Fenwick HMG

Cabelas/BPS and Fleet farm have these at 25% off all week. I have 3 and I don’t think you can find a better rod for $100. top notch quality and great warranty. I guess I haven’t seen them for $75 before so I guess I will have another. If you are looking to upgrade your rods, these are sweet.

I will say they are good rods but as far as there warranty I’m not sure. In the mid 2000’s that’s all we would buy and we bought a lot of them. Had a couple break and contacted there warranty department and was so upset that I said I would never buy one of there rods again and I haven’t. Like I said good rod but no way the customer service of St. Croix but yes you pay more but I am ok with that.

One of my favorites.

i use them a lot. great rods at a good price. a few years back i found them paired with a Pfuegger reel at Reeds for something like $75 or $100 total. i purchased 3 or 4 at that price

supercat wrote:

I will say they are good rods but as far as there warranty I’m not sure. In the mid 2000’s that’s all we would buy and we bought a lot of them. Had a couple break and contacted there warranty department and was so upset that I said I would never buy one of there rods again and I haven’t. Like I said good rod but no way the customer service of St. Croix but yes you pay more but I am ok with that.

X2 have had issues with their warranty and CS department

Customer service yes I will never buy another Fenwick as well.

I also had really bad experience with the cs. Luckily at the time my buddy worked at gander and replaced 2 of those rods for me. And gander battled Fenwick.
I did not mind the rods, but for the price I’d rather go st croix

I had one break in a rod locker and they sent me a new one no questions asked, just followed the directions on the website. A bit of a hassle but mostly my fault in the first place. I sold my St. Croix’s after falling in love with these.

I have a Fenwick Eagle Rod – my mother in law closed a compartment on the pontoon and broke it in half. I reached out to Fenwick telling them what happened and they replaced it at no cost/no questions asked. I bought 2nd Fenwick rod because of how well they treated me. Used to have a few St. Croix Rods, but had a problem with one and they would not help – so I quit purchasing their rods.

It was once one of my favorite rods but their quality has dropped the last few years and cs is non-existent.

Cabelas / Rogers had 1 rod on the rack around 3:30 this afternoon.

Absolutely love my fenwick HMG!!

I have a 7’ MH fast paired with a Daiwa BG 2500 spinning setup for bass, and just picked up a 7’ ML fast at Joe’s in March for $80(they had 20% off). Paired it with a daiwa exceler 2500 for all around river fishing. Wanted the ML for ‘eyes because they’re not always the greatest fighters. Love the set up, but am slightly disappointed in the power of the rod, as it acts more like a medium. I’m also still not totally sold on the foregrip(just in front of the reel) of the cork. Definitely a great rod for the price tho, and have heard their warranty and customer service is good, though I have no experience with that(and hopefully never do!).

Curious if anyone can compare the Fenwick to the Limit Creek Smoothie which sounds similar in price?

bzzsaw, they are both very good rods for the money with similar features. The main difference is the warranty. Limit creek has a 3 year, $30 fee arrangement and HMG has limited lifetime. Some of the comments on here about Fenwick customer service are fair, but I have submitted a claim recently and if not for the supply issues would have my replacement by now…

Jim at Limit Creek is good to work with. Don’t let the warranty difference scare you off. That said, $75 for an HMG is a no-brainer and I bit too, but from Scheels. Ha.

I had one that lasted all of 1/2 of a fishing trip. Set the hook into a fish and 12″ of the rod tip broke off…I really do like the feel of the rod, so that was unfortunate. I sent 3 emails inquiring about a replacement with no response. I did buy the rod at Scheels and they exchanged it (I did not replace it with another Fenwick).

My experience with HMG’s is all in light and ultra light. I have 4 and 2 of them have been in the front panfish lineup for many years. Go-To rods. I think they excel on the small end. I have no med+ actions in HMG so I can’t speak to that size range. I lean towards St Croix and Limit Creek for those sizes.

I have 3 HMG’s and 2 Elites. I use them for lindy rigs mostly I really do like the rods and actually like the HMG better than the Elite for feel of the rod. I bought 2 Gloomis for jigging and love those but at the price I better.

Bought a Fenwick HMG last spring from Joe’s, Long story short, the rod ended up being broken. Brought it back to Joe’s October 4th under warranty, April 6th Joe’s called and said they had my replacement rod.

Paul D wrote:

Bought a Fenwick HMG last spring from Joe’s, Long story short, the rod ended up being broken. Brought it back to Joe’s October 4th under warranty, April 6th Joe’s called and said they had my replacement rod.

most likely due to covid? Not like you could really use it until now unless you fish the river in winter. I never kept my receipt so taking it back was not an option. The only stipulation on sending it back to Fenwick in Iowa was that a tech was going to inspect the rod and decide if they would cover a replacement. This was 2 years ago and the rod was probably 2 years old. They sent a brand new model a few days later.

That would be my guess on the length of time. I agree, didn’t need it this winter. I didn’t have my receipt either, when you buy the rod, Joe’s has you fill out the warranty slip, and they keep a record of it.

Fleetfarm in Roch had only 3 casting rods. They used to have a rack for just the Fenwicks. I guess I won’t be adding a 4th after all:(:(

eyeguy507 wrote:

Fleetfarm in Roch had only 3 casting rods. They used to have a rack for just the Fenwicks. I guess I won’t be adding a 4th after all:(:(

rochester fleet farm selection on everything is terrible. use to be my #1 place to go, not anymore

Very true about Rochester Fleet Farm. Dramatic decline.

I, too, have had warranty issues with Fenwick, btw. Had a Fenwick rod for bottom bouncing I really enjoyed that I needed warranty help with – no response to multiple emails. So…think I’ll stick with Limit Creek and other options.

Update on my recent CS experience with Fenwick…

Backdrop: Purchased a 2 piece, 7 ft medium action and fished it for at least 5 seasons. Broke fall 2020. Looked up warranty info and followed instructions sending pictures, etc. It took a couple of weeks, but CS did respond and told me they would replace. Called and made the initial order for replacement in October. At that time, I changed my order from 7 ft med to 7’6″ ML 1 piece. They told me in would ship in March. In March, I followed up with a call. The ship date was pushed out to June and only rods in stock were the $200 price point Techna’s. For $100 more I was offered to upgrade and I passed on that deal.

So, fast forward to today. I followed up again just to see if anything had changed. It had…the CS rep shared with me that the rod I had ordered was undergoing some product line changes and would not be in until September. She continued on to say that the Techna line was available and she could upgrade me if I wished. Assuming the same deal, I said, well that’s another $100 correct? She said, no. Because you have been waiting since last Sept/Oct we will upgrade free of charge. Pretty good service in my experience. Hope others will get the same if still waiting.

Runnings ad shows 25% off as well.

I really like my HMG, my go to jigging rod.
Haven’t broke it.
Yet….