Topic: Best Ice Fishing Rods of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 30 times)
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Topic: Best Ice Fishing Rods of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 30 times)
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Key Features (Rod)
Key Features (Reel)
Pros
Cons
I was immediately impressed with the quality of this ice co*bo from CLAM Outdoors. The first thing you notice when you pick it up is its tacky, soft Tsuka handle, which gives a co*fortable and secure grip.
According to CLAM, the Katana series was designed and built to offer more anglers a solid graphite rod with enough finesse to fish smaller species but also handle bigger fish.
The reel isn’t a piece of junk, either—like what you find on a lot of ice fishing rod co*bos. The reel features a lightweight frame, smooth 6+1 ball bearing system, and very capable, proprietary SF Drag System. I had no issues fighting fish with this reel. The drag was smooth and kept the fish buttoned until topside.
At the price (and quality), the Clam Katana is definitely a great option if you need to purchase several multi-species ice rods for family and friends.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
The new Daiwa Kage took Minnesota ice head, Jeff Allen three years to develop. The Daiwa Kage ice rod has a slim blank that offers the strength and durability of a much thicker rod while maintaining finesse. Daiwa acco*plishes this by using a material that requires less heavy resin.
The Kage’s green rod tip is ultra-sensitive yet strong and ideal for light bites from panfish or walleye. The KAG28L also features Fuji Tangle-Free Guides with Alconite Inserts that are durable and help for a trouble-free drop of your lure down the hole.
Although a departure from what most ice rod manufacturers are doing, the KAG28L offers a Crafted Cork Handle with a screw-in reel slot and hand-shaped reel seat. That means no need to add electrical tape.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
After talking with JT Outdoors owner, Joe Bricko, he said he sells more 32-inch Shiver Sticks as multi-species rods than anything else in his extensive line of ice rods. Especially for fishing outside, he reco*mends the Sure-Grip handle, which remains tacky and easy to handle when wet. And the 32-inch is perfect for fishing in hard houses, larger portables, and definitely outside hole-hopping.
Designed and engineered as the perfect rod for ice anglers targeting walleyes and perch, it also translates well to panfish, which we discovered during our testing. co*bined with a Daiwa 750 reel, it’s super light and also perfectly balanced.
The solid carbon blank features rebounding titanium guides, which prevent breakage in cold temps and when stowed with other rods in cases or inside a 5-gallon bucket.. I found the rod sensitive enough to detect slab crappie or perch upward-inhaling a bait. Its quick-responding fast action also put metal in the maws of walleyes, immediately. Those characteristics make the Shiver Stick one of the best ice fishing rods.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
My first experience with Tuned Up Custom Rods was almost 10 years ago, during those initial years when owner and rod-builder John Burback was building highly-specialized panfish rods for several professional ice anglers. A decade later, John and his expanding crew are still at it, and Tuned Up Custom Rods now offers everything from ice panfish rods to heavy-duty lake trout sticks, as well as open-water rods.
When I asked what his most popular multi-purpose rod was, he was quick to reply the 32-inch FUSION. On his expert reco*mendation, that’s what I tested.
The Tuned Up Custom FUSION works well for panfish, jumbo perch, and walleye anglers. It features a solid carbon-fiber blank for lots of sensitivity and feel. The tip of the rod has a slower action than most Tuned Up Custom rods, but it transitions to the backbone gradually, allowing the fish more time to get the bait into its mouth. There’s plenty of power in the backbone to land fish of all sizes.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
The Perch Sweetheart was conceived as the perfect ice stick for jumbo perch, which features the same ultra-fast tapers as the Panfish Sweetheart and Walleye Sweetheart but with an action that falls between the two.
But it’s a lot more than a perch rod. The guys in the Thorne rod shop says it’s one of their most popular walleye ice rods for 1/8-ounce spoons and when fishing heavier tungsten jigs for big panfish. As their website says, “To put it simply; if you can only bring one rod for every species, you bring this one.”
The Perch Sweetheart is available in numerous handle and guide options, and they’re also happy to help you build exactly what you want if you don’t find the options on their website.
I went with the 32-inch Outside model with Fuji guides and a 6-inch full-cork Tennessee-style handle. The rod does everything it purports to and I found it great for big crappies, perch, and walleyes. It’s an ideal all-around ice stick and has the stones to land bigger walleyes, too, which I found out on Lake Winnibigoshish earlier this season.
First thing you have to consider is rod length. Will you be fishing outside or inside a portable or hard house? Personally, I’ve never had too many difficulties with a 32-inch rod in any of these scenarios and consider it an all-around good length. But, if quarters are cramped, you might want to size down to a 28- to 30-inch rod.
Next, most multi-purpose ice rods should fall in the medium-light to medium-power designations. As well, extra-fast or fast actions are reco*mended. Also consider your preferred grip material and style when choosing a rod because it has to be co*fortable enough to hold all day long.
While you can certainly go cheaper, prices for a quality multi-purpose ice rod range anywhere from $80 to $150. But remember: You get what you pay for, especially with ice fishing rods.
For the most part, you’ll want to stick to size 500 or 750 spinning reels, which don’t weigh much, hold enough line, and offer good drag systems for most multi-species fishing. We used the affordably-priced Daiwa QG 750 for our testing, although there are also quality reels available from Shimano, Pflueger, Okuma, and Abu Garcia. For deadstick or set-line applications, you may want to consider the Okuma Ceymar CBF-500, which features a unique bait feeding system that allows anglers to disengage their spinning reel spool and allow their bait (and the fish) to run freely before engaging the drag lever and fighting the fish at normal drag pressure.
For our jigging testing we used 4-pound Sufix Elite monofilament, a suitable line-test strength for most multi-species forays. We’ve landed 5- to 8-pound pike and walleyes on 4-pound test with the drag set a little loose. Fished as deadsticks, we alternated between 6-pound Maxima Chameleon and 5-pound CLAM Frost monofilament (made by Sunline).
The nice thing about monofilament is it resists freezing up when used outside in sub-zero conditions; secondly, it offers stretch to allow larger fish more play and less opportunity for hooks to unsecure while fighting them; lastly, monofilament is inexpensive, co*es in a variety of colors to match water clarity conditions and is easy to manage and tie.
While you can go the time-tested route of attaching your reel to rod handles with electrical tape, we’ve discovered a better solution in JT Outdoors’ Sure Grip Reel Tape, which remains soft and tacky even in sub-zero conditions. Unlike electrical tape, it’s not slippery in the palm.
Fishing old school, it’s still hard to beat setting your rod on the top of a 5-gallon bucket with a simple rubber band at the top of the handle, through which you loop the line loosely with the bail open. That way a fish grabs the bait, pulls the line loop out of the rubber band and you let them run until it’s time to set the hook.
But there are other systems out there—and we’ve tried them all. HT Enterprises’ Lift N’ Hook Rod Holder is one inexpensive option, which folds up nicely for easy storage. And there’s JT Outdoors’ Rod Holder that folds up like an accordion and allows various rod angle orientations for sticks between 28- and 42-inches. What we’ve discovered with super finesse bites is orienting the holder, so the rod sits perfectly horizontal can yield more neutral to negative fish.
While there are anglers who carry several cases of rods on the ice, you really only need one quality multi-purpose ice fishing rod. The best multi-purpose ice fishing rods will improve your entire fishing experience by limiting the amount of gear you need to bring with you. With some of these models, you might want to purchase two—one as a jigging rod and one as a deadstick.
If you’re interested in adding one (or several) of the best ice fishing rods to your arsenal, check out one of these top options.
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