For The Carp Guys

[MCTFisher9120]

Was browsing Bass Pro's web site and noticed new Carp special rods by St Croix under their Avid lineup.

 

Take a look fella's if you have not already.

 

http://www.basspro.com/St--Croix-Avid-Series-Carp-Rods/product/10221794/-1761287

 

Cheers,

MTBF

[Victor]

interesting ... $280 is pretty expensive. Who knows, can't really say until I've checked them out though.

[hammercarp]

Guys on the carp forums are talking about them. One guy got a carp just under 35lbs on the 12 ft. rod. We will get a better idea of how the rods fish by next summer.

[largefish]

It's funny how in the past Bass Pro had no carp rods at all and now they have one that costs a fortune. St. Croix has the right idea by offering such rods for the North American market as more people are getting into carp fishing in North America, but at that price, it looks like they think they can take advantage of having little competition over here. They do look like quality rods looking at the description, but I would never spend that much money on a rod unless it was made of gold or I had money to throw away.

[hammercarp]

I think St. Croix was right in their decision to produce a carp rod in that price range. There are a lot of cheap rods made in Asia. So why even try to compete at the bottom end. There are also a lot of rods from Europe that cost more than $280.

[richyb]

So some guy gota 35 pounder on this rod. Im sure any other decent rod would have landed it also.

[MCTFisher9120]

Why on earth would they be too expensive buddy? I'm sorry but spending 200+ on a rod is fine and if you are getting 9-12ft of quality st croix rod then its well worth it. I'm sure any serious carp guy would try and perfectly justify the price point.

[largefish]

Why on earth would they be too expensive buddy? I'm sorry but spending 200+ on a rod is fine and if you are getting 9-12ft of quality st croix rod then its well worth it. I'm sure any serious carp guy would try and perfectly justify the price point.

 

My father caught twice as many carp as me and he is fishing with an 8' rod that is 20 years old, made of fiberglass that I got when I was a kid from my grandfather. He reeled in a 16 lb. carp with it without a hitch. I'm fishing with a 12' Wychwood carp rod which costs half of what that St. Croix rod costs and I caught a 25 lb. carp with it. The Wychwood rod has a great feel to it and is very light. According to you, you are a 'serious' carp guy only if you own a $300 rod. You have not even tried the St. Croix rod, so how do you know that it is better than some other rods that are cheaper? Just because something has a logo from a popular company on it does not make it better or worth spending more money.

Edited December 10, 2010 by LargeBass

[MJL]

I haven’t had a chance to handle the new St Croix carp rods. From a price point on a carp specific rod, made outside of Asia, using fairly good components, IMO $250 seems like a reasonable price compared to those made in the UK. Most probably aren’t aware that G. Loomis a few years back had their own line of carp rods (briefly), which won various tackle awards but were retailed for $700US (they were only available in Europe too).

 

The specimen carp rod is designed really only for 2 things:

1. First and foremost is casting.

2. Fish playing

 

From a technical standpoint, the European specimen rods aren’t rated like our normal conventional spinning/baitcasting tackle. They’re rated more like fly rods. In the case of fly rods, they use line weights (like 2wt, 8wt, 10wt, etc). With carp rods, they are typically rated in ‘test curves’…What test curve the St Croix rods are, I don’t know. Generally speaking a 2.5lb test curve rods is designed to cast a 2.5oz lead sinker or weight. The higher the test curve, the more weight you can chuck and theoretically, the further you can cast.

 

Can you catch five times as many carp on an ugly stick than a specially designed 12ft carp rod costing $250? Absolutely...I still use my Salmon/Steelhead rods for close-in work...But when you need to cast a lead weight weighing 3-4oz, 80+yards to where the fish are, than I’d have no reservations on spending that money on the 12fter that costs 5 times as much. For me, I’m typically fishing extreme venues where I’m either fishing in insane current or I’m casting long distances or both (As seen during my last tournament on the St. Lawrence. I was using 5oz leads to hold bottom and 7oz when the hurricane was passing through).

 

If you were to grab a high-end carp rod from the UK, you’d typically be paying in the neighbourhood of $450 - $600 for something made by Harrison, Century, Free Spirit or a Daiwa Infinity. In my case, I just ‘had’ to have a custom Harrison done with components of my choice for a little more than that...

 

As always, match the tackle to the fish that you plan to fish for. Match the tackle to the waters that you fish. Simply put, buy what you can afford. There are some incredible carp rods (IMO of course) that I’ve used in the past that really impressed me in terms of value for what you got – They were in the $130 range I believe. As with everything in the tackle industry, there’s a disproportionate increase in price compared to the performance you gain.

[Beans]

Why on earth would they be too expensive buddy? I'm sorry but spending 200+ on a rod is fine and if you are getting 9-12ft of quality st croix rod then its well worth it. I'm sure any serious carp guy would try and perfectly justify the price point.

 

I gotta agree (not that I can afford to do so)...

 

Like I mentioned in another thread most carpers do not have thousands of dollars or pounds tied up in boats, motors down riggers, etc. so spending money on good tackle makes sense to me...

 

Sure, you can catch fish of any kind with cheap tackle but it feels better using good stuff...

 

Hell I caught lots of nice bass using only a bamboo pole, heavy line and float, hook and sinker...and my grandad (who never owned a rod and reel) landed the odd musky using his bamboo pole...

 

I say...use what you can afford and enjoy the sport !

 

 

 

[Victor]

I say...use what you can afford and enjoy the sport !

 

Amen!