Musky Reel

yesterday while fishing Lac Courte Oreilles i hooked into probably the biggest, hopefully not the last, musky in my life. i lost him after about 30 min of him stripping line as i tried to retrieve a few inches. during the fight i’m not sure if it was the gears or ball bearings or what but something stopped working. after the fish was gone i opened the reel to find that one of the gears had been almost completely stripped. i know that i don’t know much about reels, but i don’t think thats supposed to happen. because of this event i’m in the market for a new musky reel, but don’t really have any idea of what to look for or where to start, any help would be awesome, thx.

I have had good luck with the Abu-Garcia series baitcasters.

I’m with you Derek. The 6500 or 7000 series should suit your needs.

What kinda reel were u using that it striped out? The abu’s are a good reel. I also have a bass pro pete mania series muskie reel that has worked good for me.

Quote:

---

I’m with you Derek. The 6500 or 7000 series should suit your needs.

---

Agreed! I’ve got some Garcia reels that are 20 years old and still working fine.

Rootski

30 min. on musky gear and you never got to see the fish?? Heartbreak!!!

I highly recommend the 7000. Don’t even bother with the 6500. The 7000 will take some getting used to, but you’ll be thrilled with it.

What kind of reel pooped-out on you?

if money is not a concern I would get a calcutta 400 te no offense guys the abu garcia just don’t hold up to fishing all day. all my abu garcias collect dust

If Money IS an object…then I would go with the Abu’s…calcutta’s are SPENDY!

Calcutta 400. spend the money and you’ll never have to experince heartbreak like that again.
That body of water holds BIG fish. density is low but the quality makes up for it.

I’ve been using 6500C3 and C4 Abu-Garcia’s for years. Both fresh and saltwater and the only problem I have had with them was on one reel, I had to replace the pin in the line leveler. I’ve pull in some big fish with these reels and they have never let me down.

If you want to see a bunch of diffrent brands of musky reels in one place get a Rollie&Helen’s catalog. Or you can check them out at http://www.muskyshop.com . They aren’t always the cheapest, but right now I beleive they have 50% off all internet orders. Stick with the bait casting reels. They’ll pull trees off the bottom of a lake. For the money I’d go with an Ambassador. Something in the 6000 series. Good luck and be sure to check out muskyshop.com .Must be close to a 100 pages of musky lures in their catalog. They claim to be the worlds largest musky shop.
Cooker

Got to agree with all said!!!

The Garcia, you can’t go wrong, if that is what your pocket book demands. It will give you years of flawless performance.

BUT
If you pocket book allows, get the Calcutta TE. I got the chance to use this real last fall. It is a beautiful reel to use. Smoother than silk………..But, I can’t justify that type of coin on a reel…….

Can I add that if you choose to use C3’s or C4’s you choose it depending on what you will be throwing. C4’s have a higher gear ratio than the C3’s so if you are throwing heavy Musky baits like Bull-Dawgs or even larger cranks the C3 is probably the best choice. C4’s are better suited from lighter baits like bucktails and topwater baits where there is less resistance than the bigger swimbaits. Or do what I did, buy one of each and you don’t have to worry about either.

Hope this helps!

Take care!

You should take a look at the C5Mag by Abu Garcia. This is sold only at Cabela’s. It will be one of the smoothest casting reels that you have used. After September 1 all the C3 and C4 rels are changing. Great new features on the new ones. May be last year models will go one sale.