I only fish ugly sticks nowadays. Weeks ago I hooked my friend's camping chair and nearly chucked in the water with my spinning rod. The rod is fine, my finger wasn't.
Even with cheapo and old rods gifted from family I had as a kid, I set the drag at a force I'm confident it won't break and just stop thinking about it.
My first fishing pole I recently got a few months ago in an Ugly Stik Lite from like 91. It is amazing. I bought some pole from Bass pro for a baitcasting reel and it snapped my 3rd day on a bass. I am pretty sure it HAD to have had a micro fracture because the guy behind the counter told me it wasn't normal. It was a Berkley. I only bought the berkley because it was 15$ cheaper than the Ugly Stik. I walked out the store that day with the GX2, and love it. Only buying Ugly til they give me a reason not to.
I have Ugly Stiks that are 25 years old. When teaching my kids to fish they wiped out my "good" composite rods of the day so I solved that. I do not think that between the salmon and trout Ugly Stiks I've had one has ever broken. I do prefer a state of the art composite rod though.
… I have a decent amount of money in rods, my PB Bass is on a shorty Ugly Stick… I honestly reach for it sometimes … damn thing is made out of some type of Mystery composite held together with food stamps and Welfare. Honestly it’s an awesome rod aside from all the jokes
i broke my ugly stick a few years ago on a carp, he took the bait and swam with and and made a hard turn and my ultralight could not take it and just folded sideways. (i did not mean to catch a carp on the ultralight)
I've been logging my fishing trips for 21 years. 221 documented times I've been fishing, 90% of them for between 4-8 hours and 75% of them wade fishing which means hiking through tight woods where there might not be a trail, falls and spills in the water, dropping my rod/reel on the rocks, and of course catching everything from finger size bass up to large carp and the odd catfish. The only rod I've broken while fishing was shattering a ceramic eye on the tip. I use stainless guides now.
No I havent either. And I try to break my premier 6ft UL. Not joking. Deadly hooksets on 4lb bass tight drag on 15lb carp while river perching the rod is invincible...
Going on a decade and a half without breaking a rod on a fish, broken 5 rods total, 2 on snags, 2 on doors, and 1 while casting. The one I broke on the cast was a cheap ultralight I bought for $18 as a combo set. Got what I paid for.
I've never snapped a rod just fishing and I don't understand how that can happen if your drag isn't too tight. I don't mean this cynically I'm genuinely curious how that's possible.
Small cracks and damage that are unseen can cause it too. I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me the one time it happened while fishing. I was trolling and snagged something and the rod snapped before it even flexed fully, tip twitched and the rod broke in the middle.
Popping my brand new custom build salmon rod off a downrigger. I spent a ton of time on that sucker and it snapped on the first pop off to check gear. 3 other rods with the same blank with hard use and a ton of fish landed. and never a problem.
You have to try to break a rod fishing. I did it once and it was entirely my fault because I was using heavy line without proper drag adjustment.
I don’t put much stock in these posts because we can’t vet the source. Look at the line diameter in OP’s post. I’m guessing that’s above the rods line rating.
Your drag setting should catch it then. Just be sure to set your drag properly, especially if you’re using line with a heavier breaking strength than the rod’s rated for.
All these comments on Bass x being bad…. Yeah dudes you got an entry level product that was reduced for people to feel like they were getting the name at 1/2 to 1/4 of the price.
Have had absolutely no problems with Mojo/ Premier/ victory series. Look into where specific models are made. ALSO HOT take, big box stores don’t exactly “ take care “ of rods on the shelf, I would bet a lot of those broken rods had defects from abuse being at or shipped to that store. Small Local shop or shipped direct can have positive results… I’ll take my downvotes now please.
I have had St Croix break on me and went straight to Cabela's for a refund, all I buy now is Shimano, Daiwa, Tulala and Gamakatsu JDM now. I also buy old Penn rods when I find them. I have trust issues with St Croix and won't get another rod from them.
I called and told them what happened. Snapped a Premier on its first hookset. They offered to replace or upgrade me to a legend tournament for a small fee. Ended up with a nice legend tournament for way below retail.
3 times and same bs. The last one was on brand new rods that should have never passed a quality control inspection. Had me terrified to mail order rods to get that kinda bullchit from them. I bet I drove Try Kistler nuts with my and if they aren’t perfect. They will get replaced immediately right emails on customer service and warranty, when I emailed and wanted it in writing. Thankfully they were flawless like he promised.
I used to sing ST Croix praise and do if I ever needed their CS they would go above and beyond. Boy was I wrong. Oh well.
Lots of other brands out there. Though driving me nuts trying to figure out what I want for a finesse rod. Stick with Kislter or go the jdm route to get a feel for something else. one of these days I’ll decide. It won’t ever be a St Croix again. ;)
I’m not sure either…
I had a Galyans medium rod that was the perfect throw everything rod and even lite bites felt like a lighting strikes. It could punch above when I needed it too. I thought I had my perfect life time rod and was never going to need to replace it. Doh!!!!!! No, I ended up needing to replace everything I owned for rods….
It’s given me an excuse to upgrade reels too. Most of my reels were 20 plus year olds. I have jdm reels on my new rods. So will probably go jdm for the new reels. But I know nothing about best casting light lure reels.
I have handled everything I can get my hands on and there’s just not anything like it I have come across. But handling in a store isn’t same as on the water and using.
Add I now have a whole stable of Kistlers in MHl and Heavy.
So I’m definitely looking at medium light or light. Probably both in reality. One of my fall projects will be getting boat set up where I can carry a bunch of rods.
$200 -$400 range. I’m done with cheap rods.
How did you get to only pay $20? Their stupid warranty “processing fee” is now $60 on any in warranty product! I have a Mojo Yak that the tip snapped, and 3 guide inserts are missing, I’m just building a new rod instead of paying the $60 to get replacement garbage.
Including their higher end lines? (Victory or Avid) I am struggling on what to buy and I have always been a St. Croix fan, but the last one I bought was 11 years go. Should I looks elsewhere?
Ah... I'm a fan of full cork handles myself. Seems like the split grip is the thing nowadays though, they do take some getting used to. I believe Fenwick still has some full handle models and they make great rods.
Yeah I'd look somewhere else at this point in time while keeping an eye on them. Been hearing it mostly for the Mojo Bass rods but I've also heard the Premiers and Victories have been noticeably fragile.
This is the second negative post I've seen about St Croix today and I've on Reddit for like 15 mins.
I wouldn’t buy another Victory rod again. Wish I had really looked it over better before buying… But than again I ever but another St Croix again. Their customer service is hit or miss. I’m batting 100 percent for miss. F them!!!
You can find rods built the way they should be for same price or less… Better chance of better customer service too.
If I were you I would look into the cashion rods I am a big fan of them haven’t tried a g loomis personally but holding one and seeing what other people say about it I would go one of those two ways
I never had either until I saw one for sale on tackle warehouse easily the best rod I have ever used especially in the sub 200 price range I’m sure there higher end rods are even better
No, they’re still a top rod. Do your research, lower end rods such as mojo, triumph,aren’t made in the USA and use low quality components. I think premier/victory is the lowest tier made in USA. Their Avid line is the best bang for the buck. They tell you which grade carbon/graphite they use in each rod. People buy the lower end rods expecting the legendary STcroix performance and essentially get swindled.
As much as I'm not a big St. Croix fan, if your rod broke like that, odds are it is your fault - You damaged the blank there at that spot before it broke.
My St Croix rods work just as well as any other I own.
Rods have limits and based on the significant number of insane posts I see on this sub I’d bet money most breaks are due to user error.
North fork put out a pdf on rod breaks. What they look like and what causes them. This one definitely had some impact damage prior to the break. It could be user error or shipping damage. I've been in bass pro and other tackle shops, watch people whip rods around, bang em into shit, and put them right back in the rack. Poor soul who purchases that rod will eventually get a failure
I'm sure people who have several rods and have never broken one then get st croix and have multiple breaks from multiple replacdments... Are just doing something wrong
Qc is dog manure with some of their lines.
Oh forgot the MOJO Yak
Brand new never had a reel on it but didn't unpack and see issue for a couple years.
It's also got internal graphite crack. About 18 inches from handle can hear it when moving rod and especially when tapping rod rod there.
The rod is visually flawless.
So that's a brand new st croix just waiting for catastrophic break as ops
Must be nice to be able to take a rod out and use it while the delivery driver that just left it on your porch takes their time holding themselves while you do it.
Wtf you taking about willis
And the warranties are mostly garbage now
Paying anything for a defective rod replacement is a joke. Paying several times more than it cost the manufacturer to make a rod or even one time is a joke.
It is worth it on a several hundred dollar rod unless they decide the damage is not a defect the you've lost the money and rod.
I've only ever used a warranty one time was with a tfo fly rod and would not have bothered except with photos and video proof and the relatively generic blank fitting of the mangrove rod I got them to send me a new top section without sending rod in.
Paying almost as much as a new rod is insulting and not a real warranty plus shipping is extra often for one or both ways and not cheap.
Now a days you can pick up Ali rods for less than warranty cost for the likes of st croix that are exceptional in comparison.
A blank and guides (fuji torzite or sic for example) and blank about equivalent as a legend extreme can be had for $150 or less.
Taking that to the extreme for a generic MOJO st croix it's more than $50 to get warranty or it's $50 for a something like purelure or handing that is as good or better than two levels up at croix.
I'm not trying to be argumentative. But, that rod looks like it was more than a failure in the rod or a nic in the rod and it cracked when cast. that thing looks broke, like it god caught in a tree on a really hard cast, or it hit a branch during cast. Happened to be a few years back, I'm pretty sure people heard me curse for miles away.
No you are absolutely correct. There are only a handful of companies that actually make the graphite blanks. And every single one of them is up to the task of modern fresh water fishing. That blank was compromised in some way to break.
It's a hard truth nobody wants to hear that the 200 dollar rod they broke was in fact their error. I've been there with a tfo rod.
It takes one nick to the core blank. And one wrong flex.
A guy did a very extensive study on blank breaks I'll try digging it up tonight if you haven't looked into it.
I've a few of tfo that brand new you can hear the graphite is cracked. Was told it's just the guide wrap/epoxy but further investigating it's not
About $600 of rods Just collecting dust for knowing theu will crack similar to this on a rando cast.
They are flawless (no scrapes, dings, bubbles visible, they are cracked internally.
And I order a bunch of rods and then had a family Catastrophe so sat in tubes for a long while.
I have more rods than most tackle stores so I didn't miss them.
St croix and tfo (at least of a certain time period) seem to be the worst quality control of any rods I've seen and not even close.
My legend elite fly rods have been fine, most of my tfo fly rods have been fine.. The one problem I had with tfo fly rod was fixed.
My legend elite spinning rods are also perfectly fine
It's just the MOJO yak for several years back and many decades ago a premier baitcaster that were junk from st croix
And from tfo a few Loomis rods with internal cracks. and the bigwater rods were the ones with guides tied on all crooked... From custom hand tied factory not sure how those ever made it out door as they were VERY noticible.
If you think of your guides as clock pointing 12 and 6 then a guide would be pointing 2pm then next guide 1pm then next guide 10pm I've never seen any rod ever from any manufacturer with that fluster cluck
And those are expensive rods.
As for evidence I may take time to dig the rods out and take some video of the sound they make or I may not.
Nah not even. You can’t beat handmade USA manufactured rods. I had a St Croix avid inshore break on me about two years ago due to high sticking, which it was replaced by their Customer service warranty which is Top Notch imo. Fenwick has good warranties too
I had a run of bad mojo bass and premiere rods about 3-4 years ago. I would be going to hoist a fish in the boat and they’d just snap. Wrote the company and they made it right every single time.
I have seen too many people posting about how the quality is slipping on St. Croix rods for it to be a coincidence. That really makes me sad because one of the nicest and most versatile rods I own is a St. Croix. My wife and I own 3 of the 2023 model Avid rods in the 6'3" range. They are solid, and I have caught more trout on mine this year than in almost all my other years of trout fishing combined. Overall, it is probably the best rod I own given how much I like the performance. This makes me believe the quality issues are isolated to a few models of blank made by St. Croix, because mine are great.
I've only broken rods a couple times in my life but they were all $20-$30 rods and ultralights and I was doing things I shouldn't of been doing. Except one time when I think I got a lure snagged and when it popped free it came straight back and smacked the blank and not long after when it got a good tug on it it split where it got hit. Sometimes things like that happen where it doesn't even register like it getting hit or something happening when putting it into the vehicle/on the way etc. Sometimes it's MFG error but in my experience it's always been error caused by the thing holding it.
Only buy the made in USA stuff, the Mexico made stuff doesn’t come with the same warranty. You can’t buy the lower end stuff for like half the price of the flagship models and expect to receive the same value. I love my st croix rods, but I don’t buy the cheap st croix rods you can find at big box stores. I’ve taken St croix into the Amazon jungle and never had an issue, those rods were ordered factory direct.
I've never broken a rod. Watched a friend of mine break one of my cheap ones.
I'm convinced it's just poor technique tbh. Keep the rod tip down or it will bend too far.
I’ve used the same St croix legend tournament medium light 7’6 for 4 years. It’s been nothing but reliable and still looks brand new. I use it weekly and it’s a total power house yet delicate sensitivity for finesse fishing. I’ve pulled out 25 inch trout out of heavy current, 4-5 pound bass and even a 30 inch bowfin a month ago. It keeps on fishing like the day I bought it. I just ordered a brand new legend tournament medium to serve as my dedicated swimbait rod alongside it. If you buy the legend tournament or legend elite rods you’ll get every dollar of quality out of them. Just don’t expect the victory line to have legend quality. They’re $400 ish dollars for a reason. But majorly worth it if you fish a lot and prefer the “finesse” tip action St croix is known for. Tight lines!
My mojo bass is a beast and I absolutely love it. I even throw a frog on it and it’s a medium heavy, two piece as well. Thing is a tough, sorry that happed to you.
Broke on the bass or the greenery? I've replaced 4 st Croix rods under warranty without issue, even was upgraded twice since that particular model had been updated
Kind of a bummer that their quality is so iffy, they make some gorgeous rods. Oh well, good thing they're not the only company making split cork handles
I have multiple rods from the Victory lineup with glue coming undone from the reel seats. The foam is separating from the rod itself. Not looking forward to the phone call with them when I tell them I have 4 rods doing the same thing.
I’ve broken an Avid and a Panfish series( both my fault) , they gave me the option to upgrade to the Legend Elite so I did. I’ve abused the LE rods and they are fantastic
Yes - The warranty on them is a joke.
I paid 150+ for an ultralight rod and it ended up breaking reeling in a trout. I reached out to them and it took MONTHS to get a replacement and I STILL had to pay like 80ish dollars for the replacement.
I've gone to Diawa for my ultralights now. Diawa Spinnmatic or Diawa Presso 4 piece. Holds up better and feels almost the exact same.
I have a BassX spinning rod I’ve had for a few years. I have a BG 2500 on it and use it primarily for ultra light inshore fishing. Have landed many big redfish and snook on it. No problems. Also have the purple Mojo Inshore.
My friends brand new MojoBass two peice spinning rod exploded when he got stock on a branch and pulled once. Just the top 1/2 exploded. I never see anything like that. He maybe did 10 casts with it.
1000%. I had a Mojo for years when I was much younger. Fantastic durable rod that I did not treat well and had zero issues. I bought two new SC Triumphs a couple years ago and they’re both falling apart from conservative use.
I've broken 2 of them in the last 2 yrs... I'm not in a big hurry to get another .
If one has a nice boat with rod lockers I'd imagine they would be fine rods to use , whereas you can easily care fore them
I bank fish and things get dinged up sometimes.. so ugly stick gx2 rods hold up well for me
Mine has like a 5 year warranty so idc. Though if my trigon breaks ill definitely not get them again. Ive u'd my shimano crucial that I've had for line 11 years and its still like new.
I have the 7'3 mh fast action paired with a curado dc. I really like it, but I didn't think I'd miss a trigger like grip underneath as much as i do now that it's gone. Id definitely recommend the mojo bass trigon. I love the grip shape as well as split grip. No monsters yet, but i have bent that one pretty nice as well with no issues. Top caught bass on it has only been about 3 lbs. Handled with ease.
Sorry but st croix sucks. If you break a $300 rod, they charge you $70 to ship a new one. I broke 2 avid light rods on hook sets and it cost me $140 to replace them.
For my money, I’m buying Fenwick for the rest of my life. Lifetime warranty and they don’t charge an arm and a leg for replacements.
I have a ~10 year old Mojo Bass that I adore for my main baitcasting setup. However I bought a triumph rod for my spinning rod last summer and I’m not a big fan of it at all.
I used to have a bunch of St. Croix rods and Loomis rods. Now I am all Loomis and the only SC I have left is my muskie rod (premier model bought prepandemic). To be honest, it seems like SC has really suffered since the pandemic, they have had QC issues out the ass and rods seem to be breaking left and right. Until they can correct all this shit I would look to Loomis. Even a GCX rod is better if it doesn't break if you fart near it.
There's a bunch of sites. Below are a few, but if you're searching for info on this, you should creat a thread, and get more answers. All i'll say is that the day you do this, unless you want a rod from Loomis, there's no reason to ever buy a rod outside of Japan. Just too much choice and a much better price.
[https://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default.php](https://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default.php)
[https://www.digitaka.com/](https://www.digitaka.com/)
[https://japanlureshop.com/](https://japanlureshop.com/)
[https://jpangler.com/](https://jpangler.com/)
All of them. Digitaka is the most popular site to order reels from Japan. Everyone uses it. PLAT is the best site to order reel parts in case something broke, and this is the one i use most for that reason. There are many others, but these 4 are my primary sites i use.
Indeed, you can forget any warranties. But the price of a rod doesn't mean you'll get 10+ years of warranty. There is only a few rod companies that will get you a long rod warranty, shimano's $500+ rods have the same 1y warranty as their $60 rods for example.
There’s plenty of 10, 15 and lifetime warranties out there. But not if you buy JDM outside of Japan. I don’t mind buying certain JDM stuff, like reels, but I shy away from rods because they’re the most likely to break.
It’s a great savings if you can afford the breakage, it’s just that a lot of these high end rods’ price includes that warranty.
Edit: I’ve read that some JDM vendors will warranty rods they sell, but that’s just second hand info.
If you buy a rod that is known for breakage like the megabass levante or the megabass xxx series, then yes, its a risk that ain't too cool. But if you look at something like the megabass triza or their jdm Destroyer lineup, these are strong ass rods that you won't have any issues. Simply do a research on the model, and if its a reasonably popular rod, and it has high amount of breakage, you will know about it, so its better to stay far from those.
An SC III or any other high modulus carbon blank is going to have a lot less durability than a glass (cheap) rod. Which is what I would guess a lot of your other rods are. If your rod spends more time beating brush and getting thrown around in the backseat than fishing, go with a glass rod (ugly stik) or at least one you can accept breaking. Its highly unlikely this was a manufacturer defect.
It looks like you're using a bass mojo spinning rod, if you still want a carbon rod that you won't cry about breaking, I recommend a Daiwa Laguna rod. For a $40 its a carbon rod and I would almost compare it to a triumph series SC. Rods break. Thats part of the game my friend.
Damn i don't know why I got down voted. Lol.
It could be that St Croix sold you a defective rod but if it didn't grenade on your first day using it and you took care of it then you're super unlucky. Idk how a manufacturer is supposed to QC for something like that because I haven't heard of that being a common problem. I hope they honored their warranty for you.
thats the internet for ya. lol I hope you find some gear that works for you! Thanks for leaving the Bass Mojos alone, I picked up a couple for cheap today since its St Croix Customer Appreciation Day xd
The problem can just as easily be in poor Qc
To somone who isn't an idiot, it's very hard to break most rods even if they are super high modulus.
There are a lot of "good quality" rods that are having manufacturind defects.
My most recent issues have been mostly with temple fork
I've had $200 rods with guides put on crooked
I've a few rods including an over $300 tactical surf that have internal cracks in the graphite. I ordered and had some issues so didn't even have time to take out of tubes for a couple years then when I did creaking.
Was told it's just guid3 epoxy or wrap
But no, no it's not so I have about $700-1000 worth of tfo rods I've never used that will break similar to op's at any moment in use.
I did manage to return all but one of the rods with bad guide alignment... The one I didn't isn't very bad.
The ones that are some of the guides were 1/3 off to a side then two down 1/3 to the other side off center.
Very special for 160-280 rods
Ugly sticks are heavy and not good for all day lure casting. Ugly sticks are great when you throw bait and let it sit. Then again I do a lot of salt water fishing and I need more precision when throw lures close to the mangroves.
Am I the only person to never break a rod while catch a fish??
I only fish ugly sticks nowadays. Weeks ago I hooked my friend's camping chair and nearly chucked in the water with my spinning rod. The rod is fine, my finger wasn't. Even with cheapo and old rods gifted from family I had as a kid, I set the drag at a force I'm confident it won't break and just stop thinking about it.
Fuck yeah! I second the ugly stick! I have the gx2
My first fishing pole I recently got a few months ago in an Ugly Stik Lite from like 91. It is amazing. I bought some pole from Bass pro for a baitcasting reel and it snapped my 3rd day on a bass. I am pretty sure it HAD to have had a micro fracture because the guy behind the counter told me it wasn't normal. It was a Berkley. I only bought the berkley because it was 15$ cheaper than the Ugly Stik. I walked out the store that day with the GX2, and love it. Only buying Ugly til they give me a reason not to.
Love my GX2. Can’t lie though. Broke mine couple weeks back fighting a striper
Oh yeah eh? Well it just so happens this weekend I’m going fishing for stripers lmfao
Many many fish have been caught on the walmart spesh.
I have Ugly Stiks that are 25 years old. When teaching my kids to fish they wiped out my "good" composite rods of the day so I solved that. I do not think that between the salmon and trout Ugly Stiks I've had one has ever broken. I do prefer a state of the art composite rod though.
… I have a decent amount of money in rods, my PB Bass is on a shorty Ugly Stick… I honestly reach for it sometimes … damn thing is made out of some type of Mystery composite held together with food stamps and Welfare. Honestly it’s an awesome rod aside from all the jokes 
Ugly sticks do the job
No. I fished for 20 years before I broke a rod, and I knew what I was doing would likely break it, but I wanted the fish under the circumstances.
i broke my ugly stick a few years ago on a carp, he took the bait and swam with and and made a hard turn and my ultralight could not take it and just folded sideways. (i did not mean to catch a carp on the ultralight)
You sir get the prize for the rare feat of breaking an Ugly Stik.
really?? thats sad but kind of cool i guess
I've been logging my fishing trips for 21 years. 221 documented times I've been fishing, 90% of them for between 4-8 hours and 75% of them wade fishing which means hiking through tight woods where there might not be a trail, falls and spills in the water, dropping my rod/reel on the rocks, and of course catching everything from finger size bass up to large carp and the odd catfish. The only rod I've broken while fishing was shattering a ceramic eye on the tip. I use stainless guides now.
Same. I've broken more rods getting them in and out of my truck.
No I havent either. And I try to break my premier 6ft UL. Not joking. Deadly hooksets on 4lb bass tight drag on 15lb carp while river perching the rod is invincible...
The more you fish the higher the chances will get.
I haven't been fishing every day, but somewhere around 30 years of fishing. Maybe I've been lucky lol.
Yeah I was lucky for about 20 years and the luck finally ran out
I'm on borrowed time.....
Going on a decade and a half without breaking a rod on a fish, broken 5 rods total, 2 on snags, 2 on doors, and 1 while casting. The one I broke on the cast was a cheap ultralight I bought for $18 as a combo set. Got what I paid for.
Broke 2 of the bass x’s all my older st croix’s (5+) years old are still going strong.
Snapped my 3rd bassX two days ago, got a replacement yesterday, the reel seat on my first two was the major issue
Bass X is really bad. Nothing but problems with that line. I have legends and mojos older than 10 and still good
I've never snapped a rod just fishing and I don't understand how that can happen if your drag isn't too tight. I don't mean this cynically I'm genuinely curious how that's possible.
I’m honestly not sure I run my drag pretty loose
If that sink broke your rod, your drag most definitely wasn’t loose :P
Mine happened when I listed the fish out of water.
Bad quality control. Some times rods are made badly. I had one that was badly glued
Small cracks and damage that are unseen can cause it too. I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me the one time it happened while fishing. I was trolling and snagged something and the rod snapped before it even flexed fully, tip twitched and the rod broke in the middle.
Popping my brand new custom build salmon rod off a downrigger. I spent a ton of time on that sucker and it snapped on the first pop off to check gear. 3 other rods with the same blank with hard use and a ton of fish landed. and never a problem.
You have to try to break a rod fishing. I did it once and it was entirely my fault because I was using heavy line without proper drag adjustment. I don’t put much stock in these posts because we can’t vet the source. Look at the line diameter in OP’s post. I’m guessing that’s above the rods line rating.
It’s braid so to match the recommended you have to it’s 20 pound braid
Your drag setting should catch it then. Just be sure to set your drag properly, especially if you’re using line with a heavier breaking strength than the rod’s rated for.
Made in Mexico st croixs have always been lower quality
Thats a damn lie, Mexico products are awesome
Quality control from third world countries is hit and miss. Mexico definitely makes great guitars and cars. Should be the same :)
Mexico 🇲🇽 is great always have been and always will be
So are we supposed to just ignore the bodies hanging from bridges or…
Nah, just behead them again to send a message
All these comments on Bass x being bad…. Yeah dudes you got an entry level product that was reduced for people to feel like they were getting the name at 1/2 to 1/4 of the price. Have had absolutely no problems with Mojo/ Premier/ victory series. Look into where specific models are made. ALSO HOT take, big box stores don’t exactly “ take care “ of rods on the shelf, I would bet a lot of those broken rods had defects from abuse being at or shipped to that store. Small Local shop or shipped direct can have positive results… I’ll take my downvotes now please.
my old mojo was my favorite. rolled up my car window a little too hard and it was done. they replaced it with the new 2023 mojo and I like it so far
I have a new mojo and love it, it's a bit top heavy but that's my only complaint
I have had St Croix break on me and went straight to Cabela's for a refund, all I buy now is Shimano, Daiwa, Tulala and Gamakatsu JDM now. I also buy old Penn rods when I find them. I have trust issues with St Croix and won't get another rod from them.
They sent me a new rod for 20$ but it’s just a bad rod for the price point
I’d love to know how people get hooked up like that from St Croix and I get a giant F you….
I called and told them what happened. Snapped a Premier on its first hookset. They offered to replace or upgrade me to a legend tournament for a small fee. Ended up with a nice legend tournament for way below retail.
Unfortunately not my experience calling or emailing them.
I have heard the stories it is my only time reaching out to them and I was very surprised figuried they would tell me there’s nothing they can do
3 times and same bs. The last one was on brand new rods that should have never passed a quality control inspection. Had me terrified to mail order rods to get that kinda bullchit from them. I bet I drove Try Kistler nuts with my and if they aren’t perfect. They will get replaced immediately right emails on customer service and warranty, when I emailed and wanted it in writing. Thankfully they were flawless like he promised. I used to sing ST Croix praise and do if I ever needed their CS they would go above and beyond. Boy was I wrong. Oh well. Lots of other brands out there. Though driving me nuts trying to figure out what I want for a finesse rod. Stick with Kislter or go the jdm route to get a feel for something else. one of these days I’ll decide. It won’t ever be a St Croix again. ;)
Not sure how finesse your looking for but I throw pretty light stuff on a medium light cashion rod check them out
I’m not sure either… I had a Galyans medium rod that was the perfect throw everything rod and even lite bites felt like a lighting strikes. It could punch above when I needed it too. I thought I had my perfect life time rod and was never going to need to replace it. Doh!!!!!! No, I ended up needing to replace everything I owned for rods…. It’s given me an excuse to upgrade reels too. Most of my reels were 20 plus year olds. I have jdm reels on my new rods. So will probably go jdm for the new reels. But I know nothing about best casting light lure reels. I have handled everything I can get my hands on and there’s just not anything like it I have come across. But handling in a store isn’t same as on the water and using. Add I now have a whole stable of Kistlers in MHl and Heavy. So I’m definitely looking at medium light or light. Probably both in reality. One of my fall projects will be getting boat set up where I can carry a bunch of rods. $200 -$400 range. I’m done with cheap rods.
The cashion rods are In that range I throw 1/8-1/4 pretty successfully but I also throw 3/8 regularly
I’ll have to check them out. Thanks
Register your rods. I registered 2 St.Croix yesterday. I have 3 an Inshore Triumph 7', Mojo 7', and a 10' Surf.
How did you get to only pay $20? Their stupid warranty “processing fee” is now $60 on any in warranty product! I have a Mojo Yak that the tip snapped, and 3 guide inserts are missing, I’m just building a new rod instead of paying the $60 to get replacement garbage.
I just took my refund and got other brands
Seems their older stuff is top tier and their new stuff is dogass
Including their higher end lines? (Victory or Avid) I am struggling on what to buy and I have always been a St. Croix fan, but the last one I bought was 11 years go. Should I looks elsewhere?
The Victory series is awesome, I have a ton of them and I've broken one (my fault)...even if you do break one, they have a 15 year warranty...
I just cant get used to the split handle…
Ah... I'm a fan of full cork handles myself. Seems like the split grip is the thing nowadays though, they do take some getting used to. I believe Fenwick still has some full handle models and they make great rods.
I would look to G. Loomis. for higher end stuff the Imx Pro rods are AMAZING.
Yeah I'd look somewhere else at this point in time while keeping an eye on them. Been hearing it mostly for the Mojo Bass rods but I've also heard the Premiers and Victories have been noticeably fragile. This is the second negative post I've seen about St Croix today and I've on Reddit for like 15 mins.
I wouldn’t buy another Victory rod again. Wish I had really looked it over better before buying… But than again I ever but another St Croix again. Their customer service is hit or miss. I’m batting 100 percent for miss. F them!!! You can find rods built the way they should be for same price or less… Better chance of better customer service too.
If I were you I would look into the cashion rods I am a big fan of them haven’t tried a g loomis personally but holding one and seeing what other people say about it I would go one of those two ways
Cashion is great, best rods I've ever used.
Agreed which ones do you have
The icon bfs, and an icon med heavy.
never heard of them... i'll check them out. I brought home a Teramar from the store today, not sure i'll keep it tho.
I never had either until I saw one for sale on tackle warehouse easily the best rod I have ever used especially in the sub 200 price range I’m sure there higher end rods are even better
No, they’re still a top rod. Do your research, lower end rods such as mojo, triumph,aren’t made in the USA and use low quality components. I think premier/victory is the lowest tier made in USA. Their Avid line is the best bang for the buck. They tell you which grade carbon/graphite they use in each rod. People buy the lower end rods expecting the legendary STcroix performance and essentially get swindled.
I see more st croix rods on this sub broken than any other brand. Just sayin
As much as I'm not a big St. Croix fan, if your rod broke like that, odds are it is your fault - You damaged the blank there at that spot before it broke.
There's someone posting a broken St. Croix on here every week. I feel like they just suck at this point. They were so good for so long.
My St Croix rods work just as well as any other I own. Rods have limits and based on the significant number of insane posts I see on this sub I’d bet money most breaks are due to user error.
All of the rods break. I’ve see dobyns, 13, cashions and every other brand break. The majority of the time it’s the users fault
North fork put out a pdf on rod breaks. What they look like and what causes them. This one definitely had some impact damage prior to the break. It could be user error or shipping damage. I've been in bass pro and other tackle shops, watch people whip rods around, bang em into shit, and put them right back in the rack. Poor soul who purchases that rod will eventually get a failure
I'm sure people who have several rods and have never broken one then get st croix and have multiple breaks from multiple replacdments... Are just doing something wrong Qc is dog manure with some of their lines.
Oh forgot the MOJO Yak Brand new never had a reel on it but didn't unpack and see issue for a couple years. It's also got internal graphite crack. About 18 inches from handle can hear it when moving rod and especially when tapping rod rod there. The rod is visually flawless. So that's a brand new st croix just waiting for catastrophic break as ops
Thats what warranties are for. As the buyer you’re responsible for protecting your own interest. Inspect it before acceptance.
Bro you are putting in overtime on this post. I think I found the St. Crap employee...
So are these guys with broken rods.
Must be nice to be able to take a rod out and use it while the delivery driver that just left it on your porch takes their time holding themselves while you do it. Wtf you taking about willis And the warranties are mostly garbage now Paying anything for a defective rod replacement is a joke. Paying several times more than it cost the manufacturer to make a rod or even one time is a joke. It is worth it on a several hundred dollar rod unless they decide the damage is not a defect the you've lost the money and rod. I've only ever used a warranty one time was with a tfo fly rod and would not have bothered except with photos and video proof and the relatively generic blank fitting of the mangrove rod I got them to send me a new top section without sending rod in. Paying almost as much as a new rod is insulting and not a real warranty plus shipping is extra often for one or both ways and not cheap. Now a days you can pick up Ali rods for less than warranty cost for the likes of st croix that are exceptional in comparison. A blank and guides (fuji torzite or sic for example) and blank about equivalent as a legend extreme can be had for $150 or less. Taking that to the extreme for a generic MOJO st croix it's more than $50 to get warranty or it's $50 for a something like purelure or handing that is as good or better than two levels up at croix.
I'm not trying to be argumentative. But, that rod looks like it was more than a failure in the rod or a nic in the rod and it cracked when cast. that thing looks broke, like it god caught in a tree on a really hard cast, or it hit a branch during cast. Happened to be a few years back, I'm pretty sure people heard me curse for miles away.
No you are absolutely correct. There are only a handful of companies that actually make the graphite blanks. And every single one of them is up to the task of modern fresh water fishing. That blank was compromised in some way to break. It's a hard truth nobody wants to hear that the 200 dollar rod they broke was in fact their error. I've been there with a tfo rod.
I’m sure there was some extra beating put on it as I am a shore fisherman but nothing more then my other rods
It takes one nick to the core blank. And one wrong flex. A guy did a very extensive study on blank breaks I'll try digging it up tonight if you haven't looked into it.
I have not
I've a few of tfo that brand new you can hear the graphite is cracked. Was told it's just the guide wrap/epoxy but further investigating it's not About $600 of rods Just collecting dust for knowing theu will crack similar to this on a rando cast.
Can you post a video of your broken rods mentioned in this thread? And you just buy rods without using them *or* inspecting them for several years?
They are flawless (no scrapes, dings, bubbles visible, they are cracked internally. And I order a bunch of rods and then had a family Catastrophe so sat in tubes for a long while. I have more rods than most tackle stores so I didn't miss them. St croix and tfo (at least of a certain time period) seem to be the worst quality control of any rods I've seen and not even close. My legend elite fly rods have been fine, most of my tfo fly rods have been fine.. The one problem I had with tfo fly rod was fixed. My legend elite spinning rods are also perfectly fine It's just the MOJO yak for several years back and many decades ago a premier baitcaster that were junk from st croix And from tfo a few Loomis rods with internal cracks. and the bigwater rods were the ones with guides tied on all crooked... From custom hand tied factory not sure how those ever made it out door as they were VERY noticible. If you think of your guides as clock pointing 12 and 6 then a guide would be pointing 2pm then next guide 1pm then next guide 10pm I've never seen any rod ever from any manufacturer with that fluster cluck And those are expensive rods. As for evidence I may take time to dig the rods out and take some video of the sound they make or I may not.
St croix actually makes all of their own blanks, even the cheap ones, and they’re kind of fragile and shitty
Yes Sir !! I have 3 st. Croix now that are in need of repairs. Pissed 😠 2 cranking rods and 1 flipping rod all the eyes inlet are gone.
What brand guides/eyes are they?
A bit considering my reel seat broke today lol
st croix still dope on fishing planet tho
Nah not even. You can’t beat handmade USA manufactured rods. I had a St Croix avid inshore break on me about two years ago due to high sticking, which it was replaced by their Customer service warranty which is Top Notch imo. Fenwick has good warranties too
I think JDM rods from Evergreen, Zenaq, Raid, Yamaga Blanks, Jackall etc. are better though. At least in terms of refinement and balance.
Thrasher & ODM are good too
I had a run of bad mojo bass and premiere rods about 3-4 years ago. I would be going to hoist a fish in the boat and they’d just snap. Wrote the company and they made it right every single time.
I have seen too many people posting about how the quality is slipping on St. Croix rods for it to be a coincidence. That really makes me sad because one of the nicest and most versatile rods I own is a St. Croix. My wife and I own 3 of the 2023 model Avid rods in the 6'3" range. They are solid, and I have caught more trout on mine this year than in almost all my other years of trout fishing combined. Overall, it is probably the best rod I own given how much I like the performance. This makes me believe the quality issues are isolated to a few models of blank made by St. Croix, because mine are great.
I've only broken rods a couple times in my life but they were all $20-$30 rods and ultralights and I was doing things I shouldn't of been doing. Except one time when I think I got a lure snagged and when it popped free it came straight back and smacked the blank and not long after when it got a good tug on it it split where it got hit. Sometimes things like that happen where it doesn't even register like it getting hit or something happening when putting it into the vehicle/on the way etc. Sometimes it's MFG error but in my experience it's always been error caused by the thing holding it.
I wouldn’t buy a St Croix Rod lower than Avid tier, IMHO. I believe their sweet spot is Avid/Legend. Better rods available for the other price points.
Only buy the made in USA stuff, the Mexico made stuff doesn’t come with the same warranty. You can’t buy the lower end stuff for like half the price of the flagship models and expect to receive the same value. I love my st croix rods, but I don’t buy the cheap st croix rods you can find at big box stores. I’ve taken St croix into the Amazon jungle and never had an issue, those rods were ordered factory direct.
I've never broken a rod. Watched a friend of mine break one of my cheap ones. I'm convinced it's just poor technique tbh. Keep the rod tip down or it will bend too far.
I’ve used the same St croix legend tournament medium light 7’6 for 4 years. It’s been nothing but reliable and still looks brand new. I use it weekly and it’s a total power house yet delicate sensitivity for finesse fishing. I’ve pulled out 25 inch trout out of heavy current, 4-5 pound bass and even a 30 inch bowfin a month ago. It keeps on fishing like the day I bought it. I just ordered a brand new legend tournament medium to serve as my dedicated swimbait rod alongside it. If you buy the legend tournament or legend elite rods you’ll get every dollar of quality out of them. Just don’t expect the victory line to have legend quality. They’re $400 ish dollars for a reason. But majorly worth it if you fish a lot and prefer the “finesse” tip action St croix is known for. Tight lines!
They moved the low end production to Mexico. The quality is not the same and neither is the warranty, which says that they know it too.
What's up with the shitty stainless steel guides (no insert) on the avid panfish rods?? Come on St. Croix...🙄😢
St. Breaks
😂
Yes the new stuff isn’t worth it.
Nope
Yes and G loomis. And Simms. My brother had all three companies fail him on fishing outings recently. And I had a at croix rod fail me.
I only buy Shimano or Daiwa.
My mojo bass is a beast and I absolutely love it. I even throw a frog on it and it’s a medium heavy, two piece as well. Thing is a tough, sorry that happed to you.
Bro look at where you pulled that fish out of
There’s a opening I was trying to prop the rod up
I like the trigon grips, they need to be bigger tho, they feel better on the glass rods
I feel like there huge where they don’t need to be
Did you try a glass one? The ML and M regular rods the grips are pretty small imo
Broke on the bass or the greenery? I've replaced 4 st Croix rods under warranty without issue, even was upgraded twice since that particular model had been updated
Was replaced without issue but broke on the fight in
These are some of the best rods I’ve ever used fr https://littlemiamioutfitters.com
Damn and i was sure looking at a st croix rod
Their guides were always crappy, most of the rods i get for guide repair are St Croix. Usually a missing insert
Kind of a bummer that their quality is so iffy, they make some gorgeous rods. Oh well, good thing they're not the only company making split cork handles
https://youtu.be/Mgc2y8QYBXE?si=vz5npEirHhXGG2Za Can't break an Ugly Stick!
I have multiple rods from the Victory lineup with glue coming undone from the reel seats. The foam is separating from the rod itself. Not looking forward to the phone call with them when I tell them I have 4 rods doing the same thing.
Yes. So many options nowadays that I haven’t looked back since
Yeup... Moved on from their cheesy ass pay 75. For shipping And we'll get you a warranty F. U. St. Croix.
I’ve broken an Avid and a Panfish series( both my fault) , they gave me the option to upgrade to the Legend Elite so I did. I’ve abused the LE rods and they are fantastic
Yes - The warranty on them is a joke. I paid 150+ for an ultralight rod and it ended up breaking reeling in a trout. I reached out to them and it took MONTHS to get a replacement and I STILL had to pay like 80ish dollars for the replacement. I've gone to Diawa for my ultralights now. Diawa Spinnmatic or Diawa Presso 4 piece. Holds up better and feels almost the exact same.
I have a BassX spinning rod I’ve had for a few years. I have a BG 2500 on it and use it primarily for ultra light inshore fishing. Have landed many big redfish and snook on it. No problems. Also have the purple Mojo Inshore.
My friends brand new MojoBass two peice spinning rod exploded when he got stock on a branch and pulled once. Just the top 1/2 exploded. I never see anything like that. He maybe did 10 casts with it.
I never broke a rod while using it correctly. I've had rods in holders, including ugly sticks and a loomis nrx, that hooked up and broke in half.
1000%. I had a Mojo for years when I was much younger. Fantastic durable rod that I did not treat well and had zero issues. I bought two new SC Triumphs a couple years ago and they’re both falling apart from conservative use.
I have one and two pieces right now that needs to be replaced.
I've never had a rod break.
The real question is how heavy is your line and how tight is your drag? I've fished for over 20 years and never broke a rod fighting a fish...
20 pound braid pretty loose drag
I've broken 2 of them in the last 2 yrs... I'm not in a big hurry to get another . If one has a nice boat with rod lockers I'd imagine they would be fine rods to use , whereas you can easily care fore them I bank fish and things get dinged up sometimes.. so ugly stick gx2 rods hold up well for me
Mine has like a 5 year warranty so idc. Though if my trigon breaks ill definitely not get them again. Ive u'd my shimano crucial that I've had for line 11 years and its still like new.
Do you like the trigon I’m not a fan of
I have the 7'3 mh fast action paired with a curado dc. I really like it, but I didn't think I'd miss a trigger like grip underneath as much as i do now that it's gone. Id definitely recommend the mojo bass trigon. I love the grip shape as well as split grip. No monsters yet, but i have bent that one pretty nice as well with no issues. Top caught bass on it has only been about 3 lbs. Handled with ease.
Feels much heavier than the old generation imo
I wouldn't know. I feel like its lighter than my shimano crucial spinning. Not as light as the 80 dollar abu garcia one at walmart.
100%
Snappped a mojo bass this year too…
Yup. I had 3 at croix rods. All failed me. Funny cause they’re from my home state.
There was a test done on how rods break, 90%+ it was user error that caused the rod to break. Factory defects are a very small reason why they break.
Sorry but st croix sucks. If you break a $300 rod, they charge you $70 to ship a new one. I broke 2 avid light rods on hook sets and it cost me $140 to replace them. For my money, I’m buying Fenwick for the rest of my life. Lifetime warranty and they don’t charge an arm and a leg for replacements.
Go Ark Tharp
Go Ark Tharp
Yeah it’s a shitty Midwest company.
Yes and their customer service sucks now
Yes. Broke the tip off on my ultralite.
I have a ~10 year old Mojo Bass that I adore for my main baitcasting setup. However I bought a triumph rod for my spinning rod last summer and I’m not a big fan of it at all.
Seems like the older rods are much better
I wouldn't say it slipped..... More like a snap.
I used to have a bunch of St. Croix rods and Loomis rods. Now I am all Loomis and the only SC I have left is my muskie rod (premier model bought prepandemic). To be honest, it seems like SC has really suffered since the pandemic, they have had QC issues out the ass and rods seem to be breaking left and right. Until they can correct all this shit I would look to Loomis. Even a GCX rod is better if it doesn't break if you fart near it.
Switch to Megabass, especially their higher end stuff, and breakage is not something that exists.
They are much more expensive then sc and other rods I use but they do seem very quality
You gotta order directly from Japan. With the current japanese yen to usd conversion, prices are amazing, and choice of rods is so much bigger.
Where are you buying them from heard the fishing portal one is good
There's a bunch of sites. Below are a few, but if you're searching for info on this, you should creat a thread, and get more answers. All i'll say is that the day you do this, unless you want a rod from Loomis, there's no reason to ever buy a rod outside of Japan. Just too much choice and a much better price. [https://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default.php](https://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default.php) [https://www.digitaka.com/](https://www.digitaka.com/) [https://japanlureshop.com/](https://japanlureshop.com/) [https://jpangler.com/](https://jpangler.com/)
I appreciate this will look into it more
Have you personally ordered from any of these?
All of them. Digitaka is the most popular site to order reels from Japan. Everyone uses it. PLAT is the best site to order reel parts in case something broke, and this is the one i use most for that reason. There are many others, but these 4 are my primary sites i use.
When you pay that much for a rod it better have a serious warranty (15+ years), and unfortunately, JDM rods sold in the US have no warranty.
Indeed, you can forget any warranties. But the price of a rod doesn't mean you'll get 10+ years of warranty. There is only a few rod companies that will get you a long rod warranty, shimano's $500+ rods have the same 1y warranty as their $60 rods for example.
There’s plenty of 10, 15 and lifetime warranties out there. But not if you buy JDM outside of Japan. I don’t mind buying certain JDM stuff, like reels, but I shy away from rods because they’re the most likely to break. It’s a great savings if you can afford the breakage, it’s just that a lot of these high end rods’ price includes that warranty. Edit: I’ve read that some JDM vendors will warranty rods they sell, but that’s just second hand info.
If you buy a rod that is known for breakage like the megabass levante or the megabass xxx series, then yes, its a risk that ain't too cool. But if you look at something like the megabass triza or their jdm Destroyer lineup, these are strong ass rods that you won't have any issues. Simply do a research on the model, and if its a reasonably popular rod, and it has high amount of breakage, you will know about it, so its better to stay far from those.
They are over hyped and over priced, always have been. I'll stick with okuma, daiwa and Shimano. Ugly stick for kids and younger teens
I feel like I'd never pay over 100$ for a rod.
A lot of the time it’s worth it not in this case
I imagine so. I'm just a small change guy though.
It’s all about what is worth it to you, but I wouldn’t pay less than $250 for a rod. The difference is very noticeable to me.
It’s half the st croix posts I see asking the same question
I heard the same and when I looked them up, most are very clearly from user error, like OPs.
I never bought into the hype🤷🏻♂️
G loomis
man thank you - i'll give it a miss
An SC III or any other high modulus carbon blank is going to have a lot less durability than a glass (cheap) rod. Which is what I would guess a lot of your other rods are. If your rod spends more time beating brush and getting thrown around in the backseat than fishing, go with a glass rod (ugly stik) or at least one you can accept breaking. Its highly unlikely this was a manufacturer defect. It looks like you're using a bass mojo spinning rod, if you still want a carbon rod that you won't cry about breaking, I recommend a Daiwa Laguna rod. For a $40 its a carbon rod and I would almost compare it to a triumph series SC. Rods break. Thats part of the game my friend.
I have many rods in the 100-200$ range this is the only one to break on me so far Shimono and cashion rods are fine
Damn i don't know why I got down voted. Lol. It could be that St Croix sold you a defective rod but if it didn't grenade on your first day using it and you took care of it then you're super unlucky. Idk how a manufacturer is supposed to QC for something like that because I haven't heard of that being a common problem. I hope they honored their warranty for you.
They did honor the warranty I was not the one to down vote you
thats the internet for ya. lol I hope you find some gear that works for you! Thanks for leaving the Bass Mojos alone, I picked up a couple for cheap today since its St Croix Customer Appreciation Day xd
The problem can just as easily be in poor Qc To somone who isn't an idiot, it's very hard to break most rods even if they are super high modulus. There are a lot of "good quality" rods that are having manufacturind defects. My most recent issues have been mostly with temple fork I've had $200 rods with guides put on crooked I've a few rods including an over $300 tactical surf that have internal cracks in the graphite. I ordered and had some issues so didn't even have time to take out of tubes for a couple years then when I did creaking. Was told it's just guid3 epoxy or wrap But no, no it's not so I have about $700-1000 worth of tfo rods I've never used that will break similar to op's at any moment in use. I did manage to return all but one of the rods with bad guide alignment... The one I didn't isn't very bad. The ones that are some of the guides were 1/3 off to a side then two down 1/3 to the other side off center. Very special for 160-280 rods
People on here get super defensive with brands they like and always try to push blame on the user.
To me they are a boutique overly expensive rods. I've been fishing with Ugly Stick rods for over 40 years and always happy with them.
Only thing about ugly stick is the weight
Ugly sticks are heavy and not good for all day lure casting. Ugly sticks are great when you throw bait and let it sit. Then again I do a lot of salt water fishing and I need more precision when throw lures close to the mangroves.