I am looking to pick up a new bladed jig and spinner bait rod. I was looking at the St Croix Victory Cranker (7ft 2 in med heavy mod fast) and the St Croix Victory Rip'N'Chatter (7ft 2 in heavy mod). I have heard that the rods run a little light, for example a heavy would be a med heavy, but I don't know if thats true. I am mainly fishing 3/8 oz chatterbaits. I am in midwest so no monsters. Leaning towards the Cranker, but looking for any thoughts from people, particularly those that have fished these specific rods.

I like St Croix and really like the Victory line. That said I tried the rip n chatter and didn't like it for bladed jigs. Too moderate for my taste. If anything maybe if you are gonna run braid but aside from that I found it to be very moderate and ended up landing on a Dobyns 736CB instead. On the other hand I own the 7'4 H F and 7'3 MH F Victory models and really like both of those.

 

The rip n chatter did feel better with a lipless crankbait and might have been ok for me for treble lures, but for a bladed jig I like something with a little less bend since you are looking at putting a larger single hook through their mouth.

 

Have not tried the 7'2 H MF but if I had to do it over again I'd personally opt for that one over the rip n chatter...but that said the 736CB w/ a tatula 100 is getting no complaints from me.

I have the Victory 7’2” MHMF crank bait rod. Great for Rockcrawlers, DT10 and below. No way would I throw a bladed jig on it. IMO it’s not stout enough to drive a heavy hook home.

I was throwing bladed jigs on the victory 7’3 MHF “The Marshall” until I switched to a dedicated bladed jig rod. I now throw spinnerbaits on it. Have had zero issues. 

I have the Victory 7'2" MHMF for bladed jigs/lipless/swim jigs and its awesome. Never had any issues landing a fish

I use "The Marshall" and it was great for bladed jig, but once the Evergreen bladed jig rod was on sale for around 50 percent off I had to get it for the bladed jig. 

14 hours ago, RFSims said:

I have the Victory 7’2” MHMF crank bait rod. Great for Rockcrawlers, DT10 and below. No way would I throw a bladed jig on it. IMO it’s not stout enough to drive a heavy hook home.

Would fishing braid to leader fix that problem?

20 hours ago, Brian11719 said:

Have not tried the 7'2 H MF but if I had to do it over again I'd personally opt for that one over the rip n chatter.

Did you mean the 7'3 heavy mod fast or the 7ft 2in med heavy mod fast?

I use the rip n chatter and I really like it for chatterbaits, lipless cranks and spinnerbaits

2 hours ago, Calvin123 said:

Did you mean the 7'3 heavy mod fast or the 7ft 2in med heavy mod fast?

The 7'2 MH...although that 7'3 looks interesting...they say that one is for flipping but it's only rated up to 1oz which seems a bit low for a flipping stick. In my case I use this rod for bladed jigs and bigger crankbaits like the 6xd so something rated up to 1.25 or 1.5oz is more in line with what I'm looking for and why I ended up landing on the 736cb instead.

 

 

Not a St Croix, but I would take a look at the Expride 7'2" MH/MF glass. I use that rod in the Intenza line for bladed jigs and it has been very dialed in for me so far.

23 hours ago, Calvin123 said:

Would fishing braid to leader fix that problem?

IMO, No. The rod is a great crank bait rod for mid depth, shallow depth crank baits. I would not use it for single hook tecniques. However there is a gentleman that has posted in this thread, that the rod is a great bladed jig/swim jig rod. In fishing there are no absolute right or wrong answers. What works for me may not work for you.