St. Croix Premier rods

[midwesthunter]

I am looking at upgrading a few of my rods this year. Would the St Croix Premier rods be something to consider buying? The price is right and they looked like a decent rod. I was also checking out some Guide Series rods at Gander with an IM7 blank that also looked nice.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[JigginIsLife]

Well i have gone with gander Mtn's rods lately and they seem to be quite the rod for the price. im not sure on the heavy rods exactly or how well they would hold up against bigger fish, but for walleye, perch, crappies, and panfish they gander brand rods have done well for me. will probably switch to those when my old rods break.

[KidWalleye]

I have 4 of them and I like them alot. I've heard people say the tips come loose. I haven't had any problems yet. For me you can't beat $20 for a decent rod. I've looked at the legend and I just can't pull the trigger. Also I don't do a whole lot of pan fishing. I put ticas on my premiers and they work great. Good luck, Kidwalleye

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

I just picked one up for 20 bucks today at gander and i know before i even use it i will be glueing the tip so it doesnt start spinning on me! I have heard the tips come loose pretty easy so im just going to take the safe route and glue it before it even comes loose

See ya on the ice!

Ryan

[harvey lee]

I have purchased and used a few Premier rods and for me they have been ok at best. If you budget alows for a few more dollars to be spent, you may want to look at buying a few Jason Mitchell rods. I realize that they may be a little more moola but I think you may also have a better rod in the end.

http://www.jasonmitchellrods.com/

[Northlander]

I have had several of the Premier ice rods and havent had 1 bad rod out of the bunch. I think some of the higher end Croix rods had tip problems. I really like the ones I have for the money. The Gander rods are nice too but check to make sure all the eyes are straight on them.

Another entry level rod that I have used and like is the Rapala ice rods. You can find them from $10 to about $25. If you can find them on sale they are a good buy.

LIke said above if you can save up a bit you will notice a big difference in quality in the higher end rack rods and then of course if you go custom.

In this day and age of ice fishing there are a lot of very good rods out there.

[croixeyes]

As Northlander has stated,there are alot of good rods out there.In ice fishing,I think people are more inclined to try different brands of rods,price allows this more so than open water rods.There are alot of good quality rods on the ice fishing sceen between 20 and 60 bucks.St Croixs are just one of many good brands of rods out there.

[sirsunnyslayer]

I have some of both the Premier rods and the GM rods and the only problem I have had is one tip came loose on a GM rod. IMO for the money if $20 is your limit I'd choose the St. Croix, but check to make sure the spine is straight and the guides are true.

[slipperybob]

Like all ice fishing rods, double-check the line guides. Check to see if the handle is centered balanced too, by spinning it. The shorter St. Croix rods seem to be really off, those 24" and many of the 28" models. Each blank will somewhat differed in bend under a load too. Might be the machine that produced the blanks.

[DzNuts]

Quote:

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Like all ice fishing rods, double-check the line guides. Check to see if the handle is centered balanced too, by spinning it. The shorter St. Croix rods seem to be really off, those 24" and many of the 28" models. Each blank will somewhat differed in bend under a load too. Might be the machine that produced the blanks.

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Slippery

What do you mean by 'center balanced'? And where do you hold it when you are spinning it?

Ryan

[MASON38]

Each rod blank has a natural center, called a spline. If you hold the rod's handle at one end, look down it while pulling down on the rod's tip. If the eyes shoot out to either side, they were not put on correctly.

[Luck e 1]

I was just looking at the croix rods at Gander today...Do you ugys have troubles with the guides? They are "stainless steel" but look chincy. They look like cheep metal guides rather than the normal guides on the gander rods or mitchell rods.

[hanson]

Quote:

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Each rod blank has a natural center, called a spline. If you hold the rod's handle at one end, look down it while pulling down on the rod's tip. If the eyes shoot out to either side, they were not put on correctly.

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Bingo!

There are a number of things that separate a production rod from a custom rod, or even a high end production rod. This is one of them. Minor detail that makes a difference.

If you have a rack of 8 rods, check every single one of them to see how the blank flexes. I can feel it when its not right, and the guides moving to the left or right is a visual indicator as well. You want a blank that bends straight and all the guides stay in a neat little row, not bending slightly one way or the other. Randomly, it seams like 1 or 2 rods out of 8 are good.

Croix's are also notorious for misaligned guides, or damaged /bent guides on the store racks. Most Croix's are very, very susceptible to tip breakage for some reason as well. These rods get handled in the stores, I believe a lot of the quality issues are partly a result of that.

Does this mean they are a bad rod? No. Just pay attention to the particular one you are buying and don't just randomly grab one from the bunch. Check out the guides, check out the flex, etc. And then take good care of it.

Guess this is good advice for any rod you are buying in a store. While they all look similar, they are all not similar. Its sort of like picking out the straight 2x4s from the lumber rack at Menards.

[slipperybob]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Like all ice fishing rods, double-check the line guides. Check to see if the handle is centered balanced too, by spinning it. The shorter St. Croix rods seem to be really off, those 24" and many of the 28" models. Each blank will somewhat differed in bend under a load too. Might be the machine that produced the blanks.

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Slippery

What do you mean by 'center balanced'? And where do you hold it when you are spinning it?

Ryan

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I'm holding the blank and rolling it between my fingers as if checking a pool cue stick to see if it's balanced and centered. Not that it would matter much but with a round handle, it would just make sense to be balanced.

[Zdaddy76]

I bought a St. Croix premier ice rod because I use premier's in the summer. I wasn't impressed very much. The lighter ones seem to break in a stiff wind. Very brittle in the cold. The best rods I've found so far are the Vados's rods, and the mammoth rods. I don't know who vados uses for blanks. Maybe they use St. Croix and I'm just a fool but I've had good luck with Vados not breaking easily and the action is very nice on them. The Mamoth has been with me for several years and has never disappointed.

---Zdaddy

[ice-man/vexilar-king]

I'm with Harvey Lee on this one. Jason Mitchell rods are a great buy! I do like the spring bobber on the St Croix for sight fishing, or light bitters. It is easy to change the action with that system.

[Hardwaterjigin]

I am partial to the St.Croix rods myself based mainly on price and availability. But then I buy blanks and make my own rods. That is a really inexpensive way to get a high quality product and makes for something to do during down time. Anyone else make their own?

[Craigums]

Does G Loomis make ice fishing rods too?

[Hardwaterjigin]

I just glanced at their HSOforum and did not see any ice fishing category in their products section.

[Mike L]

I love building my own rods, both open water and ice. Got my start thru community ed at our high school. A pair of outstanding instructors.

One thing that I've played with and am very happy with the results is rather than using epoxy on my guides threadwork is using U40 permagloss.

I read a lot of bad on the St Croix ice rods, and I think that has a lot to do with workmanship rather the the blanks themselves. Look at the St Croix ice rods and avoid those with what looks to be an excess gob of epoxy at the tiptop wrap. A stress concentrator.

[slipperybob]

That's what I see too. Poor attention to details. It shouldn't be that hard to line up the guides.

If they're gonna stamp St. Croix on it, you'd expect quality workmanship.

[charliepete2]

I've got a St. Croix Legend and it's my favorite panfish rod. I think they have the best spring bobber set up out there.

[slipperybob]

The only thing that's detering me from buying a St Croix Legend is that they don't actually measure up to the indicated length. They say it's 24" long but that's with the spring bobber. The rod itself is about what, 21" or 22" long? Anyway ice rods are increasing their qualities in all areas, to even multiple selection of ultralight reels from different companies. Maybe in the future, I'll justify a Thorne bros ice rod and a St Croix legend ice rod, maybe this weekend?

[blueroof]

If your even considering plunking down the cash for a legend, do yourself a favor and pickup a T.B. Sweetheart, you won't be disappointed. I have a M and ML legend, they never come out of the tube since starting my sweetheart collection. The spring bobber on the legends is nice, but it only comes into play every once in awhile.

As you pointed out they are a tad short too. I was dumbfounded when I saw them selling even shorter versions for sight fishing. All I could think was that they took all the busted 24" they got back and regurgitated them into 17" models. LB

[slipperybob]

Exactly my thought if I was plunking down $50 I'd go for the Thorne bros.

That's funny how you said they refurbished the broken ones into 17" models: LOL's