily those "tip heavy", St. Croix rods you hear about and I catch a fish every now and then despite it ?

 

Maybe I'm just not in touch with my sensitive side enough to notice. Maybe it's because I don't like the super lightweight reels. Whatever it is, their rods work for me, they last, they're sensitive, and made in the USA is always a nice bonus.

[ironbjorn]

2 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I use primarily those "tip heavy", St. Croix rods you hear about and I catch a fish every now and then despite it ?

 

Maybe I'm just not in touch with my sensitive side enough to notice. Maybe it's because I don't like the super lightweight reels. Whatever it is, their rods work for me, they last, they're sensitive, and made in the USA is always a nice bonus.

I've never felt what tip heavy is supposed to feel like. I also don't get worn out because something weighs 4.2oz instead of 4oz. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of humans notice "tip heavy" and experience fatigue over a fraction of an ounce. Most bizarre thing in bass fishing when talking gear. Maybe if the good Lord allows me to become 80 it'll be something I notice then.

[kingmotorboat]

10 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I use primarily those "tip heavy", St. Croix rods you hear about and I catch a fish every now and then despite it ?

 

Maybe I'm just not in touch with my sensitive side enough to notice. Maybe it's because I don't like the super lightweight reels. Whatever it is, their rods work for me, they last, they're sensitive, and made in the USA is always a nice bonus.

 
 

 

5 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

I've never felt what tip heavy is supposed to feel like. I also don't get worn out because something weighs 4.2oz instead of 4oz. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of humans notice "tip heavy" and experience fatigue over a fraction of an ounce. Most bizarre thing in bass fishing when talking gear. Maybe if the good Lord allows me to become 80 it'll be something I notice then.

 

does not wear me out or make me cramp and I as well use heavier reels but it’s something I noticed as I was bouncing back and forth with dobyns and other brands. It’s primarily like a clunky feeling too me. I spend ungodly amounts of time flipping and pitching. Different strokes for different folks though. I still would like to try one if I could ever sell this dobyns I never use

[ironbjorn]

12 minutes ago, kingmotorboat said:

 
 

 

 

does not wear me out or make me cramp and I as well use heavier reels but it’s something I noticed as I was bouncing back and forth with dobyns and other brands. It’s primarily like a clunky feeling too me. I spend ungodly amounts of time flipping and pitching. Different strokes for different folks though. I still would like to try one if I could ever sell this dobyns I never use

What Dobyns is it

[J Francho]

On 2/20/2021 at 10:55 AM, CFDoc said:

And then the bait goes in the water.

Water makes mass disappear?  I'll tell my doctor that next time he gripes about my BMI. 
 

I prefer the rod be too heavy, as in heavier from a fish. 

[Finessegenics]

13 hours ago, iabass8 said:

A shop had some in stock and a certain somebody mounted a reel on them and showed the balance point on all the casting models. It was similar to the legend tournament bass. Bad.

Can you get us those photos by any chance? Or is there anywhere we can go look? I’m curious to see them

[CFDoc]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

Water makes mass disappear? 

“Not too bright, this one.”

 

- Archimedes

[J Francho]

Unless the other rods I own are also tip heavy, I'm not really feeling the complaint.  I remember someone arguing the tip heavy thing pretty heavy.  They had NEVER held a Saint Croix rod.  It was funny when I met them in person, and had them cast several combos.  They ended up buying several.  Like I said before, it's a lot of internet huffing and puffing about pretty much nothing.  

 

I'll be sure to measure the tip heaviness of a Victory, along with some other rods I own.  I'll have to use my fingers though, unless someone has a link to an inexpensive tipheaviometer.

[optimator]

14 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I've never felt what tip heavy is supposed to feel like. I also don't get worn out because something weighs 4.2oz instead of 4oz. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of humans notice "tip heavy" and experience fatigue over a fraction of an ounce. Most bizarre thing in bass fishing when talking gear. Maybe if the good Lord allows me to become 80 it'll be something I notice then.

This. According to some here the Daiwa BG2500 is "heavy". Maybe I just enjoy the actual act of fishing enough to not worry about ounces on my gear. Now backpacking gear is a different story! 

[Mike L]

Tip heavy rods can be a problem for tip down presentations...bottom contact. 

I had one a while back that I offset by removing the butt cap and placed 4 quarters in (old BPS model) the same can be offset by using a heavier reel. 
 

Presentations that use a mid to high tip up position...cranks, traps, spinner/chatter baits etc. it’s not that much of an issue. 
 

It’s like anything else, if it’s a problem for the individual it is, if it’s not..it’s not
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Glenn]

Hey guys, let's pull up on the reigns on this one.  People are making a lot of assumptions on rod balance when the rods aren't even out yet, meaning very, very few people have actually fished with them yet.

 

So.... the jury is out on this one.  Wait until it hits the market and people can report back on real-use scenarios.  

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, optimator said:

Now backpacking gear is a different story! 

 

Hah, I am totally the opposite, my pack weighting 20.5lb vs 20lbs isn't noticeable enough to worry about, but I a rod has to be pretty amazing in every other aspect for me to get past it being too tip heavy.  

 

 

[Sir Shamsalot]

23 hours ago, iabass8 said:

TAckletour

A 6.2oz unlined Alphas Air on a H/F rod... 

[Spankey]

Was just on SC site to read up on their news in general. Went through some of their rods and majority of not all of their rods are sold out. I’m sure that means factory stock. The dealer situation is what it it is. Pretty odd. Never seen it to that point before. Could be a Covid-19 thing. Maybe they have not been working. Who knows. Don’t want to read anything more into it than what I see. 

[fishwizzard]

The weirdest thing to me about the new rods seems to be the lack of blank contact under the reel seat.  I am sure the EVA insert makes that minimalist seat more comfortable, but I am very suspicious of the sacrifices in both balance and ergonomics they seemed to have made to chase a lighter overall rod weight.  I would much rather have a rod that is an ounce or so heavier but has a comfortable seat and balances on the locking nut w/o a reel.