Preliminary review: St Croix Mojo and 13 Wicked

[slipperybob]

Well just a preliminary review on the UL models of both St Croix Mojo UL 28" and 13 Wicked UL 27" and side by side comparison.  I already got my Stradic 1000 reels on them.

The white color Wicked reel seat goes pretty well with the old pearl white Shimano Stradic FH.  Currently spooled on that reel is Pline Floroclear 4#.

On the blood color St Croix Mojo is the rare Shimano Stradic MgFB.  Currently spooled on that reel is Power Pro Ice Blue 4#.

Although the Wicked rod comes in at 27" it actually measured 27 3/4" long.  Whereas the Mojo at 28" actually measured 28 3/4" long.  In comparison from where the reel seat is and measure at the equal position of the reel stem, the Wicked is longer to the tip by 1 3/8" more than the Mojo.  That gives the Wicked 24 1/4" of fishable rod action.  The Mojo has just shy of 23" of fishable rod action.

There's a reason why these rods are a tad bit longer.  I purposely bought the longest ones off the shelf after measuring them all.    Of which both of these rods where about half an inch longer than the shortest ones on the shelf.  In part the line guides where also further towards the tip section of the blank as well.  I did also purchased a St Croix Mojo ML 28" in near identical to the UL model.

What I found that the load flex of both St Croix Mojo rods and 13 Wicked is they're 99 percent identical.  Previous St Croix Premier ice rods were not.  They exhibited rod load flex that indicates the same rod blank cut off at different sections.  While at the store, the other Wicked rods in different rod power shared this trait.  Which deterred me from purchasing the ML power coming in an inch shorter at 26" long as well as being too similar in power and rod flex to that of the M power at 28" long.  Going back to the St Croix Mojo ML in comparison, it's does not appear to be a cut from the same rod blank.  I'm 99 percent convinced it's a separate rod blank.

Whilst these rods sport uniqueness with there different reel seats. The Evolve reel seat on the Wicked is very comfortable as well as functional with the carbon graphite core for the handle.  Not sure why the cap is metal, after all of that.  The hook keeper is like 1/2 inch away from the cap.  The Mojo has a reel seat that exposes the rod blank on top where a traditional spinning reel grip would put the thumb directly on it.   The hook keeper is much further up along the rod blank.  The position is just shy of 5 inches from the reel stem.  This means you will never get poked by a hook while in the hook keeper when you're grabbing/sorting out a few set ups.  In addition a split grip for the butt section.  The thin rod blank makes me think about how fragile the appearance of it is.  I'm sure it won't be.  Both rods have that EVA foam on the butt end.

The line guides on the Mojo are more of an oversized as well as further away from the rod blank.  Which is very good in design since short rods and small first line guides gives off that pulsating effect while cranking up a lure or fish on the end.  These rods will reduce the pulsating effect.  Again the Mojo follows suit with older Premier with three line guides and tip.  Same stainless steel rings to reduce weight.  The Wicked has smaller line guides and four of them plus tip.  They feature ceramic ring inserts and nice lightweight ones too.  Good design for inline or fly reels but okay for spinning reels.

Spline check the rods and they all came line guides mounted correctly.  Line guides roll test under load and the Wicked UL seem to roll over with low tolerance while Mojo UL show moderate resistance.  I was expecting the Mojo to twist easier with the larger longer line guides.  The Mojo ML exibited good resistance to line guides twisting.

Now just needs some ice.

[slipperybob]

Preliminary review and comparison with old Premier.

The two 34" St Croix Mojo baitcasting rods MH and H are a significant improvement over the old Premier baitcasting rods.  Mojo still uses the same plain reel seat as the old Premier, however the Mojo is more tuned as an actual ice fishing rod.  The rear grip is now just shy of 5 1/2 inches compared to the Premier at 7 inches.  This gives the Mojo more of a fishable rod, even being just near that 2' difference.  Again it's because I choose the longest rod out of the stock on the retail shelf and these two Mojo rods measures at 34 1/2 in length. 

Gone is the fore grip and finished with a cap on the real seat.  The old Premier had a 2 inch fore grip.  Without the fore grip on the ice rod, your pointer finger can easily rest on the rod blank to allow direct contact and feel of subtle fish strikes.  The line guides on the Mojo now has ceramic rings compared to the old Premier with stainless steel rings.  The line guides are four plus tip and positioning is still the same as with the old Premiere.

Since I had an original custom made Thorne Bros baitcasting rod years before St Croix made these baitcasting ice fishing rods, I have a good baseline for what I'm comparing.  My original is a 32" Walleye Sweetheart blank where I had two built in M and MH power.  5" rear grip and 1 1/2" fore grip.  I had Fuji Alconite line guides on mine with four line guides plus tip.  What I find amazing is how the line guide spacing position of the St Croix retail rods basically matches the line guides in spacing position on my custom bait casting rods.  My custom Thorn has a 2 1/2", 2 3/4", 3 1/2", 4 3/4" line guide spacing measured at the rings.  The Mojo has a line guide spacing from tip, 2", 3", 4", 5" appears to be just a general increasing guide spacing, but it works.

The rod flex on the MH Mojo is just a slight softer than the MH Premier.  The bend load is 99 percent identical.  On my original MH Thorne Bros, it's about 95 percent or more similar.  It's just a touch more stiff. 

Now the St Croix Mojo and Premiere has hook keeper on the bottom side of the rod.  In my experience, I find this to be problematic.  First thing is that the hook keeper will catch onto things where ever you set the rod down or put it in storage.  Second if you have a lure on it, that hook point is more likely to poke into something.  Third, if you're ever stripping line off while lure dropping, the line will sag and get caught up on that hook keeper.   If having lure's of 1/4 oz or heavier, it's not an issue as since lure is heavy enough to pull line with enough tension.  On my original custom, I have the hook keeper offset on the right side.  I am a right handle cranker, and it's my preference.

[Whytie]

great comparison review Bob. 

[slipperybob]

great comparison review Bob. 

TYVM

[Curley]

Much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.

[slipperybob]

A recap from last season's light use.  Since I was using braid lines, I will say that perhaps I didn't get the right feel for the functionality of the Mojo spinning rods.  Even though the Mojo spinning rods had that uniquely different handle, I will say the comfort of pencil or rather pistol grip hold position was so comfortably natural it almost makes me wonder why I don't use it more often.  Cold freezing temps, braid lines, and stainless steel rings are probably the best way to build ice on lines in the worst way.  However thanks to those larger line guide rings it was manageable.  The best thing about the Mojo spinning rods are those larger line guide rings and specifically the positioning of them makes the rods operate on a smoothness that surpass most other rods off the shelf rods.

A few wish for improvement really would be getting ceramic ring inserts instead of those stainless steel ones.  Hey they made the changes to the bait casting model and it was a huge improvement.  A slightly stronger backbone to their UL blank would make it a better fish handling rod.  Perhaps I'm wishing for a Light power model.

On the 13 Wicked UL model I really enjoyed using it.  It just seems like everything was aligned perfectly on my set-up.  Perhaps it was the fluorocarbon line or that it was matched with  Sustain reel instead of a Stradic reel.  Perhaps it just fit my style of panfish jigging.  Whatever the reason this particular rod and power is perfect.  Well the short handle is short.  I could use a few more inches, even one more inch would suit me better.  I wish that there wasn't a metal cap on the foregrip.  That's colder when it cold and is culprit for all those broken rods I see plastered on the internet.  I will also add that the Wicked ML model is retired from my arsenal.  It rests next to my JM Meat Stick.

Let's see what this season will be getting out of these rods...