Spinning setup

[jsondag]

Big spinning gear can handle billfish, but for casting some standard musky baits your better off with a baitcaster.

Below is a photo my mother took of me I show to clients when they say baitcasting is too difficult.

http://www.muskylink.com/photo/babyjerrybaitcast-1?context=user

[Nick Kuhn]

Paul Hartman had a great article (can't remember the magazine) a little over a year ago about using spinning gear for muskie fishing. It was about surf rods. But he was able to throw small bucktails and topwaters on mono 100 yards or more. Might be a little more crazy than you want to get but sounded like fun!

I will vouch that with 30lb braid and a spinning rod I can cast almost (as in the spool has only a few wraps around it left) to the end of 125 yards of line throwing a Jackpot. No matter what I have tried I cannot cast it to expose the mono backing on my baitcasters with 125 yards of 80lb braid in front of it.

[propster]

Jerry, you've grown a wee bit since those days!

[HugoBox]

I will vouch that with 30lb braid and a spinning rod I can cast almost (as in the spool has only a few wraps around it left) to the end of 125 yards of line throwing a Jackpot. No matter what I have tried I cannot cast it to expose the mono backing on my baitcasters with 125 yards of 80lb braid in front of it.

I'd need a Sherpa to help reel in a ski hooked 125 yeards out

What's the farthest out you've hooked a fish? When I was a kid I always let most of the line out when we were trolling as I thought it would be more fun to fight a fish longer - I ended up losing most of them when they were about half way back to the boat!

[PostFrontal]

If you are throwing it that far, it sure would allow you to cover alot of ground. Always something else to buy...

[Nick Kuhn]

Originally Posted By: Nick Kuhn

I will vouch that with 30lb braid and a spinning rod I can cast almost (as in the spool has only a few wraps around it left) to the end of 125 yards of line throwing a Jackpot. No matter what I have tried I cannot cast it to expose the mono backing on my baitcasters with 125 yards of 80lb braid in front of it.

I'd need a Sherpa to help reel in a ski hooked 125 yeards out

What's the farthest out you've hooked a fish? When I was a kid I always let most of the line out when we were trolling as I thought it would be more fun to fight a fish longer - I ended up losing most of them when they were about half way back to the boat!

I've had them strike all the way at the end of a cast, never hooked them until about 80 yards out. To be honest though I usually don't throw that far for a couple reasons. #1 it takes forever to work a bait back in from that distance. #2 if you are casting towards shore 100+ yards is a difficult distance to tell, a few casts of mine have landed as high as 25 feet up in a tree (remember with a spinning reel it's tough to stop them once you let em fly). #3 Lures tend to foul when you throw that hard. #4 You can be a lot more accurate if you throw more reasonably.

[jsondag]

So, chances are, I will be up at Rainey this weekend looking for sturgeon. I was in the garage spooling up a couple reels and I was grabbing rods to take and I saw my old custom Tarpon rod in the corner... The light went off and I dug my old Van Staal spinning reel out of the cabinet and spooled her up... Thanks to this post jogging my memory, I'm going with a smile on my face and a big spinnin' set-up! Should be fun!

[steffanf]

The longest cast where I've hooked and brought in a muskie was about 50-60 yards out or so... not sure exactly. One thing to note, you might cast out 80+ yards and work it in another 40-50 yards and then get a hit. Like someone mentioned earlier, you cover alot of water with long casts. However, I think it is more important that you are working the lure farther out away from the boat. Muskie sure like to follow lures alot- often all the way in. You might get a follow for the first 40 yards before it hits. At least this way, the fish usually can't see you. Of course, this doesn't always seem to matter- read: figure-8. I would rather get a muskie strike with some line out as opposed to right next to the boat anyway. Also, with braided line, I certainly have no problem working any lure in on a very long cast... the line has no stretch. As far as accuracy, it can take some time to cast fairly accurate when using a two-handed cast. However, I can do it fairly well nowadays. I have yet to get a muskie lure caught in a tree or shrub (although I have gotten my share of other lures caught in trees using lighter spinning gear in the past). Perhaps that is just a matter of time as well...