Thorne Bros Perch Sweetheart

[flatironfisherman]

What's everyone's opinion on the Perch Sweetheart from Thorne Bros?  I'm thinking about having a 28" made, possibly with the WINN grip, but I'm not sure which guides I want.  I fish in a shanty 99.9% of the time but I do like the larger guides, but are the titanium guides worth the $30 extra?

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I bought one....never again. Nice rod, but for the $100 I paid there are way better rods out.

[Mr.Seaguar]

They are too much rod for perch. Sweet Thing is a better perch rod.

[Light liner]

I have a 28" panfish sweetheart I love for perch fishing.
6" Tennessee handle outside Fuji guides.
Great rod.
My 28" perch sweetheart I use for deep water slab yellow perch and white perch.
Has a great backbone for setting the hook with larger jigs.
Little heavy for everyday use.
My opinion is the Thorne bros. Rods are top notch, rugged take a beating.
Don't know about the titanium guides the outside Fuji guides work well.

[BigSling]

I like the two I have though I use them primarily for walleye jigging with smaller (1/8 or less) baits.

[SLAYERFISH]

$100 for a perch rod?   Thats just stupid-

Nothing personal---

[OldSailor]

If you're looking for a good rod at a decent price, check out HT's blue rods!! No need to pay big bucks to get a decent rod!!!

[KinnickResident]

If you're looking for a good rod at a decent price, check out HT's blue rods!! No need to pay big bucks to get a decent rod!!!

This^^^

Ht Blue rods are the best value for dollar item in the entire sport of ice fishing. No, I'm not kidding.

[FishDoc_1]

Check out the Thorne Bros. Quiverstick.  I have the the Quiverstick Sniffer.  It has a spring bobber and is super sensitive. It's by far my favorite rod.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

$100 for a perch rod?   Thats just stupid-

Nothing personal---

LOL.....agree. The Thorne Brothers perch sweetheart was the first custom Rod I had ever bought, and at $100 a few years ago wasn't cheap. Like a poster said on here earlier it's a bit stiff and is more or less a big perch rod, and handles walleye. 1/8 oz spoons are great on it.

I was excited when I ordered it....then it showed up and the disapointment really set in. It wasn't anything overly special.

I bought the Tennesse handle with the fugi guides. Don't get me wrong it was a nice Rod. However, I had an older cabelas xml ice Rod that was basicly the EXACT same Rod. It had the Tennessee  handle fugi guides and the blank loaded up the same. I paid $25 for the cabelas about 1-2yrs before I got the Thorne Rod. It saddened me when I snapped the cabelas Rod about 1yr ago, because they don't make that Rod anymore.

The Thorne Brothers rods are nice, but IMO nothing special in the market place. I've found to many off the shelf rods that preform comparable enough for 1/3 the cost or less.

[slipperybob]

Since we are all just expressing opinions and not getting all knotted over empirical data...or personal preference.

Anyways I like the few I have.  I feel that they're over priced.  I will likely buy another one.  I don't see myself in any hurry to get another one. 

[Mr.Seaguar]

$100 for a perch rod?   Thats just stupid-

Nothing personal---

Of course it's stupid. Ice fishing period is stupid. If it wasn't for stupid things we would all die of boredom. Life is one stupid bad choice after another until you die. There is nothing intelligent about any purchase related to any hobby. To say one purchase was more or less stupid than another is to split some mighty fine hairs.

[flatironfisherman]

Thanks for the replies guys!  I'll definitely hold off on buying one since the reviews are pretty much unanimous that they're overpriced for what they are.  Guess I'll just keep using my JM Meatstick that's worked great for me so far!   

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Thanks for the replies guys!  I'll definitely hold off on buying one since the reviews are pretty much unanimous that they're overpriced for what they are.  Guess I'll just keep using my JM Meatstick that's worked great for me so far!   

Your not missing out on anything.....so don't feel like you are.

[havejigwilltravel]

go with the ht blue. they work great. price is very reasonable and when they break(oh yeah, it'll break eventually) you won't be as pissed as if you broke a $100 rod.

[RyanW]

If you're looking to spend $100 on an ice rod I suggest looking at Tuned Up Custom Rods. I have 3 (2 Precision Noodles and a Bullwhip, all 30") and wouldn't trade them for anything. Absolutely fantastic rods and worth every penny in my opinion.

If you actually take care of your gear and don't let your dumb buddies mess with your stuff, thins have a tendency to last a lot longer. Hence why I own 3 TUCR's. Nobody but me is ever touching them and I treat them like expensive quality tools. If I need spare rods for guests, they can use the cheap ones.

Do you need a $100 ice rod to catch fish? Absolutely not! Does it make the experience better overall? For me it does. I like high end stuff and I treat my gear right so why wouldn't I buy the things I like especially if they work well? I wouldn't.

Another thing, if you planned on spending $100 on an ice rod, you could set yourself up rather decent for building ice rods so next time you wanted a custom rod you could just build yourself a quality one for about $25-$30. It's a super easy process (even sanding blank profiles is easy if you have a cordless drill).

For what it's worth, I don't care much for Thorne Bro's rods.

[bigstorm]

You may want to look at DH Customs Perch Pounder. It is cheaper than the Thorne Bros and its a great rod. I also have a few TUCR's as well but the price of those is more inline with Thorne Bros.

I have not fished with a Thorne Bros so I cant say how they perform, but I have used a few different DH Customs and TUCRs and both are worth the money

[lostbrit]

I have the perch sweet heart, and DH perch pounder. I reach more for the perch pounder due to the feel the rod.

[crappie-attitude]

Good timing on this topic.  Sitting around waiting and thinking about ice fishing,  I was starting to consider a Thorne Bros. Perch Sweetheart but was really having a hard time justifying the price.   With the input on this thread helped me put this idea aside.