St Croix................what Are You Doing?

[ww2farmer]

Some of you know I am a big St Croix guy, both in size, LOL, as well as fandom, but I have to say " what are you doing?!?!?!" putting that crappy 1970's style hook hanger on the new Rage rods. C'mon even the Mojo has a t-rig hook keeper. It may be small trivial detail, but it's a turn off on those rods.

[NorcalBassin]

Not a fan of that handle either. It's both retro and space age. However, the Avid, LTB, and Legends are alright with me.

[tomustang]

Look at the panfish rods, it'll make you forget about that hook keeper altogether

[Goose52]

I'm with you brother. It's not trivial to me - the hook keeper is one of the things that I look at first. Many rods are so close in performance nowadays that these types of features become even more important when considering purchases. The T-rig-type hook keeper should be on all new rods - it's a no brainer since it's so much more versitile than the "u"-type keeper.

I was going to start a thread myself to vent about a certain hook keeper design and never got to it. I'll have to type something up here soon....

[MrSwimJig]

Not a fan of that hook keeper at all and the grip they put on that rod is just horrible.

[0119]

Still better than that stupid hole Shimano put in the Cumara's grip!

[Georgia Jeff]

I agree 100%. BPS has the perfect hook keeper. I don't know why shimano and other big name rod companies won't switch over.

[Crookedneck]

It all comes down to the almighty dollar. Look up the cost between the two hook keepers on any rod building site. $2.00 difference between the two types of keepers.

Now I know what I pay is going to be totally different than what a company like St. Croix is going to pay. But, there is still going to be a price difference. And over the course of say 5,000 rods that is a lot of money.

[bassinbrian]

I always just buy the Fuji hook keepers instead of using the one on the rod anyways A lot of my rods didn't even come with one so I just got used to them.

[Hooligan]

Still better than that stupid hole Shimano put in the Cumara's grip!

That's one of my favorite things about the rod.

[LuckyHandsINC.]

That's one of my favorite things about the rod.

Me too.

[Flukeman]

Really, I don't sweat the small stuff. If I don't like the hook keeper, I have a guy who will change it for 5 bucks. And his work is so nice it looks better than original. I want a rod with a certain feel, the hook keeper never caught any fish for me!

[BigMoneyGrip]

It all comes down to the almighty dollar. Look up the cost between the two hook keepers on any rod building site. $2.00 difference between the two types of keepers.

Now I know what I pay is going to be totally different than what a company like St. Croix is going to pay. But, there is still going to be a price difference. And over the course of say 5,000 rods that is a lot of money.

I'd pay $2 more for a decent hook keeper. Heck, I'd pay $10 more for a decent hook keeper. The one thing that I don't like about my Skeet crankbait rod is the hook keeper. It's down below the reel instead of being by the reel. I ended up using the Fuji hook keeper just so I could get the reel in my bag.