New St. Croix Bass Rod

[Hulkster]

not sure i understand the heavy guides throws off the balance thing.

I like both Loomis and St. Croix but I know with my Loomis spinning rods they are balanced properly and the guides are normal??

Is St. Croix not designing the rods properly?

I hope these new rods offer some longer lengths if they are an avid update, 7 foot only rods are not long enough when you have 7'5 and 7'6 rods out there that fish a lot nicer because of the extra length (in my opinion)

[bwjay]

not sure i understand the heavy guides throws off the balance thing.

I like both Loomis and St. Croix but I know with my Loomis spinning rods they are balanced properly and the guides are normal??

Is St. Croix not designing the rods properly?

I hope these new rods offer some longer lengths if they are an avid update, 7 foot only rods are not long enough when you have 7'5 and 7'6 rods out there that fish a lot nicer because of the extra length (in my opinion)

The NRX line is not exactly known for its balanced rods. I'm not sure which Loomis rods you have but I've seen many NRX owners accept the imbalance for the overall lightness and sensitivity. Guides add weight, period. If you use heavy guides, you'll need more weight near the butt to compensate, if you want balance. That's all.

[Hulkster]

yes the guides add weight but of course they always do.

Im just saying that guides have never impacted the balance of a rod if the rod blank is designed properly to compensate.

the rods im speaking of are mainly the 2018 model E6X and the older GL3 spinning rods (i own a few different models)

they have 'classic' spinning guides but are still properly balanced rods, not tip or butt heavy at all. Although I believe my 2018 JW892S E6X has a smaller than normal spinning guide train, but not microguides. they are somewhere inbetween classic and micro.

[Jeffbro999]

The more weight you add to a rod, no matter where you put it, is going to hurt the performance of the rod in some way. The closer you can get to a bare blank, the better it will be. Smaller guides remove a lot of weight from the tip of the rod where the weight doesn’t need to be. I believe I saw over 4 grams removed from the tip of my Conquests. This also allows for lighter handle configurations because you don’t have to have as much weight there to balance it out, which makes the whole rod lighter. Would love to see some of the American rod companies start giving this a little more thought, at least in their high end rods since the performance is incredible. My NRX and Conquests are night and day difference with these changes.

[Fishing4Fun]

One of the only brands of rods I refuse to buy anymore. No thanks

[zalan]

Still no exact specs. The rod is called Victory.

Available For Purchase March 19th

-25 total models (12 models are completely new Lengths/Powers/Actions for St. Croix)
-8 models (5) Casting & (3) Spinning will be immediately available on 3/19 through select dealers


-IPC, ART, FRS technology
-SCIII+ Carbon blank
-Fuji Guides
-15 year warranty
-Technique specific bass series
-Designed and built in Park Falls, WI (USA)
-Most rods will retail between $180-$200



https://stcroixrods.com/pages/victory

[bwjay]

Interesting. All of the rods coming out on launch are longer than I normally like, so I guess I'll have to wait and see what the rest are. Maybe they will have a 6'8" MF for all-around use. Would be a nice bushwhacking rod.

[MeatHead]

I'm intrigued by the 2 extra fast spinning rods. Wish we didn't have to wait for the release haha, interested to see how they'll compare to the Tatula elite rods.

[Bronzeye]

The release says these rods will have "Fuji Concept 'O' guides with deep press inserts." To save others from looking up what "O" guides are, they are said by Fuji to use an improved version and replacement of its Hardloy rings. Their rings might be black rather than gray like Hardloy.

The rods are also said to have "super-grade cork." I don't think that rating is tied to any objective standard--which, from my reading this morning, seems to be how many current sellers of cork rings regard their ratings of cork by any rating system.

[Tim Kelly]

Looking forward to seeing how they've configured the spinning rods, guides and more importantly reel seat/handle. They usually fail with their spinning handles for me, I've had to strip 2 Legend elite handles and rebuild them to my taste so far.

[setsail26]

Not pleasantly surprised. Guides are cheap and huge. Yes they are Fuji, but they are the very bottom of the barrel for Fuji guides. Not low quality, just very old tech and much larger and heavier than they need to be. A significant step down from the Avid X guides. Also the handle, while having the same reel seat as the Avix X, uses EVA to save money instead of all cork on the Avid X. I suspect it is a very nice blank (the SCIII avid is already a solid blank), but I am just not a fan of things obviously built to a price. Seriously, charge 10 bucks more and use all cork and nicer guides. Made (ok, blank made and rest assembled) in the USA is great, but since that requires a premium price, could we get a premium rod in return? Just doesn't seem like a great thing to nickle and dime on. Of course I may be wrong and they could be a huge hit. And I hope they are, as I very much want St. Croix to stay around as they are pretty much tops in solid, reliable rods with good build quality.

[ss30378]

7A4B995C-1E5F-44FC-A7DE-BB60405CDB85.jpeg (135.32 KiB) Viewed 3507 times

[nossuc242]

The grip on the spinning is a win for me, but they usually post rod weighs.

They did that for the Legend Xtremes and got bash on for heavy ass rods for 600 plus dollars and removed it.

I'll wait to feel it, like ever rod lineup there might be a go to rod that just feels perfect. We shall see.

[hoohoorjoo]

Too bad that SK reel seat is so polarizing. I personally hate it after about 15 minutes of use. It cramps my hand up because I'm trying to hold on tight and it still feels like its slipping out of my hand. They should have learned from the lackluster launch of the Legend Xtreme, along with the many negative reviews regarding the seat and handle.

[Hulkster]

As a huge fan of the Avid blank, I'm pleased with the fact that these are built on essentially an upgraded/improved Avid blank.

However, i wish they were all cork instead of EVA foam on the foregrip.

Looking forward to some longer models too with the full release. We need some 7'6 models, something the original Avid line is deeply missing (at least in casting models)