St Croix Victory Spinning ML/XF vs M/F

[Dangerfield]

1 hour ago, ErieCan said:

 

Ah yes. The new Curado rods are nice. I have a 6'10" MF casting version.  

I'm eyeing that for topwater/jerkbait duty, but I think I might cheap out. I like the borrowed style from the Zodias line.

[Big Hands]

Since I think you fish from a kayak, this may not be relevant to your situation as I find many kayak anglers seem to like shorter rods. I have been looking for extra casting distance as I think it helps with the highly pressured fish where I live. I fish with 10# braid with 7# fluoro leader and find myself throwing the WW Senko a lot and felt it was worth investing in something that works really well for that. 

 

I already have three M/F spinning rods that are 6'10", 7' & 7'1" and I feel they are all way to stiff and short to get the distance I want with 5" Senkos. 4" Senkos were something I also want to explore, but haven't been able to get anywhere near the distance I want, so I haven't even used them much. I have also tried a Zodias 7' ML/F and an Expride 7' L/F which were pretty good for me, especially the Expride.

 

I was originally looking for the Daiwa Tatula 7'6" ML-M/F rod, but only could find one at a store that is 90 miles across the heart of Los Angles away and they won't ship it to me. So, I picked up a St. Croix Mojo 7'6" MLXF a couple weeks ago in my quest for the ultimate weightless Senko rod. I haven't said much about it as I wanted to fish with it and see what it's strengths and weaknesses were.

 

After a few outings with it, I am really liking the results. It is definitely giving me the distance I was hoping for. Along with the distance, I am having no trouble hooking fish, keeping fish pinned, and getting them into the boat. As with my other ML/F and L/F rods, I know the fish are there long before they know I am there. I am using #4 Owner Wacky Hook Camo Green, or #4 Mosquito hooks with either O-rings or VMC Crossover rings to hold the hooks. I have missed very few bites with this setup. 

 

The best part for me is that now I can cast a 4" Senko as far as I used to cast the 5" Senko which works well even if it isn't as far as I can throw the 5" Senko. Being that I fish at a lake known for finesse fishing, I am liking that I can now cast a 4" weightless plastic far enough to present it stealthily.

 

The only downside I have come across so far is that even though I am not lobbing the cast, it takes an extra couple of seconds for the line to settle and since I am casting to within a foot of shore, it's not unusual for the strike to occur very quickly. As much as this seems to be working well for me, I have also come to realize that I fish a deep canyon reservoir with steep walls and sparse cover, so I have much less need to horse a bass away from wood or vegetation and such a rod may not work well for others, but thought I would share that in my experience in the environment that I fish in, a ML/XF can easily pin and land bass with WW plastics (as can the L/F Expride that I have).

[Boomstick]

@Big Hands thanks for input. I always hear great things about the 7'6" Daiwa ML-M/F rods, but I don't have any experience with them. My Tatula Elite 7'1" M/F is fantastic though. The typical ML/XF St Croix is pretty much perfect as an all-around finesse rod too, just a little bit lighter in power and a slightly softer tip than my Daiwa.

 

I got the 6'10" ML/XF Victory today. It has a significantly softer tip than my 6'9" Avid X does, and it's not even close. It probably has similar backbone, although it gives the impression of being stiffer in the backbone because of the transition from the tip. I imagine it will cast light baits exceptionally well. We will see how welk it performs soon!

 

It's very common we have little cover or very sparse milfoil throughout many lakes. Sometimes we have dense milfoil and lily pads covering the lake, and sometimes it depends on which part of the lake. But generally when we fish finesse, we're fishing open water or very sparse cover too.

[WRB]

The 610MLXF didn’t work for me, the 73MXF would be my choice. Excellent light weight rods and really like the construction of the Victory spinning rods.

Tom

[Boomstick]

@WRB yeah, that has me potentially concerned. A lot of people said the 7'3" lost them fish too, largely fishing from a kayak where they have to keep the rod tip low where they ran out of tip and just had no bend in the backbone and lost fish where the 6'10" worked great for them too. So I am hoping that it works out well. The tip is definitely lighter than most spinning rods I've used for bass. We do plan on using 12# braid, so like you said that might help. It's also a very comfortable length.

 

Might try using even lighter hooks if needed, but I got him some Owner Mosquitos for his tackle box.

 

I have been extremely impressed with the Victory casting rods. Nice and light and very sensitive.

 

Now I'm deciding if I want to give it to him a little early. We are camping next week so he will have a lot of opportunity to use it.

[WRB]

14 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

@WRB yeah, that has me potentially concerned. A lot of people said the 7'3" lost them fish too, largely fishing from a kayak where they have to keep the rod tip low where the 6'10" worked great for them too. So I am hoping that it works out well. The tip is definitely lighter than most spinning rods I've used for bass. We do plan on using 12# braid, so like you said that might help.

 

I have been extremely impressed with the Victory casting rods. Nice and light and very sensitive.

Braid should help. Victory spinning rods are well made and good designed handle. I really wanted the 610 unfortunately  not enough tip for me.

Good luck, hope it works out for you.

Tom

 

[Boomstick]

3 minutes ago, WRB said:

Braid should help. Victory spinning rods are well made and good designed handle. I really wanted the 610 unfortunately  not enough tip for me.

Good luck, hope it works out for you.

Tom

 

Since this is for my kid, if it doesn't work we can either swap it out for something else, or I'll swap him for my Avid X which has a lot more tip and I know will work very nicely (he can keep the super light Tatula LT reel though lol).

 

I'm pretty sure the Victory would be good with lighter drop shots and ned rigs, which is what I use the Avid X for over my Tatula Elite.

[Boomstick]

So I gave him the rod and reel early so we could use it on our fishing trip this past week. He didn’t land any but he hooked what had to be a real big one and fought it for a while and got dragged around the lake a bit. Ultimately it wrapped itself around his brother’s anchor line and shook the hook, but he had it pinned a while so that is definitely promising. I’m fairly sure if he anchored himself he would have landed that fish and quite possibly a new PB too.