St Croix Legend Tournament " Magnum Cranker" Or Shimano Crucial

[ww2farmer]

I am about to pull the trigger on a new rod for deep cranking. I have narrowed it down to the St Croix Legend Tournament 7'10" H power, moderate action Magnum Cranker, or the new Shimano Crucial 7'11" MH power, mod-fast action, cranking rod. I will be fishing SK series 5, 5xd's, 6's, 6xd's, Spro Little John DD's, Rapala DT 14's, 16's and 20's. The LT is in the drivers seat right now because:

#1 I am a huge St Croix homer and all my rods (now) are St Croix's, I am semi-partial to keeping it that way.

#2 I have not handled either, but I "trust" St Croix's ratings more, at least on non-cranking rods. I have bought many with out handling them and have yet to be dissapointed.

#3 The LT's while more expensive, can be had just about any where right now, and at some places they are even on sale. I am not sure when the Shimano's will be available. TW says soon.

I have not owned a St Croix cranking rod yet though. The ones I have played with in the store have all been 7' MH power, moderate actions (Avid, Premier, Mojo). I like a longer stick for deep cranking rod, and while beeing rated for baits up to 1 oz., they, IMHO seem a little under rated, which is odd, because all my other Croix's are over rated. So hence my logic of moving up to the 7'10" Magnum cranker.

What ever rod I get will be paired with a Shimano Curado 201DPV, spooled up with 20lb Fluorobraid.

[Packard]

IMO Heavy is too much I'd go with MH if they have it. But I too would favor the St. Croix

[BASSclary]

The Crucials are under-powered, so it'll fish like a slightly stiffer M instead of a nice MH.

I like St.Croix too. I'd go with the Magnum cranker.

[stkbassn]

I am about to pull the trigger on a new rod for deep cranking. I have narrowed it down to the St Croix Legend Tournament 7'10" H power, moderate action Magnum Cranker, or the new Shimano Crucial 7'11" MH power, mod-fast action, cranking rod. I will be fishing SK series 5, 5xd's, 6's, 6xd's, Spro Little John DD's, Rapala DT 14's, 16's and 20's. The LT is in the drivers seat right now because:

#1 I am a huge St Croix homer and all my rods (now) are St Croix's, I am semi-partial to keeping it that way.

#2 I have not handled either, but I "trust" St Croix's ratings more, at least on non-cranking rods. I have bought many with out handling them and have yet to be dissapointed.

#3 The LT's while more expensive, can be had just about any where right now, and at some places they are even on sale. I am not sure when the Shimano's will be available. TW says soon.

I have not owned a St Croix cranking rod yet though. The ones I have played with in the store have all been 7' MH power, moderate actions (Avid, Premier, Mojo). I like a longer stick for deep cranking rod, and while beeing rated for baits up to 1 oz., they, IMHO seem a little under rated, which is odd, because all my other Croix's are over rated. So hence my logic of moving up to the 7'10" Magnum cranker.

What ever rod I get will be paired with a Shimano Curado 201DPV, spooled up with 20lb Fluorobraid.

I too use the DPV for my cranks but I ended up buying the Castaway XP3 DD 22 Cranking rod and it's 7'10. Both of the rods you are looking at are great but if you want an awesome rod that launches a crankbait and feels amazing, this is it. It will save you some cash and give you exactly the rod you're looking for. $139.... You should also check out the Powell Deep Cranking rod (the red one) looks awesome for $169...

[Al Wolbach]

I have had the Magnum Cranker for two years and I am pleased with the performance. I have it paired with a Revo winch and it will cast a mile. I throw mostly hot lips, DD22's and Rapala DT's. The rod easily handles these lures with the tip, only getting into the butt section when fighting a fish. I haven't landed anything over 7 lbs but the rod easily handled it with a plenty of power left, so bigger fish will not be problem.

The only thing that disappoints me is the handle. I still prefer a solid handle and this rod has split grips. Split grips dictate where you will place your hands when casting, one near the reel and one on the butt handle. I prefer both hands together like a golf club or ball bat. However many like the split grips and was not a deal breaker for me. I almost forgot, I don't like St Croix hook keepers either, wrong side and hard to use.

The blue and gold colors are very good looking if appearance matters. Sensitivity is a crankbait rod for me, it is hitting bottom or not, there is a fish on or not and once stuck you will not loose the fish. Some of this may be line choice, I crank with mono. This rod is at least equal the my Loomis crankbait rods. I can't compare it with other rods except Loomis.

I have fished with many guys that overload their crankbait rods when throwing deep crankbaits. The bait itself pulling into the power section to far, without a fish on it. You will not overload this rod with any deep crankbait. Good rod for what it was designed to do...............Al

[ww2farmer]

Thanks Al! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. There is now a Legend Tournament Magnum Cranker on it's way here.

[Hooligan]

The Crucials are under-powered, so it'll fish like a slightly stiffer M instead of a nice MH.

I like St.Croix too. I'd go with the Magnum cranker.

You're hard pressed to call the new Crucial anything, particularly since I'm willing to guarantee you weren't at Icast. To my feel they're definitely not underpowered in the IM10 blanks. They're spot on.

Thanks Al! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. There is now a Legend Tournament Magnum Cranker on it's way here.

My opinion of the St Croix Mag Cranker is not very favourable. It's quite tip heavy and felt like it took banging a DD22 into large chunk-rock in order to get any feel out of the rod. Typically I'm rather fond of St Croix Crank rods, this one is one that doesn't feel right to me.

Unlike other opinions, I felt like the rod never did load properly at any point. There was never enough load that the rod could recover when banging off structure and cover that the bait would rebound. The rod was almost too fast and too heavy, picking up immediately. My preference in a big crank rod is one that will load into the blank correctly, not just the tip, that's part of the whole purpose of a Moderate action rod.

If you haven't ordered it, I'd sincerely encourage you to look into the Crucial, as you'll likely be very pleased with the way they perform. If the benchmarks for the Cumara are anything to consider, which from all accounts they're very similar, the Crucial Crank rods will fish beautifully.