March 18, 2024 • 22 mins
Welcome to another riveting episode of Musky Mondays where we dive deep into the fascinating world of muskie fishing rods. In this episode, our host engages in an enlightening conversation with Gavin Falk from St. Croix Rods. We explore the vast selection of rods suited for various seasons and discuss different types of graphites, ratings, and the distinction between moderate action versus fast action. Not only do we touch upon St. Croix rods, but also shed light on Chaos Tackle, Fenwick, Musky Innovations, and Okuma Rods.
Join us as we discuss lure ratings, their importance and how they can impact the quality of your fishing experience. Hear firsthand our favorite 'first fish' stories and catch up on our passion for fishing. We further delve into discussing various St. Croix lineups, the Premier, Mojo, and The Legend Tournament series while sharing insights about guides.
This highly informative episode is overflowing with valuable information that every muskie angler needs to know. Embark on an educative journey with Gavin and Team Rhino Outdoors and make an informed choice for your next fishing adventure.
We go in-depth on topics like tip actions, the difference between medium heavy and extra heavy action rods, and the significance of various rod actions pertaining to specific fishing locales. Additionally, we reveal our thoughts around best-selling rods and personal favorites to help you find your perfect gear.
Our goal is to equip you with dependable, superior, and high-performance fishing gear for the best fishing experience. Brace yourself for an insightful episode that profoundly explores the intricate world of muskie fishing rods and learn from the expertise of seasoned anglers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:05):
Welcome to Muskie Mondays with the Team Rhino Outdoors Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I'm going to talk to Gavin Falk from St. Croix Rods.
And the purpose of this episode is just to talk about rods.
You know, I mean, obviously we're going to talk St. Croix, but there's tons
of great rods on the market.
And we have a great selection of them at TeamRhinoOutdoors.com.
(00:26):
You can find everything you need for muskie rods for this upcoming season.
And there's something in many different price points. So check them all out.
We have a great selection of not only St.
Croix's, but Chaos Tackle, Fenwick, Musk Innovations, Okuma Rods.
We have everything you're looking for for your rod needs this upcoming season.
(00:47):
In this episode, you'll hear it. We're going to talk to Gavin,
and we're going to go down the St.
Croix lineup, but we'll also talk about different graphites and different ratings,
and we'll talk about a moderate action versus a fast action,
how important that is, how important you know it
is to maintain the lure rating like
(01:08):
how important is it for you to stay within those lure ratings that are
on your rods because that's a question i get asked once in a while so hopefully
you'll learn a little a little bit about rods and choosing your next rod from
this episode and i just want to thank everybody that came out to visit us over
show season it was a great show season we had a fun time hitting the road and
now it's over like we're it started and And it just blazes right by.
(01:33):
And so here we are, middle of March, and, you know, things are progressing as
far as spring is concerned.
And we're just back and, you know, getting the shop put back together.
And so we're looking forward to another great year of being on the water and
another great year in the shop.
And I want to thank everybody again for their support of Team Rhino Outdoors.
(01:54):
We couldn't do what we do without you.
And so for that, we are extremely thankful.
And, you know, again, this episode is.
Essentially sponsored by Team Rhino Outdoors because I'm the
guy doing it and I'm the owner my name is Jeff so if
you have any issues or questions or whatever you could certainly reach
out to us but if you're looking for your next you know muskie gear for your
(02:15):
next muskie fishing adventure make sure you check us out teamrhinooutdoors.com
I don't have anything else to add to this infomercial so I will just jump to
our conversation that we had with Gavin Falk and once again thank you everybody
for coming out to visit us over show season we can't thank you enough for that.
All right, my guest on this episode is Gavin Falk. Gavin is represented by St.
(02:37):
Croix Rods. And the purpose of this conversation today, Gavin,
is we're going to teach people about rods.
Obviously, because you work for
St. Croix, we're going to be slanting our conversation towards St. Croix.
But as everybody knows out there, there's tons of different rods.
There's tons of quality rods out there today.
But for the purpose of this conversation, I have Gavin. He represents that company.
(03:00):
So that's the route we're going to head down.
We're not necessarily saying like, Hey, these are the only rod option for you.
Gavin will probably say that, but for me, you know, I don't,
I don't have that same option, but I certainly love the product Gavin and St.
Croix. I used them last year, especially with like the legend tournament,
but I'm, I'm not going to lie.
I used a Moab rod from chaos tackle last year and I liked that as well.
(03:22):
So there's different, different rods and different actions and different lengths
and all sorts of weight ratings.
And like, I kind of want to clear up some of that, but I also want to,
you know, like like kind of break down the differences here in the in the different St.
Croix lineups because obviously you guys have three and we'll go down that route
but first off I want to thank you for your time this afternoon to talk muskies
(03:43):
with me and then Gavin let's just start it off with I've been asking a few people
like first muskie catches like do you remember your first muskie ever caught.
Yes Jeff it was I would say
I had to have been a sophomore or junior in
high school and my dad
actually got me kicked into it he he had
(04:04):
musky fish some in college and some before he had kids and he kind of wanted
to get back into it so we actually went out on the phillips chain i was throwing
i can't remember exactly what it's called but it's one of the big white beetle spin looking,
baits and for whatever reason i
(04:25):
thought it'd be a good idea to let that thing sink sink to the the bottom and
it's probably five cranks and i hooked up and i was a nice 40 incher and that
that's basically what got me started that's funny i didn't really know what
i was doing kind of let things sink to the bottom how many have you caught with
that beetle spin since since that very first muskie,
I think I caught like three in a row on that bait and then I probably haven't used it since.
(04:50):
So that being probably not the smartest decision I made, but,
but who knows, maybe I'll run back into it at some point.
That's funny because I, I've told the story on, on this podcast,
I caught one on a slippery sand, my very first muskie.
And it was probably, I think that might've been, I might've caught a few after
that much like you probably not many more.
(05:10):
And then it sort of just went to the wayside, right? you're on to the next thing
and and you're on the next biggest thing and so it's just
kind of crazy how that works out with you you know but good to
hear about the the first muskie i always like hearing about people's first
fish and and how they got into it and you know kind of
what transformed their life or ruined it depending on how you want to look at
it and this in this case i'm guessing that was probably the start of you wanting
(05:33):
to get in the fishing industry or did you just happen to get into the fishing
industry i would say i i lucked into it somewhat i out of college i was I was
actually looking into a field service position.
I had that lined up and very fortunate to be interviewed by St.
Croix right out of college and then later on hired by them.
(05:53):
So I kind of lucked into it. I would say I was probably low tier as far as skill
level for an angler when I started here.
But just the knowledge and being around
all the people with the high skill sets and in
fishing has definitely helped move my skill
(06:14):
level up throughout the years i've been here absolutely all
right well let's get started in the conversation so let's start at the three
different models that you guys carry for saint croix you're going to go with
the premier the mojo and then you're going to go with the legend tournament
like if an angler is going to start out in the premier like what is what does
the premier offer and then what improves as we go through the lineup up.
(06:38):
Yeah, so like if you look at St. Croix, we have our prepregs all labeled out
as SC1 through 5, and that's just the different prepregs that we use.
So it's a mid-modulus prepreg all the way up to upper modulus for the stuff
that's SC5 or SC6 and whatnot.
(06:58):
So as the modulus is increased, that translates to stiffer fibers,
which allows you to decrease the amount of material you're using in the blanks,
which usually translates to thinner walls.
But you can still maintain the structural integrity and produce overall lightweight
(07:21):
blank. So that Premier Series would be a SC2, which we also do have the Triumph Series.
A lot of people forget that that's there. There aren't a lot of models in that
series, but then that bumps up to the Mojo Series, which is SC3.
So a little bit higher grade carbon fiber.
And then it would bump into
(07:43):
the legend tournament series sc4 which in
that series we actually did incorporate some sc6
into those blanks to make them even even lighter compared
to its predecessor and then the other
one that the other saint cry offering that's
out there is actually a legend and elite is still around and that's
(08:05):
the sc5 material yeah i
i missed the triumph series
mostly because it's so limited as
far as what's available to most musky anglers
i think we can all agree that you know the trend isn't necessarily
shorter rods and i don't think in that series do they
even offer an eight footer or not i'm thinking everything's seven
(08:25):
six and under but i could be wrong yeah i'd have
to look again it might be two or three seven sixes
and two or three eight footers but i think the
most cases i hear guys using it for musky fishing it's something they pull out
of the garage or cast off the dock or they're out trolling with it okay sure
(08:46):
and then obviously the elite which we do sell i i carry them in stock we have
them on i mean unbelievably light.
If you ever have a chance to touch one, they're the lightest rod I've ever seen in my life.
And I mean, they're, they're an amazing option, but obviously you get what you pay for, right? Yep.
They're, they're at the higher end of the price pricing structure and not just
(09:10):
at St. Croix, but in the industry as well.
So the next one I would ask you about would be like guides, how much changes amongst guides?
Cause I think that's another thing that we hear about in in the fishing industry,
like it has this type of guides or that type of guides, like do,
and does that change throughout any of these models or how does that work?
Yeah, typically as you go up in series or up in price points,
(09:32):
you get a little bit more premium or higher quality guides.
The kind of differentiating factors between guides that are out there are the frame style.
And there's basically two there, which is a traditional frame where the actual
ring itself is perpendicular to the blank plane.
And then the other one is the K-frame or the tangle free, which is actually
(09:56):
sloped towards the tip. And that does help prevent line tangling or wind knots.
Okay. So obviously, as you would expect, right, more money as we move up through
the line, better components, lighter blank essentially.
Lighter and possibly stronger blank. Is that correct?
Correct. And we also do utilize a proprietary material that helps strengthen
(10:22):
the hoop strength of the blank, which in turn prevents breakage down the road.
Which, I mean, I think I deal with a different muskie angler than like,
say the, the one that's shopping at a different, bigger box store.
Cause you guys are available in many different retailers, you know,
like which model is the most popular model?
(10:42):
I would say it varies. I mean, regionally it varies, I would say,
but I mean, legend tournament is, I mean, popular across all,
all areas of the, the muskie fishing industry. I would say.
It does seem like Mojo is maybe a little more popular down south.
Maybe it's a price point that dictates some of that. I'm not sure.
(11:05):
And then up here, I do still see a lot of Premieres. Yeah.
You just never know okay yeah for me out
of our shop we definitely sent out the
most of the legend tournaments i believe it was if i
look at data i want to say it was probably you know
the two the premiere and the mojo together probably maybe just matched the legend
(11:26):
tournament based off of you know what what we sent out last year so that was
interesting i mean it was our first year full year of having them so we finally
had some sales data and it was interesting to look back on it i'm I'm always
curious to know, you know, how just what sells,
what makes people, you know, what makes people go to one style or one brand or the other, you know?
Sure. And I think maybe some of that might pertain to marketing influence because
(11:51):
that was a more updated series.
So, I mean, that could be pertinent to it too.
Yeah, definitely. That would be it. All right. So then moving on with rods,
you know, obviously there's, you know, medium heavy action rods,
rods, heavy action rods, extra heavy action rods, double extra heavy action rods.
I mean, you can go down the line, you know, let's talk about that.
(12:12):
Like a medium heavy action rod, what would be an example of some baits that
you would say that anglers would throw with a medium heavy action rod?
Yeah. So medium heavy, typically I'm running eight, six to nine footer,
even that that new nine six that we came out with in telescopic.
Typically I'm running smaller single bladed buck tails. If you're running like
(12:37):
double showgirls, stuff like that.
I'm trying to think what else some may be up to a fat bastard,
but more than likely a Dr.
Evil, definitely smaller baits. You can even run some smaller jerk baits with
it. It does have a stiffen up tip for that.
But yeah, I think that's, that's probably basically all I would run with a medium
(13:00):
heavy fast in my opinion, everybody's got their own preference though.
So let's just say you're going to, you know, twitch a smaller crankbait.
Will that, will you get better action out of the bait by matching it with a
medium heavy over, you know, driving it with a heavy action rod or something like that?
I honestly, I think so, but each crankbait,
(13:21):
the buoyancies are so different that I think you just everybody's got to play
with that to figure out which one you feel works different because i mean i'm
i mess around with leaders leader material leader lengths all the time and that
can even dictate on the amount of action you get out of some of them baits,
(13:42):
okay that makes sense now moving up we're going
to heavy action rods what are you looking at with heavy action rods
yeah i would say a heavy action rod
is probably the most versatile it can
do almost everything i would say
other than throwing big rubber baits it's great for bucktails top water you
(14:03):
can work some crankbaits with it whole paws depending on the length it is a
good jerkbait rod a lot of that is dictated by the boat you have,
or i guess the baits you're throwing with it too so a lot of times i'll run
the eight footer for for smaller jerk baits, but I will bump up to eight,
(14:26):
six, depending on if I'm fishing out of a larger boat or whatnot.
Sure and now extra heavy is that pounders medusas
that kind of stuff bigger medusas i'm assuming
like a reg medusa you could probably throw in a heavy action rod is that pretty
much what you're that extra heavy is that what you're
going to be throwing with it yeah i i mean
(14:46):
i'll even throw regular medusas in it the biggest
the biggest upside to that double or
that extra heavy is you just got a lot better chance of
getting hooks and fish it's going to move the bait in the fish's mouth
just a little bit to drive hooks home i'll
even throw it with there are people out there throwing
the 12 or 14 inch pole pauses
(15:08):
out there that's a good rod for
that as well you know one thing i'll ask you you mentioned
hook set power on an extra heavy like is that an issue with a
medium heavy or or do you guys design those to you
know to have that hook set power even though it's only a medium
heavy action yeah so the backbone the
rod loads just a little bit deeper than say a
(15:29):
heavy what i like about that for
smaller bucktails and topwater is
it's a lot easier to keep tension on the fish when they
make those runs and whatnot i can't
tell you how many times i've hooked a fish fought them
around the boat it's one on a couple runs runs scoop it
in the net and the bait comes flying out i think my
(15:52):
personal preference is on them smaller baits or
baits with smaller hooks have a rod that loads up just.
A little bit deeper so you can definitely keep more tension on.
Them all right now let's talk about all these rods have like lure ratings you.
Know like it'll be i don't know what they are the same i'm just guessing medium
heavy might be like one to three ounces or something like that like how important
(16:15):
is it for the anglers to just stay within that range?
Because, like, for, you know, I've had certain people, you know,
say, like, oh, I can't throw this bait because my rod says it's only rated for
6 ounces and this is a 7-ounce bait.
Like, is that super important for them to stay within that range recommendation? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, more so it's a recommendation, but it's not a say-all or do-all.
(16:39):
I mean, when I've had to, I've thrown Magnum Bulldogs on medium heavies just
because it's what I had at the time.
Granted, it's not the best rod, but you can get away with using baits outside those lure ratings.
Things and i'm not going to say in certain situations but it's
(16:59):
more so a user preference for how
the the tip action and and or i would say the rot how the rod action translate
to the bait action and whatnot and then speaking of like tip actions you know
you'll see you'll hear stuff like moderate action or fast action like what's
the difference between them and what does does that mean?
(17:20):
Yeah. So if you look at, and we have images on our website and how to explain what a fast action is.
So it's more so when the tip is deflected, where along the blank, the tip loads.
So if you bend the tip, if it bends more or it stays more bent towards the tip, that's a faster action.
(17:41):
And if you bend the tip and it loads more deflecting towards the handle,
then it's more of a moderate or moderate fast action if you look at St.
Croix's lineup we have converted basically
to all fast actions
on our muskie rods we do still have some moderates that
are more so trolling rods or if you look in that premier series
(18:03):
they have that one glass blank that's used
for trolling our sucker rods or sucker
rigs and then there is a lipstick rod that's still around that's a moderate
fast and that's as the name suggests it's was designed for crankbait fishing
okay and i was going to ask you like what what advantage does one give you or
(18:25):
the over the other like why do you choose a moderate over a fast.
Yeah, I would say it's so on the moderate for trolling rods,
it's more so, so it deflects deep to keep the fish pinned.
It absorbs all those head shakes.
And then why we've converted mostly just the facts, fast actions on our musky
rods, just so you can get the hooks in the fish.
(18:47):
If it, if it, if it loads too deep, you won't really have enough backbone to, to set your hook.
All right now let's just say i'm the angler i only
want to have one rod we'll we'll use the
legend tournament series since that's that one's been very popular with
us what's the what's the one rod that would say
is more like the swiss army knife in a sense like i'm only
(19:09):
buying one and i wanted to do most of what i'm going
to throw what's the one i got to get yeah i
would say if if you're fishing i'd say
a 17 18 foot boat that doesn't sit high
off the water fishing from shore or anything like
that an 8.6 heavy fast i'll get you through what
you need to do for throwing almost any bait except large
(19:32):
rubber baits and then if you're maybe fishing big water with a lot bigger boat
you'd want to bump up to nine foot or nine six heavy yeah that nine six heavy
blade master two that was definitely one that i i liked a lot last year it was
it threw a lot of baits but it It didn't, I mean, you know, it's a 9.6,
so like jerk baits, I wasn't necessarily in love with it.
(19:54):
But if you're throwing like moderate size rubber or you're throwing any type
of blade, it seemed like it worked amazing for that.
Yeah, you can definitely get the bait away from the boat in figure eights and
it just makes the ease of casting that much less fatiguing.
Like which one's your personal favorite? it i would
say if i'm throwing moving baits that that
(20:16):
nine six heavy fast telescopics probably what
i used a lot last year and then if i'm
working rubber it's always that blue ox 90 extra
heavy fast yep that would make sense those were
probably the two best selling rods out of that lineup
that we had last year hard to keep them in stock actually i hope i
hope i hope we do a better job with that this year not necessarily on your end
(20:37):
like on my end like it was it was hard
to anticipate the demand seeing as our last year and then so far this
year we've done a much better job with that like if you're looking for both of
them we have them and we had them at every show we
went to this year as well we're we're always
learning we're always trying to reinvent the wheel here at saint christ so hopefully
down the road we can present everybody in another favorite musky rod down the
(21:01):
road yeah if people obviously you can go to team rhino outdoors.com and in find
a whole a wide selection of rods.
But if people are looking to learn more about St. Croix, what's the best way
they can go about doing that?
Yeah. St. Croix.com. They do have social media on Facebook, Instagram.
(21:22):
I'm sure even TikTok now. It seems like that's the trend.
But yeah, there's information on the rods itself.
And then there is some information on the materials and whatnot that we use as well on there.
Are perfect well short and sweet
that's what i'm looking for out of this podcast we're looking to just you
know a short short form podcast just kind of hit a hit
(21:44):
on one topic one bait you know one one
thing and then we'll just run with that on that on the episode so i want to
thank you for your time gavin i really do appreciate you coming out i hope that
you uh have yourself a great season the way it's looking you guys might have
some open water sooner than later and you actually you might be able to enjoy
some like early season open water action oh yeah could be a good time,
(22:06):
no thanks for having me jeff it's always great talking with you and,
hopefully it was some good information for our anglers out there yeah i even
learned a few things on this on this episode so speaking of our anglers if you
want check out team rhino outdoors.com for all your muskie fishing needs and
we thank everybody for tuning in this week and we'll be back with a new episode again next week.
(22:29):
Music.
Music.
(00:05):
Welcome to Muskie Mondays with the Team Rhino Outdoors Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I'm going to talk to Gavin Falk from St. Croix Rods.
And the purpose of this episode is just to talk about rods.
You know, I mean, obviously we're going to talk St. Croix, but there's tons
of great rods on the market.
And we have a great selection of them at TeamRhinoOutdoors.com.
(00:26):
You can find everything you need for muskie rods for this upcoming season.
And there's something in many different price points. So check them all out.
We have a great selection of not only St.
Croix's, but Chaos Tackle, Fenwick, Musk Innovations, Okuma Rods.
We have everything you're looking for for your rod needs this upcoming season.
(00:47):
In this episode, you'll hear it. We're going to talk to Gavin,
and we're going to go down the St.
Croix lineup, but we'll also talk about different graphites and different ratings,
and we'll talk about a moderate action versus a fast action,
how important that is, how important you know it
is to maintain the lure rating like
(01:08):
how important is it for you to stay within those lure ratings that are
on your rods because that's a question i get asked once in a while so hopefully
you'll learn a little a little bit about rods and choosing your next rod from
this episode and i just want to thank everybody that came out to visit us over
show season it was a great show season we had a fun time hitting the road and
now it's over like we're it started and And it just blazes right by.
(01:33):
And so here we are, middle of March, and, you know, things are progressing as
far as spring is concerned.
And we're just back and, you know, getting the shop put back together.
And so we're looking forward to another great year of being on the water and
another great year in the shop.
And I want to thank everybody again for their support of Team Rhino Outdoors.
(01:54):
We couldn't do what we do without you.
And so for that, we are extremely thankful.
And, you know, again, this episode is.
Essentially sponsored by Team Rhino Outdoors because I'm the
guy doing it and I'm the owner my name is Jeff so if
you have any issues or questions or whatever you could certainly reach
out to us but if you're looking for your next you know muskie gear for your
(02:15):
next muskie fishing adventure make sure you check us out teamrhinooutdoors.com
I don't have anything else to add to this infomercial so I will just jump to
our conversation that we had with Gavin Falk and once again thank you everybody
for coming out to visit us over show season we can't thank you enough for that.
All right, my guest on this episode is Gavin Falk. Gavin is represented by St.
(02:37):
Croix Rods. And the purpose of this conversation today, Gavin,
is we're going to teach people about rods.
Obviously, because you work for
St. Croix, we're going to be slanting our conversation towards St. Croix.
But as everybody knows out there, there's tons of different rods.
There's tons of quality rods out there today.
But for the purpose of this conversation, I have Gavin. He represents that company.
(03:00):
So that's the route we're going to head down.
We're not necessarily saying like, Hey, these are the only rod option for you.
Gavin will probably say that, but for me, you know, I don't,
I don't have that same option, but I certainly love the product Gavin and St.
Croix. I used them last year, especially with like the legend tournament,
but I'm, I'm not going to lie.
I used a Moab rod from chaos tackle last year and I liked that as well.
(03:22):
So there's different, different rods and different actions and different lengths
and all sorts of weight ratings.
And like, I kind of want to clear up some of that, but I also want to,
you know, like like kind of break down the differences here in the in the different St.
Croix lineups because obviously you guys have three and we'll go down that route
but first off I want to thank you for your time this afternoon to talk muskies
(03:43):
with me and then Gavin let's just start it off with I've been asking a few people
like first muskie catches like do you remember your first muskie ever caught.
Yes Jeff it was I would say
I had to have been a sophomore or junior in
high school and my dad
actually got me kicked into it he he had
(04:04):
musky fish some in college and some before he had kids and he kind of wanted
to get back into it so we actually went out on the phillips chain i was throwing
i can't remember exactly what it's called but it's one of the big white beetle spin looking,
baits and for whatever reason i
(04:25):
thought it'd be a good idea to let that thing sink sink to the the bottom and
it's probably five cranks and i hooked up and i was a nice 40 incher and that
that's basically what got me started that's funny i didn't really know what
i was doing kind of let things sink to the bottom how many have you caught with
that beetle spin since since that very first muskie,
I think I caught like three in a row on that bait and then I probably haven't used it since.
(04:50):
So that being probably not the smartest decision I made, but,
but who knows, maybe I'll run back into it at some point.
That's funny because I, I've told the story on, on this podcast,
I caught one on a slippery sand, my very first muskie.
And it was probably, I think that might've been, I might've caught a few after
that much like you probably not many more.
(05:10):
And then it sort of just went to the wayside, right? you're on to the next thing
and and you're on the next biggest thing and so it's just
kind of crazy how that works out with you you know but good to
hear about the the first muskie i always like hearing about people's first
fish and and how they got into it and you know kind of
what transformed their life or ruined it depending on how you want to look at
it and this in this case i'm guessing that was probably the start of you wanting
(05:33):
to get in the fishing industry or did you just happen to get into the fishing
industry i would say i i lucked into it somewhat i out of college i was I was
actually looking into a field service position.
I had that lined up and very fortunate to be interviewed by St.
Croix right out of college and then later on hired by them.
(05:53):
So I kind of lucked into it. I would say I was probably low tier as far as skill
level for an angler when I started here.
But just the knowledge and being around
all the people with the high skill sets and in
fishing has definitely helped move my skill
(06:14):
level up throughout the years i've been here absolutely all
right well let's get started in the conversation so let's start at the three
different models that you guys carry for saint croix you're going to go with
the premier the mojo and then you're going to go with the legend tournament
like if an angler is going to start out in the premier like what is what does
the premier offer and then what improves as we go through the lineup up.
(06:38):
Yeah, so like if you look at St. Croix, we have our prepregs all labeled out
as SC1 through 5, and that's just the different prepregs that we use.
So it's a mid-modulus prepreg all the way up to upper modulus for the stuff
that's SC5 or SC6 and whatnot.
(06:58):
So as the modulus is increased, that translates to stiffer fibers,
which allows you to decrease the amount of material you're using in the blanks,
which usually translates to thinner walls.
But you can still maintain the structural integrity and produce overall lightweight
(07:21):
blank. So that Premier Series would be a SC2, which we also do have the Triumph Series.
A lot of people forget that that's there. There aren't a lot of models in that
series, but then that bumps up to the Mojo Series, which is SC3.
So a little bit higher grade carbon fiber.
And then it would bump into
(07:43):
the legend tournament series sc4 which in
that series we actually did incorporate some sc6
into those blanks to make them even even lighter compared
to its predecessor and then the other
one that the other saint cry offering that's
out there is actually a legend and elite is still around and that's
(08:05):
the sc5 material yeah i
i missed the triumph series
mostly because it's so limited as
far as what's available to most musky anglers
i think we can all agree that you know the trend isn't necessarily
shorter rods and i don't think in that series do they
even offer an eight footer or not i'm thinking everything's seven
(08:25):
six and under but i could be wrong yeah i'd have
to look again it might be two or three seven sixes
and two or three eight footers but i think the
most cases i hear guys using it for musky fishing it's something they pull out
of the garage or cast off the dock or they're out trolling with it okay sure
(08:46):
and then obviously the elite which we do sell i i carry them in stock we have
them on i mean unbelievably light.
If you ever have a chance to touch one, they're the lightest rod I've ever seen in my life.
And I mean, they're, they're an amazing option, but obviously you get what you pay for, right? Yep.
They're, they're at the higher end of the price pricing structure and not just
(09:10):
at St. Croix, but in the industry as well.
So the next one I would ask you about would be like guides, how much changes amongst guides?
Cause I think that's another thing that we hear about in in the fishing industry,
like it has this type of guides or that type of guides, like do,
and does that change throughout any of these models or how does that work?
Yeah, typically as you go up in series or up in price points,
(09:32):
you get a little bit more premium or higher quality guides.
The kind of differentiating factors between guides that are out there are the frame style.
And there's basically two there, which is a traditional frame where the actual
ring itself is perpendicular to the blank plane.
And then the other one is the K-frame or the tangle free, which is actually
(09:56):
sloped towards the tip. And that does help prevent line tangling or wind knots.
Okay. So obviously, as you would expect, right, more money as we move up through
the line, better components, lighter blank essentially.
Lighter and possibly stronger blank. Is that correct?
Correct. And we also do utilize a proprietary material that helps strengthen
(10:22):
the hoop strength of the blank, which in turn prevents breakage down the road.
Which, I mean, I think I deal with a different muskie angler than like,
say the, the one that's shopping at a different, bigger box store.
Cause you guys are available in many different retailers, you know,
like which model is the most popular model?
(10:42):
I would say it varies. I mean, regionally it varies, I would say,
but I mean, legend tournament is, I mean, popular across all,
all areas of the, the muskie fishing industry. I would say.
It does seem like Mojo is maybe a little more popular down south.
Maybe it's a price point that dictates some of that. I'm not sure.
(11:05):
And then up here, I do still see a lot of Premieres. Yeah.
You just never know okay yeah for me out
of our shop we definitely sent out the
most of the legend tournaments i believe it was if i
look at data i want to say it was probably you know
the two the premiere and the mojo together probably maybe just matched the legend
(11:26):
tournament based off of you know what what we sent out last year so that was
interesting i mean it was our first year full year of having them so we finally
had some sales data and it was interesting to look back on it i'm I'm always
curious to know, you know, how just what sells,
what makes people, you know, what makes people go to one style or one brand or the other, you know?
Sure. And I think maybe some of that might pertain to marketing influence because
(11:51):
that was a more updated series.
So, I mean, that could be pertinent to it too.
Yeah, definitely. That would be it. All right. So then moving on with rods,
you know, obviously there's, you know, medium heavy action rods,
rods, heavy action rods, extra heavy action rods, double extra heavy action rods.
I mean, you can go down the line, you know, let's talk about that.
(12:12):
Like a medium heavy action rod, what would be an example of some baits that
you would say that anglers would throw with a medium heavy action rod?
Yeah. So medium heavy, typically I'm running eight, six to nine footer,
even that that new nine six that we came out with in telescopic.
Typically I'm running smaller single bladed buck tails. If you're running like
(12:37):
double showgirls, stuff like that.
I'm trying to think what else some may be up to a fat bastard,
but more than likely a Dr.
Evil, definitely smaller baits. You can even run some smaller jerk baits with
it. It does have a stiffen up tip for that.
But yeah, I think that's, that's probably basically all I would run with a medium
(13:00):
heavy fast in my opinion, everybody's got their own preference though.
So let's just say you're going to, you know, twitch a smaller crankbait.
Will that, will you get better action out of the bait by matching it with a
medium heavy over, you know, driving it with a heavy action rod or something like that?
I honestly, I think so, but each crankbait,
(13:21):
the buoyancies are so different that I think you just everybody's got to play
with that to figure out which one you feel works different because i mean i'm
i mess around with leaders leader material leader lengths all the time and that
can even dictate on the amount of action you get out of some of them baits,
(13:42):
okay that makes sense now moving up we're going
to heavy action rods what are you looking at with heavy action rods
yeah i would say a heavy action rod
is probably the most versatile it can
do almost everything i would say
other than throwing big rubber baits it's great for bucktails top water you
(14:03):
can work some crankbaits with it whole paws depending on the length it is a
good jerkbait rod a lot of that is dictated by the boat you have,
or i guess the baits you're throwing with it too so a lot of times i'll run
the eight footer for for smaller jerk baits, but I will bump up to eight,
(14:26):
six, depending on if I'm fishing out of a larger boat or whatnot.
Sure and now extra heavy is that pounders medusas
that kind of stuff bigger medusas i'm assuming
like a reg medusa you could probably throw in a heavy action rod is that pretty
much what you're that extra heavy is that what you're
going to be throwing with it yeah i i mean
(14:46):
i'll even throw regular medusas in it the biggest
the biggest upside to that double or
that extra heavy is you just got a lot better chance of
getting hooks and fish it's going to move the bait in the fish's mouth
just a little bit to drive hooks home i'll
even throw it with there are people out there throwing
the 12 or 14 inch pole pauses
(15:08):
out there that's a good rod for
that as well you know one thing i'll ask you you mentioned
hook set power on an extra heavy like is that an issue with a
medium heavy or or do you guys design those to you
know to have that hook set power even though it's only a medium
heavy action yeah so the backbone the
rod loads just a little bit deeper than say a
(15:29):
heavy what i like about that for
smaller bucktails and topwater is
it's a lot easier to keep tension on the fish when they
make those runs and whatnot i can't
tell you how many times i've hooked a fish fought them
around the boat it's one on a couple runs runs scoop it
in the net and the bait comes flying out i think my
(15:52):
personal preference is on them smaller baits or
baits with smaller hooks have a rod that loads up just.
A little bit deeper so you can definitely keep more tension on.
Them all right now let's talk about all these rods have like lure ratings you.
Know like it'll be i don't know what they are the same i'm just guessing medium
heavy might be like one to three ounces or something like that like how important
(16:15):
is it for the anglers to just stay within that range?
Because, like, for, you know, I've had certain people, you know,
say, like, oh, I can't throw this bait because my rod says it's only rated for
6 ounces and this is a 7-ounce bait.
Like, is that super important for them to stay within that range recommendation? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, more so it's a recommendation, but it's not a say-all or do-all.
(16:39):
I mean, when I've had to, I've thrown Magnum Bulldogs on medium heavies just
because it's what I had at the time.
Granted, it's not the best rod, but you can get away with using baits outside those lure ratings.
Things and i'm not going to say in certain situations but it's
(16:59):
more so a user preference for how
the the tip action and and or i would say the rot how the rod action translate
to the bait action and whatnot and then speaking of like tip actions you know
you'll see you'll hear stuff like moderate action or fast action like what's
the difference between them and what does does that mean?
(17:20):
Yeah. So if you look at, and we have images on our website and how to explain what a fast action is.
So it's more so when the tip is deflected, where along the blank, the tip loads.
So if you bend the tip, if it bends more or it stays more bent towards the tip, that's a faster action.
(17:41):
And if you bend the tip and it loads more deflecting towards the handle,
then it's more of a moderate or moderate fast action if you look at St.
Croix's lineup we have converted basically
to all fast actions
on our muskie rods we do still have some moderates that
are more so trolling rods or if you look in that premier series
(18:03):
they have that one glass blank that's used
for trolling our sucker rods or sucker
rigs and then there is a lipstick rod that's still around that's a moderate
fast and that's as the name suggests it's was designed for crankbait fishing
okay and i was going to ask you like what what advantage does one give you or
(18:25):
the over the other like why do you choose a moderate over a fast.
Yeah, I would say it's so on the moderate for trolling rods,
it's more so, so it deflects deep to keep the fish pinned.
It absorbs all those head shakes.
And then why we've converted mostly just the facts, fast actions on our musky
rods, just so you can get the hooks in the fish.
(18:47):
If it, if it, if it loads too deep, you won't really have enough backbone to, to set your hook.
All right now let's just say i'm the angler i only
want to have one rod we'll we'll use the
legend tournament series since that's that one's been very popular with
us what's the what's the one rod that would say
is more like the swiss army knife in a sense like i'm only
(19:09):
buying one and i wanted to do most of what i'm going
to throw what's the one i got to get yeah i
would say if if you're fishing i'd say
a 17 18 foot boat that doesn't sit high
off the water fishing from shore or anything like
that an 8.6 heavy fast i'll get you through what
you need to do for throwing almost any bait except large
(19:32):
rubber baits and then if you're maybe fishing big water with a lot bigger boat
you'd want to bump up to nine foot or nine six heavy yeah that nine six heavy
blade master two that was definitely one that i i liked a lot last year it was
it threw a lot of baits but it It didn't, I mean, you know, it's a 9.6,
so like jerk baits, I wasn't necessarily in love with it.
(19:54):
But if you're throwing like moderate size rubber or you're throwing any type
of blade, it seemed like it worked amazing for that.
Yeah, you can definitely get the bait away from the boat in figure eights and
it just makes the ease of casting that much less fatiguing.
Like which one's your personal favorite? it i would
say if i'm throwing moving baits that that
(20:16):
nine six heavy fast telescopics probably what
i used a lot last year and then if i'm
working rubber it's always that blue ox 90 extra
heavy fast yep that would make sense those were
probably the two best selling rods out of that lineup
that we had last year hard to keep them in stock actually i hope i
hope i hope we do a better job with that this year not necessarily on your end
(20:37):
like on my end like it was it was hard
to anticipate the demand seeing as our last year and then so far this
year we've done a much better job with that like if you're looking for both of
them we have them and we had them at every show we
went to this year as well we're we're always
learning we're always trying to reinvent the wheel here at saint christ so hopefully
down the road we can present everybody in another favorite musky rod down the
(21:01):
road yeah if people obviously you can go to team rhino outdoors.com and in find
a whole a wide selection of rods.
But if people are looking to learn more about St. Croix, what's the best way
they can go about doing that?
Yeah. St. Croix.com. They do have social media on Facebook, Instagram.
(21:22):
I'm sure even TikTok now. It seems like that's the trend.
But yeah, there's information on the rods itself.
And then there is some information on the materials and whatnot that we use as well on there.
Are perfect well short and sweet
that's what i'm looking for out of this podcast we're looking to just you
know a short short form podcast just kind of hit a hit
(21:44):
on one topic one bait you know one one
thing and then we'll just run with that on that on the episode so i want to
thank you for your time gavin i really do appreciate you coming out i hope that
you uh have yourself a great season the way it's looking you guys might have
some open water sooner than later and you actually you might be able to enjoy
some like early season open water action oh yeah could be a good time,
(22:06):
no thanks for having me jeff it's always great talking with you and,
hopefully it was some good information for our anglers out there yeah i even
learned a few things on this on this episode so speaking of our anglers if you
want check out team rhino outdoors.com for all your muskie fishing needs and
we thank everybody for tuning in this week and we'll be back with a new episode again next week.
(22:29):
Music.
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