First Premium Rod Experience- Evergreen Super Combat Stick

I’ve pretty much always stuck to budget friendly options when it comes to rods. The $100-150 range has some decent offerings that have worked well enough. I’m also relatively new to bass fishing so didn’t want to go all out right from the start.

Well I recently got a nice little bonus at work and decided I wanted to treat myself to a more premium rod. I’ve had the most success with square bills and I recently got into chatterbaits which are so much fun. Previously I had a BPS Crankin Stick which worked well enough for moving baits. A local tackle store had their remaining Evergreen rods on clearance and they had two Super Combat Sticks “Jackhammer Specials” on clearance for 40% off. I decided to take the leap on one.

Took it out yesterday and earlier today and the sensitivity difference is out of this world. With the Crankin Stick you could feel some vibrations but many times it felt “mushy” and I couldn’t tell if the lure was moving properly. Not so with the Super Combat Stick! You can feel literally every single vibration and I know instantly if some grass or weeds have messed with the lure action. Incredibly eye opening how much more sensitivity a premium rod provides. I also think the rod just looks sexy as hell with those red accents, though I’m sure not everyone will appreciate them.

This isn’t to crap on the Crankin Stick. It does its job well, especially for the price. And the Evergreen retails for literally 4x the price so it should be much better. I’m just very impressed with how noticeable the difference really is. I was also considering a Cashion Icon or St Croix, but for the ~$240 I got the Super Combat Stick for, I think it was a big W.