I have a 7 wt St. Croix Legend Elite and an 8 wt St. Croix Legend Elite. They were both on the table tonight and the next thing that I know, or rather don’t know, is which tip section goes with which rod. They are the exact same model, color and length rods. They are 4 piece rods but I only had them broke into two pieces. Any ideas on how to tell which is which?
I was going to ties a weight to a string and see which one flexed more. I tried to wiggle them or give them a shake test, but they are too close to tell which are the 7 sections and which are the 8s. After I figure it out I will probably take some type of paint and paint all of the same sections with a red dot and the other ones with blue dots or something. I’m not looking for what I should have done to not mix them up in the beginning, I’m past that, I’m looking for what do I do now going forward. Thanks for any suggestions.
It’s like children switched at birth; you’re never quite sure but ya love 'em just the same. ;).
I would call St. Croix and see if they could possibly give you some blank diameter measurements especially the tip diameter and then get yourself a dial caliper or micrometer and do some measuring. If they can’t do that possibly you have a local fly shop with both models in stock that may accommodate you. I would venture to guess that the 8wt has a slightly fatter tip but the difference may be all in the butt.
Short of some casting and tip swapping which may result in you loving the interloper more; you have a interesting problem that I hope you tell us how you get out of.
Since you know which butt section are which, I’d think you could take one set of the two tip sections and put it on the 8 wt seated as you normally would. Use a china marker or something easy to wipe off to mark where the female seated over the male end. Then put the other two sections on. If the second set goes on farther, then they should be the 8 wt sections. If the second set don’t go as far, then they are the 7 wt sections.
I’m not saying there will necessarily be a big enough difference to definitively tell, but I’d say it has a good shot and it should be easy to try.
Good Luck in resolving this one! I know it would drive me crazy until I had it done…
I can sympathize with your dilemma. I bought two blanks a few years back and got them only partially built. Fortunately I only spent about $10 each on them.
My problem is that they are 3 piece - one is a 5 wt and the other a 7wt. I have the mid and tip sections mixed. Like you say there isn’t much difference. I plan to finish building them soon - my biggest obstacle is identifying which is which. The tests for weight and diameter will likely work, but I need something I’m more confident in. :rolleyes:
My plan is this. The blanks will simply cast the line weight they were designed for best. So I am going to build them both up identical and then cast them with the different line weights. That should tell me for sure which is which.
I will buy individual rod bags for them after that and keep them separate.
The easiest thing you can do to figure them out is to cast them with the lighter line and mark a set length of line to use for both, and switch them around and cast again. The lower rated tip should flex more. and load easier than the heavier one with the same length of line out the tip, if their actually is a difference between the two.
Then again if you can’t tell the difference between the two doing that do you really want to have a 7 and an 8 that perform the same???
I went steelheading today which was a success, but this rod thing really put me in a weird position. I took a hook and attached a weight to it. I then put the hook through the eye of the rod tip and held the rod flat on a table top. I made sure that the same amount of rod was on the table top for both rods. I measured the deflection or how far the two tips bent down under the weight. The one that bent the most was the 7 wt. I did not add that much weight but the difference was still noticeable. For the small amount of weight that I attached the 7 wt bent about 2" more than the 8 wt so I feel pretty confident in saying which one was which. Thanks for all of the moral support and letting me vent about a dumb mistake.
