Thread: St. Croix Spinning Rod

Bought a St. Croix 11' MOJO Surf Spinning Rod. While mounting the reel I noticed that the guides were smaller than my other spinning rods. In fact they were very similar to a casting rod guides. I double checked the model number, all is ok.
Question, do the St. Croix Spinning guides run smaller than normal?

Apparently so...

St. Croix Rods | Mojo Surf | Saltwater

Specialized,weight-saving surf guides with zirconium ring for greatercasting distance and accuracy. Sloped frame reduces linetangling.

Those would probably work even better with braided lines.

Go to St Corix look at the Mojo rods and click on the video there they will tell you that they are made for braided line only,I found that after I got one myself and it would not cast worth a hoot. I shot customer service a email and that's how I found out , It's not mentioned anywhere but that video, That's why the small guides,It will cast like like a dream with braid but poorly with mono.

Pier, Jolly, you both are on track. Here is the response to an inquiry I made to St. Croix customer service:

The Mojo Surf rods have smaller guides than normal, and because of that, braided line is recommended. Mono gets quite a bit of memory on the spool, so when it comes off the spool it’s coiled, and won’t go through the smaller stripper guide well at all, reducing your casting distance and possibly cause birds nests. Braided line doesn’t have much memory at all, and therefore goes through those smaller guides quite easily and gives you great casting distance. Our top of the line Legend Surf rods use similar small diameter guides and are designed for braided line too. You’ll also notice that the first guide is reversed on the rod, with the angled braces pointing up the rod. We did that so that when the line is coming off the reel, heading into that first ring, that the line doesn’t come in contact with those braces, eliminating any chance of a birds nest or anything like that, which could affect the cast.

In a follow-up email they stated that the Triumph and Avid surf rods have more traditional size guides. Live and learn.

What size line (and type) are you planning to use?

I had planned on using 14# Sufix Tritanium Gold. I have always liked this line and found a tackle shop in England that I order it from since it is no longer available in the States, can only find Tritanium Plus here.