Ok to catch musky on bass rod without breaking it?

[tcbass]

I have a goal of catching 1 musky and then never catching one again. It's just a bucket list thing. I don't like slimy, smelly northern pike or musky in my boat and dealing with them. But I do want to catch 1 musky. I don't want to buy an entire new rod to catch 1 fish.

 

So, if I lighten the drag and play the fish smartly (safely for the fish too) I shouldn't have any problem landing the musky and not breaking my bass frog rod, no? 

 

 

It's a Cabelas Tournament ZX Frog rod, heavy, apparently they don't sell it anymore.

[Angry John]

The rod has no idea what's on the end and it does not matter.  If you fight the fish correctly and have a reasonable drag setting it's no problem.

[Scott F]

 Musky rods are made for throwing heavy lures, it has little to do with the size of the fish.   If you want to throw 16 ounce, huge musky lures, your bass rod won't hold up. Neither will your reels. If you want to use your bass gear, just size the lures you choose to match the lure weight ratings on the rod. You can land even big muskies on medium action spinning gear. Living in Minnesota, you'll probably have as good a chance catching a musky by accident while you're bass fishing as you will by targeting them. I catch up to half a dozen (usually small) muskies while bass fishing every year. Your drag shouldn't be locked down and you should play EVERY fish you catch smartly. 

If you just want to catch one to say you did, hire a guide. You'll spend a LOT of time trying to get one on your own. If you do manage to get a good one and you don't have the proper net and tools like a guide will, you may end up killing it or not getting it in the boat.

[Deleted account]

Yes, but assuming a decent sized musky, it involves a skill (fish fighting) that bass anglers don't get to practice much. I use a MH and flipping stick to catch some good sized salt water fish sometimes, and they work fine.

[soflabasser]

1 hour ago, tcbass said:

I have a goal of catching 1 musky and then never catching one again. It's just a bucket list thing. I don't like slimy, smelly northern pike or musky in my boat and dealing with them. But I do want to catch 1 musky. I don't want to buy an entire new rod to catch 1 fish.

 

So, if I lighten the drag and play the fish smartly (safely for the fish too) I shouldn't have any problem landing the musky and not breaking my bass frog rod, no? 

 

 

It's a Cabelas Tournament ZX Frog rod, heavy, apparently they don't sell it anymore.

I have caught all my muskie on medium heavy to heavy bass rods so yes it's possible to catch a muskie on a bass rod.  Make sure to have a reel with a good smooth drag system since a decent muskie is a far more powerful fish than a bass.

[Dens228]

Well, I was bass fishing a shallow bay with a MH/Fast rod and a 5 inch Senko and the rod survived the 48" musky I reeled in.  My heart almost didn't when I realized it was a musky and not a bass with a ton of weeds on it. 

[Cgolf]

Yeh it’s no problem. My pb 45” Musky was on a M lightning rod. I pretty much had the drag locked down too. As long as you net it you shouldn’t have any issues. Only issue could be if you try to highstick it near the boat and it dives you could put too much stress on the rod. 

 

Being from MN I am surprised you haven’t caught one yet, all of mine have come on bass lures. They really seem to like red eye shads. 

[FishDewd]

Sounds cool to me as well... I can't say I don't like them since I've even seen a musky or a pike at all up close irl... certainly not in the wild anyway. About 99.9% sure they don't live here. But if I got the chance to fish for them I would in a heartbeat. I'll fish for anything at least once lol. I say go for it. Unless it's a giantly huge musky I would assume that the bass rod could take it if you play it smartly and not force it in. Let it tire itself, all that good stuff... may take a while for a big one. But worth it? I think so! Don't know until you try!

[Bluebasser86]

Hundreds and probably thousands of muskies are landed by bass anglers on bass gear, walleye guys on walleye gear, even crappie and bluegill fishermen, every year. Just don't boat flip them and you'll be fine. 

[Tlauz]

If you throw spinnerbaits in a lake that has Muskies, you will catch one eventually.  The best part is you get to catch bass as well.  

[Djohn]

My experience is that it's harder on the Musky than the rod. Having to play the fish longer seems to put a lot more stress on it and i've always had to spend more time reviving them.

[Ratherbfishing]

As has already been mentioned, if you try to toss and retrieve big, heavy musky baits on your standard, run-of-the-mill bass rod/reel, it will wreak havoc on your reel and be difficult/awkward to do.  As has ALSO already been mentioned, if you toss a spinnerbait in water where there are muskies, you'll likely catch one eventually.  Two of my 4 musky were caught on 3/8 ounce spinner baits.  And none were caught while actually in pursuit of musky.

[Looch]

chucking big lures on light tackle will wear sharp nicks into the eyes of your rod from the weight on the line if you keep your rod tip up a lot, when retrieving heavier lures on smaller rod try to remember to keep tip down if you are throwing a lure heavier than what your rod is rated for. I actually did this to one of my st. croix  rods chucking a whopper plopper 190 (also some 8" bucktails) on a heavy walleye rod(my Lake Erie trolling rod) that was a little too small last year. top eye is easy to replace, the eyes after that a little more work. Could have been avoided if I didn't always keep rod tip up to get the best action on the whopper plopper immediately after it hit the water, the weight on the line gradually wore channels into the top 2 eyes and didn't notice until my line cut on a cast and I had to go swimming to get an expensive  lure back. You can also buy eye inserts that will avoid this.

 

Just something to keep in mind, Good Luck on the muskie hunt

[mrmacwvu1]

Not bragging but I kind of am.

 

Last Tuesday I caught a Tarpon that went over a hundred pounds on a medium rod with a pen spinning reel on it.

 

I was fishing docks and hoping to pick up a snook. He almost spooled me twice but I got him in.

 

The only thing that I will say is if you are fishing lighter gear it does stress the fish more than if you have the proper set up.