Dwight Hottle

The SK 10XD's are are pretty popular for deep cranking & will give you a good idea of what it takes to throw that kinda bait on a repetitive basis. The c25's should give you a good idea as well.

For larger deep cranks a swimbait rod in 7.5 to 8' works really well. Like a Loomis IMX+ 1-3oz in 7.5' length. Just a thought in case you haven't considered it.

Sounds like you had a good trip. I'm glad you figured them out. Sometimes your own personal research & your ability to reason the why, when & where is the best tackle you have at your disposal.

I have five Edge rods. EFX Pro Hybrid 766-1C & EFX Pro MBR 766-1C & SWC SWBR 807-1C & Epitome MBR 725-1C & Epitome SJR 764-1S. I use the Pro Hybrid for cranks & treble hook baits. It has a fiberglass tip blended with a graphite blank. The SJR 764 is my smallmouth spinning rod. It covers jerkbaits , tubes, blade baits & jigs, a true all around spinning rod. The SWC SWBR is my swimbait rod & covers 1/2 to 5oz baits. It also doubles as a live bait rod for big wild shiners. The EFX Pro MBR is a very versatile all around rod which fishes single hook baits, treble hook baits & small swim baits. The Epitome MBR 725 I bought to use as a jerk bait rod/vibrating jig rod. These five rods pretty much cover all my largemouth & smallmouth needs & are extremely capable for multi species fishing both fresh & salt water. What impresses me the most about Edge rods are the extreme light weight blanks coupled with super sensitivity & blank strength/durability. Both @Rockhopper & @Columbia Craw & @ConnorC comments are spot on.

Headwaters it's right next to Stickmarsh.

The strongest fresh water fish for me have been the ones I have lost. They seemingly have had the upper hand from the get go. Both times they dug for the bottom & stayed there until they rubbed my leader line to break. Very frustrating. The toughest fight I ever had was from from a big king salmon hooked just above Devils Hole in the Niagara river. It ran up stream against the current & I thought it was going to spool me. We started to chase it with the boat so I could get some line back on the spool but the boat over shot the fish & created a slack line situation which was all the fish needed to get loose. Another heart breaker. Both my PB smallie & largemouth did put up tremendous fights including jumps.

Katie I have had good luck with these. They held up well at Lake Baccarac. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hog_Farmer_Baits_HD_Underspin/descpage-HFW.html

This is the photo that sticks in my memory

@gimruis Excuse my intrusion to your thread but when I read Leech Lake headlines my memory always reverts back to the famous Leech Lake Massacre of 1955. The musky bite went crazy.

If you notice the grove about 1/8" from the lip in the 2nd picture that is the full fill line on the spool. I usually fill right to the inside of the grove closest to the center of the spool.

Welcome to BR.

I am right hand dominate & have always used right hand casting reels. I enjoy using spinning tackle more when working a jerk bait do I recently bought a left hand bait casting reel to give it a try. So i still cast with my right arm & work the bait with my right just like my spinning gear. The reeling with my left hand feels a little awkward but the more I use it the better it gets. Forcing my self to make the transition was the plan and I figured that if it didn’t work out I would sell the reel. I have seen right handed guys use a left handed reel just for pitching so they don’t have to make the hand transfer. It’s worth the try if you’re open minded.

I don’t understand why you asked this question. It’s obviously a cottage as your wife has told you. And we both know woman are never wrong. All kidding aside I would call it a cottage because cabins are usually more rudimentary in nature. And the word cottage sounds more quaint than small house or bungalow. It’s definitely got curb appeal. Enjoy your time there.

As a cancer survivor I understand your trauma & fully support you both. Keep your chins up & give the doctors your full attention. You need to be your wife's advocate as she gets through this.

Shallow to me on the great lakes is 10 fow or less. Thermocline is typically found around 50' deep unless a major wind event turns the lake over. I doubt it will be an issue for you in a canoe unless you really get adventurous.

Rod weight absolutely matters to me especially so when fishing for pike/musky because the bait weights are usually much higher putting more stress on your body if casting all day. I use rods that are lighter than average based on my age & strive to fish just as hard as guys much younger than me. A balanced outfit tricks your brain into thinking it is lighter than what it actually is so I look to achieve both balance & light weight in my outfits. Almost all of my rods are currently Edge or Kistler or Loomis because they tend to favor light weight blanks combined with strength/balance.

That is one hell of a story. You are really lucky to be alive. Hope you heal fast.

You might find some shallow early & late in the day at low light. Otherwise look for them in 25-35 fow on structure.

Well for muskies I would suggest Pierce Quad hooks with built-in spin eye allowing the hook to rotate without giving the fish leverage against you & a heavy bait. @AlabamaSpothunter suggestion for replacement hooks is excellent advice & I use Zo wire hooks on all my jerk baits & cranks. As to the problem of jumping fish burying the rod tip into the water helps keep them from jumping but not always. When I can't stop the jump I try to forcibly yank the fish down so it can't get enough momentum to get it's head out of the water & shake side to side. If you get a good hookset you will win the battle most of the time.

Welcome to BR & the secret society of hook setters.

@VTFan Congrats on the new PB. Don't forget to update your PB in your profile. Also there is an edit feature when you post the three dots in the upper right corner of your post. If your posting from your phone you can email yourself your fish pic & just choose a size under 1000kB for the file size. Then save it to your phone pics. If you'r posting from a computer just save the photo size to your device in a size under the limit. Hope that helps.

Yes it's my first line of defense.

I have put out a buoy to mark a spot that didn't hold any fish. When another boat commented they found our buoy but the spot marked absolutely sucked my buddy remarked " well the rat always finds the cheese " We had a good laugh over that one.

Always a sad day to get through. The best therapy is a new puppy to help get over missing what a dog means to our life’s happiness.

@12poundbass The report said a 4-6 foot gator. People keep 12” gators as pets but to many still keep 4-6 footers. A gator can not survive in Erie based on water temps more than a few months. Hoax.