By Tackle Warehouse | Updated September 2023
Our goal with the Tackle Warehouse Product Review is to provide customers with an honest opinion on the latest bass fishing tackle and equipment, so they can make the most informed and optimized purchase possible. The products are distributed to a team of trusted Tackle Warehouse employees who have a wide breadth of fishing knowledge and experience. Each reviewer is responsible for testing and grading the product before and after use. After we are done testing, the grades are averaged and the reviews are compiled to highlight the most important elements, all in an effort to provide as much information as possible before you proceed to checkout.
All scores are rated from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest.
Offering a very clean look and a featherlight feel in hand, the St. Croix Victory series appears to champion a traditional design with classic glossy black blanks, relatively minimal branding, and premium cork handle types highlighted with EVA foam. The Victory rods display excellent quality craftsmanship with top-shelf Fuji components, perfectly aligned guides, no excess epoxy, a durable slow-cured finish, and a reel seat that creates a seamless connection between the rod and reel. There’s not a lot of flashy colors or over-the-top graphics, which most of our reviewers appreciated.
After their initial inspection, our product reviewers thought the tapers universally felt slower or more moderate compared to other fast-tapered rods on the market. While this was welcomed by some as a nice departure from the aggressive extra-fast tapers you traditionally see on jig or flipping rods, it could be a real hit with certain techniques and potentially less desirable for others. Nonetheless, the close attention to detail in this build is exactly what you expect from a St. Croix rod proudly handcrafted in Park Falls, Wisconsin USA, and the reviewers are eager to see how the more forgiving tapers of these rods perform.
Utilizing a combination of St. Croix’s proprietary SCVI and SCIII carbon fiber materials, the Victory series blends super high-modulus carbon for a perfect balance of power and finesse that offers just the right amount of backbone without sacrificing sensitivity. Fuji Concept “O” guides with deep pressed inserts were popular with the anglers in the office who prefer using braid to leader, as they are built with a large ring diameter that allows for bulky connection knots to flow through with ease. Another feature noted by reviewers was the premium components surrounding the reel seat, like the high-quality Fuji reel seats and Fuji KDPS reel nuts that lock your reel down tight and secure with comfort-centric complimenting componentry.
Something all of our testers noticed is how the line and lure ratings on some of the rods seem to be overstated for their labeled technique. All of the spinning rods carry the same 6- to 20-lb line rating, which had some questioning whether or not they were providing a braid specification. Many thought the quantified ratings didn’t give the best impression of how the rod actually performed, so our team would advise exercising some caution and aiming closer to the middle of the line and lure suggestions when rigging up or making your purchase.
Over the course of the testing period, none of our reviewers experienced breaking or damage, suggesting these rods will hold up well to regular use. The cork handle grips remained in great shape, and the beautifully crafted guides feature precise wrapping and epoxy application. That top-notch craftsmanship should prevent them from bending even if you bump them as they come in and out of your rod locker. Built with St. Croix’s Advanced Reinforcing Technology (ART), an exotic carbon fiber construction increases strength tenfold with virtually no increase in weight or blank diameter, which is immediately noticeable when delivering heavy hooksets.
“The Victory series feel like super-lightweight high-performance rods, but don’t have that brittle feeling you often find with high-modulus blanks. They allow me to confidently apply a lot of pressure to the fish and should perform well with standard tournament fishing abuse.” - Jake
Originally introduced at iCast 2021 to fill the gap between the Mojo and Legend Elite series, the St. Croix Victory rods represent a solid value with high-quality componentry and industry-leading manufacturing technologies. Priced from $190 to $275 based on length, these rods come in at a very competitive price point, and even though they are well-built and priced accordingly, the question that remains is how they stack up against the competition. Making comparisons to the Dobyns Champion XP and Shimano Zodias series based on the level of craftsmanship, most of our team agreed the Victory lineup is a clear winner when you consider that St. Croix expanded the series so you could fill out an entire arsenal.
Comprised of 17 casting and 8 spinning models, the St. Croix Victory series boasts an impressive variety of carefully refined rods. While some of these rods were earmarked for specific techniques, our team found them quite versatile once they started fishing them. For example, the 7’4” Full Contact rod (VTC74HF) could be effectively used as a heavy football jig, medium-size swimbait, Carolina rig, wobble head, or light flipping rod, while the 7’2” Cranker and 6’8” The Jerk have a parabolic bend that could also be used for topwaters. Each rod blank is clearly stamped with the model name and specs for quick identification and equipped with a model-specific hook keeper that is selectively placed per technique. Most of the split-grip handle casting rods have the hook keeper positioned in the middle of the handle, which was loathed by some of our testers who caught a hook in the hand when picking the rod up off the deck.
“I feel like I can easily get away with quite a variety of techniques given how all the rods seem to have a relatively softer tip section” - Thomas
The overall consensus of our reviewers confirmed that the Victory series met expectations and performed well for their designated purpose, with some models displaying great balance and others feeling a bit tip heavy. The 7’3” MH Marshall was a notable favorite for dragging jigs, and all of the cranking rods received positive feedback for their ability to load up and deliver the power to fire long casts with lightweight lures. Despite the controversial moderate-fast flipping rod tapers, one reviewer noted how they delivered great hook penetration by allowing the user to lean back on a fish in cover and apply a lot of pressure.
Designed as a comprehensive workhorse line of American-made rods, the St. Croix Victory series is a clear winner, with new technologies and superior materials that will help you fish your way to the top of the podium. The series offers a wide spectrum of tapers, powers, and actions that encompass many different angling styles and virtually every bass fishing technique under the sun. Lightweight, powerful, and sensitive, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the St. Croix Victory series to any angler who is looking for a no-nonsense, highly dependable rod at a fair price.
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