Custom fishing rods going on tour………

I have been building my own custom St. Croix rods for a while now. I have too say they are the best rods I have ever used, I started with a couple of SC2’s. Very nice rods. A Ultra lite and a medium. Then I built an sc3 ultra light 5’6 and wow!!!! I have never had so much fun catching blugills in my life!!! I now have made a sc4 light action to go up north this coming weekend on a fishing trip and I cant wait. This blank amazed me just handling it before I built on it. I think its the most serious fishing rod I have ever held in my hands!!!!!! I also have an older sc5 second that was broken and I repaired to a 2 piece rod. Its a medium lite action and is about 7’3 so it should be alot of fun. I’ll let ya know what I think when we get back next week. Troy Pike

Hey Troy,

Yes, a custom rod is certainly fun to fish with. We have been busy making lots of them this season – anything from 4 ft. up to 9 ft., UL to extra heavy catfish rods. My personal favorite for panfish is the 9 ft. UL that Ron and I use. Hope you have a good trip!

Good Fishing,
Mike

It was one of Fisher’s rods that you guys made that landed that 58 pound cat I caught, So ya them rods at HOF are very well built!

You can’t beat St. Croix rods. Their blanks are SUPER. And that makes catching gills on their light action rods feel like 10 lb walleyes. [now you know why a walleye guy is having so much fun catching bullgills] [and besides having 9 grandkids means I need to learn ALOT of good panfish spots ] I keep telling my kids I’m not old enough to have grandkids yet but they don’t listen. St. Croix rods, you gotta love em.
Thanks, Bill

Dan? Have you thought about changing your avitar lately??

Dan’s cat came from one of the first custom St Croix Rods that Mr. Fisher designed for me. It’s graphite with fiberglass reinforcement at the fighting end. These are fantastic boat rods..bout 7.5 foot. Easily fitting into rod lockers, very castable for the short cast needed from a boat…and so sensitive that I think I can feel the whiskers of a flat “tasting” the bullhead…(well maybe that parts just my imagination!)

I don’t have much time for rod building…but as Sidecar is finding out…it can be a much better experance using a rod you’ve build yourself…or had made for you…over the store bought ones.

Building rods yourself is very rewarding. It can be fun to take out the guys you have built them for and have them kick your tail – but only for so long!!! I enjoy the building even more when I know they will be used alot and well appreciated for the awesome sticks they become. It is very gratifying to catch trophy fish on a rod one developed from a blank. The St. Croix blanks are good – there are many others that are good as well – and for the right applications there are even some that are great! You’ll discover more as you have built more of these rods and find ones that fit the application you are building them for to a “T”. Enjoy – and contact me if you have any questions Troy.
Chuckles

couldnt’ agree more…building rods is what keeps me sane in the winter time when there isn’t much water to fish. plus you have a ton of new stuff in the spring to try out.

COngrats ont he rods, I have been doing it for a few years, along with making my Duck and goose calls.. it can be very rewarding. plus it keeps a guy out of trouble

Here is a picture of the old master himself. 14+ years making rods and still going strong.

Good Fishing,

Mike

Thanks for offering your experienced advice chuckles. I may contact you in the future. Troy Pike

Nice to see the master hard at work. This is the guy that got me started on custom rod building. I’ll be bringing one of the rods that he made for me a while ago along on this trip also, its one of my favorites, a Harley Davidson theme light action with pictures of my harley sidecar fishing rig on it. This guy knows how to build a sweet fishing rod!!!! HI MIKE Troy Pike