In The Market For A Shakey Head Rod

[jchez444]

hi everyone, i am in the market for a shakey head rod and really dont know which direction to go. currently i am using a st croix avid 6'8 med xtra fast for my drop shotting and shakey head fishing and have missed a decent amount of fish while fishing the shakey head. my price range max's out at around $230 and hear are a few that i been eyeing up:

*denali rosewood matrix 7ft mh

*duckett 7ft mh

*G-loomis shakey head 6'10mag med

*kistler mirco helium 6'9ft mh

shimano cumara 6'8ft mh

powell endurance 7'1mh

st croix xtreme 7'1 med

Again just some opinions from people and if you guys reccommend any others. unfortunately i will only be able to handle a handful of these in person, but dont mind buying without feeling them, i have had nice luck with dobyns and kistlers in the past. thank you and have a great christmas

[Daniel Richardson]

I have the Denali rosewood shakey head spinning rod. I really recommend this rod. I was using a bass pro extreme 7' medium hvy spinning rod before I got this one. But in my opinion the Denali rod has a sharper feel to what is on the bottom. This makes it easier for me to decipher between bites and other objects. The shakey head bite is very subtle a lot of the time and I hooked of with a fish just the other day with one in 48 degree water temps. This rod is the real deal I think it would be worth your while to own this rod. Hope I helped

[Hi Salenity]

I have nothing against you getting another rod, but other than it being a bit short for my tastes (I like 7') your rod should work great.

I vote =st croix xtreme 7'1 med

[bassinbrian]

+1 on St. Croix but I havent held or used the Powell or G. Loomis either though. I have to add one thing, You should take a look the Daiwa Fuego (http://www.daiwa.com/rod/detail.aspx?id=452) 6'10" M XF. It ended up to be one my my favorite rods for shakey heads

[JIGFISHERMAN.]

I've got the Loomis SHR. I really like it. Sure the GLX version is probably better, but it's also a hell of alot more expensive.

The length, action, sensitivity is a perfect combo for shakey heading IMO

[Hooligan]

Of those you've got listed, the Cumara is the lightest and most sensitive. Second is the Loomis, then the St. Croix. AS a pure Shakey rod, though, the Loomis is the better rod. It's got a light, ultra fast tip that will be exactly what you're after for shakey heads. the other aspect of the Loomis is that it has tremendous power for being such an, otherwise, light rod. The Cumara is not as pwoerful as the loomis, which is where it loses a bit in my book. The St Croix is over-powered and the tip is far too in-flexible for for the purpose. It's a good finesse plastics rod, and dropshot, but I don't like it as a shakey or flick-shake rod. (Also, I don't believe the LE is 7-1, it's a 7-0 rod. Correct me if I'm wrong...)

That all said, if you're missing fish on the 6-8 Avid, I can't really say that the others are going to be a whole lot of help to you. The Avid 6-8 is one of the rods I fish most for the technique. I like it as much as my 822NRX for shakeys. When I need a longer rod, the 7-2 Cumara is my first choice.