When I contacted my friend Rich Swisstack about what rods to bring to the Delaware River for a shad fishing shoot last spring, he was quick to note that his favorite shad rod is the St. Croix Panfish Series 90LMF2. The rod, while designed for crappies and bluegills, has the perfect feel for shad. It’s sensitive, but limber, keeping pulled hooks at a minimum, and helping fishermen dial in the right presentation to getting the shad to bite.
Besides being effective at bouncing darts or swinging spoons for the shad, the Panfish Series was just plain fun. We caught shad pushing 5 pounds, but never felt overmatched—though at times it was close. We also brought the St. Croix Premier Series 86LM2, though I preferred the Panfish series. The Premier 86LM2 had a slower action, which made the shad tougher to control, especially when steering them through current to the net.
The rod was also well suited for casting spoons and jigs for stillwater trout, and, as its name suggests, works for panfish, though truth be told, after using it to catch shad, the rod felt like overkill for crappies and bluegills.
Check out the St. Croix Panfish Series in action below:
Great video as always of course a big THUMBS ON on it being a shad video in the Big D. If you need to up your shad spoon supply, hit us up! We will oblige, love your articles and reports rock!
Just got my new 7 foot St. Croix panfish rod and was excited to try it out. It looks amazing, handle quality is excellent and sensitivity is fantastic, as it should be for a rod of this cost. The second piece fit is a major fail on mine, after each crappie it’s necessary to straighten the fit and I have genuine concern it will detach. I paid good money for a rod of secondary quality in my opinion, bought direct off of their website.
Have you reached out to St Croix? They have excellent customer service.