Vertical jigging (with plastics) rod preference

The past two seasons, vertical jigging plastics has been BY FAR the best technique for me in the rivers I fish Walleye…primarily the Menominee, Fox, and Mississippi… I’ve been trying to hone in on the best set up for a long time. I would use a 6’6” MLXF, but no one makes one … I have fished with some great vertical jig sticks like Vandy,
John, Jarrad and Turk…Who seemed to favor 6′ to 6’6″ MF rods and mono in colder weather…

Boy!…Then this quote by Tommy Skarlis (one of the BEST Walleye Pros) surprised me!

Vertical Jigging-Rivers

“My vertical jigging game has elevated with the advent of the St. Croix Legend Elite LES70MF,” says walleye pro Tommy Skarlis. “It’s a feather-light lethal weapon for jigging. If you’re at it all day, it’s not like wielding a club. I can always find a comfortable grip. It’s right for 1/4- to 1-ounce jigs and it stands up to the weight. It’s fast, but vertical jigging in rivers is all offense, and all you have to do is lift with superline to drive the hook home.”

I have never tried vertical jigging with a long(er) rod…Most guys talk 5’9 or 6’3 s…What do you think?

Tom

Nope. Dont think I would even give it a try. 6’6″ or shorter all day long.

Love my elite 63 mxf just got back back from pool 4 Its great for vertical but I like it for pitching also it’s just a lite rod that feels great in my hand

The new 5ft 9 rod from st. Croix best rod I’ve ever owned

I wouldnt even think about using a long rod for vertical jigging. 6’0 ML, 6’3 ML, 6’6 ML, or 6’6 M. Nothing longer than 6’6 for me, for vertical jigging.

7’2 for me all day! I love the power! A fast tip with good back bone, i like the long rod to get the tip out a little bit more from the boat.

I use a 7’2″ MLF just as much as a 6’6″ MF. With the 72 it is a slower more subtle approach. To me it is a better director of the symphony where as a 66 is just, well…blunt. If I am really snapping and the fish are popping the 66 is go to.

I bought a St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye Series 7′ Light Action Rod last spring, all I can say is that it’s very sensitive. I mainly use it for fishing 1/8 oz jigs for walleyes as deep as 30 FOW. I have the rod paired with a Stradic Ci4 1000 series reel and 6 pound Suffix Elite, and I can still get hooks into fish even 30 feet down.

I know that this rod is more of a finese rod and is probably not the rod that you’re looking for, but I love the extra length of my 7 ft rod for getting my baits away from the boat.

6’3″ Elite or 6’3″ legend tourney with old style handle. I broke one of my legend tourney’s and they sent me a new split grip. I would like to find that engineer that came up with that idea . I would put his split grip were the sun doesn’t shine . I can’t believe that made it through the field test process, what an uncomfortable grip. Sorry for the rant , but they sure messed up a good rod.

I got the 6ft 3 also but the feel on the 5ft 9 is unreal perfect amount of back bone and sensitivity!

6’8″ to 7′ for me. Like Ben, I like to get the bait away from the boat a bit.

Interesting mix of preferences… I have fished with every St Croix mentioned over the years and liked them all.
The LXS 63MXF was probably my favorite vertical jig rod…

My partner Al fought a 37 lb carp to the net with his 5’9″ MXF Avid and 6 lb mono ( although we had to follow that one from the dam to the Vermillion.)
I’m actually leaning toward building myself a custom rod. Something I did a lot of back in the day…its been about ten years but I still have the equipment…

A short rod is great in high winds but my 12 footer (Cabelas Match Rod from the early 70’s) gets a lot of fish because I’m away from the boat without using a side planer. The extra length keeps my line out of trolling motors when my fishing partner makes unexpected turns (he’s snagged, the front depth finder shows a depth change that the back ducer hasn’t picked up yet, a quirk in his personality?) that make complete sense to him but aren’t foreseeable by me. That said, I’m building a 7’6″ 2 piece rod this winter that has mlxf action for places the 12 gets into overhanging branches along the mississippi banks. I expect to have to line watch but that I’ve been practicing that habit for a long time.

I remember when all the muskie gurus said a rod should be no more than 6 feet long but 5.5 would be ideal. Now 8 1/2 and 9 footers are common. The split grip uses less cork – about $2 per inch now – it used to be less than 25 cents per inch.

Before I started fishing rivers I used a Loomis IMX SJR722 That worked great for jigging on lakes and I was more than happy with it. I started fishing pool 4 maybe 6 years ago and time after time I would have a fish on and it would get unbuttoned a lot of the time. I talked to Dean and he let me use a LXS68MXF and I haven’t looked back. I now have two LXS68MXF’s. I haven’t pulled the old loomis out even jigging on lakes anymore. I bet it has been 4 years I have used the loomis. I love the 6’8″ vs 6′. What it boils down to is personal preference and what you have confidence in.

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7’2 for me all day! I love the power! A fast tip with good back bone, i like the long rod to get the tip out a little bit more from the boat.

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x2.

-J.

What Jon said…..with the shorter rods your adjusting up and down too much

I have 3 rods that I take when I will be making a day of lifting a jig up and putting it down. My 3 favorites are:

1. 5’9″ St. Croix Avid MXF, it’s a peach.
2. 6′ G. Loomis SJR721. It’s six feet of vertical jigging perfection.
3. 6’3″ St. Croix Legend Extreme. It’s good.

Those are the 3 I use. Hope this helps.

Over the years mine have gotten longer and longer–my two favorite go-to rods for vertical jigging are now both 7′ St. Croixe Legend Elites-both fast action, 1 med and 1 med light. I pick up my wife’s 6’6″ rod now and it just feels wrong…go long, you’ll love it!
-Rev

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A short rod is great in high winds but my 12 footer (Cabelas Match Rod from the early 70’s) gets a lot of fish because I’m away from the boat without using a side planer. The extra length keeps my line out of trolling motors when my fishing partner makes unexpected turns (he’s snagged, the front depth finder shows a depth change that the back ducer hasn’t picked up yet, a quirk in his personality?) that make complete sense to him but aren’t foreseeable by me. That said, I’m building a 7’6″ 2 piece rod this winter that has mlxf action for places the 12 gets into overhanging branches along the mississippi banks. I expect to have to line watch but that I’ve been practicing that habit for a long time.

I remember when all the muskie gurus said a rod should be no more than 6 feet long but 5.5 would be ideal. Now 8 1/2 and 9 footers are common. The split grip uses less cork – about $2 per inch now – it used to be less than 25 cents per inch.

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Seriously? Vertical jig with a 12 foot rod? How do you even feel the bites? Or do you just wait to feel the hang after the bite?

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6’8″ to 7′ for me. Like Ben, I like to get the bait away from the boat a bit.

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X3 – I have a Legend Elite. My favorite rod in the boat by a mile.
Not just for blades either. For any kind of vertical jigging.

7′ is kind of a minimum for me now. When I was growing up , I fished mainly carp and had to get to the fish via bike. Fighting carp on short rods, from shore, was no fun. Longer rods and lighter line, really increased the fun. From carp, I graduated to wading for smallmouth in current. The 7′ rod was almost unheard of in the 80’s. The first one I ever got my hands on was a 2 piece Fenwick, EagleII E 70 M2 or similar. I have an old one that I still fish with. The length, made so many aspects of fishing easier. The control you have with that longer tip and being able to manipulate the direction and angle of fighting fish and bait control was impressive, even with 4-6 lb line. After getting in a boat and cutting some teeth on the Big Pond, am even going to 8’6″-9′ rods for rigging and bobbers. Light line down to 2lbs, and it’s truly impressive, the natural action of a bait. 6lb line makes a bait look ridgid, almost cement like and un naturally stiff. We fished on the river last February and were using some cheaper Gndr Mtn GSS70-M1 rods with an IM8 and they performed a lot better, than I thought they would have, for the price. I had a boat full of teenagers. We fished over 20′ fow with light jigs and 3lb braided. Those rods won me over just a little bit. Personally I like light jigs, light line and those go well with a longer rod. From the feel to the fight longer just gives you more control. Weight of the rod and ergonomics come into play, with wrist and hand fatigue. If it’s a top heavy rod, forget it. Balance is a huge contributing factor. If it’s out of balance, your wrist will be miserable. And you won’t feel much of anything. I gave up on short rods years ago and have never looked back. Once in a while I’ll pick one up and play with it and just kind of shake my head. For me there’s just to many benefits to a longer rod. I am really curious about that longer lighter St. Croix. They’ve got a couple, crazy light, long crappie rods, I am going to try on corks, on the Big Pond.

Tom, I think the much less known Quantum rods that many would like is the EXO or Smoke series. They aren’t advertised much here in the midwest so little is known locally about them. But they have a double edge sword for early/late season ice up. They have the Fuji Alconite micro guides and are incredibly sensitive. I picked up 9 of them last year in casting and spinning and have been very pleasantly surprised. The average cost for the smoke rods are about $130 ish pending what they are on sale for and the EXO’s are $179. They are considerably lighter than any St. Criox rod that I compared them to. I dumped all my Loomis stuff, so I don’t have anything there to compare with.
Manufacturing is limited on variations, so not a lot of different lengths/actions. They cover more of the typical 6’3″ to 7′ medium fast. In spinning I have a pair of the smoke PT 6-3 ML- moderate. Though I would say its a fast tip and not moderate. Thought I would like them for Geneva deep water panfish and found I love them for 1/4oz blades and plastics up to about 1/4. Caught plenty of 15# trout this year in the harbor on them, so they are durable. My 7′ medium/fast EXO’s are fantastic for most of my vertical jigging with Live Target lipless baits and blades, and plastics where jigs over a 1/8 are needed. Next time your down this way feel free to check them out.

I picked up a couple of the st croix eyecon series rods last fall and love them for vertical jigging 6’8″ mlxf. Definitely not the rod that my legend elite is but for 1/3 of the price they can’t be beat, but I couldn’t imagine going back to a 6 footer or less. It seems like with a longer rod you can get an extremely fast and sensitive tip but still have the backbone there for the larger accidental catches

Have been looking at the G Loomis sjr722imx. Seems like a great rod for the price. Like the feel of the rod a lot. Have fished with nothing shorter than 7′ for years though and am a bit jittery about such a sort rod. Does Loomis make a longer rod with a similar feel? Would like a high end rod for vertical jigging but a 6′ rod seems so one dimensional.

Have been using 6-3 st.croix and fenwicks and like them. Eyecon split handle (MXF)is great for the price. Will be trying a stiffer 7 footer for heavy jigs early this spring. Looking forward to see how that works getting a bit further from the boat.

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Have been looking at the G Loomis sjr722imx. Seems like a great rod for the price. Like the feel of the rod a lot. Have fished with nothing shorter than 7′ for years though and am a bit jittery about such a sort rod. Does Loomis make a longer rod with a similar feel? Would like a high end rod for vertical jigging but a 6′ rod seems so one dimensional.

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The Loomis walleye series wsjr 752 is 6′ 3″ and the have the slightly lower power 751.

The imx782 is an alternative too.

I have the wsjr752 GLX. It’s pretty sweet

St croix legend elite 6’3 mxf is my weapon of choice, and 7 foot rods are great for a vertically fished fireball jig. Just that lil bit more flex in the longet tip is great!

Vertical – Depends on if I am trying to finesse a bite with a lite jig or trigger a reaction bite with a flashier heavier jig.

Vertical Finesse – 6′ Medium Power G-Loomis GLX

Vertical Aggressive 3/8oz and heavier – 7′ Medium Heavy G-Loomis IMX

I have and like one of the early Croix LTW 6′ 2″ (think it’s rated 1/8 – 1/2 oz) and use 10/2 PP line.

I just did a lot of research on this topic and bought 3 new rods. here is what I settled on and the experience I had with each rod over the last 2 days dragging and vertical jigging:

Croix legend elite 6’3″xf med power ($330): guides are smooth as silk, rod is light enough to go all day, tip is soft, sensitivity is okay.
Scheels walleye series 6’3″xfmed power ($120): guides are not as smooth as croix, weight is okay, tip is stiff, sensitivity is awesome.
G.Loomis drop shot 6’10″xfmed power ($250): guides are in-between the 2 mentioned, weight is in-between too, sensitivty is great, not as good as scheel’s though.

Overall, I’m going with the Scheel’s rods. Both my fishing partner and I compared them and it was the sensitivity of the Scheels rod that just was too good to not have. All other factors were equal (same line, jig head, and plastic). Plus the warranty is awesome…I broke two rod tips already.