ice rods/reels

[fishinJohn]

I am a little new to ice fishing and last year I bought a few cheap combos at a local bait shop and at gander and I was not very happy with them. I do not like how the st. croix has the reel attach to the rod ( a couple loose rubber bands ) and then the reel's anti-reverse stopped working (I think that is how you say it turns freely both directions despite the switch setting). I think the other one I bought was a noodle rod and that has a decent system for holding the reel but the reel that came with was low quality. The selection at our gander mtn. was limited for the ice season. I am looking for a couple of combos, one for walleye and one for panfish, that allow the reel to screw down tight somehow and the reels built with the quality you would want to use on open water. I do not live close enough to go to thornebros and I would like to hold them before I buy. Any suggestions?

[Jigginfireman]

John,

You sound like you have very specific needs that you want met. The picture below is last year's model of the St. Croix Legend. This has a rod handle that you can screw in your reel to. Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that this was a new model last year... The Gander by me did carry these. Not sure if your talking about some of the Premier rods with the cork handles that you use tape or shrink wrap to hold down your reels. The Legends seem to have what your looking for. If not check to see if you have a custom rod builder located near you. I am sure they would help make you a custom rod to your liking....

I know you stated you wanted a combo, but if you by the Legend and put the reel of your choice on there, I would hope that would be a nice combo. Which reel to put on there is another issue. I like TICA's my self for panfishing. I don't walleye fish so I can't tell you if they would be good for that. There are three TICA's on my custom rod's and never had a problem with them even after dropping one down the hole. Never froze up on me.... My opinion.... Any one else have any other ideas???

[Mike L]

Those St Croix rubber bands are for heat-shrinking. Gotta flip yer Bic and gently heat, after you're happy with the position of the reel.

[hanson]

Most of us diehard, particular, ADD type icefisherman have been using good old electrical tape to attach our reels to our rod handles for the last decade.

Tape allows you to position the reel anywhere on the cork handle. Most reel seats are positioned with economics and manufacturing in mind, not achieving a proper balance. Proper balance is also a personal preference, everyone likes the reel in a little different position.

Taping the reel on also allows for a full cork handle, which is nice on the hands in the winter. Most reel seats involve some kind of plastic and metal and that just kills the feel and can get darn right cold on the hands.

Most high end ice rods are manufactured without reel seats for very good reasons.

Thorne Bros has a couple rods with reel seats (Hidden Hood and the Reverse Locking Tennessee handle) that take incorporating a reel seat into a cork rod handle to the next level, but that also comes with a very, very nice price as well.

[harvey lee]

One could check out these links to custom rod makers. All three have a very good product. Be it panfish to Lake trout, they have a rod to match the fish.

www.thornebros.com

http://scottyscustomrods.com/

http://www.jasonmitchellrods.com/

[Farley]

I also use electrical tape. Even if the rod has the reel seat that screws down I still tape it since there is a little slop in those sometimes. I have two St. Croix Premiers and a few Berkley Lightning ice rods. I like them all. As far as reels, I have 1 St. Croix reel, a small Abu Garcia spinning reel, a Gander Guide series reel, and the other ones I'm not sure about. I cant really say anything bad about any of them, I've never had a problem with them that wasnt operator error.

[IcemanMN]

I can't offer you much advice on rods, I use thorne bros custom rods now. But I will say TICA makes a darn good reel haven't ever had a problem with these freezing up.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

You sound like me a few years back. First off you don't need to spend a ton of money to have an extremly nice rod. I basicly run 3 rods (Out of the 12 i own) My first rod is a berkly lightning rod with a zebco closed under real with 2 lb test for pan fish. My second combo is a tica with a shakspeare razor rod for walleye,sauger, and bass. my Third reall is an abu-garcia with a fabrill amplified rod that is my all around rod. then occasionally I use a very stiff genz rod and a mitchel reel for targeting big pike.

My own personal opinion if you want a good combo for under $40 I would get a tica reel with the amplifed farbrill rod.

Main thing to look at in my opinion is the size of the eye's on the rod you get. Had a cabela's xml ice rod the eye's were so small they would freeze shut all the time.

[hanson]

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Main thing to look at in my opinion is the size of the eye's on the rod you get. Had a cabela's xml ice rod the eye's were so small they would freeze shut all the time.

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From Mr. Pat Smith's seminar at the Port Mod GTG, ice rod eyes will freeze shut no matter what you do, unless you are sitting in a warm shack.

Smaller eyes and more eyes on the rod give you more control and sensitivity when jigging. If you are fishing a bobber, it really doesn't matter, if you are going to jig- eyelet size, spacing, and number makes a dramatic difference in the feel.

[zamboni]

i have a South Bend Crystal Ice I bought at K-Mart for $12.99 and its a decent little combo. But my other combo is an Ugly Stick I got at Gander- that one was around $35 I think. It is a very nice combo. I have to agree- I wasn't too impressed with St Croixs either- especially for the price.

[Borch]

I've used countless brands of rods and reels over the years. For me there are a few that have risen to the front of my rod bag.

#1 Thorne Brothers rods. These are some great rods with great sensitiveity and built specificly for what you want to use the rod for.

#2 Scotty Rods. I have one of his deadsticks and have used a couple of other rods he's built. Very nice rods and a very good price.

As far as reels go the Tica Cetus series are best I've used thus far. In fact I have 4 of their SB500 series on order right now.

If you're looking for a rod to pick up at the store near you check out the Genz rods by Nature Vision. Lots of actions there and pretty decent rods as well.

I'm waiting on a couple of Jason Mitchell's rods for this coming winter. I've heard from some very reliable sources that these are excellent rods as well.

[slipperybob]

Wow...and all I saw was those other St. Croix rods with the tennesse handles.

[MASON38]

My panfish rods include 6 TB Sweet Peas for sight fishing, 7 TB Power Noodles, and 4 St Croix Avids. The Avids were from the first year they were produced and I think they must have been doing something right that year. On the Sweet Peas I have six Cardinal 300's, while the rest have Daiwa Caprices, mostly 1000's but some 500's. It was a shame Daiwa quit making this product line, they are fantastic reels.

My walleye rods include some of the old Genz Lightning Rods, 28 and 32" Avids and some 40"rods that I have made over the years. I am intrigued by the 36" Med Jason Mitchell rod that has come out. Sounds like a good rod, but need to see some of the product first hand before I buy over the internet. The reels are the Caprice 1000's that I just switch over and spool with either 10 lb XL or Power Pro.

Except for the 36" MH casting Genz rods, all my reels are attached with 3M electrical tape. I might have read it on here last year, but to help protect the cork, I gave the handles a quick wrap of masking tape, before attaching the reels. Not the whole handle, just the area where I put the reels on.

[so haaad]

I build my own ice rods. I start with either Thorne Bros blanks or St. Croix if I'm building a "cheaper" rod. Like Hanson, I also prefer the masking tape, followed by electrical tape to connect the reel to the rod. DinkADunk on this site has added Fuji metal plate seats which I'm looking to test out on some future rods, too. Here's a picture, compliments of DinkADunk...

[polarsusd81]

My two main combos I have set up are both berkeley lightning ice rods, one is a shorty at about 20" and the other is longer at about 32". They are both in the medium/light weight with fast action and work great for everything I fish for. Both have Pinnacle reels on them, really tiny little things that balance out pretty well on the rods. I use the shorty for the near hole in the house and the long rod is generally set up with live bait in a rod holder either on a bobber or dead-sticking. I am considering adding a spring bobber to the long rod just to see what else happens. I have other combos but these are the two I always use. After this past weekend, I am thinking I might have to go ahead and pick up a Thorne Perch sweetheart and a Tica Cetus, looks like it would make an awesome combo.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

You may also want to take a look at the Cabela's XL series ice rods. Bought one for the ol'man last year and he loves it. Quality rod at a nice price. Myself, I wouldn't trade my T.B. Sweetheart w/ a Cetus reel for anything! I also use a St.Croix Avid w/ a Cetus that works just great too! Good Luck!

[DinkADunk]

One for panfish, one for walleye. Give Thorne Brothers a call and have them send you two (check on their return policy). I had some St. Croix Legend rods (with the spring on the end) and the rods were terrible but the spring on the end is great so I built out a couple of Thorne Brother blanks with the spring on the end and the plate seats - works well for me. I also somewhat like the cheaper St. Croix rods (premier) if you use a decent reel. Tica are great but also consider some of the smaller size Shimano's (AXULS for panfish, Sedona for walleye). I'm not a fan of the normal soft water spinning reel seats on ice fishing rods. The classic Tenessee handle (cork, no reel seat) is really superior, just tape your reel on where it's comfortable. The Fuji plate reel seats that I use are a compromise. They're fairly comfortable (hand holds mostly cork) but the reel is still easy to remove and is held very securely. I attach mine with rod winding thread and then epoxy but you can tape them on any Tenessee handle and they work great. The plate seats are cheap too, about 7$

[iffwalleyes]

You won't find a better reel than a tica. I currently have around a dozen of these on my various rods. Then as far a good rods nothing tops Thornes. I have 13 of these in various models if that means anything. I probably fish in the winter a little more than most though. The lighting rods aren't bad I have 3 of them but the seldom come out of the case (Usually they aren't even in the case) unless I have someone with me and they are using them. Most cheap combos you buy are just that cheap. Not the quality I expect. I used to have them break all the time. Not that a Thorne won't but if you do have problems Thorne usually does a excellent job of reparing everything or replacing. Yes the whole large eyes won't freeze is talk. Also a rod with 3 eye will not have the feel of one with 5. The more contact points the more sensitive the rod will be. Just some thing to remember when shopping.

[Jigginfireman]

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. I'm not a fan of the normal soft water spinning reel seats on ice fishing rods. The classic Tenessee handle (cork, no reel seat) is really superior, just tape your reel on where it's comfortable.

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2nd you on that one Bro.... I think the plastic handles suck out what little heat a person has in there hands fishing outside of a shanty. I have been using Cork handles for years and now have been using a cotton medical wrap to attach my reels to my handles. It keeps my hands a bit warmer without the use of gloves. The down side is they hold a water at times. I will compprimise though...

[Dan Brelje]

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#1 Thorne Brothers rods. These are some great rods with great sensitiveity and built specificly for what you want to use the rod for.

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I agree.. I only have one but that is because im a broke college kid.. I will be getting another this year though, st. croix couldn't cut it last year (nice, but not as nice)

[fishinJohn]

Thanks to all responders, I bought a couple rods from Scotty and a couple Tica reels. I ended up getting the SS's and replaced lube with hot sauce. Now at least I have a pair that don't feel like $20 combos.

[slipperybob]

I've finally decided to give the tennessee handles a try...picked up three St Croix premieres UL, ML, and M.

UL is matched with a Shimano Symetre 750 with #4 gamma

ML is matched with a Shimano Stradic 1000 with #4 gamma

M is matched with a Shimano Sahara 750 with #6 Fireline Crystal

I've just upgrade from my old $5 ugly sticks. Well still using the Shakespeare Cajun noodle rod. So yep, I'm using my open water reels. That's the plan...