LEM86MHF Legend elite musky rod with a Shimano tranx 300 casting reel. Quick review of my initial impressions of the combo. Hopefully, I catch a musky with it this year. Thanks for watching
Just bought my first muskie setup as well after seeing them for years on the rivers chasing smallies. Talking with the guy at the tackle shop who repairs the reels convinced me to go with the 400. He claimed to see fewer issues with it. He cautioned that one con of the single power knob is that it can sometimes cause the handle to turn mid-cast locking up the spool and stripping out the gears if the line doesn’t break first.
That is a real thing. I upgraded my handle and knob to a gomexus carbon fiber lighter setup and still occasionally happened. I never damaged gears on my tatula 400 which I believe the gears are better in. The small pinion gear that is more prone to wear and damage is made with stainless and not brass like Shimano. But you can also get some balanced power handles which eliminate that issue all together and don't cost a lot.
I just received my 300A. Went with the lower gear strictly for pulling power. Love the StCroix Rods. Have the Mojo Bass MH fast 7.6 waiting at the post office. It may be a little light for Muskie but I think it cover the big fish spectrum fairly well. All three of my setups are Shimano/St Croix. .
Unless your way far north that set up is all you need ! Awesome reel, rod set up ! 400 is for monster musky and theirs guys that shark fish 100+ lbs with the 400
i traded my my 1 year old bantam that i bought second hand for 150 USD for this reel almost new, great deal for me and I love this reel, I never used the bantam and I had damaged it on some stones. also I paired it with 7.3 foot rod 1 ounch to 4.5 ounches lureweight for my pikerod, I use it for large north European pike which can grow almost as large as a large musky, almost 50 lbs. and I have 50 lbs braid on it. I'm not sure what length is the optimal length for musky but I wanted something that I could jerk with and through decently far with and I have a 8.6 length rod for my seatrout and I feel like its a bit to long for off shore fishing so I went for the 7.3 feet, I probably should have gone for a 8 feet that there was no good deal on 8 feet rods
