Hi
I've just finished building on my first St Croix blank, a SC111 7ft 3wt and I am very impressed with it.
Now I am wondering how the SCIV and SCV stack up against the other "big name" competition, for example Loomis GLX or Sage Z Axis.
If the lower range SC111 is this good, just how good are the higher ranges.
St Croix is not a make we see much of here.
Dave Olley
Scotland

St. Croix is the largest manufacturer of fly rods in the U.S. They are very highly regarded.


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Croix has a habit of making the entry level series Premier and the next one up Reign from the same blank just with better components and a tube thrown in. Its not until you get to the Avid Series the the graphite actually gets better, jumping to SCIII. Used to be in 05 that would cost you about $200. Since then 06 that revamped that series and add IPC a uniform wall thickness tapering feature which had only been previously available in the SCIV and SCV series. The new Avids have new narrower dimensions so its easier to maintain that uniform tapering, where 9' 8wt. butt dim went from .420" down to .410" the cost for a blank jumped $26, the price of the production rod jumped $20. The big difference now is that they don't offer some popular sizes 9'-6" 8wt. in anthying but a 4 pc and they want $260 (butt dim. a very narrowed .380") for that when the old 2 pc versions Avids ran $210. Just under $200 is a good price point for a production rod with above entry level graphite. Now its getting pricy. There othe series are progressivly faster but watch out for a tweek right off the ferrule on heavier weigth blanks, the tip does not have a crook in it the whole tip section is skewed a couple of degrees. $20 retrun shipping policy for damaged rod verification.
Loomis GLX are nice light ADULT rods that can break fairly easily, blanks used to come with a disclaimor of a voided warranty if the top 30" were not under wraped so you have to give back a little of that weight saving in a critical area of the blank that through leverage increases it. They are suspetable to high sticking also, they are a brittle blank and need care, and nic in the blank will effect it sooner than others, They need their wall thicknesses to remain intacted. I like the IMX series much better, they were once top of the loomis line.

What the??????

The SCIV and SCV are as good as any rod blanks out there at any price. Try one and you' won't be disappointed. The SCV are very fast actions so you'll either love them or hate them.

I've never found the Loomis GLX blanks to be brittle. If they were then Loomis wouldn't be able to keep them on the market and they've been out there for about ten or more years now. But they do cost a lot. You can come close with the SCV but they will cost you too.

Once you get to a certain point the only thing that really differs on any of these much is the actions which are personal preferences. You just have to decide what you like the best.

I've never had a problem with my 9 ft 6wt 4 piece GLX, it's goes everywhere with me. Won it in a raffle the first year they made them. That had to be back in '93 or '94 sometime I think.

SCIV mid weight blanks (4-6) wrap up into some of my favorite rods.