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| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [30 messages per page] Muskie Fishing -> General Discussion -> !!! Professional Edge contest Round 2 RESULTS !!! |  |
lambeau |
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| lambeau |
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| don't forget to check with Keith for your next rod...or at least hint heavily to Santa! Keith believes in personally talking to every client before starting to work on their order. he wants to make sure you're ordering the right stick for your needs, and that he understands exactly how you want the finished product to look. if you're interested in getting yourself a Christmas present, want to do some window-shopping, or just want to talk fishing, you can contact Keith. by phone at (612) 802-4629 by email at [email protected] and coming very soon Professional Edge will have a new website hosted by OutdoorsFirst! Attachments ----------------  proedge.JPG (29KB - 275 downloads) | |||
| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | |||
| lambeau |
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| the following people made it to round 2: esoxaddict The Nate Slime King California_Muskie PointerPride102 curleytail EsoxManiac dogboy sorenson Ken Auz 4 lucky people will make it on to the next round! to do so...you must do the following: 1) post a story to this thread about your first-ever muskie rod. AND 2a) post a picture at the end of your story of your current sorriest-looking muskie rod. OR 2b) post an "action" shot of you using any fishing rod. your deadline is midnight on Tuesday, 12/05! winners will be judged by...me!  *** for those of you who are not in the contest, feel free to post your stories and pictures! everyone loves to hear a good fishing yarn and check out some interesting pictures. | |||
| esoxaddict |
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Posts: 8829 | My first ever muskie rod: It wasn't long after I started muskie fishing that I decided I had to have my own gear. So I started asking around... "Hey, I wanna buy a muskie rod, what should I get?" Recommendation #1: "I've got a bunch of the BPS Pete Mania combos, they're GREAT" Recommendation #2: "Don't waste your time buying ANYTHING but St. Croix!" Recommendation #3: "listen, it doesn't matter what brand it is, get an 8 foot rod!" Recommendation #4: "whatever you buy, get heavy action!!" Thoroughly confused at this point I decided to get a recommendation from someone I trusted... "He's a guide, he'll know what rods are good!" I thought... So I called him... "Hey _____, I wanna buy a muskie rod. You've been fishing forever, what would you recommend?" He says "oooooo, Jeff -- Get the Fig Rig! I've got a bunch of them, they're great!! If you can afford the Tooth Tamer, get that, I LOVE the Tooth Tamers!!" Wow, if he as a bunch of them they must be great. A guide would never use stuff that wasn't good! (This was before I knew about sposnorship deals. Lucky thing for me they ARE great rods...) So off I went to the local sporting goods store, in search of a "tooth-whatever he said"... So I walk in and I start looking at rods. St Croix, Lamiglass, a few others I never heard of... About this time, a salesperson walks over and says "can I help you?" ME: "Uhhh. Yeah, do you have toothy, uhhh tooth something, aw crap..." HIM: "You mean Tooth Tamer, the Fig Rig rods?" ME: "yeah, that's what I'm looking for!" (whew, that was easy) So he directs me to the rack, I walk over and stare in amazement. I'm thinking "Holy cow, there's 6'10", 7'6", 8'.. How do I know which one to get? And wait, medium, medium heavy, heavy? What's all that mean?" Completely discouraged. I wanted a musky rod today. I had my mind made up I was going home with a musky rod.  So the guy comes back and says "which one are you interested in? " ME: "Uuuuuhhhhhh, well. I'm not really sure!" HIM: "Ok, what are you using it for?" ME: (like a dummy) "musky fishing" HIM: No, I mean are you using it for jerkbaits, or, crankbaits, or bucktails, or trolling... ME: (jerkbait? What the hell is that?) "uhhh.." Shoot. I guess I have to go home and do some homework... I don't know what a jerkbait is. I know what a bucktail is, and I know what trolling is, and I guess you crank a crankbait, but there are so many different rods!??? #%$^& I wanted a muskie rod! Now I need to know what KIND, too? I think I want a long short heavy fast light rod, or something. Then I remembered by other friend.. (get an 8 foot rod!) So I grabbed the longest one on the rack, and started reading. "hmm, 8 foot, medium heavy. Tooth Tamer. Medium heavy? Wonder what that means?" About this time the sales guy says: "that one there is probably your best all-purpose rod" All purpose? That's sounds good! ME: "Ok, I want this one!" So I walk up to the counter with my new toy. My first muskie rod! Wow, I have a muskie rod! Hee hee! SALES GUY: "that will be $171.19" (HOLY %^%&$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I went from elation to fear to just about soiling myself in like 2 seconds. ME: "did you say seventy one?" (please tell me I heard you wrong) SALES GUY: "nope, $171.19 still want it?" ME: (thinking "oh my GOD, the last fishing rod I bought was $30 and it came with a reel!! *sigh* Man, maybe I should buy a cheaper one. Other than my car I don't think I have anything worth that much money except those stupid polarized sunglasses my buddy made me buy last week!) "yeah, I'll take it" DID I REALLY SAY THAT? So off I went with my first ever muskie rod. It was half "whee" and half "I think I have to throw up" because I just spend more on a rod than all my other fishing stuff I had ever owned... A few weeks later I caught my first muskie on that rod. I've since caught my biggest pike and my biggest smallmouth on it. I have several other rods now, all shorter (too short, LOL) and it is still my favorite. It's been in the boat with me every time I've ever been musky fishing, like an old friend.... It is also now my sorriest looking musky rod. Can't bear to take a picture of it, so attached is a picture of me using my favorite rod. (It's in the Presque Isle outing pictures if you want a closer look.) Notice how happy I look using my favorite rod? (hey, that's as happy as I get when I'm not drinkin') The attached picture is also the last time I was able to fish with my favorite and first ever musky rod. The night this picture was taken a terrible thing happened to my old friend... As I was walking back to my room at Skyview I had a bit of an.... accident. First, my tackle bag slid off my shoulder as I was on my way through the door into the cabin. (Those of you who have had the misfortune of trying to lift that bag know what I mean when I say that when that thing goes, you're going with it.) I couldn't just let it go because my rods were in that hand. Dropping 50 pounds of tackle on your rods is probably a good way to break them. So, I stepped forward to try and avert the impending disaster. I caught the bag on my forearm, and dropped down on one knee. Tragedy narrowly averted! Just then I hear the door behind me slam shut and realize that my friend didn't quite make the journy... He went quickly. I like to believe beheadings are a painless way to go. I don't think he saw his own demise as he lost several eyes in the process... Needless to say, my favorite and first ever rod, my faithful musky companion is no more... I had a brief ceremony in the room with a bottle vodka, propped him up in the corner and had a little toast to our memories together of figure 8's, first fish, lost fish, rain, wind, and sun... I hope with some reconstructive surgery he may some day be well enough for sucker duty so we can at least share the boat together again. If not? Well, we still have the memories. And a reel seat, and some guides. Goodbye favorite musky rod.... *sniff* Edited by esoxaddict 11/29/2006 12:32 PM Attachments ---------------- Me fishing.jpg (4KB - 255 downloads) | ||
| California_Muskie |
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Posts: 299 Location: Ontario, California | Being from California (I know… I’m sorry), I haven’t had a chance to do any Musky fishing until this year. I have wanted to get to Minnesota to get after your top predators for quite some time and decided to make it happen this past August. After consideration and a lot of studying, I decided that the current rods that I use for throwing big swimbaits for Largemouth Bass would work just fine. The bite for the most part had been topwater and cowgirls so my swimbait rods would fit the bill. One of the three rods that I brought on the trip was a GS-C-7111XH that Okuma had just released to the market. It was a similar action to the current rods they had out but was longer and had a slightly softer tip. Mind you this was my first trip for Muskies… On the first morning (4am) we pulled up to a spot that my friend told me has held big fish in the past. He even named it after a friend that lost a giant there… a few casts later, I got crushed boatside using the Okuma GS-C-7111XH. I can honestly tell you that I have no idea how the rod didn’t explode. As I set the hook on the giant that turned out to be 50 inches, it immediately went airborne. Once it hit the water, it dove under the boat at Mach 2 and put the rod in a very unnatural bend before I could get the reel in freespool. Shortly after that I was able to lead the fish to the net. I stood there in amazement as the fish thrashed around. After we got the hooks out, measured and got a few photos, the fish was dropped back in the water. I was able to land one other fish on that rod this trip while using the same rod. As we were packing the gear away getting ready to head to the airport, I grabbed the rod and cut the lure off. As I handed the loaned Cowgirl back to my friend, he said that there was no way that I wasn’t going home without the lure not only of my first Musky but my first Musky that turned out to be a 50 incher. I was very appreciative that he did that. I’m a firm believer in Karma. As I was taking the reel off of the rod, I paused for a second and looked at my buddy. I tapped him on the shoulder with the rod tip and said that it’s been blessed with a giant and he needs to keep the tradition going. I handed him not only the rod but also the reel. I told him that I expect many 50 inchers to be caught with the combo. He too was very appreciative. To make a long story short… I know too late, in the next two weeks he managed to put 18 Muskies in his boat including 7 of those on one day. I’d say that this particular rod is pretty special. Attached is one of my favorite pictures. This is a photo that was taken of me fighting a 10 foot Sturgeon on the Columbia River. The picture was taken with a still camera so it may not turn out as good as the original. Edited by California_Muskie 11/29/2006 1:46 PM Attachments ---------------- 10 footer.jpg (148KB - 269 downloads) | ||
| TJ DeVoe |
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| lardonastick |
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Posts: 216 Location: Belleville, WI | |||
| ESOX Maniac |
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Posts: 2754 Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Hmmm, my first real muskie rod now that's an interesting story. Well for me it is, as it shows what real friends do for one another. It was late November 2001. I had went to Wisconsin Rapids to visit a very good friend and former business associate- Bill McCarthy. Bill owns a company in Wi Rapids called PMS. Yes, he gets some flack on that one. Actually it stands for Power Management Solutions. Bill was part of the original Canadian Flyin crew along with another very good friend, Mike Hofmann (owner of ZaltNAD) that got me hooked on muskies in 1996. Like most folks I started fishing for muskies with what I already had, i.e., my bass & pike fishing rods. I was very partial to a particular Bill Dance rod with a Shimano Curado reel. Naturally for muskies, I just stuffed all my pike lures into my biggest tackle box and I upgraded to 17lb Stren, and some larger Rapala Husky Jerks (#14's) at the Duluth Gander Mountain store on the way to Nestor Falls. Wahoo! Those muskies better watch out! Don't get me wrong- Bill McCarthy hates muskies, he hates pike, he hates slime!!!! He's a #*^@ed bass fisherman! He also likes walleyes. But Bill's passion is big smallie's & big bucket mouth's. Well back to the rod story, fast forward to Nov. 2001. We had moved back to Wisconsin from Rhode Island in late 2000. So 2001 was the first chance I'd had to fish for muskies in ~3 years. So here Bill & I are chatting about fishing & catching up on what each has been up to in the intervening years. I mention I had been starting to use some bigger muskie baits and really thought I needed a new rod. I should tell you right now Bill is a hardcore G Loomis fan. So Bill says we've got all afternoon, let's run up to Gander Mountain and see if they have any on sale. Off we go, ahh what a selection of rods. St Croix, Fenwick's, etc. Including amazingly enough G Loomis. I'm browsing all the rod racks, and winceing at some of the pricing. Bill drags me over to the G Loomis rack, he's extolling the virtues of G Loomis rods. He reaches over and hands me a G loomis 6' 6" medium heavy jerk bait rod. All the while going over it's construction & what a fine rod it was. For a few seconds I thought he might be working there on the side. Anyhow, I look at the price, arrrrgh, way out of my range. Put it back into the rack & kept on looking. I just couldn't spend $200 dollars on a rod for myself right before Christmas. I had 3 kid's and 4 grandkids + a wife who were first on my list. So I bought a couple of lures that were in a sale bin and we left and finished our day together. Fast forward to two days before Christmas 2001. I get a call from Mike Hofmann can I meet him for lunch, he says he has to talk to me in person. OK, we pick a spot w/ good burgers & set a time. Lunch is good, we talk fishing, old times, etc. Mike still works for the same company that Bill & I used to work at. But I'm really wondering what the heck was so urgent. Anyway as we're headed to our car's, Mike says "just a minute Al", he walks over to his car and comes walking back toward me with this G Loomis fishing rod with a red bow on it in his hands. He says; "Here, Merry Christmas from Bill". Bill was off in Mexico somewhere chasing those #*^@ed bass and he wanted to make sure I got it before Christmas, so he asked Mike to deliver it. So that's how I got my first real muskie rod. Bill & I had fished together a lot on the flyin's. Him fishing for smallies and me for muskies and I can still hear him cursing every time he had a muskie on. He really hates those toothy slimey fish. In fact Bill McCarthy took the photo that's attached. This was on our second flyin in 1997. Yup that's my "Bill Dance" rod & that's a Rapala husky jerk in that muskie's mouth. What am I trying to do here? Hand land that muskie because Bill won't touch it! After about 6 passes by the boat I managed to land it. (no net!). See photo #2 Yup, I got my first real muskie rod from Santa and he took these photo's too! Have fun! Al Edited by ESOX Maniac 11/29/2006 4:15 PM Attachments ---------------- scan0001a.jpg (188KB - 279 downloads) scan0003.jpg (180KB - 253 downloads) | ||
| curleytail |
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| Little did I know it, but my search for a musky rod started 17 years before I bought one. I started fishing when I was 3 years old. By the time I was 4 or 5 years old I graduated to open faced spinning reels. My Dad wasn’t much of a fisherman at the time, and swore by his old Zebco 202. He told me the only thing that spinning rod would give me would be birds nests. Well, with a 5 year old spooling cheap mono onto a cheap spinning reel, and most commonly using Beetlespins, which I believe are ranked nation wide as the most likely lure to cause severe line twist and pre adult swearing of 5 year old children, dad was not too far off on the birds nest thing. I didn’t walk away from the experience with nothing though. To this day I believe I still currently hold records for fastest unnamed-moneky-knot unraveler, twisted-up-kite-rope untangler, and big-mean-backlash picker-outer. When I was 7, I moved up to a low profile baitcasting rod and reel outfit. Did I get backlashes? I will admit that I did. I must also humbly admit that for a 7 year old, I was pretty darn awesome! Lets fast forward several years. When I was 16 years old I bought a boat – a 1995 16 foot Sea Nymph tiller with a 40 horse Evinrude. I had to carry a lot of groceries to come up with the $2600 for it, but I did it. I’m pretty sure I was the only kid in high school to actually own his own boat. If not, I was certainly the first to buy a boat before buying a car or truck! The boat allowed me to get out and start fishing bigger lakes on my own. The lake I most often fished had a lot of medium sized eyes in it, some dandy smallies, and low numbers of some real trophy muskies. I did catch one mid 30 inch musky out there, and had caught a couple other low 30 inch muskies here and there while fishing with uncles and such, but had not really targeted them. One year I started fishing for ‘eyes with stick baits a lot. Once I did that, I started contacting the muskies, but never could put one in the boat. Nearly every hit I had was WHAM, gone. Every one cut the line and was gone before I could even flip the spinning reel to backreel. After losing about $50 worth of Husky Jerks I decided I had to start fishing for these things. And that’s where it all began. After saving gift certificates from Christmas and a birthday in April, and whatever cash I could put away, I had about $200. I started seriously looking into rods. One criteria was I had to be able to afford it, and it had to be a good reliable rod. After a lot of searching I settled on the IM7 Guide Series rods. Another criteria was it had to fit in my rod locker. I wasn’t really sure if I would like to go out and fish for muskies all day long, and I didn’t want to have rods out in the boat unprotected if I wasn’t going to be using them. This meant I was limited to a 6’6” rod, which I knew was a LOT shorter than what everybody has been using lately. Still, I threw aside the worries about being called names like “short stick” and went with what I thought was best for me and got the 6’6” rod. I also picked up a Guide Series 66 Reel, a spool of 80 pound Power Pro, some leaders, a black Vibrax bucktail, and left the store, feeling like a million bucks, even though the bill from Gander brought my actual cash supply down to something closer to 3 bucks. When I got home I locked the reel down to the rod’s reel seat, spooled up with my Power Pro, tied on my leader, and sat there admiring my new purchase. I had wanted to try fishing muskies for years, and this was the year. This was the year I was going to show my buddies pictures of big, fat fish. Fish they had only heard stories about but never seen. I pictured in my mind my perfect figure 8’s, crushing hooksets, and fighting the fish with the strength of a power lifter and the agility of a gymnast. While, you can picture lots of things in your mind. Most of them don’t seem to turn out quite like you saw them in your head. I started fishing that lake I had so many bite offs on. I had a lot of confidence starting out, but after two weeks of nothing but little snake northerns, I was starting to wonder about this whole musky thing. I fished hard. I knew the lake, I fished prime times, I fished before fronts, I fished weeds, I fished points, I fished wood and rocks. Nothing. I changed lakes to a lake known to have decent numbers of average sized fish. This should be a good change for a beginner compared to the original low density musky lake I started on. Well…nothing. Until one day… My Dad and I were out on a perfect musky day; enough wind to make a good chop on the 6,000 acre lake, nice clouds, threatening rain. Within the first half hour of fishing a spot somebody was kind enough to point me in the direction of, I had about a 34 inch fish nip at my Mepps Marabou. I had actually seen a musky while fishing for them! About a half hour later on the same piece of structure, my bucktail was about 20 feet from the boat when WHAM…. “There’s one!” in my best unpracticed musky fisherman grunt. Remember my power lifter strength and gymnast agility? While I didn’t quite have it all ready to go at that moment. The fish went straight for the back of the boat, heading for the motor. I ran to the back of the boat with the agility and speed of Jar Jar Binks, and the strength of a Powerpuff Girl, with the musky leading me wherever it wanted to. As soon as I got to the back, the fish went for the bow, right at the trolling motor. I headed back to the front, running on top of the rod locker, nearly losing it and dumping myself in the water. Meanwhile, my Dad was still standing in the center of the boat, a little bewildered at the goings on of the last few seconds, but holding onto the net. After just a little bit longer, I had the upper hand, and slowly slid the musky into the net after giving Dad the “ok.” A quick measurement of a solid 40” fish, two quick pictures, and back into the water she went. Dad was pretty impressed and proud. He said he thought I was little crazy for going fishless for so long until he saw why people fish for muskies. Long story (you have realized this by now) short, I finished the season out by catching 8 muskies. I can handle myself a little better now, and am working on the power lifter/gymnast combo slowly. It was one of the most challenging, most fun years I have had fishing in a long time. That fishing season I caught fewer fish than I ever have, but learned more than I ever have. I owe a lot of it to that 6’6” Guide Series “Short Stick.” Thanks little guy. But now I could sure use an 8’ or 7’6”!! Since I don't have anything old enough to be sorry looking yet, I will post an action shot of me with the rod from this story. Luckily for you guys, a good portion of my face is hidden from view. Then again, I might get pity points from lambeau if he saw what I actually looked like....hmmmm.... curleytail Attachments ---------------- rod story.jpg (39KB - 268 downloads) | |||
| curleytail |
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| Well what the heck. If there is anything to get pity points with, this should be it. Oh, I am generally against vertical holds, but I don't think we have to worry about anything with this guy. curleytail Edited by curleytail 11/29/2006 8:04 PM Attachments ---------------- little guy.jpg (70KB - 274 downloads) | |||
| muskyhunter63 |
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| Let's see. My first musky rod. It actually started in 1996 when I took my family on vacation, camping near Hayward on the Chippewa Flowage. We brought plenty of fishing equipment but nothing for musky.We lived in the southwestern part of the state and did not have much use for musky gear there. (Boy how that has changed) I had fished for northerns, always using my trusty spinning rod and reel with the red and white spoon on the end of the line and did pretty well. I thought I would give that a try for musky also. Was I in for a surprise! As we started our tour around Hayward, all we saw were muskies. They were in the resturants, the bars, the stores downtown and of course the bait shops. Not only were there a lot of muskies but big ones at that. I had never caught a northern close to what I was seeing on this trip. Of course my three young kids wanted to see their dad catch one of these fish. I must admit, I buckled in to peer pressure and walked in to one of the more well known bait shops, with kids in tow and decided I would see what it was going to take to catch one of these fish. ( I found out later it took time, money and about 8 years) The shop people were more than helpful. They showed me rod and reel outfits and lures and such. The kids and I were going into a feeding frenzy! I whipped out my credit card and was ready to get started. The kids were jumping up and down and I guess I was too. I opened up my mouth to tell the guy at the counter what I wanted but the sound I heard was not me asking for the St. Croix rod and Abu reel. Instead it was my wife asking me "what are you doing?" Of course I stood my ground and said "just looking". We left the bait shop with a couple of lures and some leaders and a sick feeling in my stomach. I was so close. Fast forward to 1997. I was looking at the local paper and saw an ad for a rummage sale.It listed the usual stuff but I saw fishing equipment and thought I would go take a look. When I got there I saw mostly junk and had to ask the older guy there what he had for fishing equipment. He said most of the stuff was gone but he had a couple of rods left. We walked around the corner into the garage and there she was, my first musky rod, all five and a half feet of her! It was an old Heddon Pal Musky Special rod. She was beautiful. All the guides were still there and the windings intact. It had a nice cork handle with the orange bumper on the end. I checked the price tag and saw it said $5.00. I asked the guy if he would take $3.00 and we had a deal. I also bought another rod but can't remember what it was. I now had a real honest to God musky rod! I ran back to town and bought a 6500C3 and slapped it on with some Cortland Musky Master 45# line. I bought some more lures and was ready to go back to Hayward. Once back on the Chip, I tried my hand at casting this rig which was very unbalanced to say the least. The family and I made our daily shopping run into Hayward one day. I walked into one of the shops downtown that had some neat old fishing stuff hanging on the walls. I noticed a Heddon rod hanging there just like mine. I mentioned to the store owner that I had one of these rods and she asked me if I had it on display. I proudly said "no way, it's in the boat right now". The lady looked at me with kind of an odd look on her face and said "you might not want to fish with that, it's an antique". I finished my vacation with this rod, not catching any muskies but sure giving it a try. The rod was retired to the wall when I got home complete with an old Pflueger Supreme reel that I found at, you guessed it, another runnage sale. I just couldn't find a good action shot with a rod so I threw in two. One is my first musky caught on Lake Wingra on May 5th, 2004. Not the best picture as my son was as excited to see a musky on the end of my line as I was. The other picture is me reeling my boat in to the dock I just hooked with my bucktail. Nice cast between the boat and paddle boat huh? Of course the kid got a better shot of Dad on this one even while he was laughing. Muskyhunter63 (Ken Auz) Attachments ---------------- first musky last dock.jpg (106KB - 275 downloads) | |||
| muskyhunter63 |
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| Sorry about the pictures above. Still trying to get the hang of it. Just in case you thought I was kidding about my first rod. Here it is. Attachments ---------------- rod 002.jpg (88KB - 305 downloads) | |||
| sorenson |
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Posts: 1764 Location: Ogden, Ut | I guess it's my turn... I grew up fishing for northern pike. I offer no apologies. Our family vacation was centered around one week each summer at Ball Club Lake in Minnesota. No muskies. I lived for that week. It was the highlight of my summer from the time I was 5 years old until I graduated from high school, and then even a few years beyond that. My dad and I often joke about the allure of ‘northern pike aftershave and cologne’. I still get there about once every three years or so; it was and continues to be a magical place. It shaped my life both personally and professionally. My days of pike fishing diminished greatly as I entered and subsequently graduated from undergraduate college. Upon graduation, I took a summer job with South Dakota Department of Game Fish & Parks as a fisheries tech working out of Pierre, South Dakota. I think it was the best job of my life. I was determined to catch every species of fish that the Missouri River main stem reservoirs had to offer. One of the recent introductions was, as you can probably guess, tiger muskie (yeah, even back then destiny called). I just knew that my wimpy northern pike gear would be wholly inadequate, well, that and I had recently been dabbling in a new addiction…gear purchasing. With little or no prior research, I headed directly down to Pierre’s finest tackle shop at the time – the Red Owl Store (now all grown up and known more properly as Dakotamart). Ah, the Red Owl – the only store in central South Dakota with automatic doors. I stepped purposefully on the sensor pad and the door swung open to what would be a whole new world for me, my old pre-muskie tackle days washed away like a refreshing splash of northern pike aftershave and cologne. I strode with determination toward the southeast corner of the store, past the bread aisle and the end display of sunflower seeds and other assorted nuts. As I neared the fishing department, my ears sang with the sound of minnow tank aerators and the air filled with the aroma of live bait. Really. You can only appreciate these things after living in a state where live minnows are not only not available, but illegal! I arrived at the upright displays of fishing rods. Now this was at the genesis of Lake Oahe’s walleye heydays. Spinning rods were king. Finesse presentations with 12’ long leaders and the like. Monofilament leaders, slip sinkers and eight pound test line ruled the land. The occasional bottom bouncer and spinner rig was spotted, but often scoffed at; thought too ‘klunky’ to be real walleye gear. My hopes were waning…where would I find a suitable rod to handle my new and undoubtedly under-appreciated quarry. So my eager young mind sought out the best means of determining what rod would be adequate…then it hit me! I looked up to the heavens as if seeking Divine guidance to the rows of rod tips…the rods would tell me themselves. Logically, if I found the rod with the thickest tip, it was exceedingly obvious to me that said rod would be my Excaliber. I looked through the forest of spindly-tipped spinning rods until I spotted an obvious difference. Never had I seen a rod that separated itself from the ordinary as this one did. In the age of colored fiberglass sticks in colors of red, green, orange and wood grain, the rod with the pencil-diameter tip was a rich dark mahogany. It was shiny, not dull like the other rods on the rack and had a handle like none other I had ever witnesses. Most of the rods on display sported some sort of cork of varying quality (probably none Portuguese), this rod had the most intriguing pressed foam handle of alternating layers of milk chocolate and coffee colors – very reminiscent of modern-day laminated gunstocks, only cheesier. I snatched the rod from the rack as another customer approached – surely he was bent on claiming my prize. I guarded my find as he walked past; glancing at me cautiously, surely thinking that I was some kind of moron. I looked more closely at the small writing on the blank and the magical words scrolled in special script leaped at my eyes, ‘Special Graphite.’ Now I was not a complete idiot, I had heard of these fancy and expensive graphite sticks before. My heart sank a bit as I fumbled for the price tag, almost afraid of what I would find. Even a budding addiction has its limits when your hourly wage is $3.35. Drat! No price tag. Now I must do the thing every man fears most…ask for assistance. Double fear; for once the anxiety of merely asking is overcome, if it is too expensive, I have to walk the Green Mile back to the rack and replace the rod upon it. No fancy scanners…it has to be looked up in the catalog. I swear it took 45 minutes. Retail price…$19.95! Sold! Upon the fore grip was adhered a golden medallion depicting the logo and brand name of the manufacturer - the majestic symbol of our country clutching a fish fair caught in it’s talons…Eagle Claw. As I exited the store feeling pretty triumphant about finding the best muskie rod in central South Dakota, I hear a faint tink, tink, tink and some soft rolling behind me. I turn around in time to see the exquisite golden Eagle Claw medallion rolling under a four wheel drive truck and directly into a storm drain in the Red Owl parking lot… Oh, I still have the rod and it has caught muskies. And although I still have it, it has probably captured the title of ‘sorriest’ muskie rod that I own (which really is quite a feat considering that I really only have one decent rod). I shall share the pictures of it with all of you mainly because I’m sure you’re dying to witness the high class of the laminated-look foam handle and the remaining glue spot where the golden medallion once was! The cobwebs, single foot guides and scuff marks are just icing on the ‘sorry’ cake. Sorno Attachments ---------------- IMGP0400_resize.JPG (83KB - 258 downloads) IMGP0397_resize.JPG (93KB - 294 downloads) IMGP0399_resize.JPG (70KB - 280 downloads) IMGP0398_resize.JPG (82KB - 262 downloads) IMGP0401_resize.JPG (86KB - 286 downloads) | ||
| dogboy |
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Posts: 723 | My very first musky rod that I ever laid a hand on was actually a saltwater open-faced 8 foot pole. My dad bought it when we went on vacation to florida. He made a cast at a fish off the end of our dock on Rainbow Flowage, the fish was boiling all morning long, so, finally, he threw a bucktail out, made 5 cranks and landed a 42 incher. This was all caught on tape and essentially is what started my craving for the beast. I had tried to use this rod at the age of 7 but unfortunately..... couldn't handle its size. After that catch, which was my dad's first muskie, he never threw another cast again. Leaving me to try to go it alone. I had gone with my uncle on Carrol lake several times, always used his stuff, but never had owned my own gear. It took a few years, I bought some crappy Sil-star rod, and ended up snagging carp with this more than fishing muskies with it. My quest for the proper gear wasn't complete. Over the years, I had been walleye fishing with a great fisherman and rod-maker named David Bell, he lived in the Amherst\Waupaca area. My parents had behind my back, arranged to have him build me a rod. Let me tell you, Christmas morning was almost unbearable, I had a beautiful new rod, but, couldn't use it yet. After the long awaited season, my buddy and I had hit the water hard, and it didn't take long for me to boat my first ski of 39 1\2 inches. Topwater on Carrol lake. The rod performed flawlessley. I had gone on to use it for another year or two, but felt as if I should retire it, for it had a lot of sentimental value, Dave makes some beautiful rods, and figured, I would get another one from him someday. This ones days were over. since then, roughly 10 years ago, I have gone through a lot of rods, some of my favorite ones snapped in half, eyes broken, friends stepping on them, all that good jazz, but, through all of it, I still have the legacy of my career. The person who had netted my first ever musky, a very close friend, pretty much like a brother, was my buddy Bob Weber. This guy was just as crazy as I when it came to duck hunting in a blizzard, ice fishing on 2 1\2 inches of ice, or putting in long days on the water. Bob was my outdoors buddy. He didn't have much money to go out and buy any nice gear, so, for Christmas, my familly and I pitched in on a new Garcia 6500 C3. His girlfriend and I then went to the Sportsman in Appleton to pick out a rod. They just so happened to have on sale, a double package, one 6'6" heavy and one 7' medium heavy Invincible x-cel pro-graphite rods, something like $90 for the both. Perfect! Bob was happier than a pig in slop. I have never seen someone so excited to use his new gear, I thought back to when I received my first rod, what a great feeling. Bob had gone through some very rough times, depression set in, He had a course of bad luck, drinking and driving, and his girl-friend cheated on him at his own birthday party she threw for him. He became distant, we weren't as close as we had been since we started our outdoor adventures. Something wasn't right with Bob. I received a call one morning very early, My best friend had hung himself..... I was devastated. So was everyone else in Bobs life that hadn't seen it coming. We just thought he was going through some rough times and would come out on top like he always did. After the funeral, his parents, whom I was also close with, wanted me to have all of his outdoor gear. It was hard for me to take it, I spent a lot of days staring at his shotgun, his rods and reel that he never got to use, I didn't know if my favorite sports that I enjoyed with him would be the same. I gradually came out of my slump. I began to fish and hunt again, always thinking of the great times we shared in the boat and in the field and forrest. I would take his gun hunting with me, and if I saw a huge buck or even had a doe walk in and just look at me, I felt as if it were a sign from my friend, letting me know he was still there with me. I cursed him for all the follows of big fish though, as they never seemed to commit. I was using his rods exclusively for quite some time, I had others, but I felt more comfortable with his. Well, one day, I snapped the 7 footer setting the hook hard on what turned out to be a sunken log. NOT COOL! That rod was made into a pike jiggin stick for ice-fishing. I wasn't about to throw it away. The other rod, that Im finally getting to, is the "LEGACY". At 6'6", and stiff as a hickory stick, this rod was my all-time favorite. I caught my first big fish on it trolling, I always used it as a downrod, When that 49" fish was caught, I had really felt Bob had paid me another visit. I had continued over the years to catch many and big fish with that rod, for some odd reason, if I had a fish hit, I wouldn't lose it. When that clicker went off, it was as good as in the net, I also used it mainly for a topwater rod, and the same thing, if a fish hit, she was pinned. I also used the rod for sucker fishing, and well, you guessed it...... It didn't miss. Well.... Bob has been gone now for 7 years, and there have been many many fish caugh on his pole, thoughts of retirement have set in, I decided after this fall, he was done. Well, as one last hurrah, I had my best season, basically best fall ever on our home waters, multiple fish days, big fish days, and just tons of action altogether. That rod, I believe, didn't lose a single fish trolling the whole fall. Im not kidding, everyother rod in the boat would lose fish, but, this one kept them coming. I really felt Bob paid me another visit or two Well, he has had a rough life, bent eyelets, cracked eye wraps, a cork handle that doesn't have much left to it, the reel seat, being cheap plastic, has a crack running through it, the foregrip has been glued a few times, the cork kept splitting apart, I have epoxyed 4 eyelets after the ceramic ring popped out from being stepped on, or torqued from so many fish, who knows? hehe anyway, this is the sorriest excuse for a musky rod there is, and he now resides in my hunting and fishing room in the basement, forever in my heart and mind as being the best rod I ever owned. So, Im in need of a new rod.  below are pics of my first custom rod from Dave Bell, and the others are of Bobs rod. Attachments ---------------- tomorrowrod.jpg (68KB - 288 downloads) tomorrowrod2.jpg (86KB - 259 downloads) beatupcork.jpg (92KB - 269 downloads) beatupcork2.jpg (78KB - 265 downloads) epoxyeye.jpg (76KB - 272 downloads) epoxyeye2.jpg (80KB - 251 downloads) | ||
| Professional Edge |
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| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | They day that changed my life: It was a cold, blustry morning. I believe I was 11. It was the jolly day of Christmas! Wait! I need to explain some things before I actually get my first musky rod. A few weeks after Thanksgiving, actually, it was near this time of year and family members were constantly asking me for Christmas lists. Do you want clothes? Sweaters? Sweatshirts? Or how about socks, do you need socks? Who were they kidding? What 11 year old kid wants to get clothes for Christmas?? I wanted stuff that I would actually use. Now you must understand that my parents had been divorced for several years prior to this Christmas. I spent the first half of the Christmas holiday with my Dad and the second half with my Mom. On my Dad's side we took trips to Canada to go fishing during the summer and my gifts from that side of the family were always outdoors based (because thats what was on my list) on my Mom's side the only one that really liked to fish was my Grandma and she always gave me some daredevils or rapalas for pike fishing but mostly I got clothes. This year I had read about muskies (hardly knowing what in the world musky fishing was) so I want to catch one! My Christmas list consisted of musky lures and a big unbendable rod for catching mean fish. The bass rod I got last Christmas just wasnt going to do the job. Speaking of that rod, that was the first rod I owned that had this thing everyone called a baitcaster. I called it a piece of trash as I could remember countless hours trying to toss a catfish rig out in the river behind my dads house and was constantly picking out these "backlashes". For an 11 year old....I would have made a sailor blush when I got in a shouting match with that rod and reel! One day out there my dad had to stop me from chucking the whole set up in the river due to about a half hour of backlashes on every cast! Now back to muskies. Seeing that my list consited of a Musky rod and reel and tackle my dad asked if I really would use that since most of the musky fishing is done with baitcaster reels. This fact had never dawned on me. Thoughts ran through my head....Should I just ask for a Red Ryder BB gun instead and hope I didnt shoot my eye out or should I stick with the musky rod and reel and hope to God something would click between my clumsy thumbs and those giant silver reels. I was a stubourn boy and stuck with wanting a the big rod and reel. Ok, back to Christmas (this is at my Dad's house, I already knew that I wouldnt get such a prized possesion at my Mom's house.....thats where I get all the clothes) the family was all gathered together; step-mom, step brother and sister and their side of the family. Gifts were exchanged I got some Gander Mountain gift cards and a few musky baits and some other generic trinkets, but I never saw a musky rod, or a musky reel. I felt like Randy in a Christmas story. I couldnt understand it, I cant shoot my eye out with a fishing rod, why didnt I get it. So the day past and eventually we ended up going to Gander Mountain. I wanderd the rod racks, looking at the St. Croix rod, stars in my eyes, I wanted one BAD! Oh well, maybe next year I thought. My Dad walked over and asked what I was looking at. I took down a St. Croix Heavy Power, Fast action 7 foot rod. it was a 2 piece model as I was always traveling and a two piece rod was easier to travel with. I picked out this rod because it was the stiffest, sturdiest rod I could find. I though "No way in hell was any fish going to do anything to get away with me having this rod!" My Dad asked, "So thats the one you like?" I said yeah, but looks like I'll have to keep saving up for it. He says "Yeah, how much do you have saved up?" Now I was 11, how much money does an eleven year old save? I probably had about 75 bucks in Gander gift cards from all of the family gifts. So I said "Well I've got about 75 in gift cards, but that isnt enough." Then my Dad asks "Well you could probably get a reel for that much." "True Dad, but what good is a reel without a rod?" "Merry Christmas Son" he says. I think I might have been the craziest kid in Gander Mountain that day! So my very first set up was a St. Croix Premier 7' paired with a C3 6500 and spooled with Braided Dacron. I think it was Cortlands Braided Dacron 27 lb test (I bought that cause it had a picture of a mean looking musky on the box......shows how much I knew!!) To this day I have taken pretty good care of the rod. There might be a few minor scratches in it but overall it is still in great shape there is one section of cork that looks like I must have gotten hungry and made a snack out of it, I was a crazy kid....you just never know! The sad thing about it was up until this season I had never caught a musky on that poor rod. I really felt bad for it. Since I fish from shore here in Point I can only take one rod along on my trips and sadly I usually took my G Loomis Buctail rod along because I honestly had more confidence in that rod since it had been the only rod I have ever caught a musky on. This year however I put my faith back in that St. Croix and it rewarded me BIG TIME! The one fish that rod has gotten me is the biggest fish I have ever caught. A 47x21 Wisconsin River SOW! I cant think of a more rewarding thing than to break the curse of that rod with my personal best. I couldnt have done it without my trusty St. Croix. A big thanks to my Dad for getting me the rod. It has literaly changed my life. In some ways good, some ways bad. Financially bad! Enjoyment and friends I have made good! Blowing off class to go stick your personal best....you make the call!!! The pictures I have attached are of the damage in the cork. I also found it very difficult to photgraph a fishing rod in a dorm room. So I did the best I could and also attached a picture of me using the St. Croix. Mike Edited by Pointerpride102 12/5/2006 5:51 PM Attachments ---------------- rod cork.jpg (35KB - 268 downloads) rod1.jpg (74KB - 255 downloads) rod2.jpg (144KB - 248 downloads) fishing at dusk.jpg (59KB - 271 downloads) | ||
| lambeau |
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| The Nate |
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| My first ever "Musky" rod: Its hard to believe that a single event resulted in all these years and $$$$$ spent. As I write this it seems somewhat cliche, in that so many people I have spoken with have had similar stories, yet like many other's the ever common bluegill was the basis for my musky addiction. I was about 9 years old, fishing off of my grandma's friend's pier on Little Green Lake, WI. We used to go there to catch bluegill and crappie, often she would reminded me of the huge muskies that were possibly swimming under our very feet. I remember clearly thinking this was all a tall tale, even after gawking at all the huge lures and dusty pictures at Radtke's Landing. My grandma and I were fishing one evening catching our usual assortment of panfish when all of the sudden it finally happened. A "giant" (low 30") muskie shot out from under the dock and hammered my catch. Of course I never came even close to landing this fish however the thrill of the strike had me fascinated. To this day I'm just happy that I was able to pull myself away from that pier and move on with my life. Here in lies the basis of my addiction, and the first musky rod I owned. I must have spoke about that single event for the next 3 years. From then on out ever Christmas and birthday they were bombarded with the "I need a real musky rod so I can catch bigger fish" speech. Apparently all the complaining and whining finally paid off. Early Christmas morning I found a bigger than normal present under the Christmas tree. However initially I thought this package just wasn't big enough to contain that new musky rod that I had been wanting. Well low and behold I dug through enough tissue paper to unveil 2 halves of a new Gander Mountain [at the time made by St. Croix] "musky" rod. My parents had one upped my whining and got me a 2 piece rod so that I could always take it up to Wisconsin when visiting my grandparents. My fancy new stick was a mighty 6'6" medium heavy baitcasting rod. Now this was in all actuality a heavy bass/pike rod, rigged up with a 5500 C3 Garcia and 20lb stren, but in my eyes I was gunning for the next record with that thing. It treated me well and casted mepps #5's and big rapalas great in my opinion. That rod caught a ton of pike on Puckaway, Grand River Marsh and Kingston Mill Pond, and finally one summer landed my first muskie (all 25" of him) by The Beach on Little Green. Eventually like all good things my luck with that stick came to an end; meeting its demize in a valiant effort to retrieve a Mepps #5 from the back of a huge grass carp. My precious "musky" rod had broke in half, right at the ferrell. Well I took it back to Gander, looking to cash in on the lifetime guarantee. However by this time St. Croix has stopped making the Gander Rods, however the salesman was kind enough to work out a deal for a new St. Croix of equal or lesser value of the original Gander Rod I owned. Now the rod I got in return was no "Musky" rod but I still bass fish with the replacement rod today in remembrance of my fallen musky stick. I don't have many exciting action shots or anything like that but attached is a pick taken during the brief fight I had with what would have been my final musky of the 2006 season (eventually the musky shook loose and as always left a little to be desired but still a great memory). The second picture shows the launch at Shabbona Lake on December 1st, 2006. Work may have been cancelled for the day due to the 10-15 inches of snow that fell but between 3 guys, 3 shovels, 2 hours of shoveling, a Dodge Dakota, a Chevy Suburban, 100' of chain and 150 lbs of salt we hit the water. The results: One very upset girlfriend, one strike, one lost fish and another set of great memories Attachments ---------------- 2006 final.JPG (62KB - 260 downloads) December 1st launch.JPG (113KB - 248 downloads) | |||
| lambeau |
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| WOW. i just got done re-reading all the entries and what a great bunch of stories! it made me think of lots of my early fishing experiences, great memories for sure. my own first true muskie rod was a 6'6" St.Croix MHF with an Abu 6500C3 loaded with Dacron that a friend talked me into buying in 1997. the first time out was in October on Little Boy in northern MN, and i got a backlash so bad that the other boat nearby starting heckling me: saying they could hear it zing over by them and that i should get it bronzed. needless to say their "encouragement" didn't help my mood any... today that rod and reel proudly hang on the wall in my basement next to the "Muskie Bar". Attachments ---------------- Rod.jpg (70KB - 282 downloads) | |||
| lambeau |
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| and the winners are... esoxaddict (Jeff Lietz) PointerPride102 (Mike Bolinski) EsoxManiac (Al Warner) muskyhunter63 (Ken Auz) the entries were actually judged by my wife who picked these out as her favorites in spite of the many grammar and spelling errors she noticed (she teaches 5th grade). everyone did a tremendous job, thanks for sharing your stories and pictures! Round 3 (final round) challenges will be posted early this week. Attachments ---------------- proedge.JPG (29KB - 277 downloads) | |||
| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | |||
| curleytail |
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| sorenson |
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Posts: 1764 Location: Ogden, Ut | Gotta echo curleytail's sentiments. It was fun and brought back some good memories. Best of luck to those left in 'lambeau's torture chamber'! Sorno | ||
| esoxaddict |
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Posts: 8829 | WooHOO!!!!!!!!! Had I known the grammar police were watching, I'd have made an effort to write in complete sentences!!!!! | ||
| muskyhunter63 |
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| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | |||
| lambeau |
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| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | |||
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