St. Croix Reveals New High Performance Catfish Rods
Nov 13th, 2015 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Nov 13th, 2015 at 12:00 AM
Park Falls, WI (November 13, 2015) – Mark Twain had it right all along. Giant whiskered whales really do haunt America’s waterways. Although Twain’s account of “a Mississippi catfish of more than six feet long” might have been a slight stretch, the current 143-pound, 57-inch world record blue catfish indicates that even larger freshwater monsters await anglers’ baits today.
But among an expanding contingent of enlightened catfish anglers, it’s become both a blessing and a dilemma: How exactly to handle big fish when most rods available today simply aren’t built for the task?
Recently, whispers of a new, high-end series of catfish rods by St. Croix had anglers buzzing with hope. The rumors are now reality, as the popular family-owned fishing rod company unveils its new Mojo Cat series.
“We looked at how fast this sport was maturing, and felt the time was right to design and build a new category of premium-performance catfish rods,” says St. Croix V.P. of Brand Management, Jeff Schluter. “Our goal with the Mojo Cat series was to create the best possible rods for hardcore catfish anglers. In the past, too many of these folks have had to compromise with inferior quality rods, or custom rods built on blanks not even designed for catfish angling.”
Schluter says St. Croix entered the design phase of the Mojo Cat project with a different strategy. “We know many catfish anglers are interested in better performing equipment including rods and this gave us incentive to create a new breed of catfish rod. Our goal was to build the best performing catfish series out there and we think fisherman will be happy with the results.”
As an example of St. Croix’s strategy, the company used premium-quality S-Glass, rather than cheaper, traditional E-Glass. “Our linear S-Glass material has a tremendously positive influence on blank weight and performance,” said Schluter. “Built on blanks with a dynamic blend of premium SCII graphite and 100-percent linear S-Glass, Mojo Cat rods provide exceptional strength and lifting power, plus enhanced sensitivity and tip flex.”
Anglers accustomed to traditional E-Glass, Schluter believes, will be pleasantly surprised by the positive traits of St. Croix’s specialized S-Glass, including a noticeable improvement in blank performance.
Bolstering strength and enhancing line flow and sensitivity, Mojo Cat rods carry Kigan Master Hand 3D guides with slim, strong aluminum-oxide rings and black frames. All thread wraps are safeguarded with a dual coat of Flex Coat slow-cure finish. Fuji ECS reel seats with black hood clutch casting reels, while Fuji DPS reel seats with black hoods are affixed to Mojo Cat spinning models. Each rod is equipped with a high-grade cork handle and an exclusive Kigan hook-keeper for securing all sizes of catfish hooks.
Seven Mojo Cat models include five casting and two spinning rods. Built specifically for channel, blue and flathead catfish specialists-and ideal for die-hard tournament anglers-these rods are matched to specific line and bait/sinker weight designations. Both 7-foot medium power, fast action casting (MCC70MF) and spinning (MCS70MF) rods are rated for 10- to 25-pound test and ½- to 3-ounces of weight-tailor made for medium-duty channel catfish applications. The 7-foot 6-inch MCC76HF casting rod perfectly matches drift fishing approaches, including walking bait in rivers. And at 8-feet in length, the extra-heavy power MCC80XHF casting rod is ready to waylay the next world-record, beefy enough to handle 50- to 100-pound test line and up to 32-ounces of weight (or the equivalent of a 1-pound skipjack fillet plus a 16-ounce sinker.) Lastly, for packing small but biting big are a pair of 2-piece, 8-foot medium-power models (MCC80MF2-casting and MCS80MF2-spinning).
If you’re up to the world record challenge, St. Croix has your back-and your new favorite catfish rod.
