St. Croix Classic Cat rods...

[hanson]

I've got to say, it truly is a shame that St Croix doesn't make these rods anymore. I "finally" got the chance to see them in person, handle them, and fish with them and there is no doubt in my mind they are the finest cat rods I've ever handled.

The 7'-6" MH Casting model is truly a piece of work. The cork grips are sweet, nice length in the butt section too. Perfect, perfect flathead rod IMO. I guess I'd get rid of every other rod I had if I could have a couple of these.

The blanks are a composite of S-Glass & SC-II graphite.

Anyone have one for sale???

[rushing]

I have looked and there was a rod building place that had some of the rod blanks advertised but when I called them to order on they said they didnt have them any more. They are nice rods. Honky Kong got one a few years back on close out from scheels for a nice price. Time to pony up the money Hanson and have a nice custom rod made.

[audemp]

I wonder how hard it would be to make your own in that same style?

Bye the way, what made it so good?

[honky kong]

indeed it is sweet. i think it has a nice sensitive tip but it is a solid rod. a couple of years ago i had it rigged with a 6500 abu and it easily brought in what at first i thought was a volkswagon but turned out to be a 20 ft tree. it has handled so far up to a 34 lber with ease. truly a great rod, wishing now that i would have bought both of them when scheels had them back then. at the time i thought the price was crazy but went on a friend's tip that i would love any st croix rod. now $105 doesn't seem crazy at all. good luck finding one hanson. you'll love it.

[MuskieMojoTackle]

I've got two 8'ers Chris, but you couldnt pry them from my hands. They are fabulous Muskie trolling and sucker rods.

[hanson]

Quote:

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Bye the way, what made it so good?

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In my opinion, and this is strictly opinion, the rod has a nice soft sensitive tip with loads of backbone built with St Croix quality (good guides, reel seat, cork, etc.)

They are fairly similar to a Moyer rod but the blank is obviously different. The Moyer is E-Glass and the Croix is a composite.

St Croix definitely pulled the plug on this rod too early. But I think there is a little different group of cat anglers out there now, those who are willing to pay good money for high quality equipment. Its hard to justify $100 plus for a cat rod when a $25 stick will do the same thing.

If I can get my hands on one, I'm going to see if Thorne Bros can't build me something really similar. The trick is going to be finding the right blank.

I am finding out this year how important a soft tip and rod sensitivity is to catching flatheads. 90% of the flats I've caught this year have not run, they have just sat there with the bait. The only real indication to a bite is some weird rod tip activity and maybe a slight load on the rod.

[harvey lee]

I will say this for my Moyer rod, the tip is very,very sensitive. It has taken me quite a few trips out to figure out this tip. If the bullhead has any life in it, it will show up on the tip.

I would compare the tip on this rod to a Thorne Bros Deadstick ice rod.

[Big Cat Dad]

I wish I still had the email reply from St. Croix. I sent them an email about my disappointment that they discontinued the Classic Cat a couple of years ago. I praised the rod and urged them to start a new line of catfish specific rods.

The VP sent a very nice reply back sighting the reason for the discontinuation was due to lagging sales and they weren't quite sure there a large enough market in the Catfish community for a "top of the line" rod. He also said their "Musky" rod is very similar and maybe I should look into that.

He ended the email by thanking me for my letter and he said something to the effect of "its letters and concerns like this that help drive production decisions." So hopefully if we flood St. Croix's inbox, they'll have the Classic Cat on the shelves by next spring.