Custom Ice Rod for Walleye's

I am taking my first trip ever to Lake of the Woods in late Feb and looking to purchase a Custom Ice Rod for Walleye. Overall new to ice fishing in the last couple of years and have mainly been after panfish, purchased a Thorne Bros & TUCR Bullwhip this year, both are great but the bullwhip is in my hands more. TUCR has several ice rods available on their “walleye ice rod page”, looking for advice.

Click on TUCR Rod Spectrum chart here

There is some overlap on their rods so you’ll have to decide what would be best for your preferred style of fishing.

Make sure to match the rod to the lure and not the fish. Biggest mistake I see. If you’re running 1/16th-3/16th spoons, pick a JT gold digger, Thorne bros perch sweetheart, or a TUCR Precision. 1/4th and up pick a jt black reign, Thorne bros walleye sweetheart or tucr PP or Commander

Go with a Thorne bros perch sweetheart for any normal walleye fishing. Buy the walleye sweet heart if your jigging big for big fish.

I just got a TUCR Fusion. Haven’t used it yet but it has a great feel. My first impression it’s more of a pan fish rod but if you happen upon a walleye the rod will certainly handle it and will provide some fun. I hung a 1/8th Lindy spoon on it and it preloaded the tip a bit too much I thought so that is the high end of lures on that rod. If I like the Fusion my next one will be a Precision.

Right now my go to walleye rod is a old 28″ medium action Ugly Stick. It must be 10 years old and shows it’s age but it’s been reliable as death and taxes and it was off the shelf Wal Mart cheap.

The Bullwhip and the Precision are designed to cover nearly all ice fishing needs. That said, the Commander is designed to fish heavier baits and to handle bigger fish that you might find in Lake of Woods.
TUCR

I love my commander. I’ve caught 5” sauger with it and horsed 27” walleye out of 30’ of water in less than a couple minutes. Works great with 3/16 spoons to 1/2 oz rattle baits (and probably heavier). I don’t think it will be the best finesse rod though, and late February could be a tough bite on LotW

If you like the feel of the bull whip use that. It will cover anything except the largest walleye and if you do hook up a big one just take it easy. We used 4 lb test on a small carbon panfish rod to land a 42″ Northern on Upper Red. You just need to take your time and enjoy the power fish like that posses.

Thanks for all of the advice and suggestions, sounds like I could probably be just fine with what I have currently but I am looking for an excuse to purchase another one, thanks again!

I have a couple precision’s and they are awesome. They are also great for a lot of the smaller fish you’ll run into on LOW (saugers, perch and tullibee).

Shoot me a message, or one of the other guys here who build rods. One of us can build you just good as of a rod for usually a better price and more per your spec than one of those mass produced custom rods!