TFO ice rods

Has anyone tried the TFO line of ice rods? Opinions.

I have a 28″ L and love it for Perch and Crappies. It’s pretty much my favorite rod.

Look like a standard Carbon Rod, nothing special. It all depends on quality and warranty, looks like you pay shipping both ways on regular rods.

No mention about ice rod warranty, not sure about buying ice rods from a company in Texas.

Reeds said they would do over the counter warrantees on them. They did have them 2 for $60 or something like that. I’m sure the blanks are nothing special as far as materials but the actions are perfect imo.

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Reeds said they would do over the counter warrantees on them. They did have them 2 for $60 or something like that. I’m sure the blanks are nothing special as far as materials but the actions are perfect imo.

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If that’s the case and the price, seems like a good deal. They have to be as good or better than a St. Croix Ice Rod.

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Reeds said they would do over the counter warrantees on them. They did have them 2 for $60 or something like that. I’m sure the blanks are nothing special as far as materials but the actions are perfect imo.

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If that’s the case and the price, seems like a good deal. They have to be as good or better than a St. Croix Ice Rod.

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Not hard to do… picked up a croix premier 28″ UL and do not care for it at all. I think about any custom rod, even with the bottom of the line components, would show up this rod.

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Reeds said they would do over the counter warrantees on them. They did have them 2 for $60 or something like that. I’m sure the blanks are nothing special as far as materials but the actions are perfect imo.

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If that’s the case and the price, seems like a good deal. They have to be as good or better than a St. Croix Ice Rod.

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Not hard to do… picked up a croix premier 28″ UL and do not care for it at all. I think about any custom rod, even with the bottom of the line components, would show up this rod.

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I disagree. As an owner of many custom rods from Thorne Bros, TUCR & DH I actually feel the TFO ice rods are as nice as they come for a retail shelf production rod. Their solid carbon blanks are very sensitive and can stand its own ground without costing one $100. At $30-$40 it’s a no brainer. Better build quality then the St Croix premies by far. It’s a quality rod without breaking your bank. At the past St. Paul ice show Marine General had them on sale for $20! Even comes with a little nice cloth sleeve to protect the rod.

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I think about any custom rod, even with the bottom of the line components, would show up this rod.

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I’m curious, what exactly is it that would make a 28″ TUC precision with fuji alconite or wire guides better than a 28″ TFO ML?

I’ve never held either one. I was speaking to IceNutz in regards to the st. croix rods.

Being in the same retaliative price range as the croix, the TFO would be a much better panfish rod from what I see listed as components. In regards to walleye or perch? No clue.

But one thing I will say, The components TUCR use to make a quality rod will blow the TFO rod off the ice. The TUCR precision does not come with wire or alconite guides, they have REC recoil guides. The TUCR precision is about 2.5 times the cost of the TFO but it will be much more than 2.5 times a better rod IMO.

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I’ve never held either one. I was speaking to IceNutz in regards to the st. croix rods.

Being in the same retaliative price range as the croix, the TFO would be a much better panfish rod from what I see listed as components. In regards to walleye or perch? No clue.

But one thing I will say, The components TUCR use to make a quality rod will blow the TFO rod off the ice. The TUCR precision does not come with wire or alconite guides, they have REC recoil guides. The TUCR precision is about 2.5 times the cost of the TFO but it will be much more than 2.5 times a better rod IMO.

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I just dont see the point in comparing a custom ice rod that cost up to $100+ to a retail production rod $20-$40. Or course the components used are gonna be different as well as build quality. Thats what your paying for in the higher price tag. Bring them custom rods down to the cheaper guides such as alconite or some sort of cheaper metal material and I bet the performance gains are minimal or almost non-existent compared to the likes. And it still cost more.

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I was speaking to IceNutz in regards to the st. croix rods.

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Yeah I definitely misinterpreted that as a shot at the TFO rods.

Hope my post didn’t come off as negative towards TUCR, they are awesome rods. My post was aimed towards the people dismissing TFO rods without even seeing them before.

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I’ve never held either one…

…The TUCR precision is about 2.5 times the cost of the TFO but it will be much more than 2.5 times a better rod IMO.

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Not sure how you can make a comment like this.

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The TUCR precision does not come with wire or alconite guides, they have REC recoil guides.

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Or this… that’s just flat out wrong. They are custom rod builders and will build whatever you ask them to.

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I was speaking to IceNutz in regards to the st. croix rods.

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Yeah I definitely misinterpreted that as a shot at the TFO rods.

Hope my post didn’t come off as negative towards TUCR, they are awesome rods. My post was aimed towards the people dismissing TFO rods without even seeing them before.

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I’ve never held either one…

…The TUCR precision is about 2.5 times the cost of the TFO but it will be much more than 2.5 times a better rod IMO.

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Not sure how you can make a comment like this.

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The TUCR precision does not come with wire or alconite guides, they have REC recoil guides.

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Or this… that’s just flat out wrong. They are custom rod builders and will build whatever you ask them to.

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I’m not sure TUCR would actually put those cheap guides on a rod for you. I wouldnt if it was my company, I wouldn’t want a rod with those cheap guides having my name on it.. if the guy ever sold it the rod could get into the wrong hands and lead to some bad reviews about the company.

I got my TUCR with the “cheaper” guides on them, but they were still 10 times the guide that comes on those cheap $30 factory rods. I now see the option for the cheaper guides is gone from their website, a good thing IMO.

You are not sure how I can make the comment that the TUCR Precision would be over twice as good of a rod as a $30 graphite rod with wire guides? Really?

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I’m not sure TUCR would actually put those cheap guides on a rod for you. I wouldnt if it was my company, I wouldn’t want a rod with those cheap guides having my name on it.. if the guy ever sold it the rod could get into the wrong hands and lead to some bad reviews about the company.
I bought 2 noodles less than a 1 month ago from John at TUCR. They have wire fly (I believe your name for them was “CHEAPER”) guides and they perform no different than my noodle with recoils… great rods

I got my TUCR with the “cheaper” guides on them, but they were still 10 times the guide that comes on those cheap $30 factory rods. I now see the option for the cheaper guides is gone from their website, a good thing IMO.

Single foot wire fly guides are as cheap ($$$) as they come, yet they perform awesome for ice. And still, how can you say this when you have never held a TFO rod?

You are not sure how I can make the comment that the TUCR Precision would be over twice as good of a rod as a $30 graphite rod with wire guides? Really?

I’m not sure how you can make the statement you have never held either rod, yet you know 1 of them is 2.5 times better

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I’ll sell you a nice shakespeare rod. It has stainless wire guides and is graphite. I’m sure it will be just as good as the TUCR. Send me a PM and I’ll tell you where to send the money.

Don’t tell me the rod isn’t as good as the TUCR, you haven’t seen it.

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I’ll sell you a nice shakespeare rod. It has stainless wire guides and is graphite. I’m sure it will be just as good as the TUCR. Send me a PM and I’ll tell you where to send the money.

Don’t tell me the rod isn’t as good as the TUCR, you haven’t seen it.

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No thanks bud.

Recoil guides are hype, they weight the same as any wire snake guide. Event he same as a Full framed regular guide like the minima’s that pac bay sells. Ive held and fished the TUCR rod’s, they are nice, the TFO ones, I havent seen but have heard nothing but good from people who have….Heck the company was started by the famous Gary loomis, and with guys like bob clouser, and Lefty Kreh on his design team….You can bet that rod has more knowledge put in to it than 95% of rod companies models….

REC guides are used for their ability to shed water and not ice up. It was shown in one of the IDO episodes, they were fishing in below 0 temps and had no ice on the guides at all. Its not to shed weight.

any fly guide will do that, thats all recoil guides are is fly guides, When they were put on the thorne bros quiver stick which really gave them their hype, it was to save weight…any larger loop fly guide shaves water….Ive built rods for ten years…what do I know…

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Recoil guides are hype, they weight the same as any wire snake guide.

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Wrong Wrong. I just was at TUCR and held a 32″QT with recoil guides and one 32″ QT with black fly guides and there is a difference. A big difference in the way the tip feels. I thought the same thing going in that the weight was not a big deal, but holding them both it did. So do not say things you do not know about till you hold both.

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any fly guide will do that, thats all recoil guides are is fly guides, When they were put on the thorne bros quiver stick which really gave them their hype, it was to save weight…any larger loop fly guide shaves water….Ive built rods for ten years…what do I know…

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You did read the part where ekruger01 say’s he’s been building rods for 10 years?

Aside from being durable, the recoils dont really do anymore then what ekruger01 says.

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Recoil guides are hype, they weight the same as any wire snake guide.

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Wrong Wrong. I just was at TUCR and held a 32″QT with recoil guides and one 32″ QT with black fly guides and there is a difference. A big difference in the way the tip feels. I thought the same thing going in that the weight was not a big deal, but holding them both it did. So do not say things you do not know about till you hold both.

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Were those fly guides snake guides or fly guides with inserts? I HAVE HELD BOTH…..I know the tuned up guys very well, have talked with them many times, as well as hung out in many of the big name rod shops, am active on rod forums, and have extensive knowledge on this subject….Why do you think DH switched his non recoil models to snake guides this year instead of guides with an insert? to get rid of the “club Like” feel in the tips of the noodles….there is more than one kind of fly guide…as I pointed out I am talking SNAKE guides…Single foot light wire to be exact.. Ill take your word for it though…by the way, regardless of guide, water freezes at the same temp regardless.

If you talk to them then you should already know they have no insert. At least mine don’t. Well, I take that back.. the ONE spinning guide does have an insert.

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Recoil guides are hype, they weight the same as any wire snake guide.

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Wrong Wrong. I just was at TUCR and held a 32″QT with recoil guides and one 32″ QT with black fly guides and there is a difference. A big difference in the way the tip feels. I thought the same thing going in that the weight was not a big deal, but holding them both it did. So do not say things you do not know about till you hold both.

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also you state above that IM wrong about the weight being why everyone uses them, saying that it doesn’t effect the overall weight of the rod, then show that the weight was different between an insert guide and a recoil? sounds contradictory to me? Im not typing all this to be an A$$ but to rather show that there is more than one way to skin a cat…

Regular snake guide…1.00 to 1.25 after shipping.

Recoil guide roughly 5 bucks….

Now Like I said….I guess I have no idea what im talking about…

Uhh…what was the original question again?

Sorry they were black snake fly guides with the first one being a Fuji spinning guide. And there was a big difference in feel of the rod. I was just saying that’s all.

Wow…

I need more coffee.

Good God, how does a simple post from someone asking about a rod brand spiral into this?

To compare an over the counter rod to a custom rod is silly. Its less than half the cost, so why in the heck should it be compared to something that much more expensive? This site is riddled with product defensive people that it detracts from serious good reviews

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Good God, how does a simple post from someone asking about a rod brand spiral into this?

To compare an over the counter rod to a custom rod is silly. Its less than half the cost, so why in the heck should it be compared to something that much more expensive? This site is riddled with product defensive people that it detracts from serious good reviews

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I must say when I started this thread I could not have imagined it would have been this entertaining. I was looking for opinions & have actually gotten a lot out of the dialog. I came across TFO rods in my searching for better quality ice rods & the Loomis connection caught my eye.
TUC rods certainly seem to be a favorite here & have my attention.

Yeah not sure why people can’t stick to the TFO subject. I like custom rods? Yes, can I say the guy next to me catches more fish? No. Have I been out in the middle of no where and had a rod break and not having less than a week to mail it in for replacement? Yep So having this discussion helps me in that I have not seen/picked up a TFO, now I will. Just cause some fancy guide will shed water more effeciently, doesn’t keep what water is remaining from freezing. Given the right conditions every rod eyelet can freeze. I like a fast tip and a good backbone about 1/3 back from the tip. If it fits my style, I’ll buy. Thanks to the rod builder guy for keeping the discussion factual.