crzyjunyer Posted December 25, 2011 Report Share Posted December 25, 2011 i normally stay in the hard baits section here but im looking for some advice/suggestions on a new rod for worm and jig fishing. im looking in the $150-200 range and want as sensitive and best value as i can get in a rod in that range. ive been looking at one in the 6'6"- 7'2" range on length with 3/16-3/8 oz sized lures (maybe evn up to 1/2oz). some of the ones ive been lookng at are gloomis gl2's, st croix avids, ducket micro guides, carrot stix, shimano crucial, and falcon t7. i am open to other options im not aware of as well as to custom rods. i do want a lightweight rod and would prefer one with a lifetime warranty if im going to spent this much on a rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick reif Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 I'm a finesse fisherman, so you need to factor that into everything I say. Best bang for the buck goes to St. Croix Avids. I've had 6 of them through the years, and the last rod I bought was an Avid. I beleive it was $180 with free shipping. I bought the 6'9"MLXF spinning rod for deadsticking weightless plastics. I also have the 7' MHF Avid as one of my musky sticks. With the weights you described, a 7' MXF would be a safe bet. I had that rod several years ago, and traded it off for something I no longer have either. It was a mistake. That's a great all purpose rod. Before I would buy the Legend series, I'd have a custom rod built. For a little more money, e-bay has the Kistler Heliums going for around $230-240. I have 2 of these in spinning models. I bought mine last year, and was able to get them for $130-135 each, but the seller didn't have what I wanted this time nor were they the same price. The 7' MH rod is what I'm using for finesse jigs and tubes now. The 6'6" MH is built off the same blank, but they cut the 6" differance off the tip. Had they taken it off the butt section instead, it would be my most used rod. Now all I use it for are flipping heavier jigs(1/4oz+) in laydowns for LM in the rivers The Loomis Mossyback line is a good buy as well. My worm rod is the BCR852 casting. I used it for about 2-3 years as a tubing stick before I switched to the Heliums spinning rods for that application. The 852 is light in the hand, sensitive and crisp on the hook set. It's another good all purpose rod. Shimano bought out Loomis. They surely used Loomis's tech to improve upon their rod line up. A buddy of mine bought the Crucial last year and swears it's his most used and best rod. Before I bought the Avid, I seriously considered the Crucial for a deadsticking rod. The problem with living in the sticks is that I'm not near anything but the ground, and there wasn't a tackle shop around here that offered the Crucial line up. I'm a firm beleiver that a rod should be put in my hand before I make my decision. FWIW, I "car doored" my Mossyback rod about 2 years ago taking about 1/2" off the tip, and got in touch with Loomis/Shimano. Once I explained what happened to the service dept, they mailed me a new tip top and glue stick in very short order for free. That may not seem like much to others, but it helped me out quickly. I give their customer service an A+ I've never owned a Carrot Stik and never will. I've seen too many broken to put my money in one. As a kayak angler, I can only carry about 4 rods comfortably, so I really can't afford to lose a designated rod in the middle of a float. Powell makes a fairly impressive rod. Never fished one, but I did handle one last year...year before. It was very nice, but I was unemployed then(for 13 months) and couldn't swing a rod in my budget. Sucks, but that's the way it goes sometimes. You should definetly look at them if you can. I can't remember the price range though. Hell, I'll say it. BPS Extreme rods are pretty decent rods for the money. You can catch them on clearance right now too. Let's face it, any rod with an IM7 rod blank or better are most likey a more senstive stick than was around 25 years ago. It doesn't matter how much you spend on the stick if the rod feels good to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crzyjunyer Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 i ended up going with a st croix avid 6'8" medium x-fast - i went to bass pro and held every one i considered minus the tourny st croix - the gloomis gl2 was just heavier and didnt feel as "lively". the 2 had the hardest debate over was the falcon cara t7 and the st croix. what ended my debate simply came down to i like the cork grips on the st croix better than the foam on the falcon, even though im sure the foam faclon uses is probably much better than the one im used to on old quantum sticks from walmart i did a lot more research and google searching and kinda ruled out the carrot sticks and ducketts - ducket has had trtouble with guides fraying lines and ive ehard of several breaking carrot sticks as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick reif Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 you got a great stick. I know you'll enjoy it for years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crzyjunyer Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 you got a great stick. I know you'll enjoy it for years i hope so - its by far the most iver ever put into a rod - i may still go back and get the falcon later - i relly liked it too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilfish4774 Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 St. Croix is what I use. Hopefully you were able to purchase the "new" 2012 with the improved 3M epoxy that they are utilzing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crzyjunyer Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 idk if it is or not - i got to finally use it the other day - me and dad took the opportunity on a warm day to go run and exercise the boat and try it out and i was blown away at how sensitive it was - i was thowing a jig with a paca chunk on it and i could feel the vibration off the flippers when reeling it in - i was amazed at how much i had been missing on using what i had thought was a pretty good rod before ( old shimano samuri) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfart9999 Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm with Patrick on the BPS Extrme rods, but I've started to replace my older rods with the BPS Carbonlites, I really like them, they are very lite and sensitive. I have the 6'9" med.lite spinning that I use for dropshot, a 7' mh baitcaster, and 2 mh microguide baitcasters, these get used for jigs and worm/creature/tubes. The regular baitcaster is very nice but the micro guide models are even better, they are a bit liter, and cast a bit farther, I haven't fished with them yet but they are supposed to be more sensitive than the regular guides also. Rodney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROWINGADUBAY Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Make sure to send in the warranty info to them it is one of the best I have ever seen even without it they will replace one of the avid series for thirty dollars no questions asked I bought a broken one at a garage sale for two bucks brought it to the factory and they gave me a new one in trade plus the thirty bucks not bad for a hundred something dollar rod!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crzyjunyer Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I'm with Patrick on the BPS Extrme rods, but I've started to replace my older rods with the BPS Carbonlites, I really like them, they are very lite and sensitive. I have the 6'9" med.lite spinning that I use for dropshot, a 7' mh baitcaster, and 2 mh microguide baitcasters, these get used for jigs and worm/creature/tubes. The regular baitcaster is very nice but the micro guide models are even better, they are a bit liter, and cast a bit farther, I haven't fished with them yet but they are supposed to be more sensitive than the regular guides also. Rodney yea i already have several of the bass pro extreme rods and dad just got 2 of the carbon lites last weekend - most of them are for crankbaits and wire baits though - and for that we ahve been well pleased with them - i was just looking for something special for worms and jig fishing with super sensitivity with in my budget Make sure to send in the warranty info to them it is one of the best I have ever seen even without it they will replace one of the avid series for thirty dollars no questions asked I bought a broken one at a garage sale for two bucks brought it to the factory and they gave me a new one in trade plus the thirty bucks not bad for a hundred something dollar rod!! yea i did that onlilne the day i got it when i got home - im not taking any chances Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezsmith Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 I would have gone with a custom rod and used a rain shadow blank or a phenix blank if you have any questions on this let me know thanks zac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezsmith Posted November 4, 2012 Report Share Posted November 4, 2012 next time check out the phenix m1 series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
