Further North

Not a rant, I get where you're coming from, but we've got different experience. I have very little that's still under warranty...some of it by decades, and it all works, most of the time. It might need a tweek here and there, but I seldom have to dump things and replace them because they broke right after the warranty expired. I know that my last three generations of Humminbird electronics are still "hummin'" along as well. Cars, trucks, boats, boat motors...the last vehicle we replaced was 12 years old, and had had no serious problems. My boat was new in 2005. I do swap out my electronics on a regular basis, but that's to get new features rather than replacing something broken...and as I've noted, my old equipment is pinging along (pun intended) quite well. Most of my friends are running older electronics that are fine, some as old as x98 series. There is a time when I see things that don't last, and that's when I try to save money by buying on the low end of the quality spectrum for any given thing I want. I tend to not do that, opting for the "buy once, cry once" and spend the money to get quality. I avoided American made vehicles for decades because of this. Also, every once in a while, I'll do something dumb and break something...but that's not a product problem.

Here's what I tell folks who ask: Ignore most of what people tell you; go to a store and play around with the display systems as though you were fishing. Buy what makes the most sense to you. Don't sweat a few $$$ one way or the other, you'll regret it later.

No. My old Terrova was on my boat for 4 seasons, I sold it to a friend when I upgraded to an Ulterra in 2016. It's still going strong.

@Jleebesaw I kinda started off that way too...I'm pike guy at heart...better fight, big ones are harder to catch, etc... But the more muskies I caught, the more I began to like them...and they are a truly river fish, so our rivers around here have bunches of them. I won't go to the extremes some folks do...chucking a hunk of plastic that weighs a pound or more on a rod that'd work for big fish in saltwater...but they're fun, when you find 'em.

I mean on a fly rod...I don't see pike or musky making an 80' - 100' run to take all the fly line off the reel and get you into your backing...which is another 200 - 300 yards of braided line, usually. Absolutely.

Or three, or five...and a winch...

Cool, that helps. Thanks.

Those are the muskies that'll get your heart poppin' We have a mid 30s fish come clear out of the water a couple weeks back...completely bamfoozled the guy on the reel... Sure...Unless there's a drop you'd be stupid to take one over, they'll still float...

I hear you...but I'm not interested in "the biggest ones". Those are for folks who care what other people think. I'll take every Esox I can get, 30" to 45" and never go bigger because the fight'll knock your socks off, if the take doesn't stop your heart. ...and I don't know how anyone would sink a drift boat, unless they were playing poker with a Pinochle deck...

That's a heck of a three day run!

Tennessee has some insane musky water... Best way to hit it is in a drift boat, with a fly rod.

Good point...no Esox ever will put you into your backing.

There's a few questions there. ? I have a 10 wt. and fish it every time I go out. It is an amazing rod, and the power curve makes throwing even a big fly easy. To put it in perpsective, I have found that it likes 450 gr. lines best. I borrowed an 8 wt. from Tom and fished the heck out of it...it's as good a rod as my Orvis Helios...maybe better. I have one on order. I don't think it's my place to spill the beans on what blanks Tom uses, but I can tell you they are US made, and you'll like the maker. To the best of my knowledge, the blanks are made only for Tom, but I can't swear to that. Give Tom a shout and talk to him. Tom has 10 wt. and 12 wt. on hand most of the time, and he is getting a batch of 8 wt. rods ready. I know several of the 8 wts are already spoken for. A friend has one, he says it's an amazing rod. Similar performance from talking to him. Tom's rods don't cost that much, and are specific to musky fishing. A couple other things you may find interesting: Grips are Winn, grippy even when it's cold, hot, or wet. The reel seat is triangular (ALPS) and once you snug it down, even a reel with heavy line isn't going to gome loose, even on a long day. The rods come with an extended grip for the figure-8, also a Winn Grip. https://i.postimg.cc/02D4FzTz/EXP-1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/xTHSWCHt/IMG-0028.jpg Tom just decided to upgrade the stripping guides to ceramic...he was seeing some wear he didn't like. ...and you can have whatever custom features you'd like added. Your name, custom color wraps, etc. I'm having him add a hook keeper to my 8 wt. because it drives me batty to hang a fly on the guides. If you live anywhere near me, I'm happy to let you try the rod. Tom is another 40 minutes up the road if you want to visit his shop. ...never mind, I just saw you're in PA.

All that most bass fishermen who hook an Esox feel is the underwater "ping" as the line gets cut and another lure goes buh-bye. ...unless they get really lucky and they get a lip hook where the line's not near the teeth, and they manage to keep it away from the gills...or they wedge one into the corner of the jaw... It's pure luck and angler skill has little to do with it, other than being good enough to not break light line when they get a good hook location. Been there, and I feel your pain. I've caught both, and I agree...though I'd equate a barracuda more to a pike, but even more savage and relentless. Few Esox will attack something bigger than them...barracuda don't seem to have that limit in place.

I tend to go at things the other way around...but I can see how that might work...other than a lotta lost lures...

I had one...not last fall, but the fall before...late October...I'd been after her for 4 seasons...several follows, had her on for about six seconds once...she liked finesse...so I pondered on exaclty what a finesse bait for a big musky might look like, and I went with simple. I Texas rigged a 7" Senko over an 8/0 Trokar EWG tied to a foot of 50# tieable wire... Tossed it in at the deep end of a submerged, mid-lake island...where I'd seen her a few times every fall for the last few years. Never felt the take, just saw the line moving... Things interesting in a hurry on the hookset...just a touch over 47".

Scott, I don't fish for them that way, and I catch plenty of them. I have one of those big "musky rods", but seldom use it. When I do it's to toss big spoons or spinner baits...I only own two of those big baits...and they gather dust...can't stand chucking them. Mostly I toss large bass sized baits whem I'm fishing gear, and while I do throw big flies, I tie them light and sparse so throwing them isn't a chore. The way I chase them, I get plenty of action on pike and bass. If I get zero'd on a day, it's because nothing is biting... ...also: river fish are a lot more active and aggressive. We've had days with seven in the boat.

Tons of water, tons of fish (thousands per mile in some cases), and lots of access. I'd stop in one of the fly shops in the area to find out what's working right now (though it's hopper season, so you've got that in your favor), buy a buncha flies, and then go hit the water. Buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Waters-Wisconsin-Expanded-Second/dp/0980219426 ...map out your thoughts, then run it by the them. They won't hotspot any places, but if you've done some home work and ask, "What about here?" they'll likely give you "yea or nay" feedback. I have heard that The Driftless Angler is a good shop, though i've only been there once, and can personally recommend Brian Smolinski at Lund's fly shop in River Falls: https://www.lundsflyshop.com/ Brian is a multi-species angler living in a town with two of the best trout rives in WI (and dozens of smaller creeks and streams) within a very short drive.

Reach out to Tom Schenk at Chippewa Valley Custom Rods: https://www.crcustomrod.com/ Tom is a musky fisherman's rod builder, and an active musky fisherman; he'll work through what you want. Call him at the shop, and talk about what you're looking for. He builds a custom, one piece, 8 ft. 10" musky fly rod for folks, and is constantly improving them based new ideas and feedback...the thing is amazing, easily the easiest casting heavyweight fly rod I've ever thrown and there's bee a ton of them.

Last Saturday, while my wife went to a family reunion, I met a friend over on a NE WI resivior because it's known to have a musky or five in it. After a couple hours of fruitless casting, we decided to see how far up the river that feeds the reservoir we could get. Turned out it was quite a ways...we elected to stop at a spot where there was good structure, and it was castable in both directions. I hung a black and white "experimental" fly (experimental because it is just a conglomeration of different techniques I was am trying to get better at) on one of my 10 wt. rods, toss it in a couple times... On about the third cast, up under some riverside alders, I'm telling my friend a story about how I stubbed the hookset on the St. Croix river a couple years back...as I'm describing what that was like...a mid-40s muskie comes out from under the alders and eats my fly. While I'm looking right at it. I'm too busy telling the story to set the hook right...and she dumps the fly before I can get the line tight. That's what muskies are like. I'm still smiling, typing this...

I won't tell you how far I have to drive. Don't want you to cry... ?

Here's what I tell folks who ask: Ignore most of what people tell you; go to a store and play around with the display systems as though you were fishing. Buy what makes the most sense to you. Don't sweat a few $$$ one way or the other, you'll regret it later.

That's the best kind of fun!

There is no X vs. Y...not if you've got a pulse and an IQ above your shoe size... I'm sure I'll draw incoming...but there is zero...absolutely zero...significant difference between any of the top brands of fishing electronics available today. Yeah, there's a feature here, or a whiz-bang there that's different, and entertaining... ...But at the end of the day, pick the unit that fits your budget and that has a menu structure that makes the most sense to you. Nothing elese makes any difference. Ignore all of the hype, brand champions, and brand bad mouthing and get what works for you. I'm a Humminbird guy, because what they do makes the most sense to me. I've got buddies that like Lowrance, and some that like Garmin...because how they use it makes sense to them. You can't...and won't...use what doesn't make sense to you...ever. Nothing else matters.

I think it's cool, but I don't get all the drama. HB has had this for years.