e21 21 Carrot Gold Stix Review

July 29th, 2009 by Crazy BASStard

21 Carrot Gold Stix.

After fishing the first half of the '09 bassin' season with the e21 Boyd Duckett Classic Gold Carrot Stix and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it I came to the conclusion that I needed another stix to add to my lineup of lip ripping gear. The rod I settled on was the 6'10" Medium Heavy power Fast action e21 21 Carrot Gold Stix Trigger Rod. The rod ran $199.99 from Bass Pro Shops, but you can get this rod for the same price pretty much anywhere that sells it. The rod arrived two days later unscathed and ready to get out on the water and land some lunkers. I paired the rod with a Team Daiwa Sol baitcasting reel spooled with 15 pound Fluorocarbon and hit the water.

The new 21 Carrot Gold Stix makes use of a different rod blank than the Classic Gold and LTX versions. The new blank incorporates aerospace grade graphite with the original carrot nano-bio-fibers from which the rod gets its name. The combination of these materials makes for an extremely light, sensitive rod that is engineered to stiffen as more pressure is put on it. The rod blank along with all of its components weighs in at just over 3 ounces. Paired with the compact, yet powerful Daiwa Sol Baitcast reel, this combo is extremely light and balances perfectly.

I'll warn you, be careful when considering picking up one of these rods, they will spoil you with their light weight. Pretty much any rod I pick up after fishing the Carrot Stix feels like I am swinging a 2 x 4 with a reel on it.

This rod achieves unprecedented sensitivity as a function of its graphite/ nano-bio-fiber construction and allows you to feel everything through the exposed blank under the reel seat, this in fact is the most exposed reel seat on the market today. Boyd Duckett claims that this rod is so sensitive that he can crawl a jig on the bottom of a lake, go over a beer can, and tell you what brand it is.

You really want to fish a low memory and low stretch line, either braided or Fluorocarbon to ensure that the maximum energy from any movement in your bait, whether it be a bite or underwater structure, is transferred directly to the rod blank and into your hand. Berkley Fireline fits the bill quite well in that it comes off the reel without holding the shape of the spool as well as the fact that it has no stretch, giving you loads of hook setting power and allows you to optimize the sensitivity of your e21 21 Carrot Gold Stix.

As far cosmetics go, this is one sleek looking rod, especially when paired with the Daiwa Sol. It sports a paint job similar to the Classic Gold and LTX versions, yet it has more gloss and a tinge of gold to it, which can look more gold or a deep orange depending on lighting conditions. Also differing from past generations of the e21 Carrot Stix family of rods, the 21 Carrot Gold Stix incorporates a AA grade cork handle, which forms a nice contrast with the paint job and makes for a much better grip and overall feel. At the butt of the rod is a scandium cap that unscrews revealing a weight chamber, in which e21 suggests inserting a pencil if you wish to balance the rod differently. As shown in the images, the butt cap on the Gold Stix is pink, where the Classic Gold had a gold butt cap.

On the water, the combination of the Daiwa Sol and the 21 Carrot Gold Stix outperforms any rod and reel I have ever had the pleasure to fish. I have fished a handful of 200 dollar fishing rods in my day and none have been able to measure up to this rod when it comes to a perfect balance between weight, sensitivity, and power. The Sol is as smooth as butter, which, paired with the Gold Stix, and the right line, produces a featherlight setup build for sensitivity. If you are considering investing in one of these rods make sure you do some research as to what reel to pair with it, I would VERY STRONGLY recommend pairing it with a Daiwa Sol due to its lightweight design... and the fact that the colors look amazing together ; ). However if you are picking up a rod for burning spinner baits, or need a faster gear ratio for any reason, be sure to find the lightest reel within your price range or you just won't be able to do this rod justice.

From my personal experience with the 6'10" MH Fast action Gold Stix I was able throw jigs and and spinner baits from 3/8 to 1/2 ounce comfortably and also found it to be a great setup for throwing Senko style stick baits, the YUM Dinger being my first choice. This past week I fished for 8 hours straight in intermittent downpours throwing a 3/8 ounce spinner bait with no fatigue and boated several solid bass and man handled a 30 inch Northern Pike.

Price	9	The 21 Carrot Gold Stix will run you about $200.00 brand new. For the price you get a solidly constructed great looking rod that will certainly land you a healthy stringer before you're ready to hang it up.
Construction	9	The 21 Carrot Gold Stix is a solidly constructed, powerful rod. The only downsides that I found to this is the fact that the paint job scratches very easily and the eyes will bend under slight pressure, you will need to be very careful with these rods if you want to keep them in good condition.
Performance	9	In the field the e21 21 Carrot Gold Stix performed amazingly. The combination of the unparalleled sensitivity and exposed blank handle make for quite the lip ripping experience, especially when finesse fishing.
Design	10	Just look at the thing! A perfect 10 by my measure, of course there are some that would call the color a little "over the top" but it fits the overall design very well and is ideal when paired with a Daiwa Sol Baitcasting Reel. Additionally the added cork handle on this rod is a huge plus for me from the first generation Carrot Stix rods.
Total	9.25	Overall an incredible rod, I would not think twice before adding another to my lineup!