St. Croix Legend Xtreme 2020

[bbates3]

I found a bottom contact new for over 20 percent off. Is the bottom contact still a great rod for plastics, texas rigs, and jigs? Is there something better in the 480 price point?

I purchased one recently and fished it hard the past few days. its a special rod in my opinion. superb balance, great sensitivity, and impressive back bone once you have a fish on. I prefer to have it in my hand over the 2 NRX's i own.

I echo your sentiments. I still prefer the Steez AGS Bottom Contact rod over NRX and St. Croix Legend Xtreme 2020 closest comparable rods in terms of overall fishability, comfort, balance, versatility, and performance.

Any other Steez AGS rods that are must haves?

the 75 bc is a great rod

also the 76mml spinning rod is pretty special

72 mhrb is a pretty cool moving bait rod

those were the standouts for me

[bronzefly]

The 76MML spinning rod is amazing indeed. The BC is fantastic. I agree that the 72MHRB is a very versatile, fun rod to fish. The 80MHRB has been an incredible deep crank rod for me and I love it for covering what feel like epic long casts with a lipless and a Tatula Elite Long Cast... I really, really enjoy that combo for a bunch of treble hook moving bait stuff... the other stand out in the spinning line is the 7MLF...

[Bbrotz]

I just got in my Legend Xtreme 6’8 MXF from the tackle trap. Can’t wait to get it out on the water these next couple days and test it out. I did end up buying another Steez AGS 7’6 MML because that stick really is special

[Bbrotz]

I got my 6’8MXF on the water last weekend to test it out. I still need to put some more time on it before I can make any comments. The one thing I noticed though is that this rod is not splined correctly at all. The guides are placed on the complete side of the backbone. Now normally I don’t care about this but with the Xf taper of the rod and how quickly it gets into back bone, every time I do a flex test the guides veer off to the left and twist the rod in my hand. I haven’t noticed it while hooking into a fish but I am going to pay closer attention the next time I go out. My 7’1 MH casting rod however is splined perfectly

[DrTrevorkian]

Spined, no splines on a rod blank (hopefully!). I find it quite disheartening that a rod of that price range isn’t spined correctly. I personally would contact SC...

[BRONZEBACK32]

I love St. Croix rods, there build, QC and customer service is excellent.

But...

Everyone of their Croix Custom Ice rods guides are not spaced correctly, the first guide is so close to the reel seat
that it causes major reel friction, I ended up selling all of mine.

The one rod I still own that is a St Croix is the LTG, its an amazing crankbait rod.

[goldrod]

I love St. Croix rods, there build, QC and customer service is excellent.

But...

Everyone of their Croix Custom Ice rods guides are not spaced correctly, the first guide is so close to the reel seat
that it causes major reel friction, I ended up selling all of mine.

The one rod I still own that is a St Croix is the LTG, its an amazing crankbait rod.

Maybe I mentioned this before but
I brought two of the same rods from them and the guides were spaced different from one another. I do love their customer service. I have had nothing but the best of service from them thus far

[slipperybob]

I love St. Croix rods, there build, QC and customer service is excellent.

But...

Everyone of their Croix Custom Ice rods guides are not spaced correctly, the first guide is so close to the reel seat
that it causes major reel friction, I ended up selling all of mine.

The one rod I still own that is a St Croix is the LTG, its an amazing crankbait rod.

Cuz all their ice pro staff don't care enough to figure the line guide part...and they all like to do heavy tape job on the reels. Blaaaahhhh... They're still on the titanium wire bandwagon.

[setsail26]

No rod manufacturer spines their rods, because, gasp!, it doesn't affect performance one bit. It's a neat story for rod builders to tell about making rods super custom though.

[Chode]

No rod manufacturer spines their rods, because, gasp!, it doesn't affect performance one bit. It's a neat story for rod builders to tell about making rods super custom though.

used to be the same way with golf clubs. we've come such a long way that spining doesn't do anything anymore so need to waste time

[RMCatchNrelease]

No rod manufacturer spines their rods, because, gasp!, it doesn't affect performance one bit. It's a neat story for rod builders to tell about making rods super custom though.

used to be the same way with golf clubs. we've come such a long way that spining doesn't do anything anymore so need to waste time

I have to say, while it may have little to no negative effect, there is absolutely zero positives I'm aware of. For that reason and it being a flagship model, one would expect all the boxes to be checked.

I'm know most custom builders are still spine aligning their builds. If I'm paying custom prices I expect fit, finish, and build process to be top notch.

[setsail26]

There is a downside to building on the spine. It means you aren't building on the straightest axis. Almost no blanks are completely straight. You should be building with any curve either tip up or tip down. If you try to sell a rod with the tip curved to the side, you aren't going to sell many rods. The spine and the straightest axis are completely unrelated.

[RMCatchNrelease]

There is a downside to building on the spine. It means you aren't building on the straightest axis. Almost no blanks are completely straight. You should be building with any curve either tip up or tip down. If you try to sell a rod with the tip curved to the side, you aren't going to sell many rods. The spine and the straightest axis are completely unrelated.

Fair point, but if the blank is that crooked, my guy would send it back. Again, we are talking flagship product line here. Those blanks should be nearly perfect.

[Black Haze]

Haven’t been following to closely, so is the 74heavy the same blank as in the past....As on the elites and Legend x? Thanks

[hoohoorjoo]

......Those blanks should be nearly perfect.

There's a reason all those St Croix blanks are painted. They look like a patchwork quilt when they are bare. I had a SC V blank built up, but didn't like the blank color. The builder stripped it and it was majorly ugly! Had him paint it flat black and clearcoat it.