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I just received my St. Croix 6 ft light action 4 piece pack rod. It’s a nice rod but a little stiffer than I what expected. I’ll be fishing upstate SC streams for trout that probably won’t exceed a 1lb or so for the most part. My question is, does anyone have experience with their 5′ 6″ ultralight rod with 1 to 2 lb fish? How did it handle them? I’ll mostly be throwing 1/16 oz or less spinners/jigs with it on 4 lb test line.
I do not have any experience with that particular rod, I fish seiryu rods almost exclusively for trout. My question is where in upstate SC are you catching 1 to 2 pound trout!!!
Haven’t gone yet, but I’m assuming that would be a monster and the max that I would need to handle. Heading to the Chattooga this March. I ‘m guessing natives would be a 1/4 pound or so and that stocked trout could hit 1lb or so. You’re making me think my expectations are too high.
Also taking a Tenkara and that will be my first outing for it.
You have a good rod but you also need a good reel, one with at least 7 ball bearings, with a smooth drag. I have a light Berkley rod with a small president reel and I’ve landed 15 lb steelhead with it, you just have to let him run when he wants but always keep some pressure on him ,. Have fun bobby
I have their 5’6″ Triumph Traveler ultralight rod. It is a really sweet rod, I keep the reel spooled with 6 pound test. So far it has handled everything I’ve thrown at it, including this Smallie in the Boundary Waters a few weeks ago. We estimated it at close to 4 pounds.
Regarding reels, I’ve tried most and am pretty much a die-hard Shimano fan. I like their Sahara reels. I did pick up one Stradic, but that was pushing price limits for me. A buddy of mine likes their Sedona reels, which are a little less expensive than the Sahara and he says he doesn’t really notice the difference.
Shimano Sahara is exactly what I have on my St. Croix Traveler. I think it is a fantastic reel.
Little different price point, but my absolute favorite rod for 4-6 lb line for trout in your range is the G-Loomis Escape ETR 75-3 ULS-4. 3 piece 6’3″. Has great action and feel. I have used a ton of different pack rods. The rod you have will get it done and be just fine.
David – I picked up the UL 5’6″ St Croix Traveler rod and it feels like it will be much better suited for small streams and trout than the 6′ Light action. The 6′ Light action is just a bit more stiff that I wanted for throwing light lures, but I’ll keep it for future use.
Doug – I looked at the G-Loomis rods and a 6’3″ rod in 3 sections means each section will about 25″ inches tall in my side pocket. The 5’6″ St Croix with 4 sections gets down to about 16.5″ per section. Where I go there are some mountain laurel tunnels where the branches were constantly catching on my 5′ rod that was 2 pieces at about 30″ each. I needed something shorter. Five inches might have done it, but I think 16.5″ definitely will.
On the flip side of that, I do prefer one piece rods for all other applications. My experience has been that the more ferrules a rod has, the less action.
I have the 5’6″ UL traveler and Sahara reel and I used it quite extensively until I switched to a traditional fly rod for all my high lake and small stream fishing. It handled everything from 16+” football trout to 6″ brookies just fine. I had a light spider wire on it for line and could throw a bubble with a fly quite aways out in the middle of the lake if needed. It was a great rod and I still have it but it hasn’t been taken out in quite a while.
When I was a kid we used to sneak into the illuminating company’s hot water discharge into late erie, and I experimented with very ultra light rods and reels. As long as you have GOOD rod and reel and an area the fish can run …no problem I have landed close to 35 /40 pound carp on 4 pound test line. I wanted the experience just in case I was somewhere else and hooked into big fish, other places I have hooked and landed 10 pound carp on 4 and 5 weight fly rods
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