Knowing how deliberate and inventive the Japanese fishing tackle industry tends to be with design and implementation, I am going to assume here that everything about this new Major Craft Crosride 5G XR5-942ML/LSJ (Light Shore Jigging) 9’4’’ 15-40g lure rod has been done for a specific, light shore jigging based reason (except for the spelling of the rod name perhaps?). Some of you here may well fish from the shore with various metals and casting jigs - mainly for bass and pollack I guess - but I am choosing to review this particular rod simply as an all round bass lure rod.
First off it’s my profound thank you to the nice people at Tacklewave UK for getting me access to this rod after I was shown it by the naughty people at the incredibly well stocked Osborne and Cragg tackle shop in Plymouth. I don’t really know what constitutes a “light shore jigging” rod from the Japanese market, but the moment I had a waggle with this 9’4’’ Major Craft Crosride I was fascinated to see how it might do for my bass fishing. It felt light and responsive and precise, so my kind of rod, and in no time at all I was out on the coast with it.
I don’t know what Major Craft are putting in their coffee at the moment, but their new 5G blanks are very interesting. I will review their new Flatrek 5G 10’ 7-45g rod in due course - it’s (deliberately) a very different rod to this Crosride - but both rods share something which I feel is very obvious from the very first cast. These 5G (5 Grade) blanks are SO EASY and efficient to fish with, and I mean that as a big complement. I don’t mean easy as in soft and collapsible, I mean easy as in you can effortlessly put lures out for hours on and literally fish a whole session without mistiming a single cast because these rods just refuse to bite back. They help with getting lures out there rather than requiring perfection every single time - I like this! This Crosride is so easy to cast, but it is also precise and efficient, and as an all round lure rod for bass fishing I reckon it’s pretty much ideal and will suit a lot of anglers.
Whatever light shore jigging actually means in Japan translates to a very good bass fishing rod for how we tend to fish. I wouldn’t buy this Crosride for heavier surf fishing although you can bang the 40g Seeker or 40g 3D Jig Minnow without any great hassle. The rod seriously bends into these lures for sure, and they get out there just fine, but this is more of a finesse-style rod. I prefer a less subtle tip in the surf when the wind and waves are pumping anyway. I know that this Crosride is rated 15-40g, but I am guessing that rating is based around light shore jigging. I can cast and fish with smaller 10g surface lures just fine on this rod so I am treating it as a 10-40g (bass) rod, and to narrow that down further, I think this thing’s more comfortable when you are fishing with non-metal lures up to about 35g. Bang a 40g metal as I said (less air resistance in the cast than say a 40g paddletail), and whilst light shore jigging or whatever it really is isn’t exactly one of my specialities, I seem to be able to work the 40g 3D Jig Minnow just fine as a jig. But I am choosing to treat this rod for bass fishing as a very capable lure rod which kinda sits between say the 7-35g and 15-45g ratings which many lure rods carry - which is why I think it would suit a lot of lure anglers very well.
And I seriously like this rod with soft plastics. Give me my Gravity Sticks or the Slender Scoop Shads and the tip on this rod just thrives, plus you can get the lures out there so easily with how easy it is to cast. Bumping and working the Sandeel V2 Weedless or Savage Minnow Weedless along the bottom or down a run of current feels very good to me, and then I can clip on a Hound Glide or something like that and the rod does great. I actually think that the LSJ or Light Shore Jigging tag is a bit of a shame here because I wonder if some bass anglers who would love a rod as easy and efficient as this might be put off because they think the rod wouldn’t suit how they fish. Take it from me, this Major Craft Crosride is a seriously easy rod to like. If you know “my” Savage Gear SGS8 9’2’’ 9-42g rod then I would describe this Crosride as a bit smoother if you like. More give in the mid-section, and it deals with the lighter lures really well.
I notice that the reel seat on this rod shares a lot with that outstanding but no longer available Major Craft SeaBass Custom Limited Edition 9’6’’ 7-35g (Fuji VSS reel seat and Fuji S-SiC K series FRAME guides on this Crosride). I think this is a very good thing because I wasn’t always the biggest fan of some of the older Major Craft reelseat configurations, but with this Crosride I think they have nailed it. As I said with Japanese design implementation, there must be a logical reason why a slightly longer handle length is required for light shore jigging, but for regular bass fishing I’d prefer it to be a bit shorter. It’s no hassle as I can easily grip the handle up from the bottom of the rod for casting, plus I also accept rod handle lengths are very individual things and this slightly longer design might work better for some anglers. I have only fished with the Penn Slammer IV 2500 and Penn Authority 2500 spinning reels on this rod, and in my hands they feel like really good combinations. This Crosride feels really light in the hands though so I see no reason why lighter spinning reels wouldn’t sit very comfortably on this rod as well.
Certain lure rods just feel right to me, and this could be for a number of different reasons. This new Crosride feels like it’s bending just right when you cast and retrieve and hit into fish. It’s not remotely trying to overpower me whilst at the same time I am getting all that precision I like from my lure rods. If this is what a light shore jigging rod is meant to be then I’m all over it, because to me this Major Craft Crosride 5G XR5-942ML/LSJ 9’4’’ 15-40g lure rod is a peach of an all round lure rod for bass fishing and how we tend to go about it. Give me hectic surf conditions and I’m going to take my (cheaper) Savage Gear SGS5 9’6’’ 12-46g rod, but that is not remotely a criticism because in the same conditions I’d still take the cheaper and slightly less subtle SGS5 rod over my go-to all round lure rod, the SGS8 9’2’’ 9-42g. I accept that a rod might have been designed for something specific, but that doesn’t mean it can’t wear different trousers depending on how you use it. This Crosride is stunning.
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