Jeff H

I'm going to follow you. Man, you can wait until those bass poke their head out of the water and then just "ski" them right across the surface with these things. No lost fish. ;D

I've found a very nice advantage to the 7:1's I did not even realize before and it directly relates to that comment. I am seriously considering a switch to them for my jig rods now.

The Loomis IS way above the Premier, but it isn't way above this Crucial in my opinion, except in cost. I am totally stunned at the value in this rod. For the $120 I paid for it it feels and fishes as good as anything I've ever used, including Loomis. True value is only revealed over time though, so before I get all to uppity about these Shimano Crucial rods I have to let time deal it's hand. I have absolutely no regrets in my purchase choice where performance is concerned. I REALLY like these rods.

I like how they feel. Just use to them I guess.

He's always been a inspiration! He inspired me to "finesse" long before it was cool to do so. He has definitely been an asset to this sport!! Good to hear it!

I found one in my pile of old rods this summer and took it out and tried it. I thought it was a excellent stick given it's price range. Liked it enough I left it in the boat and use it for throwing my suspending Husky Jerks. It is more sensitive then a Lightning Rod and is a bit lighter. Somebody show me a better rod for $40!

Got to try out my Revo SC this last weekend and I think it's a awesome reel. Likely be replacing all my older Shimano Curado's and Team Daiwa with these over the winter. It's one of the smoothest casting reels I've ever had.

I also have a bunch of them from years ago stashed away, including 3 from the first year they were out. I used them throughout my tournament years(along with Series One and Pulse) and never felt they held me back. If I had to I'd use them again and not worry about it. I think they are a great rod for the price, BUT...I also think the Shimano Convergence is a slightly better rod in the same price range. You might wish to look into those also.

I'm definitely on the "low profile" bandwagon now. It's good to see more options from Garcia. I need to find out what else is or will be available in low profile reels from Shimano, Daiwa, Pinnacle, Pflueger etc.... I've found that lightweight rods and low profile reels extend my fishing day at least 2 hours.

Yeah, I know....the Shimano rods are made in China I guess. I like the rods, but I just prefer US made products and in hindsight I should have stuck with that. I'll get over it though and it won't take long. Such stuff doesn't bother me while I'm fishing so the heck with it, ya know? It's good to try something different too. Don't make me feel bad Raul...LOL ;D

Well, it's done now. My 5 yr old son and I went to Cabela's today and had ourselves a little "spree". Just enjoyed the place for what it is and did our shopping for a couple hours. Carson picked himself up a new Pflueger Microspin U (underspin type) spinning reel for his "custom" (short) spinning rod. Nice quality little reel actually and much better then his current Zebco underspin. When we got to the checkout counter though he spied some candy bars and I told him he could either have the reel or the candy bar and he said...."candy bar"...LOL. Only took me a few seconds to convince him otherwise. Even the guy behind me thought it was funny. I ended up with the Crucial CRS-60MH(spinning) I went after in the first place, and....a Crucial CRC-X66M(trigger) along with a new Revo SC which will be used for "traps". I debated between the fast action and X-Fast action and just felt the X-Fast would better handle the 1/2oz traps. I think I'm going to be really happy with these sticks but there is one thing that bugs me about them. They are not US made products. I'll see just how much I like them next weekend.

Perfect reels for fishing "traps", picked one up today at Cabela's. Feels real nice, very smooth and solid. This is my very first time I've stepped away from Team Daiwa or Shimano reels in 20 yrs and it feels "right".

I would definitely go bargain hunting just starting out. I'd set my lower limits on rods to decent IM-6 models and minimum 5 bearing reels. Whatever I could get out of my money in that kind of stuff is where I'd start. I'd be trying to cover as many specific techiques as I could for the money I had to blow. I have had some real junk in my early years, and even that stuff lasted a few years. Heck, I STILL have some of the rods and reels I started with stashed away around here. I can't even give the reels away because they are so thrashed but they still work and could be used. I'm going to make wall decorations out of the stuff.... ;D

I'm no fan of the "gators". > They snap off too many of my jigs every year.

Gander Mtn offers some "Guide Series" spinning reels at nice deals. I believe they are Pflueger reels and I just picked one up Saturday. It is a Guide Series Tournament spinning reel with 10 bearings (Pflueger President?) for $49+tax. Shimano Convergence rods are much better then Berkley Lightning Rods, in my opinion, and around the same price of $39+ tax. I don't know what the "warranty" is on Berkely rods but it might be better then Shimano's. That may be something to look into. You can find the Shimano Convergence rods at Cabela's or any Shimano Dealer can order it for you. Very likely you'll find a Shimano dealer in your area if you look on their "dealer locator" on the Shimano website. If you are not in a hurry and patient you'll find whatever you want on sale before too long.

Thanks to you so am I now Thanks for mentioning them, had a read at their site and am quite impressed. The Spectra AFT catches my eye for some reason. Sounds like the Puls-R is seriously wicked. They are definitely different then most companies in their approach and that is going to work out for them big time. I'd be tempted to buy stock in that company.

This, in my opinion, is the best advice of all. Simple and to the point. Just stick with it, concentrate and beleive you will get bit on every throw. If you beleive that, you'll concentrate harder and things will fall in place.

ww2farmer, Thanks for your opinion. I do own a couple Premier rods and haven't had any problems with them yet. I have come to the conclusion that at the very least they may be a little over priced. Also very likely I won't be buying any more of them. The one mentioned in this list just didn't have the action of the other 2 choices so I dismissed it. I was able to find some information with the search feature, once I figured out how to set it right and I've made up my mind now. I'm going with the Crucial this time. Tough choice really considering the rep of the IMX but I liked what I read about the Crucial and $100 saved is just too much to sneeze at. I actually had the IMX on the way to the cashier yesterday at Sportsmens Warehouse but balked and decided to check out the Crucial. I'm glad I did and glad I took the time to search out the information on this forum. I was able to check out Shimano Crucial, Compre, Clarus and Convergence rods today at Cabela's and I thought they were all decent rods for the prices they reflected. Coming home with the Crucial tomorrow.

;D be careful RW, he might be fishing My guess is he likes his Pfluegers??

I'd like to hear from the resident rod experts on these choices. Loomis IMX SJR723 St Croix Premier PS6MHF Shimano Crucial CRS-60MH These are all 6' MH/Fast rods. An Avid would be in this list but they don't make one and I couldn't find one that felt close enough or good enough to include. I've kind of come to the conclusion that this Crucial is comparable to an Avid. It uses the same Alconite guides as the Avid series but what I don't know is how good the Crucial IM-9 blank is compared to St Croix's Avid SC III or Premier SC II. I've pretty much eliminated the Premier at this point so it's between the Crucial and IMX. The action/feel of these 2 rods is pretty similar but the IMX is lighter (or at least feels a bit lighter to me). Honestly, I'm leaning on the Crucial at this point since I'm considering it comparable to a Avid and it's $100 cheaper then the IMX. Am I way off base in my conclusions?

I have a 6'6" MH Fish Eagle II spinning rod I was given as a gift last year. I haven't used it very much yet but it's a decent stick I guess. I like the action/power of it, the sensitivity is as good as some more expensive rods I own. The only thing that bugs me about it is the reel seat screws down from the front and I prefer they screw down from the rear. It's not a big deal I guess but just leaves a gap in front of the reel I'm not used to. I'm going to Cabela's today to pick up a new 6' MH spinning rod. I'm hoping to find a Shimano Crucial this time but will have a look at XML's.

Jigs Suspending Husky Jerk Traps Can't we step this up to 4 or 5?? Nobody only has 3 lures do they?? Geez....during summer I could probably take it down to 2 if I had to but this is fall period we are talking about here.

About a month or so ago I went digging through all my old rods and found a Shimano Convergence 6' MH trigger(also found a 7' M trigger) piled in amongst all my old Berkely sticks. I have no idea when I aquired these rods but it hadn't been used much if at all. So, I put a old Team Daiwa TD1-pi on it and took with me on my next trip just for the heck of it. To my surprise it turned out be a decent worm and jerk bait rod (the 6') and I have left it in the boat. I just recently looked at the prices of these rods and they are an extremely affordable stick in the $40 range which puts them in a price class with Lightning Rods....but much better in my opinion. It's not quite as heavy as a Lightning Rod for one thing. I actually did not mind fishing with it at all and it was a "mind opening" experience. Still, I wouldn't choose it over my Loomis wormin' stick unless I was blind drunk. But it definitely has me less inclined to spend $200 on a rod right now. Hopefully that feeling will pass ;D

One thing I don't think many people consider concerning rod sensitivity is that some people just have better sense of feel than others. Much like some people have better eyesight, hearing or sense of smell than others. Some people just have dead hands and therefore would definitely benefit from a GLoomis IMX or whatever where another guy can get away with a Series One, HMG. Premier etc. I think I'm like that and really don't need a super sensitive rod, but I do crave the lightweight of a top quality stick, especially dealing with the arthritis I have in my wrists. I remember fishing a club tourney many years ago with a guy who had all the top quality stuff and we were fishing the inside corner of this bar and I was commenting on the size of the rocks. My partner couldn't seem to feel them at all. I was using a Lightning Rod and he had a GLoomis IMX. I don't beleive for a second that a Lightning Rod is even close to a IMX in sensitivity but rather I beleive the problem was HIS sense of feel. So, I don't think it's fair to bag on somebody who doesn't think they need the advantages of a $200+ rod as there could very well be good reasons why they feel that way. I certainly don't need them, but I can appreciate them, especially for weight factor. I always will beleive the mid range priced stuff is a better value for myself, but even some of the cheaper rods are a great value in the right hands.

I think when Lunker City first came out with them they said the SS stood for "super slim". I love some of Lunker City's stuff but I've never tried the Slug-Go SS.