First let me start by saying I am not an ice fisherman. I live in the South where no lakes freeze. I bought this so I could use it as short rod to troll fairly light lures and have them run deeper than my longer rods allow. The rod itself is beautiful and although one guide was extremely bent during shipping, they took great care in the manufacturing process to insure all the guides were in alignment. Fortunately I was able to carefully straighten the guide to where it is impossible to tell it was ever bent. The bent guide issue is an issue with how it was packed. It was shipped in a box big enough to hold 100 of them with only some brown packing paper randomly placed on top. As huge as the box was and as poorly protected as it was, I am surprised it didn’t arrive broken. My problem is the distance between the end of the rod and the reel stem is so short it will pop out of every rod holder on my kayak at the slightest bump or bounce. I’m positive a fish would pull it out. So why give a product that won’t work for my needs 5 stars? Very simple really. This rod and reel combo is advertised and sold as an ice fishing rod and reel. It would be perfect for that and I am totally impressed with the build quality of both the rod, the reel and the thought that went into it. The reel has a long stem so large mittens could be worn without interfering with the function of the reel. (large mittens are not sold in my state) The rod has a through handle design and the darker parts appear to be graphite so sensitivity would transmit to you with the least interference possible. The price for the combo was lower than the rod by itself and the included reel is of good quality so it’s sort of like buying the rod at a low price and having them pay you a bit to take the reel as a combo. I can at least vertical jig with it if I can figure out a safe way to transport it in my kayak. IF you are buying it for it’s intended purpose it is an awesome little combo at an unbeatable price. At time of purchase I paid $25.06 for this combo. None of the 13 Fishing Wicked Ice rods were priced that low for just the rod only. It was an awesome deal and 13 Fishing cares a great deal about quality and it shows in their products.
