Product: St. Croix® Avid Series® Casting Reel (www.stcroixrods.com)
Model: AC250
Gear ratio: 5.1:1
Weight: 10.6 oz.
Bearings: 4
Line cap.: 14 lb. 240 yds.
16 lb. 205 yds.
20 lb. 140 yds.
Price: $199.99 (purchased from Rollie & Helen's Musky Shop) (www.muskyshop.com/)
St. Croix® has been known since the middle of the twentieth century for constructing quality fishing rods for anglers in all fishing conditions: fly-fishing in streams, casting and spinning in freshwater or saltwater, and even ice fishing. So it's no surprise that the word "rod" is part of both their logo and their web address. To most people they are St. Croix ® Rods.(www.stcroixrods.com)
Recently, though, they have been investing in a big campaign to enlarge our vision of St. Croix® to include reels. Full page ads, some on the back covers, in every musky magazine and catalog I've looked at in the last six months have announced a new series of casting reels built to match the St. Croix® Avid Series® musky rod.
The Avid Series® features rods for all types of fishing, but only offers reels for freshwater casting and spinning. The musky ads have only featured the casting pair for two reasons: (1) most musky anglers primarily use casting reels, which are good for both casting and trolling, and (2) there is no comparable Avid Series® musky spinning rod. Those of you who fish for bass, salmon, or steelhead, might have seen some ads for the spinning sets, since there are rods for those situations.
I was in the market for a new casting reel to replace the musky spinning reel that I just don't like using, so that I would have two casting combinations, and the ads clearly appealed to me. I didn't need the feature of spool clicker on the AC300 model, because we only troll when there doesn't seem to be a possibility of catching a fish, so I settled on the AC250, which was pricey enough for my budget at $199.99. I would have liked to try the matching rod, but I opted for a much less-expensive Gander Mountain Guide Series®, a series I already use and am happy with.(www.gandermountain.com)
My second reel is an Abu Garcia® Ambassadeur 5500C3 that is two years old. It has 3 bearings, compared to the St. Croix® 4, but both have a constant anti-reverse feature. The Abu Garcia® is currently only $69.99, which is a great deal on a reliable reel. Abu Garcia® (www.abugarcia.com) makes D Series® reels with features more similar to the ones in the St. Croix® reel if you are interested in making a true comparison. My focus here is just on the St. Croix® reel as it compares in everyday use to my personal equipment. Both of my rods are 7' medium-heavy action rods from the Gander Mountain Guide Series, and I use 65# test PowerPro® superline (www.powerpro.com).
The musky season opened in Pennsylvania on the first of May, and while it is not our normal s
tomping ground, Ted and I have done our share of trying at Conneaut Lake, Woodcock Creek Dam, and Tionesta Dam. No fish for me on these trips, but lots of casting; Ted caught one in mid-May. The New York season opened June 19, and we have had three full days so far with four fish caught and three lost. I caught two of the fish, one on each of my reels.
Because the season is early, I don't know yet what the fish are attracted to this year. Last year it was bucktails and the year before crankbaits. So, I have been loading up one of each when we set out and switching back and forth, hoping for some interest. This setup also allows me to keep one shallow bait and one diving bait ready to go if we are moving quickly between weeds and drop offs. I have been varying which rod and reel combination gets the bucktail and which the crankbait,
sometimes switching several times during the day, so I can get a good feel for how the two reels compare.
The St. Croix® reel has a number of features that I really like. The frame body is a wee bit smaller in diameter than my other reel, something I was looking for to better fit my hand. And it is the first musky reel I've used that has a thumb-bar. My other reel has a button that is, frankly, hard enough to push sometimes that it hurts my thumb and takes up unnecessary time. Sometimes I have to roll the spool back to be able to push the button. The St. Croix® thumb-bar is incredibly smooth and easy to operate with one hand, allowing me to seamlessly press the bar and cast in one motion.
My other favorite feature is the smooth retrieve. Wow, what a relief to retrieve those big musky lures, especially the ones that are heavy and give a lot of resistance, like a dripping wet 1 3/4 oz. Wahl's "Eagle Tail" double bucktail, with what seems like at least one-third the effort. This is not a trivial benefit when you add up the number of casts and retrieves made in a 6-8 hour day. An easier retrieve can mean you hold out longer and maintain a fast retrieve, instead of possibly slowing down later in the day. You
might keep in mind the musky epithet "fish of a thousand casts" when evaluating this feature.
The casting seems about the same on both reels, although you can do some adjustments on the St. Croix® reel to the Magforce V magnetic anti-backlash feature to get the smooth casting you desire. Under the sideplate, anglers will see the option of setting the control from 0 (no magnetic braking) to 10. Mine came set on 8 and I easily changed it to 6, the recommended setting to begin with. After two days of use at the beginning of the season, I moved it down to 4. I thought the 8 and 6 were was a little too restrictive on my casts, and I have never had much trouble with backlashes for some reason, so I felt fine about turning it down.
All in all, given I have only caught one little musky on it so far, I am extremely happy with the St. Croix® Avid Series® musky casting reel. It's one smooth machine on rough water.
