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Posts: 7
| I'm a South Florida snook fisherman, plugs and bucktails are my baits of prerence. I've recently started building my rods on musky blanks and my spinning reels can't handle it. I've blown the anti-reverse out of 3 stradic 8000's and a Sustain this year. I'm going to change up to conventional tackle and I thought I would ask some guys who actually target big fish. I have a Lamiglas LGM1021XH blank, and I'm looking for a reel that can handle 60lb Jerry Brown spectra on that rod. We have some interesting by-catch down here so line capacity needs to be 250yds or better of 60lb braid. Any input would be appreciated. I'm thinking abu revo, but I don't know anybody who has really tortured one. | |
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| If you're looking for gear heads you've come to the right place. In the spirit of helping us help you, tell us a little more about your style of fishing. I take it you're casting and retrieving... how heavy are your lures? When you say bucktails I think you're talking about a dressed jighead... not an inline spinner, right? Do you need to crank fast? Do your lures have a lot of resistance? Is casting distance at a premium? Do you use your drag? I've never used a Revo, it looks pretty interesting tho. I think most of us would consider that to be on the light end of the spectrum for muskies, not because mustkies are that tough, but because the size of our lures wreak havoc on reels. I like abu 7000's, but I've had good luck w/ calcutta's, too. You name a large baitcasting reel and I'm sure there's someone here who has used it. Shoot us a few more details and you'll get tons of advice. | |
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Posts: 7
| Usually I'm casting and retrieving big plugs and jigs into fast current. Bomber magnum 17A's, Rebel windcheaters, 2oz bucktail jigs or XXL swimbaits are just just about all I use (4oz?). The fish hold tight to structure, they're ambush feeders, and average 12-20lb ( but 30lb fish are caught all the time ). Casting distance isn't much of an issue, a 2oz jig is good for about 250 ft on just about any rig, and most of my bigger fish hit right up next the the rocks I fish from. I need a reel that has a pretty serious drag, and has a fast retrieve. I'm not too worried about cost, I'm a single guy and nobodys going to give me any lip for buying a 300$ reel. Thanks for the response Phil, I really appreciate it.
Edited by Local66 8/7/2008 12:03 AM
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Posts: 159
Location: NYC (and many weeks in MN during summer) | shimano Calcutta 400 te is my preference.
I'd also give a look at Daiwa's new saltist with levelwind. It appears to be a great deal @ $169.
Not sure if you'll get enough line capacity with a low profile reel.
I'm familiar with most saltwater gamefish as well as muskies. What most people don't realize is that these fish fight and pull much more than muskies. A 15lb snook will out fight a 40lb Muskie every day. A 10 blue fish will too.
Todays baitcasters have really advanced drags. These are mostly under used by Muskie hunters as most guys freespool and thumb the spool instead. Also, to give you an idea of the fight of salt water fish, even moderately sized fish, most of those appropriate reels don't have levelwinds because when the line comes screaming off, a normal levelwindcant keep up withthe pace of the line being peeled.
My .02
Randy | |
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| Shimano Calcutta 700 te | |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | For spinning, I use some of the bigger Penn reels. Dunno the model numbers off hand but I've not worn them out yet. m | |
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Posts: 190
| Think of it this way. A perfect tarpon rig is a great bucktail rod (long, fast tip, slow backbone for steady presure, generally go up to a 2.5 - 3.5oz bait). Snook rods are to light because they handle a smaller size of lure (1.5-2 oz). For both my tarpon rigs and some of my bottom rigs I use the okuma induron 400 with no issues. My grouper rods are also my heavy and medium bait rods for musky. If you haven't bought that lamiglas yet, check out the new lamiglas texilium tarpon rod. I just got one and am in the process of building it. It is really cool especially if your a rod builder. Blue carbon fiber mixed into deep blue graphite.
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Posts: 7
| Cbuf, I already have the blank but I don't have an issue with picking up another. I was using a 9ft Ron Arra before I switched to the Shikari musky blanks. The shikari blanks are perfect, but I can't find them anymore. The Lamiglas LGM seems close, but it has a much softer tip than what I'm used to. It's all part of the learning process. I started out using much lighter gear down there before I really got dialed in, when I switched to the heavier gear I started breaking hooks, I started swapping out hooks on my plugs and started landing some pretty nice fish, but then my reels started exploding. My friend Mike uses a saltiga 6000 spinner down there, and he hasn't had the problems I've had. But I can't justify spending 800$ on a spinning reel. I think I just need to make the switch to conventional tackle. I think it's better suited for this style of fishing. I've never owned a baitcaster, so I'm not even sure what questions to ask at this point. At this point I'm looking at the Calcutta 400b, Luna 300, curado DSV, cabo pt30, and the Abu revo premier. The induron looks like a pretty tough reel, I might have to add it to my ever expanding list of possibilities. Thanks again for all the info guys, I really appreciate the help. | |
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Posts: 190
| I can still get a bunch of shikri blanks if your interested. Also, I found that the graphite USa 79 mag and mega mag are the best musky rods out there. I have built serval for people and they are highly regaurded. The dual helix can not be broken and gives you tons of power. In general I find the lamiglas to be heavy the texilium will be my first lamiglas built rod in about 3 years, but I fell in love with the blank .
Check them out. | |
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Posts: 7
| I ordered 2 reels today. I ordered a Luna 300, and a Revo premier. It gives me an excuse to build another rod. I really appreciate everyones input. | |
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Posts: 190
| I just like you I had find a reason to build another rod. I had some work in my old stompping grounds in orlando where I learned to build rods. I happened to go into he rod shop (Kels rod and reel) to pick up a handful of replacement guides, because my rod bench is backed up with things to fix, and walked out with a 500 bill. 3 blanks, 5 sets of guides, about 5' of preminium cork, reel seats, etc. It was great. SInce then every night I have worked fixing people rods. 2 left, but I did 13 rods. I just finished glueing 4 rod grips on the rod. One more night of glueing, then a couple days of casting. It is so relaxing. If I can't fish building fishing rods is the next best thing.
Have a good one.
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Posts: 7
| Yeah, I used to build alot more gear. I just don't have the time for it anymore. I build 10-15 a year, mostly for friends and family. I've streamlined the operation, no more turning cork ( I do tape, or pre-formed grips. No mess ), no more weaves, no more thread art. Nowadays I just build them to put them on the water, unless you look real close you'd never know it was anything special. Having 15K worth of gear walk out of my garage changed my attitude towards rodbuilding. | |
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I need gear advice.