St. Croix bass rod.

I am thinking of taking the plunge and getting a good spinning rod for casting soft baits and cranks for bass along the weeds etc.

presently, I am using a 7′ med heavy rod with 20″ 832 Sussex braid. Am I using too heavy line ?

I like the 7′ length, wondering about a longer rod, and want to keep it in the $100 range give or take a few bucks.

What do ya think, I am interested to see what other reccommend.

Thanks for and advise,

Iowa Roger

I suggest you contact Dean Marshall.

I have a skeet reese rod (flipping model) which is a 8 foot rod paid $100 for that and love pitching soft plastics and jigs with that. I have 50 lbs power pro on that so I dobt think your 20 lbs is to heavy at all.

The only St.Croix spinning rod in in your $100 budget is the Triumph. They have a new rod that is just right for Senkos and Jigs…
*TRS76MHF 7’6″ MH Fast action $ 100

St. Croix Mojo bass rod is nice at $99.00

I wouldn’t get something terribly long in a spinning rod. 7′ is the max I would get. Also you don’t want something too heavy for cranks. I have a 6’6″ medium, fast action st.croix premier spinning rod that I have had for almost 10 years and before I got more baitcasters, I threw cranks and just about everything on it.

10lb. braid or 8-10lb. mono or fluoro is the most I throw on a spinning rod.

Just to comment on the triumph I have a 7′ ml for eyes and I am pretty disappointed in it. I love all my other Croix rods but think they did not do well with this line.

If you are throwing larger cranks a MH rod should be OK, but remember those lighter cranks just don’t get thrown that far with such a stiff rod. You want that rod to flex to create energy for lighter lures and a MH does not have it as far as the ones I have used in past. Call Dean like mentioned and I haven’t dealt with them personally but I have held the shimano in hand which is affordable and they seem like a good option which he carries.

20# Braid is what I use for cranking.

Generally speaking the typical cranking setup would be a rod with a moderate to slow action.

St. Croix has baitcasters designed for crankbaits and a typical med or med heavy power in the crankbait series specifically are more in line with what you would want traditionally for cranks than in their normal series power where I would consider MH to be too stiff.

i.e.

Mojo Bass glass Casting:

Model Technique Length Power Action PCS Line Weight Lure Weight Rod Weight Handle Price

*MBGC610MM Target Cranker 6’10” M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 3/4 4.4 3 $ 110

MBGC74MM Crankster 7’4″ M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 3/4 4.9 3 $ 120

MBGC78MHM Big Crankster 7’8″ MH Mod. 1 10 – 20 3/8 – 1 6.3 4 $ 120

Avid series crankbait rods

Model Length Power Action PCS Line Weight Lure Weight Rod Weight Handle Price

AVC66MM 6’6″ M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 5/8 3.6 2 $ 190

AVC66MHM 6’6″ MH Mod. 1 10 – 20 3/8 – 1 3.9 2 $ 190

AVC70MM 7′ M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 5/8 3.7 2 $ 190

AVC70MHM 7′ MH Mod. 1 10 – 20 3/8 – 1 4.1 2 $ 190

AVC70HM 7′ H Mod. 1 12 – 25 1/2 – 13/8 4.7 2 $ 200

Premier Series Crankbait Rods

Model Length Power Action PCS Line Weight Lure Weight Rod Weight Handle Price

PC66MM 6’6″ M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 5/8 3.6 3 $ 110

PC66MHM 6’6″ MH Mod. 1 10 – 20 3/8 – 1 4.2 3 $ 120

PC70MM 7′ M Mod. 1 8 – 14 1/4 – 5/8 3.8 3 $ 120

PC70MHM 7′ MH Mod. 1 10 – 20 3/8 – 1 4.5 3 $ 120

PC70HM 7′ H Mod. 1 12 – 25 1/2 – 1 3/8 5.1 3 $ 130

Of all of these series, I thought the Mojo was closest to what I wanted for a classix bass crankbait rod.

Several other manufacturers make good crainkbait rods at decent prices too including Shimano, the aformentioned Skeet Reese rods by Wright and McGill (a bit heavy), Quantum (KVD rods), Bass Pro Shops and many more…

As for spinning rods for cranks I haven’t found many that where specifically designed for bass crankbaiting so I just took a typical crankbait rod off the rack and compared the power action to random spinning rods form many other manufactureres. The one I liked best believe it or not was an Okuma combo from Walmart for $100 marked down to $50 this spring. If you’re interested in the model number I can post…