Ot - St. Croix or Ugly Stick - which is your favorite for Crappie

[Rich Engelhardt]

Howdy (fisherperson for hello :D),

ahhhhmmm...Spring has Sprung, fall has fell and the Springtime crappies are chubby as..
Any other panfish fanatics?
You can keep your Largemouth bass - gimme a big chunky Crappie any day of the week on Ultralight gear.
I love the finesse it takes to land a big heavyweight "papermouth" on 1# or 2 # line.

I had a real - I mean REALLY - nice St. Croix 6' Ultralight and loved the thing.
Unfortunatly,,cold day + good sized Bass + agressive hook set = 1 snapped St. Croix. :(

[Jim O'Dell]

snip
I had a real - I mean REALLY - nice St. Croix 6' Ultralight and loved the thing.
Unfortunatly,,cold day + good sized Bass + agressive hook set = 1 snapped St. Croix. :(

But that doesn't answer the burning question.....Did you land the bass???? Jim.

[Joe Chritz]

St. Croix is good about replacements.

If you still have the rod send it to them and they will most likely replace it. There is often a small charge of around $20.

I fish an ugly stick ultra light but mostly use flyrods for steelhead and salmon.

Redington and Lamiglas are the two that I use now. One 7 weight and one 8 weight.

25+ pound king on a 9'6" 7/8 weight Redington with 8 pound leader in knee deep water. That was one of the most fun 40 minutes of my life.

Joe

[Fred Voorhees]

I'm pretty much an exclusive Ugly Stik guy. From my 4 1/2' ultra light up to my 7' medium action which I use for river fishing and salmon and trout in New York.

[Steven Wilson]

Ugly sticks are rugged but just not very sensitive. The higher end St. Croix's (and most others higher end rods) have lifetime warrenties, the lower end (premier, etc) are usually one year. If you broke it setting the hook, send it back. As for Ultralight rods I like the ones I've built on St. Croix Legend Elite blanks and Titanium guides. A great, fairly inexpensive, ultra light rod for panfish and crappies is the Shimmano Compre in 5' to 7' lengths. My wife uses a 6' with a Tica Cetus reel and it's a great UL combo. I've also used a 10'-14' salmon/steelhead rod (light line drift fishing rod) for crappies in cover - great fun as well as fly rods (6wt mostly). Some folk's will take fly rod blanks (say 6-8wt) and build spinning rods on them for panfish. If you go on rodbuilding.org and ask you'll get a better answer as to what line weight fly blank would build what lure rating spinning rod.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Jim,
Nope. LOL! Culprit (the bass) got away if I remember correctly. It's been quite a few years since the episode.
I do miss that St. Croix rod though. The pieces parts are long gone.
W/1# or 2# line, it would toss a 1/32oz jig a mile.

I do like my Ugly Sticks, though I agree, they aren't anywhere near as sensitive.

I'll have to have a look at the Shimano. I'm solid Shimano when it comes to spinning reels. A 7' Ultra Light would fill the bill nicely.

[Lee Schierer]

I like the sensitivity of Fenwick HMG series rods myself. When the perch are biting lightly, you can't feel them stealing your bait with most rods. Fenwick sensitivity is far superior to any other rod I've tried.

However; I did buy an ugly stick junior for my granddaughter for here first fishing rod, because they are pretty indestructible and not so expensive that it couldn't easily be replaced if dropped over the side. My grandson will most likely also get an ugly stick if he decides he likes fishing. Besides, kids think it is cool to say they fish with an "Ugly Stick"

[Dan Mages]

But that doesn't answer the burning question.....Did you land the bass???? Jim.

And you expect an honest answer? The three worst liars in the world are politicians, weathermen, and anglers.

I personally use a 9' 5/6wt Scientific Anglers el cheapo $99 starter kit rod. I havent had the pleasure of going fishing in the past couple of years, but I have caught some nice fish with it... honestly. :rolleyes:

Here is my fly rod box I threw together with some walnut scraps.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/DanMages/P1010231.jpg

Dan

[Al Willits]

I fished next to a guy with a $300 custom ultralight and caught 3 more crappies than he did during the day, I was using a Ugly stick, sometimes I thing sensitivity is a bit overrated.

Of the two, I like the Ugly stick, damn near indestructible and feels good to me.
I've had enough high end graphite rods break due to chips, windows, clumsy people/etc that I stay away from the $200 rods.
I've fished with both and am not brand particular, I just go though the racks and pick the ones I like the feel of, I'm particle to very fast tips and medium action for the most part.

Steve's got the right idea about making your own, I've still got rods I built in the 80's from a summer of rod building frenzy and you can tailor make them to fit your fishing style.

Buy both, ya can never have to many rods...:D

Al...who likes the Shimano reels too..