IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Jigging => Topic started by: ufflmaster on Dec 07, 2020, 02:40 PM
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I think I am going to take the plunge and order a TUCR precision noodle. I mostly fish 4 mm tungsten and plastics for gills and crappie. I assume from reading that this is the "right" rod for this application? The bullwhip would be for a little heaver jigs and small spoons correct? I am also curious to hear thoughts on cork vs EVA and full handle vs split grip. The handle part is what I cant really decide on and I wont be able to get these in hand to try out. I generally prefer cork split grip for my open water rods but just not sure on something so small. Any feedback would be appreciated on this rod. I was thinking 32" also???
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I have one with the cork split grip and love it. Good luck I'm sure you'll be happy.
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Check out the TUCR segment of last weekends Smackdown Outdoors virtual fishing show on Facebook. Another poster said it was still there for viewing again. Good luck.
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Do you fish with a rod holder? Split-gripped ice rods have a tendency to not sit all too well in certain rod holders. If not, then it’s really just personal preference. Split-grips help with pencil gripping the rod too but again, personal preference. I own 3 precision noodles, all straight grips, and I have no problem jigging with a pencil grip. Another thing to consider is that if you go with a split grip, the blank section going from the front of the handle to the rods tip will will be shorter than a straight gripped rod to accommodate the split. So, for example, a 32” rod with a split-grip will have about 1”-2” less of fishable rod blank.
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So, if you want a 32” rod but in a split grip, I’d personally go with a 34” so you get about the same amount of fishable blank. Again, all of this is personal preference. However, once you get past 30”, the fishable length of the blank becomes less significant. For a 32” split-grip, you’d probably be alright going with a 32” and probably wouldn’t have even noticed a difference of a 34” rod other than a overall longer rod. Storage, transportation, and in-shack use is all other things to consider with a longer ice rod, especially an expensive TUCR.
I also own a straight gripped Bullwhip (all of my rods are 30”). For what it’s worth, I use the PN for tungsten jigs from 2.5mm-4mm. I wouldn’t go any bigger than 4mm because it tends to overload the tip. Still functions just fine but it’s too much for me. I use the BW for 5mm tungsten, 1/32-1/8oz spoons, and ultra light rippin-raps.
Both are excellent rods and both excel at what I use them for (gills and crappie). My PN’s have cork handles and the BW has an EVA handle. Honesty, with gloves, you will never tell a difference and honestly, without gloves I’ve never really considered the difference. I use the different handles to help quickly differentiate my rods. I got the BW first because it’s an extremely versatile rod (pushing 5 years old). Then, I got a few PN’s to further fine tune application specific situations.
Also, don’t be afraid to contact them and tell them what you’re looking for. They will be able to help you pick exactly what you want based on what and how you fish.
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I have both rods and if going for gills and crappies, I prefer the PN over the BW. To me, the tip on the PN is a bit lighter and the backbone is further down the blank. The BW has a faster transition to the backbone (and a stiffer backbone). I typically dont use anything heavier than 1/16oz or 4MM jigs for gills and crappies
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Have both PN(30") and bullwhip (32"), use the PN more often though the bullwhip is very similar in the tip but transitions into the backbone very quickly. Like the previous post quoted earlier, the PN has just the slightest more of a softer tip than the BW but not much.
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Bullwhip was initially designed as a custom rod for a guy on in depth outdoors, they cut an inch off the tip. I'm not sure if thats still how its done, but it resulted in a slightly stiffer tip and faster transition to backbone. That is what I hated about the TUCR PN I had, the transition from super soft tip immediately to stiff backbone caused me to pull hooks on crappies unless I just lifted the rod slowly to set the hook.. my instincts are to set the hook so it wasn't a good fit for me. Took me a while to figure out why I was "lipping" all these crappies, eventually figured it out and it solved my issue but it felt weird trying to change my hookset so I ended up selling mine.