Tuesday, July 21, 2015

St-Croix Baitcaster Review

Hi there,

Here comes the first review I ever wrote about a fishing rod.
Why a review you may then ask...
Well because this is the best fishing rod that I am using at the moment, and as such totally deserved a review.
You might be wondering, what fishing rod are we talking about?
  • It is a St.Croix Premier/PC60MH
  • 6' Med-Heavy Power
  • Fast Action
  • SC''Graphite
  • 10-20lb. 3/8-1oz.

My first ever St.Croix

Yes this is the first St.Croix fishing rod that happened to be mine.
I won it last year as a prize in the 2014 Top End Barra Series, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Fishing and Outdoor World, a great fishing tackle shop in Darwin.
Yes it has been over six months since I won this fishing rod, and I am only doing a review now...
In fact, this is because such a large time frame has allowed me to test, and fish with this rod, in many places and conditions. And to really get a feel for it, something that I would not have had in a shorter amount of time.

I fished with my St.Croix in Darwin Harbour of course, from a boat and land based. Also on the Daly River, the Adelaide River, Bynoe Harbour, Shady Camp and Tommy Cut Creek.
It got me fishes in all of these places, fishing at different time of the year. Sometimes with hard body lures, divers or surface lures, sometimes with soft plastics, casting or trolling. Depending of the days and fishing spots, most of the different scenarios of Barramundi fishing have been meet with this rod. I even used it to fish with vibes lures, and it worked too.

Here it is at Bynoe Harbour:

St.Croix Premier/PC60MH

On my rod I have a Shimano Curado 201I reel, they go well together. It keep the combo relatively light in weight, and I have been able to fish, mostly flicking lures, all day long with it without fatigue.
Yet when a good fish takes your lure, the rod got all the energy necessary to load well and bring home the bacon.
Still you can flick very small soft plastic lures a good distance.

So do I like it?
Yes I do.
It even helped me to get my third biggest Barramundi so far:

My third biggest Barramundi.

At 95cm (37.401575 inches) it is what I personally consider a good Barramundi.
And it was my first good fish on this very fishing rod.

The only thing that bother me a little with this rod, is the size of the line guides. It should not be a problem for most fishermen and fisherwomen, but for me it is just a bit of a nagging concern.
I make big knots on my line, fishing with 30b braid and most of the time 50/60b leader. Slightly larger guides would be a great option. But realistically it is not that big of an issue.

So what are the pro of this rod from my point of view?
  • It is really light and will not get your arm tired half way through the day.
  • It is long enough to obtain great casting distance even with small lures.
  • It is strong enough to put the breaks on a good angry fish.
  • It has an excellent finish.
  • It is a St.Croix.

Fishing a TopEnd creek with my St.Croix.

Now would I recommend this rod to any of my fishing buddies?
Yes, without any hesitation, it has become my go to fishing rod, and now most of my mates have seen me use it. Some of them have even tried it, and loved it.

So I guess that the only problem about it really, is that I wanted a St.Croix for a long time and now I would love to have a few of them...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

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