Northwest Fishing Reports

I am thinking on a St Croix TM or LTM 73HMF. Not sure of the difference. None the less I need a reel for it and line selection. I plan on throwing bass size lures no reel heavy stuff.

Shimano, Quantum, and Diawa all make good reels. Whatever brand you choose, make sure it feels comfortable and fits your hand well. You will be making a lot of casts with it and if it doesn't feel right, you'll regret it. I personally prefer a reel with a lower gear ratio (my main reel is a 5.1:1) and I spool it with 60lb. Spiderwire with a fluorocarbon leader.

What size of reel is good? I have a couple casting reels like the Daiwa 1500, my Shimano casting reel is the same size. Line size 14 lb with yardage of 80. Seems too small to me. All my reels are for bass fishing. All my spinning reels are Shimano Ax/Fx 300 with line capacity of 12 lb 190 yards. So of course the bigger line needed for Muskies will have less capacity, say 100 yards on the spinning reels, and 60 on the casting reels. Will that be good enough?

What is the capacity for 8# line on that Shimano? You could throw 30 pound Spiderwire on it and probably get 120+ yards on it. That is plenty of line. If you can't pull them up with 30 pound, it is one monster fish.....

8 lb is 285 yards. This would be for mono as new braid and floro hadn't been invented yet. This is the spinning reel.

The Daiwa casting reel the line capacity for the smallest line listed is 10 lb, which is 120 yards.

I would go with a shimano like a Core on the high end or the Curado 200 SF on the low end both are great reels.
The Curado 200E7 is a good high speed (7 to 1) reel also and you can find them new on ebay for about 145 bucks. Cores run $350+ and you can find used SF's for about $70 to $100