st croix 9'6" 8-17 is a decent spoon rod when using briad. its a tad stiff for my liking when fishing in slower water and using lighter spoons.

my favorite spoon rod was one of the new loomis steelhead series rods, 9'2" 8-12. i mainly fished the green and snoq at the time so it fit the bill perfectly. you could feel a fish think about hitting your spoon with that rod and 30lb braid.

myself i like shorter rods in the 9' range for throwing hardware and plan on picking up a 9'2" 8-15xmg for my hardware rod.