Which rod for walleyes

[fishhuntwork]

I'm looking to buy a few more rods for walleye fishing this year, woundering what type and model. I may buy a st croix, would love a loomis but hate to spend $600 in rods. Any help would be great.

[Deitz Dittrich]

A rod reel combo is a tool much like a hex wrench set or pliers.. What do you want this rod to do, and I will do my best to suggest what length and action I would look for.

[Team Otter]

I'm looking to buy a few more rods for walleye fishing this year, woundering what type and model. I may buy a st croix, would love a loomis but hate to spend $600 in rods. Any help would be great.

The Jason Mitchell 7' spinning rod is a work horse that's priced right. I've used mine for riggin', pitchin' jigs and slip bobber fishing and have loved it for each of those given scenarios.

[harvey lee]

I agree with Jamison. Check out the Mitchell line of rods for the specie your looking to fish. If you have a question about one rod or two, either post it here or call and talk with Jason.

Check them out here.

http://www.jasonmitchellrods.com/

[hhguide]

I'm going to have to go with Fenwick! Cant beat their fishing rods and at a great price!

[Black_Bay]

How many rods are you talking about? I'm also looking to add a couple rods and have pretty much settled on a couple of G Loomis, but Gary Roach has a line of rods called Mr Walleye, that are interesting.

[rodmaker]

Two of my favorite G. Loomis rods for Eyes ARE:

HSR 9000 IMX 7' 6"

ST 1024 IMX 8' 6"

I also have a St. Croix Legend Elite 7' 10" ML.

I build mine. The St. Croix was originally a 7 ft, that I extended it another 10".

What applications are looking to cover??

[snoozebutton]

I bought a Limit Creek last summer and really like it so far, pretty decent price too. I also added a St. Croix that I found on sale in the fall but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

[JohnMickish]

I'm looking to buy a few more rods for walleye fishing this year, woundering what type and model. I may buy a st croix, would love a loomis but hate to spend $600 in rods. Any help would be great.

I don't know if your aware of it or not but both G. Loomis and St. Croix make rods in the $150 range and up, and they are made in the USA.

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Shimano is the parent company of G. Loomis and their rods are very high quality as well, but IMO they are more of a bass company and don't offer the selection that Loomis or St. Croix offer.

What type of fishing do you plan to use your new rods on? You will find what you want. They are not a company with one line of rods and just a few different models that make you compromise you tactics. Think of it this way, would you rather golf with just a driver, 7 iron and a putter or a whole bag full? Sure, it can be done with a small number of "tools" but rarely will they be the perfect choice for the job at hand.

[fishhuntwork]

I of coarse looking for a trolling, jigging, and slip bobber rods. I have a few gery roach rods and it works good for jigging.

[picksbigwagon]

I have a limit creek smoothie rod that I use for jigging and slip bobber fishing, it is a great rod........It's a Medium light rod and have used from walleyes to trout (stream trout that is).

[JohnMickish]

For slip bobbers use I wouldn't get to crazy, any graphite 7 foot medium light rod should be fine.

You say for trolling. Trolling what? If you troll cranks I just use Cabelas depthmaster rods, $40-50 each and they work great. If you are trolling lindy's or rigging live bait, they I'd take a real serious look at either the G. Loomis HSR9000 in IMX or the St. Croix TWS76MLF Tournament Legend. I own both of these and they WILL put more fish in the boat, they also double as a great slip bobber rod.

For jigging you need to look no farther than a G. Loomis SJR721S in IMX, period. I built mine and extended it to 6'3", put a stradic 1000 on it with 8 lb fireline and this rod is light and unbelievably sensative. I swear I can drag a jig across a beer bottle cap and tell you what kind of beer it was.

You can get one of the lindy rods I mentioned and the jigging rod and cover slip bobbers, lindys and jigging, be under budget and have some money left over, plus I will guarantee you'll put more fish in the boat.

[mozy]

I agree with mnfishinguy, if you're looking for those three setups, put the money into the jigging rod. Trolling and bobber rods don't need to be sensitive, so you should be able to find rods at decent prices for these techniques.

I would definitely spend the majority on a good jigging combo. The IMX mentioned above would be a great rod, or check out the St. Croix Legend Tournament 6'3" Med. Extra Fast($220) or the Avid with the same specifications($160). Pair it up with a $60-100 Shimano or Pflueger reel and you'll be set.

[deadeye]

I agree with the above two posts, spend the money on the jigging pole. I cant justify the money for a Gloomis myself (they are awesome and someday I will have a few), but I do like the Fenwick HMX and for jigging, it does awesome for under 100 bucks. The 6 foot range seems to be just about right with a fast action. I have even got a little 5'6" light weight fast action that is super for the lakes with all the little eyes.

For the bobber and trolling I like the 7 footers. Medium fast-fast action for the bobber, and medium for the trolling rod. I really like the extra length for picking up extra slack when setting the hook on a bobber. The pole for the bobbers doubles well for rapala casting too.

[harvey lee]

I have purchased rods from $20 each up to $250.00. Yes, there is a difference in feel and how balanced the rod is.

[mikemac]

I aggree with Harvey, no matter which rod you choose, buy a new reel (or bring in your favorite reel) at the same time. Pick out the rod that you like at the store and feel how balanced it is. It makes all the difference in the world in the boat. For me it is St. Croix. I just love them!!! 6.6" ML for rigging/jigging for walleyes.

[River Dan]

I got rid of my glooms, stcroixs, I think that Limit Creek Rods are the top when it comes to walleye fishing rods and there priced right For riggen or draggin you can't do better then a LCSE83MLF nice rod at 8'3" works great for running long snells, jigging and riggen the LCS69MLF smoothie 6'9" light weight and gets the job done, LCC66MHF great trolling and pitching, all there rods are top notch and high quality, without the high price!

[jigginjim]

When picking a new rod use a piece of line, or spooled reel to to get a feel of the rod action. See how it will feel with a load on it, a fish or just a weight. I like my St Croix rods, light rods keeps you fishing all day.

[Mike Walerak]

Limit Creeks get my nod. The 6'9" "Smoothie" is the best all purpose walleye rod on the market for under $100.00.

Their 8'3" is hands down my favorite draggin rod. The added length makes it a perfect slip bobber rod too.

mw

[opsirc]

I have a 6'6 light St Croix that I bought and love it

[solbes]

I have two St Croix Avids, a 6'6" ML and a 6'6" Med.

Seems to cover just about everything except trolling. The medium has plenty of backbone, but would work better for trolling if it was medium action, instead of fast.

[Sandmannd]

I got rid of my glooms, stcroixs, I think that Limit Creek Rods are the top when it comes to walleye fishing rods and there priced right For riggen or draggin you can't do better then a LCSE83MLF nice rod at 8'3" works great for running long snells, jigging and riggen the LCS69MLF smoothie 6'9" light weight and gets the job done, LCC66MHF great trolling and pitching, all there rods are top notch and high quality, without the high price!

I'm with Dan on this. I still have a couple of St. Croix rods, but this year I plan on replacing them with more Limit Creek Rods . They are the best in the business IMO. You won't be sorry you got them as you can feel everything and you can afford two or three of them.

[JohnMickish]

Sandman, what model/sub model St. Croix rods are you not happy with? What don't you like about them? I've got several (around 14 or so) $100 foreign made rods that I thought where the cats meow, until I tried the really good equipment. There is no comparison. Don't get me wrong, the foreign stuff isn't bad and it's not junk, it just nowhere near the best. Maybe I could trade you the stuff I don't like for the stuff you don't use??

If a guy is going to get serious about his equipment one thing to keep in mind is warranty. Once a guy leaves the metro area it can be pretty tough to get an over the counter warranty taken care of. With my G. Loomis rods as long as I have an address I can get my warranty taken care of and a new rod overnight with nothing more than a credit card, regardless of what state I am in or what the cause of failure was. That is a HUGE factor for me since when I go fishing I'm usually nowhere near a large enough dealer to carry anything I have.

[River Dan]

I had a couple st croix rods avid series and a glooms glx and got rid of all but one, left is a st croix I got as a gift, everything now is Limit Creek and I'm more then happy. The warranty doesn't bother me at all, because I always have plenty of rods with specially if I'm on a trip, I suppose with a high price rod, you can't have very many of them and you always have to worry you may break it, the limit creeks I use have been tested under all conditions and have been abused year around and they can take a beating and even stand up to GRANDKIDS! tough rod

[JohnMickish]

I suppose with a high price rod, you can't have very many of them

Why not? Is it in the rules someplace? I could say that on a trip a guy needs to bring a ton of the "other" rods along because if something happens you'll never get it replaced so you'll need backups.

Like I mentioned before, with some companies that only offer a half dozen or so choices you are forced to make compromizes with your equipment and use a rod for something that it's not perfectly suited for, kind of like teeing off with a putter, sure it works but not the best choice. With companies like St. Croix and G. Loomis they have selections. If you want a jigging rod for a 1/8oz jig, they have one. You want one for a 1/4oz jig, they have a rod for that too.

What I'm saying is they offer the right tool for the job, no compromizes. I'm not saying that any of the rods mentioned so far are bad, their not. They will all catch fish and it dosen't matter if it's a Rapala, Limit Creek, Jason Mitchell, Berkely, Gander, Cabelas or Bass Pro or whatever rod, but when it counts and the money is on the line and the conditions are tough, some choices are better than others.

Ive said it on almost every "what rod is the best" thread on here, I AM NOT SPONSORED BY ANY ROD MANUFACTURER AND I PAY THE SAME PRICE YOU DO. I am fortunate enough to fish with very good equipment now and it does make a difference.

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Then I got to move up to the $100 stuff and thought fishing couldn't get better. WRONG! Anybody that is serious about fishing and wondering if it's worth the money to have good equipment beg, borrow or steal (OK, don't steal) a chance to fish with someone that has good rods and reels. Fish half a day with what you think is good, then switch it out with something you don't think you can afford. Not everyone will be able to tell the difference and that's fine, but if you do feel a difference it will more than likely be a big difference. Not just in overall weight but in what you can feel your lure is doing, especially with braided line.

One more thing to remember is that when people say that their St. Croix or G. Loomis rod wasn't that great, make sure you find out what models they where using and how they where using it. I can take a 16 ounce claw hammer and use it to tear down a cement wall. It won't work well but is it the hammers fault I wasn't using the right tool? Both companies make affordable rods as well, and while they are better than the offshore stuff, they are not nearly as good as the upper end equipment.