Muskie Rod and Reel

Anyone have any suggestions on what type of rod and reel combo to use for muskie. I am looking for something i could use to fish for other species as well, bass and walleye. I was looking at a Medium heavy bait casting combo, any suggestions? Looking for a price of about 80 dollars. I know that won’t buy me a great casting reel for bait casters but i will survive.

I am going to give my honest opinion and say that for serious musky fishing with big baits the rod wont double very good as a bass/walleye rod. I think a musky rod should be too heavy to double as a bass/walleye rod and a bass/walleye rod to light to double as a muskie rod. Just my opinion on the matter.

The young man gave you good advice…

The all-purpose Musky rod would probably be a 6′-6’6″ heavy action rod with a reel of the type of a Garcia C-3 or C-4 6500. You will want to throw 3-6 oz gliders and jerkbaits as well as the lighter bucktails and cranks.
Most guys use 65-100# superline…or 40# Mono.

This would be major overkill for bass/walleye…and probably too short and stiff for Cats.

If you are going to restrict yourself to 1 rod.

I would go with a 7′ heavy action musky rod. This will work for everything to a degree. You will be able to throw bucktails, run jerks and cast cranks.

Get stiffer vs. getting softer for speed of tip. You “can” throw a bucktail on a stiff tip, but not very far and efficient. However, you can’t run a twich or jerk bait on a “slow” tip rod (not very good anyways)……..

Thanks guys, i am looking at a 6’6″ MH rod and perhaps a Browning Midas reel, the reel is on sale now at Bass Pro Shops for 79 dollars and the rod is about 40 so 120 combo, looks like i could respool and use this combo for other species, I have power pro line i tihnk it is 50 # so i wouldnt be using that for bass, but i could respool it. Thanks for your input.

I use a 7’6″ Quantum heavy action rod(actually it is also a flippin’ style rod) with a 5500c Abu Garcia reel and 30lb mono and I have never had a problem landing big pike and muskies. The whole outfit cost me about 100.00. I throw jerks, cranks, bucktails and spinner baits with it and have no difficulty. I also use it for bass fishing and trolling on occasion with ease.

Yea, another option is to look at Bass Pro Shops combos. I’m very pleased with their rods, have several of them and none have failed yet, other than my own abuse.

You could get a 7’6″ H flippin stick combo for around $100 or $120 with an C3 or C4 Garcia reel!!!

An excellent muskie rod for cheap is the Rapala Long cast series in either the 6’11″(bucktails) or the stiffer6’9″(jerk baits). Only $49 each and they go on sale once in a while for $10 less.