Before I started building rods last fall, I bought a St Croix SCIV 4 pc 9' 5wt over the internet. I read rave reviews and have never heard a single bad thing about this rod. Well I don't like it at all. It is extremely tip heavy and tiring to cast. I thought it was just me being used to an 8 1/2' rod. I've fished it a few times hoping to get used to it. I didn't. At the Sommerset show I cast several 9' 5wt rods and liked them all. I bought an Elkhorn 7pc 9' 5wt for a super price.

The Elkhorn balances nicely with a 5oz reel. Loaded with line, but not strung, the balance point is right at the middle finger position of the grip. The St Croix with the same reel balances above the hook keeper! That is tip heavy in my book.

St Croix has directed me to their engineer who has not returned my calls. I suspect that maybe the rod is a mislabled 7wt or has mismatched sections (the ferrule between the 2nd and 3rd sections click when the rod is waggled).

Can someone that has or has built one of these rods offer an opinion about this?

Thanks,

Tony

@#$%&!

You could run a CCS check on it and then compare it to the same rod in the CCS database. If it is a 5-weight, per their standards, keep in mind that where it balances also has a lot to do with the reel you use. A slightly larger reel could make all the difference in terms of balance.

.........

I have a 6.5 oz reel designed for an 8wt that balances the rod perfectly, but that brings up the wt of the whole set up way beyond what a 9' 5wt should be. Especially a $300 rod. I'm just really dissapointed and disallusioned that this series of fly rods is so popular. That's why started this post. I was hoping for some feed back from others as whether the blanks they've built on were also tip heavy compared to others that they've used.

Tony