In the last few years, interest in muskie fishing has grown by leaps and bounds. Rod manufacturers have offered a whole myriad of muskie specific poles for many years. Reel manufacturers, on the other hand, have lagged. For many years, the Abu 7000 & 6500 series reels have been the staple and guess what, they still are fine reels today. I don't mean to sound like an Abu infomercial but, if all you have are 6501 C3s, great! Loud clickers, good drags, simple yet fairly tough, with a reasonable price tag. Quantum, Shimano and others have also added muskie sized reels in the last few years. However, many are right-hand only (ie. Calcutta 400). If you are a southpaw, your options are more limited.
In this article, I hope to shed some light on the many rod & reel options out there and what applications they are typically used for. However, this is far from a definitive list - there are many opinions and variables out there. Seasoned anglers tailor their gear to their height, environment & quarry they are pursuing. I am 6' tall and this is what works for me.
One thing I cannot stress enough, your typical bass & pike tackle will not do. That means your 200 series Curado, 250 calcutta, 5500 Abu, or even the C4 Abu reels, as well as your MH rods and less than 65lb test braid simply will not do! You will lose fish, tackle and flat out break stuff. Take it from people who've been there - it's inevitable!
A lefty slant..
Ok, here's the pic.
From left to right:
6'9" St. Croix Premiere H (1-5oz) & Quantum Cabo CBC31pts - Specialty jerkbait, glider rod. Short length, heavy, fast action allows you to easily impart the desired action on these baits. The Cabo is a light "low-profile" baitcaster that allows you to "palm" the reel, something many prefer. It has a quick 5.7:1 ratio that picks up slack easily. 80-100lb braid.
7' Shimano Compre M (1-3oz) & Abu 6501 C3 - This is a back-up rod for me and I wasn't going to include it. However, if you are going to buy one combo only, it's not a bad choice. It will throw & troll most baits effectively. I use this mostly for jigging, plastics, smaller cranks, heavy pike fishing or even pulling LM Bass out of thick cover. For this purpose I spool the reel with 65lb test.
7'6" St. Croix Premiere MH (3/4-3oz) & Abu 6501 C3 - Anyone who wants to try their hand at muskie fishing and get one combo, this is it. The 7'6" will handle most lures and is a great "all-around" rod. Good length, good power and not overly expensive, it will cast or troll well. The reel pictured above has an aftermarket handle. It is my workhorse. I will throw spinnerbaits, cranks, you name it with it. 80-100lb test.
8'6" Okuma EVx XH (4-12oz), 8'6" St. Croix Premiere (not pictured, 4-10oz) & Abu 7001 - A bit of a specialty combo, made to handle the largest/heaviest lures. Rod is rated for 4-12oz with a bit of a slower action than most muskie rods. Big Bulldawgs, Huge Bootails/Spinnerbaits, large cranks are things you would throw with this. It will also troll nicely. The extra length is nice for manhandling the lures and figure-8s. The 7000 series Abus can take the beating of these huge baits. They also have a slower retrieve ratio at 4.1:1. This makes retrieving those huge lures a little easier in terms of fatigue. However, they also have large spools which offset the slow ratio in terms of feet of line retrieved per crank. 100lb test.
8' St. Croix Premiere MH (3/4-3oz) & Quantum Cabo CBC31pts - Bootail & Topwater rod. Great for inlines, straight retrieve topwaters (ie. TopRaiders). You'll launch the bait a mile if you want. The extra length makes figures-8s less of a back breaking affair. Works great as a trolling rod too though, I'd put on a different reel (the CABO clicker is craptacular). 80-100lb test.
8' St. Croix Premiere Glass Trolling (1-8oz) & Okuma CV30DLX - Trolling combo. When I bought the reel it was one of the few lefty linecounters available. There may be more options now. The Great Lakes guys use these reels for their screamin' salmon, they work well for muskie fishing too. You can run wire or braid. The LC is nice, you don't have to count "pulls" to achieve repeatability in terms of lure running depth. The rod has a good length, softer tip and will troll everything from a super shad rap to pounding, deep running custom baits.
