The St. Croix Mojo Bass Trigon is the newest addition to the Mojo line of rods. Whenever a new St Croix rod comes out, especially one in the mojo line, there is a lot of hype about it. This newest St Croix rod followed that trend, but after the first week of production, the reviews started flowing in and they are not good. Does this rod deserve the bad reviews? I wanted to find out. 

When I first held the rod, I was impressed by how light and well balanced it was. The rod is made of a glass and carbon composition, giving it a mix of sensitivity and strength. It has an even bend, flexing exactly how it should for each option—Fast action bending towards the top and slow action bending throughout the rod. With the 21 options, there's a rod for every style of fishing in this line up.

But the grip on this rod is what brings it down. The grips are thick. This makes you miss fish since the vibrations produced from a fish biting do not reach your hand . Another issue with the grip is that the space between the grip and the butt of the rod is short. This is fine for the shorter stiffer rods meant for twitching baits, but with the rods meant for power, this short distance makes it almost impossible to get a good hookset. 

The biggest issue with the grip is the trigger. The trigger is the piece of plastic that extrudes down from the reel seat. On most baitcasting rods, the back of the trigger lines up with the back of the reel seat. On this rod, the front of the trigger lines up with the back of the reel seat. 

When I first tested this rod, I didn’t notice this. But , the moment I put a reel on it, this issue became obvious. My thumb was about halfway down the spool release button. everytime I cast, to be able to apply pressure to the spool, I would have to move my hand in front of the trigger and then back after the cast. So,  unless I was using a 100-150 size reel, I wouldn't be able to use my normal grip. I like to put my pointer and middle fingers on the front of my reel, my thumb on the spool, my ring finger on the bottom of the reel, in front of the trigger and my pinky below the reel behind the trigger. This is a very standard grip, used by many professionals because of the advantage it gives you over the fish with its increased leverage. This grip is achievable with a 100-150 size baitcaster, but anything bigger is impossible. This means that around 19 of the 21 models which are meant for heavy fishing, are unusable. 

Despite the composition of the rod, the grips make this rod unsatisfactory and ineffective. So, this rod deserves its bad reviews. If you are looking for a St Croix rod that has a glass/carbon composite, I recommend the original Mojo Bass instead.