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Think I’m gunning to have beef up the tackle this fall. I had a couple hours free mid day today and took a ride expecting to just do some scouting hoping to at least see a fish or some bloody concrete. Got more than I bargained for. On about my 5th cast I was shocked to hook up to a solid fish. Absolute freight train, never saw it even after I tightened up an already tight drag when I started worrying about getting spooled. I don’t think there’s going to be much for numbers this fall but it felt get to actually get my ass kicked by a fish.

Lol , I think we all been there , where were you fishing ?

Very cool! I’ve been using 40lb power pro and it’s great. Very strong but can cast a country mile on the Pfluger President and 9’ Ugly Stick. I think that should work but who knows??

I throw a lot of crankbaits and I fish as slow as possible and so I’m usually set up more on the finesse end of the spectrum to maximize my sensitivity on the slow retrieve and be able to cast lighter baits. It’s still not often I feel completely under gunned with 12lb braid on a 9’ml set up. I’ll be throwing my 8’6”mh with 20lb for the next few weeks. FishHead, I play my exact locations a little closer to the vest when I’m shore fishing. It’s just too easy to blow spots up posting on the internet. I was on the lakefront in Indiana. Not out of state or up a creek.

I used to use 10 lb mono and after I lost a few hogs changed to 20 lb spider wire which was fine. I started Muskie fishing a few years ago and run 65# on my bait caster type rods. I like to have a spinning rig to give me a break from throwing big baits so I went to 40# and I was surprised how well it casts. It’s only 10# mono dia so it makes sense. It’s not mandatory to run heavy line Muskie fishing in terms of landing the fish. Muskie guys want to minimize the stress on the fish so they can release so heavier line is in order to get the fish into the net ASAP.

That really narrows it down. Thanks for the information.

Next year I’ll give you less info KS. I spend a lot of time and money chasing these fish. I think I gave out more info than I’ve received from here.

I've always gone back and forth with gear capacity. I LOVE hooking up to a freight train with light to ML gear, but it can get frustrating when you can't do a thing to turn their head. I've caught 20+# catfish on a 6# light rig fishing for walleye and it's a ton of fun if you can keep them from cleaning you out on line. Caught a 12# drum on 4# ultralight jigging for perch that gave me a wild run as well.

On the other hand, spring coho on king-ready tackle gets old very quickly. I joke that they'll fight for 30 seconds and then just give up and come skipping in on the surface.

Do you gear up for the fish you're after or for the fish you might catch?

drjdrew wrote:

I've always gone back and forth with gear capacity. I LOVE hooking up to a freight train with light to ML gear, but it can get frustrating when you can't do a thing to turn their head. I've caught 20+# catfish on a 6# light rig fishing for walleye and it's a ton of fun if you can keep them from cleaning you out on line. Caught a 12# drum on 4# ultralight jigging for perch that gave me a wild run as well.

On the other hand, spring coho on king-ready tackle gets old very quickly. I joke that they'll fight for 30 seconds and then just give up and come skipping in on the surface.

Do you gear up for the fish you're after or for the fish you might catch?

I generally have a light setup in spring (a couple of my poles stay lighter all year - just dont get used, I also have a couple of older reels I got used that I keep spooled light for spring then just switch out reels). Starting in June I go back to my heavy setup. I have had a few big fish hit on my 12# and never got close to getting spooled but also had to fight them hard and my ratio is lower of getting the big fish in the boat on my spring setup. I only ever troll for Salmon so can't speak for casting or jigging setups.