Stradic spin 7ft rod, any good?

[Fishaholic]

Hi breammers ,

I have an Okuma Epix 20, now I'm looking for a half-decent rod to put it on to get into sp'ing for bream. What do you guys think of the Shimano Stradic 7ft spin rod? or what else could I get for around $100?


Cheers,
Fishaholic

[Geoff R]

The Squidgy spin stick is actually a budget Ian Miller Bream Buster, he wanted to make a rod as close to the $800+ rod so that people can afford to get something decent if they were on a strict budget. You'll find it has a similar action and performance without the big pricetag.
As you may have noticed alot of us are seriously affected by Bream spinning, because of this we have multiple rods to cover a whole range of scenarios you are probably going to face.
Like throwing long distances on the flats, close quarters in snags the rod needs to be able to pull a fish out pronto, light and extremely sensitive for twitching plastics. Then you have to consider your own preferances as every one is differant, Geoff Spad's fishes a noodle G Loomis SJR 6400 over just about every thing. Ira Fehlberg uses a custom Samuria which i consider to have all the atributes of a Broomstick, yet is extremely powerfull and he weilds it like a Jedi. The rod you are looking at is a great Landbased rod which will cast long distance and short, is sensitive enough to feel the lightest plastic and is strong enough to handle big fish. You may find it a little too long in close country where you need to throw 5-10 meters max with pin point precision whilst being a Non boater. Other than that it is truelly a wonderfull weapon of choice, the Stella 6'6in is also worthy and in your price range and will do all that I have mentiond here plus be a little easier to handle in close quarters.
Geoff

[Geoff R]

I noticed the stradic is a little more sloppy in the tip section, I still think it would be a good rod for hardbodies on flats and lanbased off banks and jetties. I would rate the three like this if i had the choice
1 Squidgy
2 Stella
3 Stradic
That is my preferance though, I base my opinion on the way the rods recover back to thier original position once i have given them a shake and the way they load up. Not to mention from the report's I get from my customers and my own observations whilst being on the water. The other 2 feel much more like something I look for in a rod, but remember "what I look for" may not be your cup of Tea. All three are of the same Quality and are a proven product, I hope I have been of some help
Regards Fishaholic (What's your name?)
Geoff
Dave Vrcic Happy sqidgee user

[Fishaholic]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the feedback. The primary purpose of the rod will be bream, but I like the longer casting ability with hardbodies and metal slabs (5 & 10 gram) when tailor & salmon are up as I don't target bream exclusively, not yet anyhow

I understand what you're saying about short casting with pinpoint accuracy. I agree that there's better rods for that purpose, undoubtedly the time will come when I'll invest in that sort of rod.

Thanks,
Gabriel.

[Stuie_02]

Hi Fishaholic

I bought a 6'6" Stella spin i really prefer a longer rod but i tried a 7ft and the 6 6" an easily decidied on the 6'6' as it a little easier to handle close quaters. There arent many rods that are in the $100 range.

Cindy had some blank sticks for sale very very nice 56" 6footers and a couple of others. for around $50 very nice 33million (odd) modoulus graphite.

Blanks

Cheers
Stuie

[jimi]

Hi Fishaholic, I used a mates stradic for a while and found it not too bad. I mated it to an Okuma Epix EFS20 as well and it seemed to be well balanced. I've used it on the flats down south and it was able to belt out a hb for miles.

I think it would be a bit heavy and insensitive for sp's, but for larger HB's it should be fine. It will be ideal for tailor and salmon.

The only things I didn't like about it was the butt length was far too long for lure casting (nothing a hacksaw won't fix though) and overall the rod felt a bit sloppy. I assume this was due to the fiberglass content of the blank.

I have since bought a black diamond which is light years ahead, but at 3 times the price, it would want to be.

Overall not a bad general purpose light-med rod for a good price.

Cheers

[Stuie_02]

Hi Jimi

Isnt the stella a low modolus graphite?


The shimano site doesnt really say what is made just who designed it.

[jimi]

Hi Stuie,
I think you might be right about that. It is probably just the low modulus graphite that made it feel sloppy. I just assumed it contained some fibreglass.

[Evileye]

hey fishaholic, i know all those rods are better than this one but if yo want a cheap but really good rod then try the shakespeare synergy, made from im6 graphite and quite stiff, they have single foot eyelets and look really nice you can get them in 6'6 but im knot shore if ewe kan get them in 7 fhoot. they cost around 50 bucks and a bit higher so you will have money left over, my mate ChrisN has one of these and says it is brilliant

Hope that helped
Ashley C

Hey Evileye
Shakespear also released another model of the synergy range. It's got SiC guides and glass tips. Saw them at Bluewater. Has anyone used these or know about these?

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Hon-Su