St Croix Panfish reviews

Thinking of buying a St Croix Panfish series for vertical fishing perch, and a little bobber fishing crappies on brush… What do we think of these rods?? And 7’ LXF or 7’ MLXF ??? Thank you.

I have 4 or 5 of the 7ft Panfish all rigged with slip floats . I really like them . Also have 2 Elite panfish we use for casting jigs , those are just unreal for the feel they give .

Don Meier wrote:

I have 4 or 5 of the 7ft <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Panfish all rigged with slip floats . I really like them . Also have 2 Elite <em class=”ido-tag-em”>panfish we use for casting jigs , those are just unreal for the feel they give .

What reel and line do you match with the elites?

What action do you prefer

Not sure why you would buy a high end rod for pitching a bobber, but I have 2 7’6 for pitching jigs and is one of my favorite panfish rods.

They are an excellent rod. My only suggestion would be if you can find the St. Croix Trout rod in the same power/length you want, they are nearly identical action, and carry the full lifetime warranty, instead of the 5 year warranty the panfish series rods have. This was the case a few years ago, last time I looked, sorry if it’s not currently accurate.
I had a Shimano Symetre 1000 on my 7′ UL St. Croix Panfish series, and replaced it with a Cadence CS5 1000 which is an incredible reel, and an unbelievable value – I absolutely love this combination.

A few years ago I looked into the panfish series of rods. I think they are great rods but I bought tha Avid series to get the lifetime warranty. The price difference wasn’t much more then. JMO

My brother picked up a panfish Elite form a warrantee deal. Great action rod but way too tip heavy for my liking. One of the guides is out of alignment. He also has two of the panfish series rods. Both are constructed off their spines, still nice rods. I used to run an Avid for my pan fishing (again too tip heavy). All of these rods are fun panfish rods. Just buy them in person so you can check the spline and guide alignment. Both my brother and I now run a TRW custom rod.

Tip guides are pretty tiny on my panfish series … bobber stop gets hung up. Otherwise it’s a great crappie rod

I wish they took the entire line and made the exact same actions just 6″ shorter. Anything over 6-6.5′ ya start to loose the feel on those small panfish bites. Maybe just me. I know the butts can get chopped, and rod length comes in handy for chucking light jigs, but there should be a happy medium

I had a 7′ Avid UL. I didn’t like it. Just TOO soft for my fishing style. My Avid 6.5 light is perfect for me.

GoldWinger wrote:

Tip guides are pretty tiny on my panfish series … bobber stop gets hung up.

100% agree. You can get away with using #6 guide for a bobber rod but I normally use a #8. One doesn’t have to be too worried about the extra weight since they wont be hold the rod the whole time. Most of the rods listed use #4 or smaller guides. The reason for the longer butt is to help balance the rod.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Not sure why you would buy a high end rod for pitching a bobber, but I have 2 7’6 for pitching jigs and is one of my favorite panfish rods.

It will mostly be for vertical jigging perch with a finesse Dropshot presentation on the St Lawrence river, often in deep current, so feel is important. With only occasional crappie fishing. Also, I know everyone’s budgets are different, but I consider a $130 rod a lot closer to a low end rod then a high end rod. In the grand scheme of rods, these things are cheap.

MX1825 wrote:

A few years ago I looked into the panfish series of rods. I think they are great rods but I bought tha Avid series to get the lifetime warranty. The price difference wasn’t much more then. JMO

I have about 9 or 10 Avid and Avid X rods, huge fan of them. Unless I’m missing something, or you bought an Avid quite a few years back, the Avid line carries a 15 year warranty.

I have a G. Loomis 7’6″ panfish-trout rod I got a deal on. I love it. Not sure I would pay retail for pan fishing.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Don Meier wrote:</div>
I have 4 or 5 of the 7ft <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Panfish all rigged with slip floats . I really like them . Also have 2 Elite <em class=”ido-tag-em”>panfish we use for casting jigs , those are just unreal for the feel they give .

What reel and line do you match with the elites?

One has Shimano 2500 Vanford shallow spool from Japan, the other 1000 Shimano Sustain FE both with 10 lb 832 . Also use Ultra 8 stuff cast crazy far .

All the panfish series have LXF actions . Elites are also LXF