Fly the Team Iceshanty Flag! Iceshanty Proshop
Preliminary Review: Clam Ice Team Carbon Ice RodsThese appear to be exclusively sold at Cabela's at a retail price of $35. I saw them and played with them at the store. The rubberized coating on the real seat will help out with grip and reduce cold transfer in the outdoor element. There is a unique honeycomb pattern detailed onto the reel seat handle and onto the lower section of the rod up to the first line guide. My first impression was wow, the rod flex has a familiar feel. With the few limited choices on the store shelves, I picked up three of them at the sale price of $28 each: 26" UL, 28" L, and 32" ML.Come home and I went to verify that familiar feel. I put them next to my very old Thorne Bros, Panfish Sweetheart and Perch Sweetheart rods. I checked each rod flex over several times. The 28" L model matches the Panfish Sweetheart, and the 32" ML model matches the Perch Sweetheart. It's like an identical replica of the rod blank in terms of flex and feel, minus the different line guides and actual blank diameter. Can it be? The realization that another company has duplicated the industry pioneer in propriety rod blank action that recreated a full length rod action in an ice rod length. The price point difference of these rods are more than a two to one in difference.Now if Clam would just expand the line up. For one thing, I'm not a fan of varying rod length for difference in rod power. I would like one standard length more like how St Croix builds their rods. Of course this may affect the line guide placement. As current the 26" UL has three line guides plus tip. The 28" L has four line guides plus tip. The 32" ML has four line guides plus tip. These are the optimal line guide placement for the number of line guides for each rod at the 90 rod tip flex. With spinning reels mounted on them, I noticed that the reel stem did not line up on the 32" ML. It appears to offset the line guides to the right by about 5 degrees or so. Since I'm a right hand cranking orientated, the offset balance sort hides this. The other two rods were perfectly aligned.I am simply amazed at how fast the ice fishing industry has changed and how the quality and variety of ice fishing rods have become available. I will always hold Thorne Bros rods in high regards and St Croix Rods as an industry standard.
This all got me thinking SB. So what determines the "classification" of a rod...UL,L,ML,M, etc.? I have 2 rods in question...1 is UL (36') and the other is Heavy (48") yet both have near identical diameters/action at the tip...which is how I have always viewed what the rod action is? I never went by what the rod was classified as anyway...I always go by looks and feel of the tip along with the apex of the rod bend. Have I been wrong in my thinking I did find this...accurate? Maybe it depends on rod manufacturer? Still A fast action rod will bend in only the top third or less of the blank, a medium or moderate action will bend in the top half or so and a slow action will bend starting in the lower third of the rod. Sometimes slow action rods are termed 'parabolic', meaning the bend of the rod is similar throughout the length.