I understand that you need to handle them with care, no hi-sticking, throwing them in the truck, using a rod tube for transport, no lifting a fish out of the water with it. But I’m gun shy now.

My last two were Premier spinning rods. And they both snapped either at 6 inches from the tip, or one at about 3/4 up the rod.

I REALLY liked the feel, weight, and sensitivity of the rods. I would like to get another, I just don’t want to feel like walking on eggshells everytime I cast. I do treat my rods with care, and use the appropriate lure sizes and line ratings, but paying $200, then having to worry about not having it the rest of the trip, because it snapped isn’t much piece of mind.

Have you guys had break issues? What do you do to counteract that?

I shouldn’t have to be worrying about my rod when I’m trying to enjoy fishing.

Thankyou

I’ve been a long time St. Croix user (and abuser) of their rods. I fish from the bank often and end up dropping my rods, slapping them against trees and rocks, and generally not being as nice as I should.

Now two similar rods rods snapping during normal use makes me feel you had a couple bad sticks. If you bought them together it could have been a defect in manufacturing not caught during QC. I’d obviously contact the St Croix folks and get replacements or ask them about discounts on a new rod from the same or better line. They have always been awesome to me.

Now all I can provide is anecdotal evidence about St. Croix reliability. Gotta preface that first. I’ve never broken a St. Croix rod so far. As I stated above I’m hell on gear, and when I know I’m heading into the backwoods I always grab my St Croixs first. They have been all over east TN wading rivers and up and down campsite trails. I currently own two legend elites and an Xtreme and I throw them around. I’ve owned multiple Victory, Legend Xs, and other lines in the past but prior to moving to MD for a year thinned the herd. Rod breaks can and do happen, the most likely culprits are a ding you didn’t see before going out or a defect in the rod.

If I broke any of the three rods I have I’d replace it immediately. I trust the brand and have put enough hours in over the years to believe whatever happened was either:

A. Bad luck

B. My fault

I know losing a rod sucks. I turtled my kayak over 4 feet of water above riprap several years ago and lost a number of sticks I can’t replace.

Thanks a lot for saying all that man. That gives me much more confidence in buying another.

And I did buy them nearly at the same time of each other.

Thanks for sharing your examples of going through the woods with them and stuff to.

A couple of years ago I had a Premier spinning rod break just the way you described. I used it for about 1-1/2 years. One day I had it laying on the table, running line through the guides, and snap. I was holding about 8" of broken rod in my hand. I'm still not sure what happened.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I went out and purchased another Premier spinning rod. This second one has been going strong for going on 3 years now.

The only thing I can think of is that I did something when I was running line that caused the rod to break.

56 minutes ago, Otter17 said:

Thanks a lot for saying all that man. That gives me much more confidence in buying another.

And I did buy them nearly at the same time of each other.

Thanks for sharing your examples of going through the woods with them and stuff to.

I do my best to be honest on how I use gear. Some folks take great care in their fishing tackle. Reel covers, and rod socks always. I’m simply not one of them.

I hope you get sorted out either with some new Croixs or whatever brand you choose.

I’ve had 2 break, both M/L, one from abuse, the other during a cast. The first was an old rod I dropped the anchor on, STC replaced it under warranty. The 2nd was the first’s replacement, maybe 2 years old. My take is like most things, the new is not as good as the old.

I passed on another and went with a Dobyn’s Fury. I much prefer the Premier.

I've had excellent experience with St Croix customer service the last 10 years, which is why I continue to buy St Croix rods.

2 hours ago, padlin said:

I’ve had 2 break, both M/L, one from abuse, the other during a cast. The first was an old rod I dropped the anchor on, STC replaced it under warranty. The 2nd was the first’s replacement, maybe 2 years old. My take is like most things, the new is not as good as the old.

I passed on another and went with a Dobyn’s Fury. I much prefer the Premier.

Mine were M/L’s as well.

4 hours ago, padlin said:

I’ve had 2 break, both M/L, one from abuse, the other during a cast. The first was an old rod I dropped the anchor on, STC replaced it under warranty. The 2nd was the first’s replacement, maybe 2 years old. My take is like most things, the new is not as good as the old.

I passed on another and went with a Dobyn’s Fury. I much prefer the Premier.

Just my take, but I bet if you went with a Dobyns of the same value you’d have liked it more. The Kaden series would be on par at $200 and you can VERY often find em on sale for $160ish and is a very nice rod. I’ve never had a Dobyns break on me and been using them about 15 years.

I guess this adds one more question to the pile. So I was using the medium light rods for finesse smallmouth bass fishing in rivers.

May they have been to light of a rod? In this river I mostly finesse with 1/16-1/4 oz. Lures which the rod rates for, but might fighting smallmouth in current be too much for the ML. Should I step up to a Medium?

A medium won’t toss real small lures as well as a lighter rod, which is why I use an M/L, at least that’s my experience.

If I were using 1/16 baits I’d be using my L, but I don’t river fish.

Best I could recommend is to buy or borrow a M and see what you think.

13 hours ago, Otter17 said:

I guess this adds one more question to the pile. So I was using the medium light rods for finesse smallmouth bass fishing in rivers.

May they have been to light of a rod? In this river I mostly finesse with 1/16-1/4 oz. Lures which the rod rates for, but might fighting smallmouth in current be too much for the ML. Should I step up to a Medium?

In St Croix their rods tend to be a half power heavier than other brands. Another member mentioned the Dobyins above and if you fished a medium side by side the St Croix would feel half way to a medium heavy.

My river spinning rod is the elite line 7’ ML. Tackle Tour did a review on it years ago and put on a bench to measure deflection. It starts out soft then once their hooked has a strong backbone. Look up the review and see if their applications fit yours and find the same rod in a different line. Most Croix lines share power and action.

I don’t know the size of fish you encounter normally but I’ve seen videos of people landing 2-3 foot gar on 6-8 lb test on light gear in our rivers. It’s about setting your drag correctly and allowing the gear to handle the heavy lifting. The action and power of your rod don’t determine the size of fish you can land.

I used to fish with St. Croix and Loomis now I'm all Loomis. Since the pandemic, reddit and facebook groups are a sea of broken St. Croix rods and reel seats falling apart. I have posted this before on here but get shot down saying its all "user error" even though the same groups are not a sea of broken Loomis rods etc.

Its a shame because the early 2000's full cork Avid rods with the alconite guides were still THE BEST bang for the buck in the industry for a great rod IMO. Now they have cheaper guides and no longer full cork etc.

They seem to be more brittle now than they used to be and they put cheap steel guides on avid walleye and panfish rods which is a shame.

I have been using St Croix sticks in both fresh & saltwater for a really long time,

(insert 15 years before the internet was even a thing)

and will continue to do so.

While I did blow up a few travel rods, NONE of the one-piece blanks or hardware has ever failed on me.

Additionally, my customer service experience has been stellar the few times I needed it. (travel rods)

Finally, I currently fish 5 of the newest Avid casting and 8 of the newest Avid spinning rods.

Including M & MH casting and M & ML spinning.

IMO, a most decent quality unit that fishes a bit above its price point.

YMMV

A-Jay

Not what you want to hear, I know; Rods are tools that wear, break or last forever. It’s just part of the gig.

On 2/21/2026 at 2:24 PM, A-Jay said:

I have been using St Croix sticks in both fresh & saltwater for a really long time,

(insert 15 years before the internet was even a thing)

and will continue to do so.

While I did blow up a few travel rods, NONE of the one-piece blanks or hardware has ever failed on me.

Additionally, my customer service experience has been stellar the few times I needed it. (travel rods)

Finally, I currently fish 5 of the newest Avid casting and 8 of the newest Avid spinning rods.

Including M & MH casting and M & ML spinning.

IMO, a most decent quality unit that fishes a bit above its price point.

YMMV

A-Jay

Thankyou A-Jay, I always appreciate you input man!

I had one BassX with the reel seat issue. On the water, I just threaded some line under the reel seat and jammed it down, held the rest of the float. Picked up some epoxy on the way home and fixed it myself. Probably could have gotten a new rod out of it but it wasn't a big deal.

The only unusual failure I had was with a Mojo Bass glass. I was anchored on one side of some fast current, casting to slack water on the other side. Hooked into a decent smallie, he took a run into the current and the rod just folded near the handle. I actually sent this pic in to St. Croix, you can see the cracks near the belly of the bass. There's a decent chance I had dinged the rod prior to this, I'm not the easiest on gear. But they sent me out a new rod.

Their customer service is pretty great. I had another rod I busted that was my own fault. I started the warranty process and then life happened, completely forgot about it. They actually called me up a month or two later to finish the claim.

I break every rod I’ve ever had and it was very hard to break the mojobass trigon line. I shockingly still have one that I can’t break

I have mojo bass, avid x, LTBs, and Legend X’s. The only rod that broke that I am not 100% sure was my fault was a 7’1 mh LTB.

However, I think the issue was my hookset. I was caught way out of position and set the hook on fairly slackline with straight braid and a locked drag. Back then I fished tournaments from the back of the boat, so rods got banged up a little more than usual, even though I’m pretty careful with my gear.

Maybe try a different rod in the lineup or try to evaluate if there is anything you are doing that might cause a breakage?

I broke a victory rod setting the hook on a log fish. Scared the hell outta me but it was under warranty and I got a replacement pretty quickly.

I dont understand how people brake rods. it never happened to me. I mean, my St Croix rods has travel a long way from the factory to reach at my hands. I put Mojo Bass, Avid X, Avid Pearl, LTB to really agressive fishing condition, using 50 pound braid, hooking 10 to 16 pound fishes, throwing lures beyond the recommended weight, full drag tight, and no one broke.

Beside that, Im really carefully with my gear from home to the fish point and viceversa.

Am I a lucky guy?

5 minutes ago, AbelG said:

I dont understand how people brake rods

I don’t either. I’ve broken two rods in 30 plus years of fishing. One while fighting a bass and it was the first or second time using it. The other I snapped when it got caught up in the boat cover while taking it off. Obviously my fault.

10 minutes ago, AbelG said:

Am I a lucky guy

I must be too. 😁

I have a Mojo Bass and 2 Victory rods - all spinning - M and ML - the ML Victory rod snapped when a fish grabbed the hook and I leaned back slightly and set the hook - not an aggressive hook set at all - snap -- but the communication with customer service and getting a replacement rod was a smooth process -- no issues at all since then with any of those three rods

I still have a mojo bass from the first year they came out and I've used that rod in just about every wrong way you can think of and it still is trucking along. I also have a hand full of others including a newer Victory. None with as much use as the mojo but all have been perfectly fine.

Only rod I managed to break was a Berkley Lightning rod when fighting a frog out of some really heavy reeds. It was a "on vacation" purchase that just happened to work really well with frogs. Was honestly a little upset it broke...

I’ve always found St. Croix rods to be durable overall. They tend to be thicker, tip-heavy in construction so I find them frustrating and fatiguing to fish. But the upside is that they tend to last and have a good warranty if they don’t.