That Special Rod Thats In Your Heart, Hands & Mind

Fishin rods. We ALL love em, but each one of us has a ”go to” rod for jigging up walleyes/saugers that we just can’t leave home without. Everyones special one, the one that holds a special place in our hearts, may be different than another anglers, it may be in a different price range than the next persons. But to each one of us its a special piece of equipment, a tool, a special love, that we just have to have in our hands when we go jigging for walleyes. What is that special rod, the rod that connects you to the fish, what rod is that special rod to you and only you?
Thanks, Bill

It has to be my Gary Roach, Berkeley Lightening rod, 6’6″ medium. It’s the first rod I bought with my own $$$. I always bought the cheapie combos before. The original was about 2 rods back, as I have broken a few… but I always get a new one, can’t be without one of these I guess.

big g

It’s a 9 foot, 6 weight, Glen Wicks fly rod that was a gift from a friend of mine. That thing has been magic ever since the first time I’ve used it. It casts like a dream and I’ve caught hundreds of fish with that rod. It’s the fly rod I’m holding in my teeth on my avatar!

I think it’s special because it was a gift.

Rootski

concidering I just started jigging,dragging and pitching for Walleyes a year or so ago,My go to rods would be my Baston 7’rods(match pair) I built myself about a year ago,And YES they are for MY HANDS only.They are sweet and very sensitive ,Thanks Mike @HOF for the blanks
I may be adding 2 more of the same this year .(less down time due to rerigging)

My favorite go to rod is probably my newest. I’ve had it for around 2 years now. It’s a Legend Elite ES59ULF. I have a Shimano Symetre on it. I love it! By the way, I have 2 of those combos. That’s how much I like them.

My brother hand tied me a couple of rods a few years ago, St. Croix 7′ blanks, medium heavy on one, and medium light on the other. They just feel right if you smell what I’m cooking

And the sentimental value is right up there too

St Croix EC60MF

I have a pair of these for verticle jigging. What that number translates to is:

Legend Elite, Bait Casting, 6ft, Medium Power, Extra Fast Action.

These rods are so sensative I don’t have to use superlines for jigging and allow me to use Flourocarbon. The feel of these rods are unbelievable. They are so sensative, I use them for verticle jigging trophy bluegill in deep water

1. Mine is a Bass Pro Shops Walleye Angler 6′ HM85 ML designed by Gary Parsons and Keith Kavajecz.

They are incredible, as good as rods for twice the money and I think the handle is the best out there too (I like narrow handles). They are light, sensitive and well balanced with a small reel reel like a MicroLite.

2. A 1995 Cabelas Pro Guide 6’6″ medium heavy foam pistol grip rod with a Zebco Omega reel. My stepfather Bernard (Burn erd, not Burn ARD, he hated that) was a great bass fisherman and a better dad. All he ever bought were $20 Zebco 33 combo’s. He had permission on about 30 farm ponds in Smith County, KS and I bought him the nicest reel and rod I could afford in those days as a gift. He had told me a story of a bass in a particular pond that kept breaking him off.

I bought him the rod and tied up a worm with a brass/glass clacker for him and spooled up some 17# line instead of the 8 or 10 he normally used. He loved to throw worms onto moss mats and watch the bass come up through them.

He passed away shortly thereafter after a 2nd heart attack.

I never knew if he caught that bass, in fact he wouldn’t tell me what pond it was in until I came home to fish with him. I hope he did of course. The worm I tied up for him was all torn up and the rod was in the back of his truck along with his tackle. I cut the worm off and put it in his coat pocket with the rest in the bag when I got a private moment at the mortuary.

Every time I look at my collection of rods I think of him. A may have a lot more expensive Loomis, and St. Croix, and Scott’s and so on but all together they aren’t worth as much to me and that old spincast outfit.

About once a year, maybe after a bad day I’ll take that rod out and throw some worms in a pond or sandpit. Just me and him like old times.

My black lab that became his black lab when I went away to college died only a few days later. Who says dogs aren’t loyal to the end.

I’ve got a few rods that I like for pitching jigs. Right now I prefer a 7ft Rogue rod in the medium light action. It’s got good feel and a ton of backbone. For vertical jigging there is only one rod for me. I have a custom built G-Loomis IMX, medium wt, fast tip. Loomis doesn’t make the Hollywood handle anymore, but that’s what I prefer so they have to come custom built.

My favorite(s) is actually the pair I had Chuckles make for my wife and I last year. St.Croix sc4 6’8″MXF. They are extremely light and sensitve, her’s is a bit lighter, about 7 milligrams, as she has a smaller diameter handle, and mine is a bit larger for my fat fingers. one of these years I hope to get us a matching set of sc4 or 5 6’9″ mlxf, but this year we gotta get moved , then we’ll work on those.

dave

ES66MF – Legend Elite(Green Model) with Stradic 1000 for primary Jigging Rod.
TWS76MLF – Legend Tournament Rod with Stradic 1000, primary used for slip bobbing.
ES68MXF – Legend Elite(Green Model) with Stradic 2500 for seconday Jigging Rod.
TWC70MHM – Legent Tournament Bottom Bouncing Rod with Abu Record 50 Reel.

These are my bread a butter rods, I won’t leave home without them!

Take care!

My favorite is my first Series One I got in the late 80’s. I still use it almost every outing. I must like those Series Ones since I have about a dozen of them.

Mine would have to be a St Croix Avid 6’6” med fast action spinning rod. I have 4 of them. They are great all around rods A 6′ rod of the same kind would be 2nd along with the ML version too. St Croix makes some really great rods. They are VERY sensitive. I love em. For years, years ago, I would buy them from a local bait shop that always got in a bunch of broken ones that were sent in to the factory. Mostly broken tips. Darn car doors anyway. lol. [was great for me though] Well the bait shop dealer would put a new tip on them and sale them for 10-15 dollars each and I always grabbed most of them. They weren’t as sensitive with 3-6 inches of tip missing but they were St Croixs and thats all the mattered to me. Been in love with St Croix rods a long time.
Thanks, Bill

The first rod I custom built was a G. Loomis GLX blank I cut from 6’6 to 5’10 with a Tennessee handle and fuji gold cermet guides (about $125 worth of guides alone!) I wanted that first one to be a cadillac version of a verticle jigging rod… well – I haven’t built another that cost me that much since. That was 7 or 8 years ago and last spring she caught me a 10.6 # eye and a 45.5 pound flathead… for just the high points… even with all the other rods I have built and all of the many, many fish she has caught – she is still the one that puts a smile on my face and fits that spot in my hand JUST RIGHT! Each project is very fun though – and I learn something from each. Every custom fishing rod is special on some level I think. Chuckles

My favorite rod is no longer with me. It gave me 20 years of service and this last season it broke. It was a Shimano that I bought when I was 17 years old. Now I have a bunch of top dollar Shimano rigs in my livingroom BUT NONE of them feel like the old one..

My special rod is a 6’6″ Fenwick Walleye Class spinning rod that my wife (then girlfriend) bought for me about 15 years ago for my birthday. We were both in school and flat broke but she knew that the way to a man’s heart is through his rod.

I have an old hmg fenwick gfs70 ml sitting in the corner by the fireplace about a 1978 i think the guides are worn threw from one 2 many cast.. no kidding guides are worn threw.. Ithink it was dads only fishing rod,i have about 30 or 40 good stick’s woudnt trade that one for all the rest. Dan

Custom Legend Elite with walnut handles.

Definately my 7ft Berkely Gary Roach Walleye Series NOT a LIGHTNING ROD MODEL. I love this rod for live bait rigging, and I love the feel of the handle, IMO my st. croix’s and loomis blank dont have as nice of a handle as this pole. This is actually the 2nd one I’ve owned! My wife accidentilly closed the livewell on the 1st one Then luckily I found a replacement here on Good Ol’ IDA from I believe EYESNDUCKS?? Great Pole in My opinion.
I also have a couple of rods from scheels that I love for Vertical Jigging, and the best thing about these is they have a no questions asked warranty policy, when I bought the 1st one the fishing manager told me I could bust it over my knee and they would give me a new one free of charge, I haven’t tested it out yet, but you can’t beat free replacement!!!

My favorite rod doesn’t get used much with all the new ones I have purchased, but it is still my favorite. When I was 12 I had a cheap combo that my parents bought me. I ended up breaking it one day at my grandparents cabin. I was determined to keep fishing, so I dug around in the shed to find a new rod. I found a 6’6″ G Loomis rod all rigged up burried under some junk. I asked around and nobody wanted to claim it, so I have claimed it for my own ever since. That rod was my go to jigging stick for 12 years until I retired it last year for a 6’8″ MXF Shimano Compre. I still bring it with on every trip usually as a back up.

St.Croix Legend Tournament (TWS76MLF) LIVE BAIT RIG

It couples nice with a 2500 Shimano Stradic MgFA.

I have used this twice already this year for channel cats and it worked great. Nice sensative tip for the light bite but plenty of backbone.

Channels caught were 6 and 7lbs.

My all-time favorite is an old Bronson/True Temper Uni-Spin. This thing is probably older than I am. It originally belonged to my grandfather, who lived on Fish Lake. My grandfather died when I was 8 years old. After that, every time we went to visit grandma, I would ask her if I could use Grandpas Uni-Spin. One day she just told me I could keep it for my own, because I liked it so much. I own 7 baitcasters, 2 spinning set ups, and 3 spincasters. But the Uni-Spin is by far my favorite of all time. I have caught more fish with this set up than anything else. everything from panfish to pike to walleyes. I’m sure a large part of the reason I like this rod so much is sentimental, but honest to god, this is the best piker I have ever held in my hands.

mine is my 9′ 6wt sage sp. i got it when i was on Youth Fly Fishing team USA. we have caught a lot of fish together in a few different country’s. my other is my 6’3″ Legend elite my girl got me for our 3rd anniversary