Have I become spoiled?

[JasonGotaProblem]

I have a (edit: no need to attack a brand this is more about the concept) (7'6" fast taper 10-20# line 0.5-1.25 oz lure), and I spent much of my young life not being able afford a (edited), while simultaneously thinking they were pretty freakin sweet rods whose quality justified the price. Well I got this one because i had picked up a used one super cheap from the previous generation. A guide broke on my first use, so they sent me a new rod on warranty. And maybe it's my fault for being so excited that my expectations became unrealistic. And it didn't arrive until a few days after i had built my first custom rod, so what a well laid out (for a beginner builder) rod feels like became the basis of comparison. And quite frankly I'm disappointed.

For a $200 rod I expected a lot more. And it's quite clear to me that this rod was designed to be eye catching on the shelf more than it was designed to be a precision fishing instrument. For one, these non-fuji guides are HUGE, they don't really line up with anything, and they aren't spaced to have the line track the blank under load even slightly, and you can see the line bunching up under the first guide on a cast, and quite frankly i have $30 rods that cast better. Had I paid full price I would be very upset.

Just comparing factory rod to factory rod, my $100 star rod (stellar light fast taper) is a way better rod at half the price. Better guides, better cork, was actually built on spine not 120° off, line tracks the blank really well under bending load, actual weight of rod is wayyyyy lighter, and I have no reason to consider messing with guide placement because line flows great and it already casts like a monster.

So since I've only used it twice I'm honestly considering trying to sell it for $150 and using that money to build a rod that'll be 10x better. For that price I could get a 10' black hole suzuki special blank, Fuji reel seat and  KL alconite guides, aaaand decent cork. And it'll be assembled in the USA not Mexico.

Am I being ridiculous or is this a reasonable complaint/plan?

[thorhammer]

You are seeking validation to a question already answered in your head....you will not, at this point, ever feel good about the $200 you spent. I'd try to return it for at least a credit, or do as you say....we all have bought pretty baubles that underwhelmed. If YOU build a custom, you picked the parts and built it, so like it or hate, it's on you. If it performs to expectation and catches fish, it's rewarding. And I'm great with that.

[philaroman]

hecho en Mexico...  named for rod-building theories/practices, after too many Mojito's 

[steelfish]

in short yes, you might by now be totally spoiled, there is no cure for that amigo.


just take into account that some rods are make focusing in casting, others more in strength, others in weight savings, etc  thats why you find a $30 dlls rod casting better than an $200 Inshore rod, different materials, different specs, etc.
other thing to take into consideration is that only someone that knows a bit of rodbuiliding will notice those details you are mentioning, the rest of the 98% of the fishermen will only care abou the big shiny BRAND letters and the specs on the rod.

after I started to get into rodbuilding more seriously I have gone to FredHall show few times but I "saw" the booths with custom rods in a totally different way than in my previous visits, the 1st times that I saw those booths with custom rods I wanted them all LOL, all where full of colors and shiny with good guides, colored reelseats, etc but in my last few visits I noticed a lot of blems or mistakes on the epoxy job, guides seemed to dont be good quality or the wrong selection for the blank, color combinations on the guide wrap were F.UGLY and thread work was nothing impressive but still you couldn't found any of those rods for less than $400 dlls price tag, even my kids told me that my custom rods were 2x better than those, I dont know if that true but I can tell the difference between those and mines was on the details on the build and pretty sure the labor on those rods was at lest 65% of the cost or more.

[steelfish]

hecho en Mexico...  named for rod-building theories/practices, after too many Mojito's 

We dont drink Mojitos in Mexico, thats a drink from Cuba


but you can switch Mojitos in your sentence for "Tequilas" and that will work.

nothing wrong with "Hecho en Mexico" Stamp 

[thorhammer]

Pretty work, Alex! One day I will learn how to do that alternating thread in the banding

[MarkT]

Ha, just wait until you build a few more and you'll think your first one was junk too!

[steelfish]

Ha, just wait until you build a few more and you'll think your first one was junk too!

I concur

[MarkT]

hecho en Mexico...  named for rod-building theories/practices, after too many Mojito's 

We dont drink Mojitos in Mexico, thats a drink from Cuba


but you can switch Mojitos in your sentence for "Tequilas" and that will work.

nothing wrong with "Hecho en Mexico" Stamp 

I know Mojitos aren't from Mexico but you don't drink Mojitos in Mexico?  You'd pour it out because it isn't a Margarita?  How about drink the Mojito then ask for a shot of Tequila!  Mojito, Hurricane, Mai Tai, Margarita... I'd drink them all, and have!  My favorite hecho en Mexico product is Pacifico!

[JasonGotaProblem]

See, there was a method to my madness. I built my first one as a purely functional piece. Since I never tried to make it pretty, i didn't fail.

Nothing wrong with "Hecho en Mexico" i just like stuff built in my own country a bit better.

[steelfish]

I know Mojitos aren't from Mexico but you don't drink Mojitos in Mexico?  You'd pour it out because it isn't a Margarita?  How about drink the Mojito then ask for a shot of Tequila!  Mojito, Hurricane, Mai Tai, Margarita... I'd drink them all, and have!  My favorite hecho en Mexico product is Pacifico!

well, I have never ordered a mojito on a bar, of course you can find it on every bar in Mexico and USA, but it didnt matched with the Hecho en Mexico = Mojito.  if you want a Hecho en Mexico stamp match with the drink the best one is Tequila.

but Im not a drinker person, so I cannot expand in this topic here that much , not really much into the thousands of drink you can have on a bar as maitain, sexon the beach, medias de seda (velvet socks?), etc, I used to drink more tequila (direct on a shot glass) than beer, then more beer than tequila, now Im more into wine than beer, my fav local beer are "Dos equis" XX lager and Tecate Beer and fav wine any Merlot from the local Baja "Guadalupe Valley" wineries.



Jason, yes, you are spoiled buddy, time to sell all your factoy rods and fill the rod rack with customs, at least thats my plan but friends and customers dont left me any time to build my owns, I only have 2 customs, 2 rebuilt from factory rods and still 10 rods to sell and replace with a custom rod, Im talking about goto rods.

[steelfish]

Nothing wrong with "Hecho en Mexico" i just like stuff built in my own country a bit better.

LOL, not need to explain buddy, I totally understand, just didnt wanted to miss an opportunity to show off my last fishing rod wrap.

on a curious note, only guys living in USA had asked me to put a "Hecho en Mexico" stamp on their fishing rods, go figure!

[philaroman]

Alex's Mex Customs are beautiful & I'm sure later Mex-Croix will be (is?) fine, too
...but I never heard anything good about "first-pancake" Mojo's & see plenty resold "barely used"
$150 asking price might be too optimistic

[Midway Tommy]

One needs to remember where the Mojo line lies in the hierarchy of St. Croix rods. They may run close to $200 but they're pretty far down in the quality list. They're clearly no Legend Extreme, Elite, Avid, Victory, or even Premiere, in my mind. Just about every rod manufacturer has varying lines & qualities. That's why most high quality rods these days are use specific. What works for a bass fisherman is comparable to a pool cue or baseball bate to a finesse walleye enthusiast.   

[JasonGotaProblem]

Alex, why get rid of them when you could just heavily modify them? That's my plan. I've already sold or given away just about everything not worth rebuilding. In fact it has already begun. My next conquest is to turn my 11' penn prevail into a Jeri-inspired African style surf rod.

First pancake? Never heard that one. To be clear this is the 2021 model. But yeah I'm reminded of the first round of Chinese penn reels. The SSm and SSg Garbage. Subsequent versions were better. Maybe I'll consider just rebuilding it, the blank itself isn't bad. Call it an "ain't croix."

Just saying a $200 rod shouldn't suck, regardless where it falls on a brand's hierarchy. This will likely be my last st croix.