Reel advise wanted

[Grant]

this spring I'm building (yes building, pass the line guides) a muskie rod in one of those community ed classes.

I'm looking for input on what reel to put on it, it will be a casting rod. It'll pull double duty as a cat rod for flatheads, if that makes any difference.

the last thing, is I need to keep a pretty tight reign on the budget.

thanks in advance for any guidance you can offer!

thanks

[Ralph Wiggum]

Grant,

I don't think that a rod will do well for both flatheads and muskies.

A good flathead rod will have a strong backbone, but still a fairly slow action with a soft tip. You need a soft tip so that your hooks don't tear out of your bait when you're tossing them, and also, it is nice to be able to tell what your bait is doing on the end of the line (is it dead, being chewed on?). Also, if you are going to use circle hooks at all, you'll want a real slow action. Most good cat rods are glass for this action.

I don't musky fish, but everyone I know who has started using a musky rod for cats ditches it soon. Cat rods are relatively cheap, so it's not too hard to buy specific ones.

As far as a reel, if budget is an issue, I would suggest the Pflueger Round Trion 66 or an Abu Garcia 6500C3. Both are pretty good cat reels. The next step up would be an Abu Garcia 7000C3i or 7000i, followed by a Shimano Tekota 500. The bigger reels are nice because they have a lower gear ratio (more cranking power) and their bait clickers are tighter (harder to pull line out--really nice in faster current).

(edit: I'm anti-Abu myself, but they make a pretty decent reel)

[Mr Special]

Being in X-musky guy. "Got tried of casting all day long

Plus it's really hard to drink a beer while casting" LOL

I've used musky gear for flats. You will lose the ability to see the action of your bait. If possible just get a fairly cheap cat rod and switch the reel from rod to rod. If I had one reel to choose for both. I'ld go with the Abu 6500C3, spooled with atleast #65PP.

Later

[Random guy]

Reel? Gotta go with the Abu. Good casting reel with clicker option that will take a little river bank mud in the gears.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Jon, there aren't flatheads up in Waskish! Are you going to travel down for a few this summer?

[Grant]

thanks for the advise~~

thinking this year (or at least the first part of it) the rod will be doing double duty, or perhaps if I'm lucky I can select a blank with a softer tip...

now if I can just wait until it's warm enough!