Need some rod advice please

phiendWMD

phiendWMD

Active member
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
792
Hi everyone, last weekend I broke another rod tip on my St Croix Imperial. The first one I'll take all the blame. I slammed it in the car door. But this one, I was snagged in a tree and barely pulled it as I moved around to reach up and grab it. I really was surprised when it snapped clean in half. So anyway, its $30 to replace it. $75 to transfer the warranty into my name. Or I could just move on.

I bought this 2nd hand trying to save a few dollars, and I'm getting really close to the point of having spent the same amount as a new one, with a warranty, would of been. I think its obvious I need something with a warranty as I am an abusive clumsy tip killer.

So should I try a 3rd time or give up and get something else now?
 
This isn't a direct comparison as this is the cheaper rod. Opening day this year I had a St. Croix Rio Santo and was super excited that I got something moderately priced and not the $15.00 Eagle Claw I bought a few months before.

Hit a twig about an hour in just walking through the woods, not any forceful on a cast or anything, and on the next cast, rod tip broke off. Took it back and got a replacement, very next time, the rod tip broke an hour in AGAIN.

I gave up. I went to Redington Pursuit 9' 5-wt and haven't looked back. Also bought the 9' 8-Wt and the 8' 4-WT since they were on sale for $60.00 each over 4th of July weekend, and I've loved all 3 of them....
 
phiend ... I recommend going with a Cabelas branded rod. The more experienced can you u some suggestions and I'd advise trying one out but per warranty ... I snapped two. Each time I called and went back (abt 20 miles west of LL), no receipt (each time), and they replaced it with ease. The 2nd time they didn't have the same model and gave me something equivalent to the model I had. Big fan of their and u can get into something w/out spending a lot.
 
Oh, and Redington has life-time warranty. St. Croix probably does too, but thought I'd mention...
 
Phiend..........first off let me say welcome to the board. Next let me say that having been doing this since i was 5 years old if you can tie flies you can build your own rod from blanks and accessories which can either be purchased from many local fly shops or mail ordered from several of the "Big Name" companies that have mail order. I don't know if you are a fly tier or not but if you are then you know the feeling of satisfaction you get from catching those first fish you catch on your own flies..........same goes for the first rods you build and the most important thing for a young beginning fly angler is price.......you can get a whole lot more bang for your buck if you DIY.......not to mention a whole lot of satisfaction!!!!
 
Dan, now that I think of it, St Croix said they were back ordered on the tip I needed when I ordered the first one. Maybe the problem is more widespread than I thought.

Stagger, I'll look into some Cabelas rods Sunday, I'll be close so I might as well so by.

Osprey, I don't tie, at least not yet. But I do love DIY projects. I've considered building a blank but not very seriously. Its probably not something I'd get into without someone who knows what they are doing lending a hand.
 
phiendWMD wrote:
Dan, now that I think of it, St Croix said they were back ordered on the tip I needed when I ordered the first one. Maybe the problem is more widespread than I thought.

Stagger, I'll look into some Cabelas rods Sunday, I'll be close so I might as well so by.

Osprey, I don't tie, at least not yet. But I do love DIY projects. I've considered building a blank but not very seriously. Its probably not something I'd get into without someone who knows what they are doing lending a hand.
Click to expand...
Not to change the subject but your avatar is distracting.
 
im not advertising jus trying to help someone out but all shadow rods come with an extra tip section...and limited life time warranty..you may want to check them out bud
 
He is blinding me with science...........hey.
 
I went to Cabela's Saturday night and picked up a Three Forks outfit. I fished the Little Lehigh this morning for a bit, and I might be crazy, but I think I like it more than the Imperial. I like at least as much. And it will be much easier to deal with when I break it.

I don't feel like making another thread right now, but while I'm mentioning the LL, what is the general rule about how close you should be? The last 2 times I've been there people have come right up to where I was. One guy was literally like 10 feet away upstream, casting almost exactly where I just was.

This morning some guy told me I could fish right next to him if i wanted to cast to a fish near him he was casting to. I guess I'm more used to only seeing one or two other people. I don't want to move to another spot. I don't really want to have to ask someone else to move, but I think people on the LL really get too close. There are enough fish that 6 people don't need to be fishing the same pool. Am I wrong?
 
phiendWMD wrote:
I don't feel like making another thread right now, but while I'm mentioning the LL, what is the general rule about how close you should be? The last 2 times I've been there people have come right up to where I was. One guy was literally like 10 feet away upstream, casting almost exactly where I just was.

This morning some guy told me I could fish right next to him if i wanted to cast to a fish near him he was casting to. I guess I'm more used to only seeing one or two other people. I don't want to move to another spot. I don't really want to have to ask someone else to move, but I think people on the LL really get too close. There are enough fish that 6 people don't need to be fishing the same pool. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

The Little Lehigh is like 17 miles in length. There's fish all along it's length. There's good fishing in other areas than the regs waters, and you get away from the often less-than-polite people that jam into the kiddie pool section. Do some walking...
 
I'm posting this just after an epileptic seizure caused by you avatar.

Have you friend call st croix since its registered to him. You canbuy a ssection and have it sent for att $30. Boom, fixed.
 
Kray, my friend was a random guy from Craigslist I met in a parking lot. I'm not sure he is interested in fixing my problems, judging by his response when I emailed about the warranty with St Croix. He also lives roughly 2 hours away and the gas and tolls would be as much as a new tip.

I know a new tip is $30. But it will be the second one in about 2 months. At that rate, I could buy a much nicer rod new and have the lifetime warranty. Although the salesman at Cabela's said there would still be a $20 or so cost for shipping with most companies.
 
Fyi the wonderous redington warranty is send them your rod and $30 so $30 + shipping to washington is more like $40-60 insured. I have a pursuit love it other than it has a broken tip I dont wish top pay so much to have it replaced.

To me the $30 shipped from st croix sounds pretty good. But if cabellas replaces 100% free that theres the winner. One day im gonna buy me a tqr from them, slow, short 5wt.... mmmmmmmmm.........
 
Things you want to be careful about when buy "their" brand.....

Read their return policy very carefully.

EVERY rod of theirs I bought ended up snapping except one and I got my first one from them in 1986

If they phased out thmodel you broke, exect to get 50% of current value. Example: buy a 2 forks rod for $99, they discontinue it and it goes in bargain cave for $39....you go to return yours but they no longer have one to replace it....they give you 50% of $39.

Due to that policy and every rod (5 of them) breaking, I'll never buy another model of theirs. Their rods broke while stringing up, casting or playing fish. In 30 years, the only sage, st croix or redington I broke was in a car door. Last week my nephew plowed his pontoon onto my z-axis that was hanging out the rear of my boat. No clue how it didn't snap but I'm confident if it was a cabelas brand, it would have broken 10 times over. It's too bad too because their FT+ and IM6 were great casting rods. Never had one make it an entire season and I don't fish often.

Also, after you have 3 break, they check the computer and don't expect andecision to go in your favor. ec
 
phiend, another question for ya? i know you are new like i am, what's the chance you clipped the tip of the rod at some point with a fly? i know in my case that's exactly what i did with both my redington and my buddies st croix that i broke. though this time with my st croix yeah i'm a moron and shut it in the door...

casting can be costly especially with larger flies like clousers, ht efly that i clipped both my rods with. clip it once and that graphite becomes a time bomb.
 
The chance I hit the tip with a fly is 100%. Multiple times. This is most likely exactly what happened, because like I said before I barely put any pressure on the rod at all when it snapped. It also snapped completely into 2 pieces. The one I shut in the car door didn't even do that.

Kray I hope I have better luck with them than you have, but as rough on gear as I am I doubt I will. I paid the extra $9.99 for the 2 year service plan or whatever. Guy said it covered everything except being lost or stolen. So hopefully it doesn't cost me more than a trip back there, which isn't too far out of my way.

I guess the point is I need to be more careful. Which kinda sucks, because I like to leap before looking.
 
practice, practice, practice! though sadly the more you practice the more you put that fly in "the danger zone" lol.

and hope the new rod works pout well for ya! which one did you get anyways?
 
DJ, when I cast "properly" 10-2, it seems to hit very often. If I open my stroke a little more, it barely seems to occur. I'm not sure why, but at least I've found something that works for me.

I picked up a Three Forks. Now Kray has me wanting to drive back today to return it. Haha. I just needed something cheap to fish with Sunday. It did ok, and pulled in a nice rainbow and couple browns without self destructing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top