Reel Choices: Facing the Dilema

[Pete Stoltman]

Having just finished my run of sport shows I feel like it may be helpful to address the question of reel choices. This topic comes up numerous times either at the shows, on various musky fishing websites, and of course working at the Musky Shop. Essentially here's the problem: fishermen want to know what reel they can purchase that will handle everything from a Mepps 5 up to Double 10 bucktails or mega plastic swimbaits. That's like asking if you can buy a hammer for finishing fine cabinets and sledging in railroad spikes. While there are a few reels that can adequately throw and retrieve most baits there is no perfect solution for a "Holy Grail" reel to do everything. I suggest that anglers consider what types of lures you will be casting MOST of the time. If you can only purchase one reel to cover everything you do I suggest you consider a good solid reel that has a gear ratio in the 5:1 range. Some of these would include the Shimano Calcutta series, the Daiwa Luna series, St. Croix Avid (made by Daiwa) and if you can find one the Abu Garcia Revo Toro. Abu for some crazy reason discontinued their 5.4:1 Revo Toro but they can be found at times from online sources OR you can buy either the high speed 6.4:1 or lower Winch 4.6:1 and have the gears changed out by a professional reel tech.

If you think you are going to throw the big blade baits most of the time then you need to consider a more specialized reel. The Revo Winch I mentioned above is a good choice but at a lower gear ratio you will not be "burning" the bucktail very fast unless you want to crank your arm off. Daiwa produces a series called the Saltist which will give you more speed capability but be warned, this is a good sized saltwater reel and you will not want to use it for very long with any smaller sized baits. The Saltist has a manual clutch which means you have to re-engage the reel by hand after the cast before the reel will retrieve. Other choices among double 10 fans have been the Shimano Trinidads (no level wind and a manual operated clutch), Abu Garcia 7000 series, and the Penn International 975. Shimano is just introducing their new Tranx reels in two gearing configurations. While this appears to be a possible option it is NEW and nobody in the world has had a chance to put a full season on these reels for musky fishing. I expect they better hold up well (at $500 a pop) but despite the low profile these are a very large and heavy reel so don't expect Mack truck performance in a Ferrari body.

High Speed reels have their place in musky fishing but also tend to be for more specialized applications. Reels with a gearing of 6:1 and higher work great for jerkbaits when you are trying to pick up slack line quickly. They can also work quite well for small bucktails, twitch baits, and surface lures. Popular high speed models would be the Abu Revo Toro HS, the Shimao Curado series, and if you're on a tighter budget the Abu C4 series.

All this boils down to the question of how much do you fish? If you are a casual weekender buy yourself one of the 5:1 reels I mentioned in the first paragraph and you'll have a reel that could last a lifetime given proper care and maintenance. If you fish muskies a bunch or have special applications in mind then you probably know that you can't do everything with one gear set-up just as you couldn't be a golf pro and use one club.

Lastly, if this whole topic just made the waters even muddier for you, I suggest that you talk with a musky fishing professional about your particular needs. Talk to reel techs or someone who deals with these reels on a regular basis. Don't base your entire opinion on what you see from guys posting on message boards (even me). Everyone has their own opinion and some even have a vested interest in pushing a particular brand over another. Consider these factors: what is my style of fishing, is this a practical option for my style, what is my budget, what is the track record of the reel I'm purchasing. I hope this helps some of you and by all means feel free to run any questions by me if I can be of assistance.

[Pete Stoltman]

An update for those of you looking at the Shimano Tranx. Still too early to tell for sure but early indications are that the lower gear version may be the more practical of the two. It still pulls in 30" of line per handle crank which is plenty fast and doesn't fatigue you as much as the higher gear version. We'll see which reels end up on Ebay next year and that should tell the tale!