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rod's-rod's-rod's
VISIT
Well last summer is over and I am finally taking some time to give an evaluation
on the two (2) new excellent St.Croix
Rods I bought last
spring at the St.Croix store in Park Falls Wisconsin. St.Croix is the last major American rod manufacturer left
in this country where you can still buy an affordable top quality rod that is still
"Made in America",
StCroix manufactures their own rod blanks.
new!! 2014 rod evaluations
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I purchased 2 of these PS66LF2 last spring specifically to use for my type
of Bluegill fishing in the spring and drift fishing in the summer.
This rod is perfect for flipping those bluegill size lures into the shallow's
for those pre-spawn bull Bluegill's that are doing their thing plus a lot of
accidental bass, Note: all fish caught during this period were/are returned
to be caught another day. 50-60 ft. casts are the norm with this rod using
a good reel spooled with braided line and the fast tip is still firm enough
for a good hook set with this much line out. When drift fishing it has just
the right rod and tip combination tip action needed to work the bait properly
while still being able to indicate a light bite and ability to set the hook fast
and hard enough which is what you need when you are fishing 20-30 ft.down
for suspended Bluegills.
While hand holding this rod and drifting this rod has a very sensitive feel of
the bite but not like the sensitivity of the PS66MLF2 Medium Light Fast
which has the best sensitivity of all the rods I own.
Overall I wouldn't part with it for any other rod except the MLF rod for hand holding
while drifting. On a scale of 0-10 I would give it a 7 for hand holding feel while drifting
and a 9 for drifting using rod holders.
2013 evaluations
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We start fishing for bluegills as soon as the shallows start warming up enough for the
bluegills to start moving in to feed and for pre spawn preparation. 1. I have found this
rod ideal for casting those small ultra-lite lures I use for making the 30-45 ft. casts that
are needed to get close to the brush or weed cover along shorelines. The fast tip on this
rod allows you to flip these small lures with ease but this also slows down the quick action
needed for a quick hook set. As long as you make sure that you have sharp hooks on your
lures this isn't a real big problem as those big bluegills are very aggressive in the shallows
pre-spawn and usually hook them selves. The fast action of this rod does not lend itself
real well for fishing with slip bobbers which requires a rod with a real hard quick hook set
ability. We do a lot of drift fishing and the fast tip on this rod is fine when you have a slow
drift but loses this edge when the drift speeds get too fast. The slow extra fast action tip
response for a hook set can lose you a few fish when you are drifting over deep water for
suspended gills unless you are hand holding your rod and have quick reflexes. Overall it is a
great dedicated rod for most types of Bluegill fishing for the died in the wool Bluegill
fisherman. The 7 foot length really gives the Bluegill some extra strength and it is a ball
catching one on it. The ideal rod for me would be this model rod in a 6'6" Light Fast Action
for the type of fishing I do.
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as sensitive as this rod is, if a Bluegill comes up and sneezes on the bait you can feel it. I never
did get Walleye fishing with it but I did a lot of bluegill fishing with it and it served this part
very well for most methods of fishing that I do. This rod was a little to slow in the tip action
for tossing small artifials but was excellant for using slip bobbers and served the purpose well
for most drift fishing most of the time except when the winds were very slow and then the tip
wasn't fast enough to see the light bites. But then again if you were hand holding the rod you
could feel the slightest of bites and the fast tip gave a good fast hook set and I lost very few
fish on it. You will love the feel of this rod when you get a fish on it, as you can feel every turn
and movement they make, a 6" gill can feel like a 1 lb'r. I think the ideal all around rod for
bluegill fishing would be a Model PS66LF2 Lite Power Fast Action.
I added (2) of these PS66LF2 to my st.croix collection this spring as new drifting rods and
will have a report as soon as drifting weather arrives.
These 2 rods now bring
My St.Croix
count is up to 7 now. I
own a 2 year old St.Croix 5'6" ultra lite and added 2 more ultra lites 2 years ago, ( a 5'6" and a 6'0") and added the 2 above.
MY thoughts on the ideal drift rod
The majority of my panfishing is drifting for those big bluegills in deep water after
temperature breaks are present with a thermo-cline. The ideal rod for this type of
fishing is one that gives it a soft jigging motion reacting to the boat as it is moving with
the waves, As the wind speed increases the rod action increases and this is when a
slower softer moving tip action is needed to compensate for the increased motion
of the rod. If a rod has too stiff of a reacting tip it will jig the bait too quickly and
you will lose the proper jigging action needed for drift fishing. We let the rods sit in
our home made quick release rod holders until a bite is indicated by the rod tip action,
sometimes the rod tip will barely move to visually indicate the bite and this is also where
the softer tip action comes in. The ideal rod has to have the ability to give a solid quick
hook set needed for drift fishing, there is a fine line here between too stiiff (slow) a
rod tip for drifting and too soft (fast) of a rod tip for setting the hook. I have such a
rod that I have been fishing with for years and it has caught a big majority of all the
bluegills caught on my boat. My buddies have always said it was because of where it
was in the boat (in The back ... my seat), This rod has out-fished all the other rods in
the boat no matter what rod holder it was put in, this rod is a 6'6" Medium Light Fast
Action by another mfg.
COPYRIGHT 2014 - DON ANDERSON www.2lbgil.com