Pike paired with a calcutta 400

[sturgeonhound]

I am looking for a decent pike rod to pair with a shimano Calcutta 400 for tossing larger baits for pike. I was thinking around a 7'6" heavy weight fast action. Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with a rod that would work?
Thanks,
SH

[BIZJAY]

I piked up a loomis muskie series 8 ft heavy fast action last year, have the calcutta 201b on it, could use somehing like the 400 much nicer, rods a little long and the butt is as well but a good setup, if I was to get another it would be max 7'6" same action and weight though. Dont know if id go loomis again maybe st croix triumph....

[EZM]

I have two similar set ups.....

1) Calcutta TE 400 LJV with a Shimano Compre 7'-6" Heavy Muskie rod with fast action

2) Abu Garcia 5601 with a Abu Garcia Volatile 8' Medium Heavy Spinning with fast action

here are my observations;

- The longer rod with slightly less spine casts 25% to 35% further. No kidding.
- Reels are very similar but I like the Abu drag a little better.
- The 8' is nice when you catch some big girls, bring them in, and they are circling the boat and trying to snag my outboard.
- Med / Heavy has better sensitivity when detecting a light pick up
- Heavy rod will allow you to jerk the bait a little better and offers some control advantage and a little more bulldog power - but I'm not sure it's really required.

Overall the combos are quite similar. I love them both but generally use the Abu Garcia set up.

Both run Power Pro 30lb high visibility line onto a 50 to 80 flouro leader.

Doing it all over again - go with a rod as long as you can. I wish I had a 9'.

[EZM]

BTW - I'm tossing some big stuff like the 9"-12" size muskie plugs, bouncing a 2oz, 6" tube jig etc.

Truly heavy lures.

I should say, however, I prefer to troll mostly but I will stop and work an area over to cover all the structure I can't effectively troll thru.