St. Croix Rods

I have been a fenwick guy but thinking about picking up a St Croix. I have been looking for something in that 7ft range for live bait rig, I typically pull mono and im afraid ML is too light? I see they make a 6’8″ in a M but its extra fast. Do you guys think XF is the wrong set up for live bait rigs?

Im thinking the 6’8″ M would have a more wide range of uses and could use it for some jigging as well.

Looking at the eyecon, avid, and legend tournament. If I can find a good rod with multi purpose I might be able to justify the legend tourny.

Thanks for the input

Have you seen the fenwich elite tech small mouth series 7’4″ MF, ever since I held it at Cabelas I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. Awesome handle, very light, and perfect tip for various apllications.

I have the Avid 6’8″ Med power x-fast action and love it. I use it mostly jigging walleye using minnows. You can see the slightest movement in the tip even before you feel it. The Med power gives enough backbone for solid hook sets. I filled a PhluegerSupreme XT with Nanofill 8 lb test. With this setup I don’t have to set the hook with a big reef on the rod, just a gental tug and the fish lands with the hook in it’s upper lip. Good luck…if your close enough to St Croix’s factory in Park Falls stop in their factory store for some great deals on rods with at most a minor blem.

For live bait rigging, I absolutely love the 7ft Legend Xtreme in Med-Light action. I’ve owned Avids and Tournament Series rods from St. Croix and this rod is in a whole different category in terms of quality as well as sensitivity. This rod also doubles as a great rod for pitching smaller jigs.

They’re a little spendy, but well worth it in my opinion.

I was planning on pairing it up with the Pflueger Supreme XT as well.

Castle have you ever pulled live bait with that set up? how did it work or how do you think it would work if you havent?

nhamm. I have handled the elite tech small mouth series they seemed really nice Im scared to go anything over 7ft. Maybe if i get a 7 footer the 7’4 might not seem so bad, but the longest i have used is a 6’6″ so im gradually get longer and longer.

I have a 6’10 ml xf legend tournament and love it. I use it a lot for live bait rigging but it’s also awesome for jigging and pitching blade baits and plastics. You won’t regret owing one.

Thanks Justin, I actually went and handled a ML at lunch I dont think it will be too light for live bait and mono so I might be leaning that way…

Quote:

---

I have a 6’10 ml xf legend tournament and love it. I use it a lot for live bait rigging but it’s also awesome for jigging and pitching blade baits and plastics. You won’t regret owing one.

---

Josh have you used mono with this set up?

In spring especially I fish rivers and flowages with current. The trick is to differenciate the difference between a bump (bait hitting obstacle) and a tug ( a fish taking the bait). This is really difficult when walleye are feeding lazily. The fast tip on my Avid shows these signs easily. Usually when I get two identicle bends in the tip in rapid succession I set the hook. More offten than not it’s a fish. When fish are hitting more aggressively it’s so obvious it’s almost criminal. I also deep hook my minnows. I insert the hook in through the mouth and then out the gill, I then get the gig head up to the mouth and bring the hook up through the area just in front of the tail. Before this I was just feeding the fish with minnows that were stripped off my hook.

I’ve used 10# mono with it but only jigging on the river in shallower water. For rigging deeper water on mille lacs and LOW I used 10# power pro. Both set ups worked great

Quote:

---

For live bait rigging, I absolutely love the 7ft Legend Xtreme in Med-Light action. I’ve owned Avids and Tournament Series rods from St. Croix and this rod is in a whole different category in terms of quality as well as sensitivity. This rod also doubles as a great rod for pitching smaller jigs.

They’re a little spendy, but well worth it in my opinion.

---

X2

For mono & rigging I would suggest bumping up to the 66 or 7 ft med. I love my 68mxf for pitching mono & jigs but for versatility the med fast in croix is tough to beat.

Quote:

---

For mono & rigging I would suggest bumping up to the 66 or 7 ft med. I love my 68mxf for pitching mono & jigs but for versatility the med fast in croix is tough to beat.

---

..Hey Dean did I ever show you my live bait in the rod holder rods. ..r rr r rr. PS . Mono Only for that setup.

Dean, I’ll trade you an Xtreme 7 ft ML for one. Medium light is just too light for me. Did you have to carry Brett again this year?

Thanks for all the advice, now its a waiting game to see what santa will bring me.

If you are OK with spending LT type cash checkout the Thorne Brothers Predator Walleye Blanks. They are a proprietary TB blank made my St Croix. From a price point they are the same as a LT but can be made to your specifications. They are awesome rods.