St. Croix's Legend Elite ES70MLF Wins our Ultimate Award

Total Score: 9.00 - ULTIMATE ENTHUSIAST AWARD

Introduction: Last year I had the opportunity to share some time with St. Croix Rod's redesigned Legend Elite Series with our review of their 7'0" medium powered casting rod, the EC70MF. Quite often when we're finished reviewing a particular piece of tackle, no matter how much we like the product, it's set aside as we move onto another enroute to the next review. What's great about finding a rod series we enjoy is sampling different models within the same line. So today, we get to turn our attention back to St. Croix's new Legend Elite series with a look at the ES70MLF.

Real World Tests: A rod of this stature is befitting a reel of the same, so I paired my ES70MLF with a Shimano Stella 3000FE spooled with six pound (6lb) Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon and took to one of our favorite finesse fishing lakes, Lake Berryessa, California, to put this rod through the paces.

Old school right down to the foregrip.

Casting: The ES70MLF is a medium-light powered rod with a fast action taper and is rated between one eighth ounce to three eighths ounce (1/8oz - 3/8oz) in lure weight. It has a really crisp blank that responds well to both pitching and casting presentations of baits within its recommended lure rating.

But that reel seat is definitely new.

This rod responds especially well to those quick, flick of the wrists casts I often make when I'm dialed in on a spot and am trying to make repeated casts to trigger a strike.

Side note though - be careful with that swinging drop shot weight on quick casts like that. One off track swing and that weight might come back and smack your blank. Not that something like that has ever happened to me.

Fuji's TVS spinning reel seat is a new favorite.

Sensitivity: Ever since I finished writing up the previous generation Legend Elite LES76MLXF back in 2011, I've been anxious to sample another spinning rod from this series to see if I could recapture the impression of ultra-sensitive performance that stick left with me. Unfortunately, while the ES70MLF is a very sensitive stick, it didn't have that same "it" impact with me. Maybe the Stella 3000FE wasn't the right match with this rod and I needed something smaller. But make no mistake about it, this stick is very good and has above average sensitivity.

Fig 1 : The chart above illustrates the deflection characteristics of our St. Croix Rods Legend Elite ES70MLF against our 2011 WTF baseline rods.

Each Legend Elite rod now ships with a custom rod sleeve.

Design & Ergonomics: The ES70MLF features a rather conventional and conservative build with a full rear grip and foregrip. I mentioned this earlier at the beginning of this article when discussing my impressions with the rod because it bears repeating when we discuss the rod's overall weight at only three and a half ounces (3.5oz). This is a seven foot rod with in a conventional build and it weighs less then some more contemporary styled sticks we've reviewed recently. Additionally, it's well balanced with only a 0.16 balancing torque! The ES70MLF is quite the unicorn when it comes to weight and balance.

The only criticism I have of this particular rod is I wish it came with an open ended hook keeper to make it easier to stow drop shot weights. Yes, the thread wraps are translucent.

Could it be the guides (titanium framed with Torzite inserts) or that SCVI blank? It's likely a combination of the two and goes to show you what you can achieve with top end components.

Price & Applications: The ES70MLF is an excellent choice in a spinning rod for finesse applications, or really any application that calls for a 7'-0" spinning rod using light line. Its performance characteristics together with its weight and balance make it a difficult stick to put down.

All this top tier materials and performance for under $400?

Given the rod's top tier fit, finish, and performance, one could easily expect it to retail in the $450 - $500 range similar to G.Loomis's GLX & NRX offerings and Daiwa's Steez AGS or Compile X rods. Instead, somehow St. Croix delivers this stick with Fuji titanium framed, Torzite guides for just under $400 at $380 with a full lifetime warranty against defects in materials and workmanship.

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