Furthering the mission to provide all anglers with the Best Rods on Earth in any situation, St. Croix Rods introduced the Legend Tournament Pike Series – Twelve technique-specific casting rods purpose-engineered and handcrafted with St. Croix’s top technologies, very latest materials and task-specific componentry and ergonomics to deliver uncompromising performance in the pursuit of pike to elite anglers worldwide.

This rod series is marketed to the European angler, as all models are spec’d and sized in metric system.

While the St. Croix Legend Tournament pike rod comes in a wide variety of lengths, powers, and actions there is one rod I have specifically fished with these last two seasons – The Slop-N-Tail.

Pike presentations are as varied as the habitats the species occupies and the forage it hunts. Largely piscivores, pike eagerly devour fish-imitating hard and soft baits in a range of sizes – including those mimicking their own species – but aren’t afraid to wrap their formidable teeth around anything else that looks like a meal, including mammals, birds and reptiles. As a result, pike anglers need rods capable of casting a wide variety of lures targeting different parts of the water column. Because pike are generally ambush predators, the diverse structures they set up on often require precision casting. Once the cast is made, rods must offer ample backbone to drive large hooks home and keep powerful pike in place – away from structure.

The Slop-N-Tail is built for handling surface baits and bucktails, but it can really throw anything with comfort up to the 1.5 to 2-ounce range. This heavy-fast power rod at approximately 7 feet 4 inches has been avidly working 5 to 7-inch swimbaits and twitch baits for most of this year.

Even though North American (and northwoods) anglers overlook these types of unique rods, it will suit additional multi-species predator fishing needs, as a downsizer for muskies, and even a power stick for big largemouths.

All-New Legend Tournament Pike

New Legend Tournament Pike Series rods build upon St. Croix’s 74-year history of combining proprietary materials, technologies and uncompromising workmanship, as well as its significant experience and capabilities in the design and manufacture of powerful, high-performance rods for large, freshwater predators.

They feature next-generation hybrid SCIV+ carbon fiber blanks and incorporate St. Croix’s top technologies and premium components.

St. Croix Brand Manager, Ryan Teach, says the Legend Tournament Pike project has been six years in the making, emphasizing that these are pike rods, not musky rods.

“Given St. Croix’s reputation and expertise in the musky realm, It’d be easy for anglers to assume that the new Legend Tournament Pike Series consists of rebranded musky rods simply done in metric units instead imperial units but nothing could be further from the truth,” Teach says. “We want anglers to know and clearly understand that these rods were developed in partnership with dedicated pike anglers, not musky anglers. Yes, some of our musky, saltwater, and even bass swimbait expertise and technologies were applicable, but there are key differences in the lures, tackle, and the fish themselves – not to mention the specific preferences of pike anglers. We talked to these anglers and leveraged their specific knowledge and on-the-water experience. Over the course of several years, we developed prototype rods, put them into these experts’ hands, listened to what they had to say about them and made continual adjustments, improvements and refinements. The result is an internationally focused pike series crafted for the specific needs of international pike anglers.”

Real World Tests

Lightweight rods that don’t sacrifice power mean pike anglers can make more casts, fish longer with less fatigue, stay in the zone longer and earn more success. Legend Tournament Pike rods are built on technique-optimized SCIV+ blanks, which are a hybrid of SCIV and SCVI carbon materials. In itself, SCIV is a high-modulus high-strain carbon fiber material producing extremely light and sensitive rods. SCVI is an exotic, super-high modulus high-strain carbon fiber material that adds power with minimal weight. The two materials are combined in varying proportions and locations in each specific Legend Tournament Pike model to optimize performance in its intended technique.

Presently, my setup consists of an old Shimano Bantam Curado 200 that is spooled with 30-pound Cortland Masterbraid. This is a very comfortable setup for all day casting and gator hunting.

It’s perfect for throwing bucktails, large swimbaits, spinnerbaits, spoons, surface lures, rubber baits, or any other big pike bait you have. It’s incredibly comfortable to handle allowing the angler to fish all day long without fatigue.

Throughout 2024, the Slop-N-Tail caught a dozen or so fish in the 30 to 36 inch range. The rod’s load and impact on the hookset and following the initial torpedic burst of a gator is quite arousing. Due to the vicious strikes and intial burst from a trophy pike, strength and durability are paramount in any pike rod.

Legend Tournament Pike rods feature ART – an exotic carbon fiber material that adds a magnitude 10X of strength with virtually no increase in blank diameter or weight. ART significantly improves hoop strength and prevents it from deforming or “ovaling” under the severe loads that occur when casting heavy lures and delivering powerful hook sets.

Like other large, powerful fish, pike will expose and exploit any weak link in tackle. Legend Tournament Pike rods feature a fortified super resin combined with state-of-the-art computer-operated curing ovens that manage all stages of the critical curing cycle. This keeps carbon fibers in proper alignment and prevents microbuckling that can otherwise create weak spots.

I might be the only local angler fishing with one.

Pike in the Northwoods

15-20-25 years ago, the northwoods landscape had a lot of quality pike fisheries. Unfortunately, these fisheries are cyclical in nature….. and once the word gets out, they get decimated by harvest and pressure. 

Due to winter-kill events, lack of management (and maintenance!), and too much overharvest, a lot of former fisheries are nothing like they were in the past. It’s frustrating that the DNR makes no effort to grow pike fisheries, especially for lakes that can grow them big (most of these waters are largemouth ditches, and/or don’t have muskies in them).

In recent years, my wife’s fascination and enjoyment with pike brought me back to a game I used to avidly play.

Today, if you know where to go and what to look for, we still have some fisheries around, but they’re real limited in size and scope. Fishing these places and finding quality fish in them has been a joyous opportunity. Best of all, we don’t need to go to Canada… yet.

Cannot wait to experience how the Slop-N-Tail handles a potential northwoods 40″.

Designed and precision crafted for optimal performance in every category that helps give pike anglers the upper hand on the water, new Legend Tournament Pike rods are light, crisp and comfortable in the hand, accurate, uncompromisingly strong and durable, and offered in six technique-specific models to cover any pike presentation with authority.

They’re lovingly handcrafted in Park Falls, Wisconsin, USA with a 15-year transferable warranty backed by St. Croix’s Superstar Service and are available to anglers at St. Croix dealers worldwide and online at stcroixrods.com