Looking to buy a Dead stick

[osok]

I am looking to purchase a dedicated dead stick this season. I've talked w/ a few ppl and have had just as many suggestions. so being a curious lad I decided to open it up to the Forum. Does everyone have a dedicated dead stick, if so what is your preference?

[Ed Carlson]

Check out the New Jason Mitchell Elite Series, the new Meat Stick in particular.

It is an interesting stick, 2-piece construction to take the hassle out of the length for storage....with a new very high visibility tip.

The new tip has a "Candy Cain" effect good for contras in all backgrounds. It has a very fast tip with lots of backbone sufficient to handle a big eye is necessary.

There is a lot of utility from panfish to walleye for this new stick, I'm like'n it.

[Northlander]

My favorite deadstick is a Thorne Brothers and my second is a Jason Mitchel Meatstick. The TB has a more forgiving bend to it because its not as fast a tip and more bend in the mid section.

[harvey lee]

The Mitchell deadstick and the Thorne Bros deadstick are awesome rods. You cannot go wrong with either unit. Just be careful with the tip of the rod as they can be broken.

I have both and use both but the Mitchell can be purchased for much less.

One can see the rod tip wiggle with a minnow on the hook.

[Snake River King]

Go with a thorne bros rod and you'll never go back. Very high quality rods

[osok]

So far it's a 50/50 split between a meat stick and Thorne Bros.

I should included the length 20,24 or 28"?

[Snake River King]

I like bigger rods for me so I would go with a 28 or a 26. If you get a thorne rod you can pick any size blank you want and handle you want. Also are you going to be using it outside? If so I would consider titanum eyes, they don't freeze up as much and a lot stronger than regular guides.

[panfishpounder00]

if your on a budget however, i would suggest the jason mitchell meatstick or the frabill quicktip, i believe they come in both the bro series and the ice hunter series, looking at about half the price over thorne bro.

[kevfish1]

love my thorne brothers rod.

[Get'n Jiggy]

Another vote for the Meatstick. If I had a fat wallet and a hard rod case

I'd be lookin at thorne bros.

[Norm1980]

what do people think of the St. Croix rods

[Get'n Jiggy]

St. Croix rods are descent rods, I have a couple. If I had it to do over

again I'd buy Jason Mitchell. Not a huge difference but I understand he

stands behind his products. If you send a St. Croix rod in for warranty

you'll have the price of a new rod in shipping.

[Chode2235]

I love my TB deadstick. If you are willing to spend the money they are well worth it.

Like this year's In-fisherman ice guide said, "..never heard of anyone who has a TB custom rod complain that it is too expensive."

But everyone has a budget, and it is good to see some less expensive knock offs.

[harvey lee]

The Mitchell rod is not a knock off. It is just as good and is a high quality rod for about half the price of a Thorne rod.

I do not believe that one is at all better than the other in feeling the bite.

Both are a great rod but one is considerably less than the other.

[Chode2235]

The Mitchell rod is not a knock off. It is just as good and is a high quality rod for about half the price of a Thorne rod.

I do not believe that one is at all better than the other in feeling the bite.

Both are a great rod but one is considerably less than the other.

Of course it is a knock off, when were the TBs first available? When did the Mitchells first come out?

Doesn't mean it's dog meat, but it certainly is a knock off and imitation of the original.

If it is as good you have to wonder why they are able to knock the price in half. Is TBs margin that high, who is assembling the rods, etc. Retail supply chains get complicated. But I guess that is another conversation...

JM is brining the rod specialization craze to the masses. It is a good thing, but lets be honest about who was first and who has the knock off. Better, equal, or worse...

[Bigtom]

Not to steal this thread, but I to would like to get a TB custom rod or two. I would like some advise on which I should buy 1 for pan fish-crappie, and 1 for perch- walleye both for jigging outside. Do I need to buy 4 rods or will this work? I was thinking the Quiverstick and Finesse. Any help?

[Get'n Jiggy]

Chode is correct, as I understand "the story" is JM bought an assortment of TB

rods sent them to China and had them duplicated. It's a sad state of affairs

but it is what it is. My hypocricy knows no bounds, I'm always preaching "buy

American" and here I am promoting Chinese products. Gonna have to start saving

up for TB rods and a hard case.

[Dark Cloud]

Not to steal this thread, but I to would like to get a TB custom rod or two. I would like some advise on which I should buy 1 for pan fish-crappie, and 1 for perch- walleye both for jigging outside. Do I need to buy 4 rods or will this work? I was thinking the Quiverstick and Finesse. Any help?

Lots of options to this answer but I guess it depends on your approach.

The quiverstick is an amazing rod(I just ordered another today - 32 inch with outside guides). It will handle everything from small spoons down to real small jigs. I use it mostly for crappies and perch.

Lately I have been useing more longer rods but I still use my finesse with a TB spring alot! It is short enough to sightfish with but also works well hole hopping in the wind with light jigs. The panfish sweethearts are a great universal rod. I have two, one at 28inch that usually has a spring in it and one at 32 for outside with bigger baits.

Also consider the powernoodle, it's more of a visual type rod thats alot of fun to fish but geared more towards smaller baits.

For most of my walleye fishing I use a perch sweetheart. I dont fish big baits and most fish I run into are "eater" size.

So I guess if you mostly fish 1/16th to 1/8th size jigs for perch and eyes i'd look into a perch sweetheart 28 or 32 inch.

And for another panfish type rod - any of the others I mentioned depending on your tactics. Im not typically a huge fan of springbobbers as they tend to be too mushy for me but I really like TB's as they are real sensitive but also stiff enough to "pound" baits from size 8ish on up through the tiny stuff.

It is really hard to nail down specific rod. Not sure where Sauk Rapids is but if your anywhere near the store or Ice Show check out them all.

I would have a real hard time deciding on just two.

[Dry_Fly]

I've used many different rods but prefer the TB rods. After going the different ones I have settled down two three 32" Perch Sweetheat with recoil eyes,32" Pan fish Sweetheart with recoil eyes & the TB deadstick 32". I uses these for all the time caught many large eye's on all. Great product and TB is great to work with if you should have a problem.

[Bigtom]

Thanks Dark Cloud, I am ordering the two now and the way it sounds I will be very pleased.

[Hammy]

if you're around blaine/osseo area, check our JR's. I've not used the TB's and probably won't since any new open water or ice rods I have bought in the last couple years have been JR's. Just another to consider... Price wise they seem to match JM's. I also heard they're adding live bait this year.

[Dark Cloud]

Thanks Dark Cloud, I am ordering the two now and the way it sounds I will be very pleased.

No prob! Which two did you decide on?

[Bigtom]

The 26" quiverstick, the perch sweet heart 32" and the finesse or power noodle them I will decide on the drive down tomorrow. I am going to try and not spend 300$ is going to be hard.

[Esox_Magnum]

The big difference between TB and JM is TB make their rods in house just unsure of where they get their blanks but if anything like their open water rods mostly Croix and loomis blanks. JM are mass produced overseas hence the cheaper price. I just got 1 of each so soon can give a better reveiw of both brands in action side by side. I do know TB rods are regarded as the best out there, I own a couple of their muskie rods and not found a better brand yet, a couple are close but thats it.

[Dark Cloud]

The 26" quiverstick, the perch sweet heart 32" and the finesse or power noodle them I will decide on the drive down tomorrow. I am going to try and not spend 300$ is going to be hard.

Sweet! If you do any sight fishing i'd recomend the Finesse with a spring, if not, then the noodle.

There are alot of rods out there folks, check em all out. Thankfully there are options, as not everyone is looking for the same thing in gear...

I literally have almost all of them and have close to 30 "dead" soldiers. Im in the process of organizing a bunch of them to give to a kids clinic or something like that. Anyways, I build all my own rods and am rather critical of companys, components, and how they are put together. TB's are the only ones I have ever found that are A+. Grab 10 of brand A, B, or Cs rods and inspect them. If the guides are perfectly straight on half them you'd be lucky. Too much epoxy on the guides is even more common(added weight kills feel). Now add in quality of components - the lightest high quality guides. Blanks that are tuned, tested, spec'd out, and made in the U.S. There may be similar blanks but they ain't the same. And each one is made my regular Joes one at a time right in Minn...

p.s. - It may sound like a paid ad, but I pay the same as everyone for my rods. They have a little black friday/weekend sale goin on now...