ORIGINAL: 3006savage

For a casting setup I would go with the ABU Revo (or Revo winch for the reel if thowing big bladed bucktails.) You need the higher drag rating for trolling!!!!

I am not a fan of super stiff rods and superbraid lines together. It is tough to keep the slack out of the line since there is so little bend in the rod and no line strech.

I disagree with the higher drag rating for trolling. The worst thing you can have when trolling for musky is a locked down or very tight drag.

Reasons being if the reel does not slip or slips with a huge load is you find out your weak links very fast. You can have a nick in your leader or main line that results in a break off. If the bait is stuck in the fish good on a break off there is a chance the fish can die from that.

I have seen rod holder break before, how would it feel to loose your whole set up?

I have had good friends tell me times that a musky had hit a bait when trolling and the drag was to tight that it actually breaks the fishes spine from the sudden jerk. Kinda like a dog running as fast as it can with a rope tied to it collar, that sudden stop puts a hurting on the animal.

With proper technique and practice slack line will never be an issue with heavier rated rod, in fact you will have a better hook up ratio with a stiffer rod. You have a better feeling on what going on with your bait, and more enegry transfered thru the line when setting the hook. Rods have came along way from the broom sticks of years past, now a Xheavy action rod should not carry the stigma of "Broom Stick". They have great feeling with alot of power

i love my toothtamer rods toothtamer xxxh 8 ft can use it with any bait u want

i love my toothtamer rods

ORIGINAL: anzomcik

ORIGINAL: 3006savage

For a casting setup I would go with the ABU Revo (or Revo winch for the reel if thowing big bladed bucktails.) You need the higher drag rating for trolling!!!!

I am not a fan of super stiff rods and superbraid lines together. It is tough to keep the slack out of the line since there is so little bend in the rod and no line strech.

I disagree with the higher drag rating for trolling. The worst thing you can have when trolling for musky is a locked down or very tight drag.

Reasons being if the reel does not slip or slips with a huge load is you find out your weak links very fast. You can have a nick in your leader or main line that results in a break off. If the bait is stuck in the fish good on a break off there is a chance the fish can die from that.

I have seen rod holder break before, how would it feel to loose your whole set up?

I have had good friends tell me times that a musky had hit a bait when trolling and the drag was to tight that it actually breaks the fishes spine from the sudden jerk. Kinda like a dog running as fast as it can with a rope tied to it collar, that sudden stop puts a hurting on the animal.

With proper technique and practice slack line will never be an issue with heavier rated rod, in fact you will have a better hook up ratio with a stiffer rod. You have a better feeling on what going on with your bait, and more enegry transfered thru the line when setting the hook. Rods have came along way from the broom sticks of years past, now a Xheavy action rod should not carry the stigma of "Broom Stick". They have great feeling with alot of power

I recommended the higher drag rating for trolling because I have had ABU 6500s letting out line even when the drag is tightened to 100% of its rating when trolling some of my large 14 plugs. I fish 65 to 80 LBS line so even at the max setting for the Winch at 24 lbs of resistance I am at around 1/3 of the lines rating so break offs are never an issue. I of course dont actully set it to 24 only just enough to stop the line from peeling out. Testing my 6500 the drag is only 13 lbs max.

As far as the rod stiffness goes I actually liked the heavier action rods until the low strech superbraids came out. It is not an issue anymore setting a hook even with alot of line out because the line strech is only 3% now which means the rods loads up and bends much sooner than in years past.

ORIGINAL: 3006savage

I recommended the higher drag rating for trolling because I have had ABU 6500s letting out line even when the drag is tightened to 100% of its rating when trolling some of my large 14 plugs. I fish 65 to 80 LBS line so even at the max setting for the Winch at 24 lbs of resistance I am at around 1/3 of the lines rating so break offs are never an issue. I of course dont actully set it to 24 only just enough to stop the line from peeling out. Testing my 6500 the drag is only 13 lbs max.

Did you read any of the of what I wrote in my last post? I never said you will break your line, but if you line has a nick in it you can break it off there.

If you are using a casting reels for trolling I will go out on a limb here to say you are not running trolling leaders either, so you are more likely to have line fray from casting at the end of your line and nics due to trolling.

Ok you say you need high drag rating in one post, then this post you say you do not set it at 100% only enough to stop line slippage (so one can assume you dont need "high drag rateing". It really sounds to me that you either do not have a the rod set correctly when trolling or you need to take your 6500 reel apart and clean it. There is no reason why 13lbs of drag cant hold any bait when set properly.

As far as stiffness of rods go that is personal preference, my personaly experence is i wish i had bought a heavy or xh action for my first rod, because i would have saved alot of money in the long run.