Looking for a new ice set up for walleyes. I am thinking about a 32" Medium St. Croix Avid rod and matching it with an Abu Garcia Cardinal reel. I have 2 questions. Will this rod be adequate to jig up to 3/4 oz. lures? Also, which Cardinal Series would best match this rod 100, 300, or the 600? Thanks

I have several ice rods, and use a lot of jigging spoons in the 1/4 to 1/2 oz range. The heaviest rod I have is a St. Croix blank, 36 inch, in the med/hvy range, and this rod handles the 1/2 oz spoons well. If I were going to go up to 3/4 oz baits, I would definately want at least the one I have. I would think it should handle the weight you want to use. I have a Shimano Sedona 500 on that rod, but I am going to replace it with the Abu Garcia Agulf. I just bought this reel and it is sweet, it has 3 bearings, and anti-reverse, and weighs less than the Shimano. I have many Abu reels, and I think that any of the 1000 series reels would work just fine on that rod.

Good luck

Thanks for the reply. The combo I am looking at is off the Thorne Bros. site. The Avid rods are only available from Ultra light to Medium. They don't show a Med/heavy. Where did you find yours?

Also, it only shows the Cardinal reels in the series I mentioned. Are those bigger or smaller to what you are using? Here is the link to those reels http://www.thornebros.com/winter/reels/abu_garcia/cardinal.html#Anchor-Abu-38534

I have a 32" graphite rod for jigs and spoons up to 1/4 oz. Then I got one of the Thorne Bros. 36" MH Professional glass rods. This heavier rod is perfect for heavy lures like airplane jigs and swim baits on either mono or superlines, but has a a little more flex to handle Pike and lakers, especially when they surge at the hole! I use a Spirex reel with four different spools with different lines. I use Quantam Xtralite XL1s5 spinning reels on my other lighter rods. They only weigh 7 oz, but hold 125 yards of line and have 5 ball bearings, for only 39.99 at Bass pro Shops.

I make my own rods, and the blank I used was actually bought at Thorne Bros. I live about 6 miles from them, and buy most of my blanks from them. The blank I used was a premier blank, I have found the avid blanks have little or no difference than the premier blanks.
As far as the reels are concerned, I have never seen any of the reels they are offering. I use mostly all Abu Garcia reels, both winter and summer. I have Cardinal Agendas, Cardinal Premiers, Cardinal Ascents, and a couple of Tournament Series. The one looks like the Ascent series reel, but that model is not a 600, it is a model AS1L. I'll have to stop over there and check out the models they have.

Is this the AGULF reel you have? http://www.eangler.com/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod%5Fid=570&SiteName=&adtag=ps%2EAbu+Garcia.

I think the 100, 300, 600 reels are just slight upgrades to what you just bought with 4 or 5 bearings. Thorne Bros. offers all these in ultralights for ice fishing. I would imagine the 100 series for $30 would be just fine eh?

Those Professionals look nice but more cash than I am willing to spend for an ice rod. Have you ever caught any eyes on those airplane jigs? What is the lightest weight they come in?

Yes, that is the Agenda Agulf. All of the Agenda series are sweet reels for the money, and those prices are really good. I will go over to Thorne Bros. and check out those reels they have on their website. I would think that the 4 bearing model they have would be worth $30., as most 4 bearing reels are much costlier.
Good luck

I think this 100 Series is a new line that has just come out. They are not even on the Abu Garcia website yet. Here is a link that has a little description of it although Thorne Bros. has it cheaper

http://www.eangler.com/eangler/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod%5Fid=4526&adtag=.4526

Have you looked at the Wristsaver Ice Fishing combo. 26" medium action rod with a 6 ball bearing reel. If you would like any more info you can e-mail me I am a dealer for Wristsaver in the Twin City
area.
Terry Wilson trwilson@speakeasy.net

I use a single hook 3/8 oz Airplane jig and a 4" white Berkley Power tube for Lake trout and Pike. I really don't have much experience fishing for walleye's here, since our front range lakes are rarely safe. I live right next to Aurora Res. and I am hoping we will have a month or two of safe ice so i can chase eye's thru the ice. I would imagine the same jig with a 3 or 4 inch minnow would catch some eye's. Make sure you use at least 10 lb mono with the Airpalne jig to get that nice circling drop! If I get to fish for eye's this winter I plan on using Nils master Jigging Shads and Salmo Chubby Darters alot!

actually the rod you are after at thorne bros is the solid glass rod i use these rods alot with the large nils jigger shads i don't know how much they weigh but they are heavy!

the solid glass rods are well worth the money if i can't break them no one can

Yea, that large Nils Jigging Shad would be about the heaviest lure I would be using. Do you feel that your St. Croix rod is a good match for something that heavy or is it a little light for such a heavy bait? It is glass huh? What else do you think about the rod?

Those Nils master Jigging shads and Pro Glass rod are a perfect match! I also use mine to jig a 1/2 oz Owner jig and 5" Banjo minnow combo. I caught several pike last winter on those. The glass rod gets all the heavy duty and the graphite rods are used for jigs and spoons under 1/4 oz.

After reading rod builders post again, I think I misunderstood him. I think he was taalking about the Thorne Bros. Professional glass rods too. It looks like those are all made in a medium heavy action for bigger fish :) Maybe that is what I need to handle the heaviest jigging raps and stuff. I see a 32" for $47.95, I guess that is as cheap as they have.

Money well spent! I would get the 36" though, only because i prefer longer ice rods and I think the extra length helps wear down big fish, and absorb the shock of a heavy hookset! The glass allows you to use superlines and not break your rod on the hookset. I only use Fireline though on days where the air temp is above freezing or close.

i agree with neal
most of my rods for walleyes/lakers are 36-40" long...
they seem to load better than shorter rods

You guys are a bad influence on me...my wife would never let you be my friends! ;)