I see. I would stick with your bread and butter Loomis Rods then since those seem to be your favorite TJ.Originally Posted by DarkShadow
DS-
You are correct on the split grip being a new mod edition to the St. Croix tournament series. Have you fished the St. Croix tourney or elite series models before?
Molested them in the store, and even put several reels on them, but have never had an 'on the water experience,' with them.
From the people that I know that have, they love absolutely love 'em. In fact, I know a few that picked up the older generation ones when they went on sale, because of the new 'split grip' model that came out.
Don't you wish tackle stores offered 'sample' rods for people to take on the water and try out? I know TackleWarehouse has a similar program for testing out reels, but I'd love to be able to fish with a rod before purchasing it. There's only so much you can do at the store with it.
TJ you should check out the Jackall Poison rods.
$450 for one of those... if you are willing to spend that kind of money you could look at Megabass, Evergreen, Gancraft, or Daiko JDM import rods from plat too. The rods in that price range are incredible, but it's hard for me to imagine them being that much better than a $250 bass rod. If you have the money though, go for it.
Last edited by bsp; 06-23-2009 at 01:52 PM.
Cha-ching...
For that type of coin, I'd get:
http://www.megabass.co.jp/image/manu...GS_LTD_web.jpg
Also for a 4 lb set up you might want to check out the Steez Gray Ghost.
http://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/p...roducts_id=630
Great thread. As a newcomer to this forum, may I humbly suggest that if one going to spend that kind of change ($450!!!), one can do better than even the best Japanese rods by going custom. The key of course to find a good builder who can do what you may want and are not focused on just doing 'pretty', but really going hard after performance.
For example, the factory rods just are not done for a specific reel. A good builder should build the guide spacing specifically to a particular reel, even taking into account the grip diameter. The casting distance is noticeably better when you do this. The lighter the lure, the greater the difference guide spacing makes in my opinion.
Another example is that factory grips are what you get while a custom can be shaped to your hearts desire. The list goes on. One of my personal beef is the weight of the factory rods. Even a factory 6' steez that is the lightest is 92 grams. A well done 8' with good backbone can be around 56 grams. That's a HUGE difference. Shrink that 8' to 6' like the Steez and you can go down to about 37 grams. That's easily less than half the Steez's weight!
Hope you guys don't mind my sharing my opinion.
I'm NOT saying top end factory rods are not great. Just that $450 is a LOT of change. Those Steez are in the $600 range! Yowzer!
UL
ha, you would... aaron martens rods are sweet from what I hear.
and about the jackall, I don't think it's even made in japan. Its a JDM rod made in China. The level wind and ACS reel seats look nice, expecially how they made the ACS seats dull looking.
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewjackallpoisoncrank.html
Even if it was an UL I have a hard time believing an 8' rod can be in the sub 2oz range.
Even some of the high mod rods with split grips are above 3oz. Going to micro guides, skeletal grip and carbon skinned grips (30%+ lighter than cork) would barely be able to break the 3 oz mark with a 6-7' rod.
If it was an 5' UL rod with titanium sic guides with a tennessee handle and i could definitely start seeing it push the 2oz range.
But I just don't see the point of custom building a rod with a mediocore blank. A decent blank will cost you in the $120 range. Most custom rods use SiC guides, a full set would have a conservative estimate of $100 for a 7'' rod. You could probably save some money going microguides after the choke guide, but your average builder probably wouldn't be able to do them. Switch those guides for TiSICs you see on alot of JDM rods and your budger just got blown out of the window. Add in the rest of the components and labors you're already out of your budget.
The rod wouldn't be near the fit and finish of some of these JDM rods and with the lower end blank, wouldn't feel anywhere close to it.
Is it a bit more personalized? Definitely, but custom doesn't always mean better.
That Dang Guy, (LOL on your name- very creative.)
Are you a builder? You sound like one. What rods are you using?
Anyways, curious why you think that the 2 oz 8 footer is not possible. (Or anyone else who thinks that - what are the reasons?) I happen to think that should be very possible given the right build technique and giving even better ergonomics than any factory rod.
Enjoying this thread as I'm an equipment junkie....:)
UL
ps: When it comes to reels, I do agree that JDM reels are unmatched.
Last edited by Ultralight; 06-23-2009 at 10:49 PM.
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