# I'm in the market for a musky reel



## Coot (Jan 27, 2006)

Any recommendations ?

Casting cranks, sticks and bucktails


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## luredaddy (May 25, 2004)

Well, in my opinion, if you are casting cranks, you want a low speed reel and a fiberglass rod. If you are casting bucktails , you want a high speed reel and a graphite rod. I would look for an OLDER Ambassadeur 6000C for the Cranks, and an older 6500C for the Bucktails. I am talking reels from the 1970s, they are readily available on auction sites, and they are RELIABLE!!


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## iwdavefish (Apr 30, 2004)

Check out the Shimano Corvalus. Abu Garcia also makes quality reels for muskie nuts.


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## blance (Apr 5, 2004)

I bought a Shimano Corvalus at the start of the '05 season to try it out. The price point on them is comparable to the Abu 6500 series reels. The reel holds more than enough 80# power pro for the type of casting I do. I cast alot of bucktails on my local river. 

After one season of use, I give ya my review starting with the positives. The reel feels smooth and casts pretty well. Initially, I had some blacklash problems but those were mostly due to having never used a reel with a brake and getting that brake adjusted. Once I got the anti-backlash brake adjusted, I have very, very few professional overruns. I put the reel on an MH 8ft one piece IM8 (I think) Gander Mountain rod. With this setup I can toss my bucktails about 1/2 way across the river giving me alot of flexibility in how I approach the cover I'm fishing. Retrieve speed of the reel is good. I can run Colorado blades close to the surface with a comfortable retrieve. When I need to drop lower in the water column, I do have to make a concerted effor to slow my retrieve down enough to get there. There is also a clicker on the 400 model, if that's something you use. Drag is very solid, I can lock the spool pretty tight when I want to. I've run into no drag related problems even with it mostly set pretty tight and locking the spool with my thumb on those strikes with like 10ft of line out. I've not lost many up close and personal battles when I get a solid hookset with this setup.

The cons I've seen so far. Durability is still a big question mark for me. Many times when I go out, I'm a marathon kinda guy fishing for extended periods of time. What I mean by extended periods of time, I mean 6-8 hours of casting with a few short breaks here and there when I start getting discomfort on my shoulder or hands. After two outing or so the reel started making some really scary sounds on the cast. After checking out the reel, nearly all the screws were falling out of the crank side. I tightened them and all was well again for quite some time. Later in the year I started getting some intermittant squeeling from the bearings (I think) on casts. I lubed them up around christmas time, but haven't been out again with that setup to test it. Also sometimes the spool doesn't seem to engage just right and you can be left in limbo land between free-spool and cranking. When that happens, I push the button in again and start cranking and that usually gets it going again. One other thing that bothers me is sometime you'll get the feeling like you lost a tooth on one of the gears. The reel kinda slips. Doesn't do it all the time, just once in a while and may be related to the problem I sometime have with it getting caught in between free spool.

My bigest question mark with the 400 series Corvalus is the same one I had when I bought it; durability. It survived one season so far. It wasn't always pretty, but it survived some heavy use Sometimes it hasn't sounded good, but it hasn't let me down "yet". Now when you consider the Abu 6000 series reels, durability is like their middle name. I have two that that I bought a few years back. Both are 6500's. One c3 and one c4. The c4 has a faster retrieve than the c3, but I have a harder time casting it for some reason. Also, the only failure I've had with the 6500's has been the same on both models. I've cooked the drags on both running them as tight as I like my drags. Maybe some custom drag washers would help. Over all I think the Abu's may be more reliable and are certainly easer to get parts for. The Corvalus has been a good experiment so far. The price tag is about the same as a new Abu 6500 and it hasn't failed me yet. I have to admit though, I'm a bit curious to see if I still feel the same way about it after the end of the second season of using the reel. If it survives, that, I think the durability questions I had will be put to bed.

Barry


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## Coot (Jan 27, 2006)

Thanks for the input

Good info


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

I have 1 abu 6500c4, 1 abu 6500c3, and 1abu Black Max 6600. They have never failed me, course all my bass baitcasters are also Abu Garcia. I'd suggest the 6500c3 or 6500c4.


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## FutureClassicChamp (Jan 16, 2006)

Daiwa Millionaire


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

That's the first time I ever heard of somebody mentioning a Daiwa Millionaire.
I have my dads from the late 70's/early 80's. 
Still works well although I use it mainly for cats. Not much continuous casting like the musky guys.


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## FutureClassicChamp (Jan 16, 2006)

lol...the newer ones are a little different

http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/ca.../307/name/DaiwasMillionaireCVZBaitcastingReel


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

I have a Daiwa Millionaire I use on one of my ice fishing rods for Walleyes . It does a good job for that. I can't say about how it performs in open water?


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## FutureClassicChamp (Jan 16, 2006)

ok let me specify.....Daiwa Millionaire CV-Z. there are other models of millionaires, i doubt anyone would use this model for ice or cat fishing.


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

I've fished exclusively w/the same Abu 6501's since the mid-'90's w/only 1 failure. You'll hear a lot of noise pro & con, but I think they're reasonably priced & Abu's mail-order service/repair is outstanding.

Reed's has some good prices on Abu right now: www.reedssports.com


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