Which rod to buy?

[fooman]

I fish crappie and gills in a Frabill ultra light and want to know which rod(manufacture,action and length) I should go with. Frabil Amp,St Croix(Avid,Premier) or a Thorne Bros.  THANKS

[jiggaFL-18]

well fooman..... I have 4 st.croix premier's which i truly love....but i am gonne use the frabill amplifier and try that out  this year  other than that cant go wrong with the trusty st.croix for ice fishing or for any fishing all my  poles are st.croix....hope i helped
 

[shwung79]

I totally 120% agree!!  I just bought a St. Croix  rod for 20$ at Bass Pro Shops and think it is the best ice rod I have ever owned.  I used to think the lightning rod was, untill this year!

kevin

[ZachSchuler]

I have 3 st. croix avids and 1 premier. They're awesome.

[trapdaddy21]

i agree with everyone else, st. croix rods are awesome. i just bought two premiers at gander mountain and they are perfect for crappie and walleye fishing. the 24" ul is sensitive enough to crappie nibbles. i wouln't buy anything else

[Mike P. Sheahan]

You don't want to be the only one on the Ice without the Buzz Stick!

 

[rgfixit]

I just received my new Netcraft catalog...I'm a huge St. Croix fan...many of their rods in my collection.

I like to build my own so I'm going to try a 24" ultra light and a 28" medium light.

I REALLY need another rod!

RG

[Mr.Seaguar]

Thorne Bros are very good rods. They are very overpriced due to the fact the rest of the market is catching up to them. Its been a slow process but the rest of the market is closing on Thorne. This was not true last year and the market was light years behind 2 years ago.

Lets see, $70 for a Thorne, $30 for a StCroix Avid series. 90% of the rod for less than 50% of the money. There are some improvements StCroix can make like smaller rod guides for one that would make them better, but they are lots of rod for the money.
    Although, I catch 60% of my fish on $8 Schooleys, so what do I know.

[crappieloo]

I finally found those Yad rods at a local store. They are just what i was looking for, no frills or gimicks just a nice rod. Only problem is all they had was long ones.
 My high end rod is a 18 inch St. Crox artic angler $18.00 and out of production
All my other rods are HT, South Bend or Currents which run from $ 5.99 to $8.99

[richstick]

I've hear the Yads are supposed to be available at Gander, but my local store didn't have them last time I was there (don't get there too often, it's an hour away).  Anywhere else that has them?

How about the new Rapala ice rods - has anyone tried them?  The solid carbon rod sells for about 15 bucks and has a very nice action.  Really, in a higher end rod, you are buying sensitivity for "pounding" type jigging presentations, and quality of action.  I think for the money, the St. Croix Avid is a great rod - the woven graphite "tennesse" handle transmits your jig motions incredibly well.  The action is flawless.  Great rod.  

[genz_man]

Go with HT if you want the (cheapest) best rods on the market. For roughly 10 bucks apiece how can you go wrong. 8) Another good reason to buy the cheap ones is if you are a rod tip breaker like myself. Car doors,pac boots, junk in the sled........you name it I can find a way to break it  

[CNY_Tim]

I carry six rods..  Five in a Croxton Pond Bag..I have two Thorne Bros. rods, a Sweetheart Plus 28" and a Sweet Thing 24",  Genz rod 28"LR and an HT Ice Blue IB-24.  A custom built and beautifully wrapped rod for my larger raps built to my specs by Splitshot.  In my cooler I have a sight fishing rod that was custom built by Dark Cloud to his stringent specifications, great for sight fishing and going micro too.   I will playing alot with that sight rod this season.  When the fish are finicky and I have to go micro the IB-24 is my favorite.  If you ask me which one has caught me more fish it would be that $8 HT rod I bought seven years ago. That's the best $8 I ever spent...

[fooman]

I have plenty of cheaper rods (HT,Mitchell) and they all have caught fish. I figured it was time to step up and try the better quality rods. I just put an order in to Thorne Bros. for a St Croix Premier combo 24" UL and a Berkley Gentz 24" UL.

 Thank you to everyone who replied.

[richstick]

Tony, where do you buy solid carbon ice blanks from?  I know that netcraft, etc. carry tubular graphite.  

Not to start anything, but also, if you are properly pounding a jig, you can feel any type of take, be it a straight take, a lift bite, or whatever.  It only works with heavier jigs, it doesn't work with a rat finkee, obviously!  I use a variety of techniques in combo with my fishing - spring bobbers, tightlining/line watching (whatever you want to call it) and my FL-18 all work together for my strike detection.  

Like others have said - the HT rods are awesome bang for your buck, I have a signature series 24" - GREAT rod!