St. Croix Premier or Falcon BuCoo?

[Achiro]

Looking at a 6ft light action. Bass Pro has both and was thinking of going with one of the two and was looking for input? Is the St Croix worth $30 more? The Bonehead looks good too but is 7 ft and not sure I would want that length.

[deathb4disco]

I own three St. Croix rods (two Premiers and an Avid), but I would get whichever one feels best to you.

[IkenI]

I have all three brands you spoke of and have my definite preferences. You will get other preferences than mine based on others experiences. All are good rods but it's apples and oranges when you throw in the Bonehead. For a 6' light action I would take the Falcon BuCoo every time. The St Croix has had some recent reviews with easily broken rods. I have not had a problem with my older one. Both of those two are made in the USA which is also important to me.

The Bonehead actually compares to the St Croix 7' Premier medium light and the Falcon BuCoo 6'9" light (they call it a drop shot rod but that's just putting a name to it.) Of those three I can find absolutely no difference in sensitivity and my preference is (1) BuCoo, (2) St Croix and (3) Bonehead. My reasons are that the BuCoo fits my hand better and has a slightly shorter handle (and longer blank) than the Bonehead. It also feels better in the hand than the St. Croix. And, I have had some quality issues with the Bonehead. I've had to have the rod replaced. I'm not sure the cause - it was either due to a defective part or Bonehead braid cutting the tip insert. To be fair, I should mention I do not use any braid with my BuCoo rods. I instead use a co-polymer line.

Also, to be fair, I should mention I had superb customer service out of Bonehead and Bobo who is their Oklahoma outside sales rep.

I also think the issue of which line you will use is important. As I said, I don't use braid on the Falcons (and no longer on the Bonehead.) I only use Vicious or P-Line CX Premium with them. I have used braid on my St Croix with no problem. I currently have gone back to Power Pro 10/2 (not the new Slick - don't like it) for my limited braid use.

Out of all the rods I have mentioned the 6'9" BuCoo is my favorite and the 6' BuCoo is my second choice (and I buy all my rods). YMMV. Regardless, you should get a good rod between those. Enjoy the hunt.

[Hanr3]

I have 2 St. Croix ultra light rods, both bought within the past two years. No issues and really love the sensitivity. Last trio out I picked up my old Berkley Lighten rod and noticed a huge difference between it and the St. Croix. Glad I stepped up to a higher quality rod. I have no experience with the other brands you mentioned. I bought the St. Croix Premiers because they are made in the USA, and about an hour from my family in northern Wisconsin. I bought the second rod at the factory.

[Crappitier]

Check out the new St Croix "Panfish Series" rods. Pretty low cost, and they use the new micro guide system.

I love the Premier and Avid, but this rod is so much better. It uses SCIII and SCVI graphite and has a nice strong butt section for a UL rod.

I have a one piece 6' UL, and it cost me $110. My Avid UL cost me $170 and is nowhere as good as this rod is! Also, it has the new modern handle that makes it a pleasure to fish with.

It's the only spin rod I use anymore.

[skeetbum]

Look into handling the Premier 66lf model. I don't own one-yet- but really like the action, feel and balance of the rod.

[wicklundrh]

Someone made mention of it already but St. Croix has gone downhill in the last couple years.

I am a custom rod builder and I physically had to stop building on the St. Croix platform. I built one rod for a guy 3 separate times and it broke before ever hitting the water on all three instances. Sure customer service replaced it each time, for a shipping price. In the end my customer would have been left with a 350 dollar rod that cost 1200to build.

I spoke with engineering and made recommendations, but I doubt it came to anything. The basic issue is their rods do not have a consistent spine from one blank to another. Look down the rod and hold it in your hand with the guide eyes down. If they do not follow the natural bend of the rod (the spine) then it was built wrong. If it has a crook in it and deviates from the spine, it is a bad blank and will break.

I build on the MHX platform now. Way better quality, lighter weight, more options for blanks, and cheaper to build.

Spine is commonly referred to as "spline"

[warmouth]

Me and my wife have been using the St. Croix Premier 6' light actions this year, and we love them. This is the first time in a long while that I deviated from an ultralight, but I am loving this rod. I prefer a stiffer ultralight, and moved to this light action. For me it has been a great choice.