Any better ice fishing rods than 13 Fishing Widow Maker?

[MattiasS]

Are there any better ice fishing rods than the 13 Fishing Widow Maker out there that's not a custom rod?

[IFF]

Sure ones that you can catch fish with. devil made me type that,

[BaitBucket]

Are there any better ice fishing rods than the 13 Fishing Widow Maker out there that's not a custom rod?

What makes the  Widow Maker the best, price?

Look at some of the St. Croix Ice rods.

[mr.clean]

MattiasS first off welcome to Ice Shanty. To my knowledge 13 Fishing's Widow Maker rod is a new product this year so members here on Ice shanty who have used the rod will be limited. There are a few members who belong to various manufacturers Pro teams not sure if anyone belong to 13 Fishing. The Tickle Stick came out last year and was a hot item. Just be careful if you purchase either model rod due to the flat grind of the rod tips many people reported breaking the tips of their Tickle Sticks. You may find a commercially produced/marketed rod with Quick Tip Action more suited to your needs/style of fishing. I'm not to good with posting links so please visit the Jigging and Equipment Communities/boards . You should find a few threads on the Tickle Stick and how it compares to other rods. Also depending on the custom rod builder you may find a custom built rod is the same price range as the Tickle Stick or Widow Maker.
Steve

[MattiasS]

I'm thinking quality of the blank, rings and overall feel. i will mostly fish trout, walleye and 2-4ib perch and thinking avout the ML and M Widowmaker rods..

[BaitBucket]

I'm thinking quality of the blank, rings and overall feel. i will mostly fish trout, walleye and 2-4ib perch and thinking avout the ML and M Widowmaker rods..

The general consensus for those who have handled them is that they are over priced.

[spam]

fenwick elite tech ice are really nice rods id take a fenwick any day of the week over those widowmakers!!!

[wiel0059]

I have a few of these as I've mentioned in other threads (you can do a quick search). I've been playing around with them for the past month or so, patiently waiting to get them on the ice (stupid weather - I'd normally be on ice by this coming weekend). I've used a lot of ice rods from a very long list of companies, and these have me very excited for the upcoming season. I have two 27" UL's that I'll be using as my main panfish rods.

The Tickle Stick is also a great rod for the price, for whatever my opinion is worth lol. I used it all last year with great success. A few of my buddies had the same experience after using mine and picking up their own. Be very hesitant of those stating the tip will break and the guides are too small. I didn't have either issue last year, but I know others definitely did. However, for this year, the tip (in comparing this years model and lasts) is twice as wide, so strength will be greatly improved. Guides are also much bigger, so guide freezing shouldn't be an issue either. At a recent ice show I had a chance to look at a ton of awesome ice rods and sort of compare, and the guides look to be the same size used on a majority of custom rods on the market - at least to my eyes 

[IFF]

I had just setup the display for the new widow makers, and next day had to take it down, not sure why but guess they all got sent back ? Now wondering if its the price ? and thinking if that be the case they would just sit there and collect dust. For me I wasn't all that impressed, what little I got to handle one.

[hnd]

i'd take a st. croix over the widow maker at this point but unless you've fished them out of a boat, theres no use in comparing a rod that hasn't been out on the ice yet. 

[JiggingIowa]

If I'm using a rod I can get off the shelf instead of one of my customs it's always going to be an ht ice blues. Cheap rod that fishes great, don't have to worry about it breaking like you would the tickle stick or having to spend 10x more for the widow maker.. Might as well buy a custom at that price point IMO

[Raptortrapper]

Fenwick Elite Tech is what I use as well.  Got a great deal on them towards the end of last season, and they are all I will be using this year, till my Bricker rod comes in February.  But without going custom, I won't use anything but my Fenwicks and a Flueger Summit reel. 

[DrewFlu33]

Fenwick Elite Tech is what I use as well.  Got a great deal on them towards the end of last season, and they are all I will be using this year, till my Bricker rod comes in February.  But without going custom, I won't use anything but my Fenwicks and a Flueger Summit reel.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but how is the tip on the Elite Tech? 

I bought a Tickle Stick last year and really liked the sensitive tip that allowed you to see strikes but also transferred it to the blank so you could feel them, but wasn't a fan of the small guides. I like to be able to switch out my rods between jigging and dead sticking and the guides always caught my bobber stops when I tried to use it as a dead-stick rod.

My current favorite rods are the Frabill Bro Series Quick Tips that come in the combo with the SL 371.  I almost bought an Elite Tech to try out (like you, on end of year clearance), but didn't as I didn't figure it had the style of tip on it that I've learned to like so well.

[hnd]

i'm excited to try out the tackle 8 snitch.  i can buy 2 for the price of the widow maker.   

[wiel0059]

i'm excited to try out the tackle 8 snitch.  i can buy 2 for the price of the widow maker.

I have a buddy thats a very good ice angler and these are all he uses (the snitch rod). He loves them and swears by them. Based on his feedback, I think you'll be happy. Let us know how they perform if ice ever forms!

[800stealth]

I can't comment about the widow maker as I've never fished with one but I'll agree with the others about the Fenwick Elite Tech... I've got 10 of the first gen (brown and gold) ranging from UL to M and absolutely love them. I always keep an eye on E-bay for them... got 3 this summer half off from a store that was letting them go for half price to make room for the second gen Elite Techs.

[Raptortrapper]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but how is the tip on the Elite Tech?

Hey Drew.  I really like the tip on the Elite Tech rods.  I don't use bobbers and bobber stops, so can't comment on the eye size.  They are plenty big for around these parts.  Never have had any freezing issues in the guides.  I usually just flick them, and whatever ice is there usually pops right off. 

I like the spine, but wish it had a bit more.  I have the 23" UL for perch, and it is a riot.  Handles them just fine even though I thought it was gonna snap like a twig.  You really can feel every movement of the fish on that little rod.  If I latch into a trout on that rod, it's like hooking Moby Dick.  My second Elite Tech is a ML rod at 26", and is probably my go to rod at the moment.  The tip is still light enough to see even the slightest movement, but has a bit more spine than the UL rod.  20" trout are no problem on this rod.  I would think walleye would work on this rod till ya hit the larger than average ones, but we don't have many of those here, so this rod works for 99% of what I get into.  I wish it was a bit longer, but that is just a personal preference thing, nothing more.  My favorite action on my fly fishing rods is to have a pretty fast, responsive tip, but a bit stiffer spine (the Scott S4).  For that reason, I wish these Elite Tech rods had a bit more spine, but again, that is just personal preference.  As far as off the shelf rods, these have been my favorite by far.  I went through 4 rods last year that I couldn't stand, then I found these Fenwicks on sale towards the end of the season.  I'm going to look for a MH or even a H action in this Elite Tech series, and try to pick one of those up for lakers as well.  Mine are the brown and gold gen 1 rods, and I think they are great rods for off the shelf, in my opinion.

[Old Goat]

They do have a Fenwick Elite Tech MH for sure not sure if there was a H in the first gen. 800 you wouldn't want to let go of one or 2 would you

[MattiasS]

How about the Frabill ice spinning rods?

[800stealth]

They do have a Fenwick Elite Tech MH for sure not sure if there was a H in the first gen. 800 you wouldn't want to let go of one or 2 would you

I don't believe they made a heavy either, just MH... and I'm hanging on to them... I still buy them when I find them.

[DrewFlu33]

I appreciate the insight Raptortrapper.  I'm happy with what I've got, but like most, am always on the lookout for something better!   

To answer your question about the Frabill rods MattiasS: The Bro series quick tip rods are my current favorite.  I have zero complaints about them.  Nice responsive tip to see the bites with no need for a spring bobber, balanced nicely with the rest of the rod so you can also feel the bites, and enough backbone to get a hook into most any fish I've tangled with and get it up to the surface.  I've caught everything from 3 inch perch and gills to 30+ inch pike on them.   These are the only current model Frabill ice rods I've used, but I'm quite happy with them. 

[Townie]

Didn't care for the Elite-Tech UL-- cool handle but action was too moderate-- couldn't  feel jigs under 5mm. I'm selling it.

[Raptortrapper]

Good to know! I didn't know they didn't make the Elite tech in a heavy action.  Medium heavy it is then!

[pete/ny]

I'm thinking quality of the blank, rings and overall feel. i will mostly fish trout, walleye and 2-4ib perch and thinking avout the ML and M Widowmaker rods..

    2-4 lb PERCH! Where you at???

[Raptortrapper]

800--  About those MH elite tech rods.  Have you used the gen 2 version at all?  I'd like to get ahold of one of the gen 1 models, but curious about the gen 2 as I may be able to get my hands on one of those soon than the gen 1.

[800stealth]

800--  About those MH elite tech rods.  Have you used the gen 2 version at all?  I'd like to get ahold of one of the gen 1 models, but curious about the gen 2 as I may be able to get my hands on one of those soon than the gen 1.

A buddy of mine has a few of the new ones, I didn't really fish with one but did get to check them out and they seem very similar to my 1st gen

[Old Goat]

Didn't the 2nd generation have a different name          I kept an eye out for more elite techs and noticed a price hike year 2 then nothing the next year

[Elrik]

    2-4 lb PERCH! Where you at???

2-4lb perch and name is mattias i am going to say he lives in sweden, though finland is also a distinct posibility. Different species of perch and they grow a lot bigger than ours!

[jwetovick]

Many custom rods for the same or less price if you snoop around. I build rods for buddies etc and rarely charge more than 50 bucks unless they want recoils. So unless time is your issue then keep that in mind. Many builders out there that could build a similar rod to a snitch for reasonable and you can pick your colors and have your name etc written on the blank.

[MattiasS]

2-4lb perch and name is mattias i am going to say he lives in sweden, though finland is also a distinct posibility. Different species of perch and they grow a lot bigger than ours!

Yes Sweden! Perch CAN grow to about 5-6lb here, but that's really rare.