Material: SCIII+ Hybrid Carbon Fiber
Applications: Primary Rod-Building Material
Primary Benefits: Reduced weight, increased strength, improved balance, and technique optimization
Used On: Victory Series, Avid Series Walleye, Avid Series Panfish

What is SCIII+? 

Exclusive to St. Croix, SCIII+ is a hybrid carbon fiber material combining high-modulus high-strain SCIII carbon and super-high modulus SCVI exotic carbon. The material was first used in the 2021 Victory Series. These materials are combined in proprietary percentages, locations, and combinations when they are rolled onto the mandrels to create each distinct SCIII+ blank. The exact combinations of SCIII and SCVI are based on exhaustive research and testing for each blank’s specific length, power, action, and intended technique. 

By itself, SCIII carbon produces lightweight and sensitive rods with exceptional durability. When combined with exotic SCVI carbon – which is extremely stiff, light and rigid – St. Croix can produce lighter, more sensitive and better-balanced rods that excel in technique-specific applications without sacrifice to strength or durability.

How Does SCIII+ Improve Performance? 

Because SCVI is lighter and stronger than SCIII, a very thin application allows St. Croix engineers to use less material overall, which has the effect of dramatically reducing overall weight without increasing rod diameter, while also increasing sensitivity. SCIII+ is used in conjunction with other St. Croix technologies like FRS (Fortified Resin System), IPC (Integrated Poly Curve Technology), and TET (Taper Enhancement Technology) to ensure smooth actions with maximum strength and durability. 

Most significantly, perhaps, SCIII+ allows St. Croix designers and engineers the ability to dial-in action and weight at any location along the length of the blank. “SCIII+ gives us the ability to produce rods for anglers that have optimal flex characteristics that support specific techniques and presentations much better than any homogenous material could,” says St. Croix Vice President of Research and Development, Jason Brunner. “We make them stiffer here and more forgiving there to produce the exact characteristics our anglers ask for that support specific presentations, whether it’s a bass technique, a walleye technique, or a panfish technique. It also allows us to add or remove weight at different locations on the blank to produce rods that are supremely balanced.” 

St. Croix Rod is the recognized leader in designing and crafting rods that give anglers the upper hand on the water. Hybrid materials such as SCIII+ represent an exciting and significant new tool that make St. Croix’s continual advances in fishing-rod performance possible.