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Posts: 555
Location: Tennessee | Right now I just have an 8ft Hvy Mojo. I'm looking to add another. I really love the Mojo and I'm thinking of just getting the 8' 6" XH Mojo. I am also considering the TI 9ft telescopic split grip. Probably XH model, or should I get the MH for lighter baits first? |
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| I won't comment on the brands you've listed because I haven't used them, but it really boils down to what lures you intend on throwing. A new rod should have a purpose. Are you throwing Mag Dawgs or larger? If so then forget about the medium heavy (maybe for Mag Dawgs, perhaps not ideal though). You'll want at least an XH for big stuff. I would think a heavy power rod would throw most lures in your arsenal; I find very little use for a MH rod. My recommendation would be to bump up to the XH to give you the ability to throw a wider range of baits. |
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Posts: 983
| i havent used the mojos before only held them in a store...seem like a decent rod the only thing I dont prefer on them is the small foregrip and shorter handle, but thats just personal preference. If you go TI I say go with the XH its a great universal rod that youll still be able to throw smaller baits with as well. If you have a dealer around you that carries both go check them out and see which one you prefer |
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Posts: 147
Location: Chesterton, Indiana | I purchased the 8'6" XH Mojo musky rod last fall and love it. I was using it the couple days at the end of the season throwing double dawgs and pounders and it handled them as well for me. I would highly recommend this rod for someone looking at a new 8'6" rod. |
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Posts: 555
Location: Tennessee | I am thinking right now, just use my current rod for cranks, glides, topwater, etc and get the XH for throwing big blades and such. thoughts? I'm pretty new at this so I haven't gotten much time on water chasing muskie. |
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| I own one of the Mojo musky 8"6' rods and it is a great rod, i also own a 9ft heavy action, medium fast tackle industries rod. For the money you can't beat it. it is a strong great rod, can handle anything from the Pounder to the double #13. It may not seem like it but this rod is the best rod I have EVER owned. I strongly recommended not getting a telescopic rod unless you plan on traveling a lot. They are great for traveling, however they are not nearly as strong as a single piece blank. I had a telescopic as my first rod and it was great until i hooked into my first decent fish. The rod and spring for the tele-part broke. the fish was 19.4 lbs. nothing super special but the rod didn't hold up. it is worth the extra money to get a sold 1 piece rod. I would not even get a two piece, in my opinion they are not structurally sound. |
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| I will offer my counter-opinion to Guest's post.
When constructed properly a telescoping rod is no less prone to breaking than a 1-piece. I find the assertion that anything but a 1-piece is inferior to be ridiculous. I've caught multiple 50s and many more sub-50s on a telescoping Okuma and never have I once had a problem. I've casted 6" Shallow Raiders and 11" Curly Sues with the same XH Okuma and have yet to break a rod. In my experience most breaks occur due to bruising of some sort (i.e., operator error). If you do research into how rods break and what different types of breaks look like (e.g., bruising vs. product defect) you will likely find that it was YOU that contributed to the rod breaking, not the rod itself.
Carry on. |
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Posts: 582
| Mojo's have the shortest handles in the business, i would never own one for musky. Look at TI or MI rods. Great for $130-$150 |
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Posts: 555
Location: Tennessee | The handles on the TI that much better than the Mojo? and reason on the telescopic is I want a 9ft but that won't fit in my rod lockers. I'm not actually 100% sure the 8'6" would. Also one more option. Premier 8'6" XH? It has a larger handle or I just talked to a buddy who can hook me up with a Hvy action sling blade with tags still on it for $225 |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Guest - 2/20/2012 9:04 AM
I own one of the Mojo musky 8"6' rods and it is a great rod, i also own a 9ft heavy action, medium fast tackle industries rod. For the money you can't beat it. it is a strong great rod, can handle anything from the Pounder to the double #13. It may not seem like it but this rod is the best rod I have EVER owned. I strongly recommended not getting a telescopic rod unless you plan on traveling a lot. They are great for traveling, however they are not nearly as strong as a single piece blank. I had a telescopic as my first rod and it was great until I hooked into my first decent fish. The rod and spring for the tele-part broke. the fish was 19.4 lbs. nothing super special but the rod didn't hold up. it is worth the extra money to get a sold 1 piece rod. I would not even get a two piece, in my opinion they are not structurally sound.
I can only speak for my Tackle Industries telescopic rods but when I designed them I bough a lot of other telescopic rods that were known to have issues (new and used and some 10 years off the market). I cut them up so I could inspect the internal designs. Some were very obvious why they failed and others looked good but I had found customer complaints of failures on the internet and from interviewing a few people. I redesigned my telescopic rods with strength in mind as well as the issue of a telescopic rod collapsing while fighting a fish. So far so good. Almost 1000 telescopic rods sold and only two issues of rods breaking near the tip and of course I took care of both customers. Also, I had one of my prototypes and the telescopic portion did pull out but that was redesigned and fixed thanks to their feedback. Our 9' rods telescope down to 7'6" for storage and we also now have 8' solid rods. All of our 9' tele models come with the fat cork 18" long handles and our 8' rods all come with 16" fat cork handles. I will be at the Madison show this week if anyone wants to stop by and take a look. Ross Sporting Goods will also have a booth at the Wausau show and John will have rods there if you want to feel one and take a look.
Thanks,
James |
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Posts: 126
| I have a premier 8'6" and an Okuma 9'3". Both nice rods. The cork on the okuma is much wider. Only problem I've had with the okuma is getting it to shrink when I want. Any tricks when they are stuck pretty tight? I really didn't feel like spraying wd40 on it. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | I have an Okuma 9'3" telescopic and it has only stuck one time but a little ice on the blank just above the telescopic joint and walla! Down she went. Its just enough to shrink the blank diameter a little so it will release. Also twist slightly while you put pressure on it. That seems to help too.
James |
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Posts: 494
Location: midwest | Wood_Duck...i would go with the sling blade for 225$ Excellent rod at a good price! |
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Posts: 1224
Location: Okoboji | Wood_Duck - 2/20/2012 11:59 AM
The handles on the TI that much better than the Mojo? and reason on the telescopic is I want a 9ft but that won't fit in my rod lockers. I'm not actually 100% sure the 8'6" would. Also one more option. Premier 8'6" XH? It has a larger handle or I just talked to a buddy who can hook me up with a Hvy action sling blade with tags still on it for $225
if i where you i would do the sling blade if it can be had for 200 |
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Posts: 555
Location: Tennessee | I think I'm gonna order the XH TI, but I may get the sling blade too. If I get it could I have a different handle put on it? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I know nothing about custom rod work. I really want a split grip but its not and I hear people talking about custom croix handle kits. How much would something like that cost? |
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Posts: 833
| If you are willing to spend the $$$ on a Sling blade then you are already in the price range for most high end customs. If I were you I’d call Thorne Brothers and look into a Predator. You can get whatever handle you want plus you can extend the length to your needs.
As an example of some things that are possible: You mentioned wanting a rod for rubber and #13 blades. The generic blank for this type of stuff is the XH, however if you want to get into the specifics of what you are doing, there are other options. You could take a H blank and trim 2” off the tip to beef up the back bone. This rod would be the ultimate platform for big bucktails. If you plan to toss a ton of blades and occaisionally toss rubber, this might get you more bang for your buck. If rubber is more your thing, then you could go up a notch in the other direction to a XXH. The XXH is not as popular as the H and XH, but it is a dynamite stick for Rubber. You will also have the option with either blank to extend out past 9’. This provides big advantages to casting these baits as well as the Figure 8. The H less 2 might not handle Pounders very well, however, the XXH will handle the #13s just fine.
The larger point is that if you are going to get into the $360+price range, then take your time and get exactly what you want. You are spending the money to get great equipment, get exactly what you want.
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | Personally I would not get a tele-scopic rod, I have had bad experiences in the past with them not holding up over a full year, cracking or losing the the extension on the figures 8. either way I would strongly recommend going to a 9ft if you are looking for casting distance and accuracy. As far as brands go, 6 in one and half a dozen in another as long as they are solid blanks. I have seen $100 solid rods hold up longer then $500 solid blanks, and vice-versa. The 8'6" rods and 9ft rods are great for the figure 8 as well, gives you a nice big 8 that you can do multiple things with to trigger the fish. However like the other guy said, it all depends on the baits that you are trying to throw. make sure whatever you choose, that you get something with some whip in it to bomb those baits to where you need them to go.
Good luck in your findings! |
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next rod, which to get?