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Posts: 43
Location: Roch NY | thanks guys. lots of useful info. some very good points both ways, but I think at this point based on what I heard I made the right decision. before you jump all over me, the reason I say that is this:
a) If I bought an expensive rod right now, it would be nothing more than a shot in the dark. I'd love to try out casting some other rods, but not too many muskie waters in these parts (nearest 'pure' water is 1.5 hours) so not so many diehards like you guys to borrow from. also too expensive to get it wrong. I will see where the biggest weakness in my arsenal is and go from there (prolly the rod for the heaviest of lures) to see what I can cobble together on the borrowing front.
Also- I don't get out that often maybe only about 24 hours a or so a month, once every other week. so investing a ton in a rod that only throws 1 lure is kinda silly for me now. as I say to my wife, we can afford anything you want, just not Everything you want.
I am looking forward to that high end purchase at some point though. 12 hours of luggin baits and not getting so tired out sounds pretty good if it will last or have a lifetime warranty.
oh and BTW- no I haven't gone hog wild on lures yet either. one here, one there, to the point that I have a decent selection of types to choose from, but no real redundancy. I'm sure that day will come to though (or at least I hope so) 
cheers |
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Posts: 531
Location: Hugo, MN | As far as the feel thing goes in musky fishing, it's not so much about the feel of the fish hitting the bait, rather the ability to feel if your bait isn't running right. With a quality rod, you'll be able to feel if the bait picks up a weed or is fouled in some way. Some of the lower end, less sensitive rods won't give you this ability, and in the long run will cost you a fish or two. I didn't get a custom rod until three years ago, and I don't regret it. It takes a long time to learn what you want in a rod, and what style or action will serve the widest range of applications. I'd recommend getting a St. Croix Premier series for now. You wouldn't be disappointed with any of those rods.
If some day you want to do a custom, and you're mechanically inclined, you could build one yourself. All the components are available online, and it's really not that hard. I've built three now, and it's pretty cool to catch a fish on a rod you built. |
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Posts: 743
| Everybody pretty much starts the same way. Reels,rods,lines,lures have advanced tremendously from when I started over 30 years ago. We would have killed for a St. Croix Premier then. Good Luck.
Kurt |
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Posts: 108
Location: Toronto, ON | My Custom Diamondback (Frank's Custom Rods) and my non-custom Legend Tourney rods are my 2 all-time favourite rods, price independent--and I've used them all. Great blanks, great components, perform fantastic. Buy what you can afford and if you can afford more but think the Compre or the EVx does the trick for you, awesome, enjoy the savings. To each his own.
Edited by TanMan 1/7/2009 2:12 PM
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Posts: 90
| Don't think that you have to spend $300 to get a nice custom rod. Any custom is going to be nicer then the same produced by the factory. For example, you can get the Premier rod built for roughly the same as what St Croix charges (usually about $10-20 more). There are also some really nice blanks available from companies like Shakespeare, Cortland and Rainshadow to name a few that you can build on that make excellent musky rods. That is what I did with my walleye setups, didn't want to spend the $300 on an Imx, so I got a couple of rainshadows built that ended up being around $125 a piece, but are nicer rods then anything out there until you reach that $250 range. The downfall is that you usually can't find much cheaper then that, it is a lot harder to find sales on customs as they aren't mass produced, warranties are thru the builder and you get a warranty isn't exactly an over the counter. An example of a custom warranty is Thorne Bros, one year over the counter after that it is a rebuild charge that is generally around $60. Give a rod builder a call, talk to them about what you are looking for (what type of baits you want to fish) and how much you are looking to spend and see what options are out there. Worst case scenario is you know a little bit more of what you want when you buy a factory rod.
Edited by veha45 1/7/2009 1:16 PM
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Posts: 43
Location: Roch NY | that is great idea veha. I don live tooo far from cortland and drive by there a few times a month going to philly. gonna go there and put my hands on the rods and blanks if the factory store is still there. im sure I can get better help an guidance from them than at the chain stores up here. lord knows most have little muskie inventory in this area.
who knows maybe I can get a factory direct deal on  |
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