Hello All,

I'm thinking of upgrading a couple of 10 year old Avid X rods to longer lengths. Current rods are 7MHF Avid X that I use in open water and mostly for soft plastics with some heft to them like Fat Ikas, 6"+ Senkos, Poop Baits, etc with 12-15 lb fluoro. They are a little tip heavy and I'm thinking of moving to either Victory series or the LTB for better balance. I'm thinking of 7'3" or 7'5" lengths in Medium-Heavy Fast . Has anybody made a similar switch and noticed any negative affects in castablility or how the rod loads moving up in rod length?

I can’t answer that question but I had 2 rods that didn’t handle and cast the way I wanted so I took them to a rod guy and had the handles extended 2”. They turned out great.

Never fished st croix. Been a Dobyns guy for many years. I will say Dobyns are very well known for being well balanced so I haven’t had any issues with feeling tip heavy. I do remember fishing Okuma and Irod and both feeling very tip heavy and it sucks.

I think the biggest thing you’ll notice is your hookset is going to come a lot faster. You pick up so much more line with a rod 5” longer. Once you get used to it, it feels much better. I also feel like you have more power over a big fish. I don’t think you’ll dislike the change.

Just remember that even though the specs might be the same for the longer and shorter rods, they might be designed quite differently. I have the example in another thread, but Falcon has 8 or 9 rods with the same 1/4-3/4 spec and there is a lot of variety in them.

I have a couple avids in the spinning line up, love them, but haven't gone back to St Croix since some 12-15 years ago. I have made a version of this migration to longer rods and then even a backswing to shorter rods. I really like shorter bottom contact rods when dealing with grass, I feel like I can have the utmost control when trying to work or shake free without having my bait jump too far. Longer rods are my preference for a lot of techniques; mostly winding, dragging and ripping, and balance is really important to me. Dobyns and Major Craft are companies that I can vouch for saying that you will get a rod at any length that will balance with any conventional reel. Shimano, Diawa, and Phenix are usually good, but sometimes work best with heavier reels when longer than 7'. Longer rods also give me the ability to reel and sweep set on those longer casts still giving me control while fighting the fish. I run 6'6 to 7'11 for all my rigs.

scott

Bottom contact; jigs, worms, free rigs, tubes etc: 6'6-7'10 rods

Poop baits: 6'6-6'11

Deep crank: 7'7-7'9

Jerk bait: 6'9-6'11

Jighead minnows: 6'10-7'3

Swim jigs: 7'5-7'6

Frogs: 7'-7'3

Topwater: 6'9-7'

Finesse swimbaits/underspins: 6'10-7'10

Large soft swimbaits: 7'6

Glides: 7'11

Chop Glides: 7'

Spoons: 6'9-7'9

Hair Jigs: 7'3-7'10

I wont change to other rod lenght if that work for me. So keep in mind what @casts_by_fly said

Beside that, I have the Avid X 68MHF old LTB 68MHF and new LTB 71MHF for identical purpose.

I like more the feel of the Avid X over both LBT. About the LBT, the upgrade dont fell like day and night. But the new is better balance (the older is tip heavy) and lightweight than previous model. Those 3' plus really gives you more casting distance. Also the LTB feel little bit stiffer on the butt that the Avid.

Dont own a Victory but for what I saw in most reviews is a great rod for the price, very light, great balance.

A few years ago I slowly started moving up to longer rods, 7'6 and 7'5 rods from 6'6 and 7 foot rods and it makes a big difference in casting distance. I love them.

I would try to go up to 7'5 or 7'6 if you can.

I find 7ft to feel short these days, but I definitely agree with the opinion that rod handle length makes a big difference here. I'd rather a 7ft rod with an 11" handle than a 7'6" rod with a 9" handle in many situations, despite the fact my preference would generally be towards the longer rod.

Before I made the switch I would definitely tie on some lures to the longer rods. Longer rods will make everything feel a bit more tip heavy and rod manufacturers tend not to increase handle length proportional to rod length because a lot of the expense is in the handle.

On 2/15/2026 at 12:40 PM, offsidewing said:

Hello All,

I'm thinking of upgrading a couple of 10 year old Avid X rods to longer lengths. Current rods are 7MHF Avid X that I use in open water and mostly for soft plastics with some heft to them like Fat Ikas, 6"+ Senkos, Poop Baits, etc with 12-15 lb fluoro. They are a little tip heavy and I'm thinking of moving to either Victory series or the LTB for better balance. I'm thinking of 7'3" or 7'5" lengths in Medium-Heavy Fast . Has anybody made a similar switch and noticed any negative affects in castablility or how the rod loads moving up in rod length?

So the older St Croix MH rods especially on their low-mid range lines are a bit of a broomstick of a rod. The Victory series has a bit more bend (and still runs fast) so it should be in the lines what you're looking for. That will have significantly more effect than 3" of length.

The 7'3" MH/F (The Marshall) is a pretty good all around MH rod and it will definitely cast better than your older Avid X. The 7'1" Grunt would do even better. It's a little bit lighter powered but has a 3/4oz upper end weight limit so you won't be using it for larger spinnerbaits, chatterbaits or football jigs, but for senkos and poop baits it would be perfect!

As far as being tip heavy, the Victory rods are generally pretty light so they'll still be a little bit tip heavy especially with a light reel, but they aren't so tip heavy where I immediately think about how tip heavy it is.

Well, your hooksets will be better. I noticed you mentioned running straight fluoro, and the longer rod length will help overcome line stretch 👍.

Before getting into baitcast reels, my spinning rods were 6' or shorter with one exception...a 9' rod for Nightwalkers. Bought a few 6'6" casting rods when I first got into baitcasting reels. I soon found I prefer longer. I cast 2-handed 99.99% of the time. Don't notice any negative effects.

On 2/15/2026 at 3:24 PM, softwateronly said:

I have a couple avids in the spinning line up, love them, but haven't gone back to St Croix since some 12-15 years ago. I have made a version of this migration to longer rods and then even a backswing to shorter rods. I really like shorter bottom contact rods when dealing with grass, I feel like I can have the utmost control when trying to work or shake free without having my bait jump too far. Longer rods are my preference for a lot of techniques; mostly winding, dragging and ripping, and balance is really important to me. Dobyns and Major Craft are companies that I can vouch for saying that you will get a rod at any length that will balance with any conventional reel. Shimano, Diawa, and Phenix are usually good, but sometimes work best with heavier reels when longer than 7'. Longer rods also give me the ability to reel and sweep set on those longer casts still giving me control while fighting the fish. I run 6'6 to 7'11 for all my rigs.

scott

Bottom contact; jigs, worms, free rigs, tubes etc: 6'6-7'10 rods

Poop baits: 6'6-6'11

Deep crank: 7'7-7'9

Jerk bait: 6'9-6'11

Jighead minnows: 6'10-7'3

Swim jigs: 7'5-7'6

Frogs: 7'-7'3

Topwater: 6'9-7'

Finesse swimbaits/underspins: 6'10-7'10

Large soft swimbaits: 7'6

Glides: 7'11

Chop Glides: 7'

Spoons: 6'9-7'9

Hair Jigs: 7'3-7'10

what's a Poop bait?

4 minutes ago, Hulkster said:

what's a Poop bait?

Nickname given to the original TRD - it looks like a small poop.

Uh, no. It has nothing to do with TRDs.

These are poop baits. You'll know it when you see it.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Deps_Cover_Scat_Soft_Stickbait/descpage-DCSWW.html?from=basres

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Missile_Baits_Bomba_Worm/descpage-MBBW.html?from=basres

@Hulkster deps cover scat is the one I've been throwing. There seems to be times in the summer when it's the only thing I can get them to bite.

scott

On 2/21/2026 at 10:05 PM, softwateronly said:

@Hulkster deps cover scat is the one I've been throwing. There seems to be times in the summer when it's the only thing I can get them to bite.

scott

What’s a good color for them? If you don’t mind me asking.

3 hours ago, Dooger said:

What’s a good color for them? If you don’t mind me asking.

That champagne/pepper in the pic and a gp blue fleck have done it for me on a grassy, clear water lake. I drag it and snap it mostly, and really have no idea why it works.

scott