St Croix VTC72MHM Experience?

[JackstrawIII]

Hey, trying to find someone with some feedback on the St Croix Victory VTC72MHM. This rod seems like it would fit a good niche in my arsenal (smaller paddletails, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits), but I can't seem to find any comments on the forums about who has it and what they use it for. Even the graph that St Croix provides with their victory line doesn't show this rod being good at anything, which is a bit confusing. 

 

What do you guys think? Anyone use this rod? I would love to hear someone describe the tip, action, and power of this rod.

Do you think it's a good fit for the presentations I'm thinking about? Thanks! 

[Texas Flood]

I have the Victory 7' 2" MHMF that I use for the same baits you mentioned. So the action might be slightly different but the the power is great for that application. 

 

 

You using fluoro or braided line?

[JackstrawIII]

34 minutes ago, Texas Flood said:

I have the Victory 7' 2" MHMF that I use for the same baits you mentioned. So the action might be slightly different but the the power is great for that application. 

 

 

You using fluoro or braided line?

Yeah, that's the exact rod I'm looking at. How would you describe the sensitivity? Can you feel the vibrations of the bladed jig at low speeds? I like to work it as slow as possible while still feeling the chatter, so sensitivity is important to me. 

How about power? I use a texas rigged paddletail around grass and structure a lot. Would you say this rod has the horsepower to pull fish out of vegetation as needed? 

Lastly, I'm hoping a slower, more "medium" action rod will help with casting distance a bit, as sometimes the paddletails aren't all that heavy and casting distance can be a challenge. 

Thanks! 

 

Ps. I'm a big fan of copoly line. I'd probably use 12lb YoZuri on this rig. 

[Texas Flood]

5 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

Yeah, that's the exact rod I'm looking at. How would you describe the sensitivity? Can you feel the vibrations of the bladed jig at low speeds? I like to work it as slow as possible while still feeling the chatter, so sensitivity is important to me. 

How about power? I use a texas rigged paddletail around grass and structure a lot. Would you say this rod has the horsepower to pull fish out of vegetation as needed? 

Lastly, I'm hoping a slower, more "medium" action rod will help with casting distance a bit, as sometimes the paddletails aren't all that heavy and casting distance can be a challenge. 

Thanks! 

 

Ps. I'm a big fan of copoly line. I'd probably use 12lb YoZuri on this rig. 

Are you looking at the MHM or MHMF because they are slightly different.

 

 

Its very sensitive but I will say I fish mine a little faster probably but I can feel every movement. The power is probably what I like most about it. Ive had fish get stuck in heavy weeds and never had an issue pulling them out.

 

 

I've never fished with copoly before but I use #15 Tatsu fluoro and havent had a single issue. 

 

 

 

 

[dwtaylor]

I have the power target cranker and I think it is the best medium diving crankbait rod that I own.  I throw wiggle warts, rkcrawlers, DT6, money badgers, etc on this rod and it is awesome for bottom contact cranking.  Very sensitive for a crankbait rod.  

 

It is also good for 1.5 sized squarebills around cover, but I don't think I need the sensitivity like I do those bottom cranks and I have other mh action glass cranking rods for squarebills that I use over this.  

 

I don't think it would work great as a bladed jig or single hook rod as it is a moderate action and a little on the soft side for medium heavy.  The mod-fast action would likely be a little better and feel a little true to rod power.  

 

I have 7'6"mhmf blanks from the legend elite and legend tournament lines that would make great rods for chatterbaits and single hook baits that you are looking for.  I would imagine the 72mhmf rod would be way better than the 72mhm rod for this.

[JackstrawIII]

2 hours ago, Texas Flood said:

Are you looking at the MHM or MHMF because they are slightly different.

 

Ahh, I didn't see that. Thanks for the clarification!

 

1 hour ago, dwtaylor said:

I would imagine the 72mhmf rod would be way better than the 72mhm rod for this.

 Yeah, seems like I was looking at the wrong rod. I think the 72MHMF is a better rod for what I'm looking to do. Thank you. 

[Brian11719]

Haven't used this one but I got the VTC72HM on the ALF sale a while back and ended up selling it. Awesome lipless crankbait rod but I had gotten it for a bladed jig and for that I personally found the action to be too moderate. Great quality rod but ended up landing on a couple of Dobyns rods that I like more for those type of lures. Still own 2 in the Victory line (7'3 MHF and the 7'4 HF) and love those. 

 

Ultimately from doing that I learned I like St. Croix fast action rods but for crankbaits and bladed jig type stuff I personally prefer the action in the Dobyns Kaden / Champ XP lines. Also had 0 issues selling it on FB marketplace for just about what I paid so getting to try it was worth the 'rental fee' IMHO.

 

A lot of this comes down to preference though and if you like more of a moderate action you could end up liking it...for me I've learned that I personally like mod fast or just fast action rods and don't really like moderate or extra fast action...although ironically I really like St. Croix's take on extra fast but that's a different conversation...I imagine the medium heavy moderate would be about the same experience for me.

 

13 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

Even the graph that St Croix provides with their victory line doesn't show this rod being good at anything

^ also for this the chart on their site shows they suggest a few lures for it (although I'm not sure what a spin head is):

https://stcroixrods.com/pages/st-croix-rod-victory-technique-chart

 

but if it were me I'd be using something like this for a lipless crankbait over a bladed jig and if I was throwing a bladed jig I'd probably be using straight braid w/ this rod.

 

As an aside I also prefer / use the MH F and H F rods for spinnerbaits...but again I tend to like a faster action and those rods are already a little softer than a fast action rod from a different company.

[JackstrawIII]

9 hours ago, Brian11719 said:

^ also for this the chart on their site shows they suggest a few lures for it (although I'm not sure what a spin head is):

https://stcroixrods.com/pages/st-croix-rod-victory-technique-chart

 

Brian, very helpful post, thanks. Also, I was looking at a screenshot of the Victory rod guide that someone had posted elsewhere on this forum, and had no idea the real rod guide was so extensive. Very helpful, thank you! 

[dwtaylor]

Not to further complicate things, but omnia has some awesome content showing rod actions on their site and on their youtube channel.  

 

Idk if they have these rods shown, but consider it a good resource for rod shopping going forward.

[JackstrawIII]

9 hours ago, dwtaylor said:

Not to further complicate things, but omnia has some awesome content showing rod actions on their site and on their youtube channel.  

 

Idk if they have these rods shown, but consider it a good resource for rod shopping going forward.

Whether or not you meant to... you have further complicated things haha. 

That Tatula Elite 7'2 MHR is very tempting.