I just built a steelhead salmon rod. The blank was a St. Croix G86M2, 8.5 feet, 2piece, medium power, fast action, rated for 8-12 lb test, and 3/8 to 3/4 lure weight. Can anyone recommend a reel that would compliment this rod. This rod will be used to fish for steelhead and salmon in the state of Michigan( Grand River and other tributaries). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you fish much for steelhead you know they're the fish of ten thoused casts. I fish W. Wash. quite a bit on the Cowlitz Rv. I fish with Lamiglas
like your G86M2. My reel is a Ambassadeur 5500-C3. I'ts light, strogn and fast. Keep weight and durability in mind if you will be casting lures or roe all day.

Peter,

I'll assume this is a casting rod (if it were a spinning rod, you'd already know which reel you built it for...).

I'm not a salmon fisherman, but as for a casting reel in the weights you've described, there are only two that fit my criteria of a successful track record and reasonable cost:

The Ambassadeur C3 series and the Shimano Curado. Either of these reels will give you decades of solid service, have few (read almost zero) problems, and require very little maintenance.

There's lots of 'new' reels out on the market. Unfortuantely, none of them have been around long enough for anyone to say whether they will hold up to the rigors of fishing or not. These two reel have been around long enough to have all the 'bugs' worked out.

The Ambasadeur sells for around $70 to $80. You can find the Curado from $100 to $130.

Good Luck!

Buddy

The ambassadeur is indeed a good reel. But the model you want is the 4600C5X. It will be best for size and shape if ABU is what you want. But iif you want the best round reel and have a little more money to spend, I would highly recommeded the absolute best IMHO Daiwa Millionaire 203A. if you are interested I have written a small piece on that reel one the following URL. I do think the 203A is well worth its money..

[www.wmi.org]:\asp_ini\rods_reels.ini&num=22864#1

Hope this helped

Good Fishing (Catching) <*)))))))><{

Peter I live in Michigan and fish the Big Manistee for salmon. I use an Quantum accurist on a shimano med Lt 6'6" casting rod with 8lb maxima line. I've never lost a salmon due to him running the line out on that reel or lost one because he broke my line. With that set up I can boat salmon all day long. I use only inline spinner baits when I salmon fish and do very good with it. With all that being said I would use something that feels comfortable to you. There's no need to use all that big bulky heavy( what to me would be Lt salt water gear) to fish for salmon. It's not Alaska, you'll be lucky to see something over 25 lbs. Well good luck and may the fishing gods be on your side next fall when you seach for the big one. Mike

8-12lb rated rod is to heavy for Michigan steelhead. I live in GR and am downtown quite often. You've tied up a rod that is probably perfect for salmon, but for MI steelies there is no need to ever go over 6lb, I only use 4lb. So far this year I've boated 81 and 4lb does a fine job. The rod you speak of is going to be to heavy for 6lb. I've never been able to find a spinning rod that makes an ideal steelhead rod, hence I've been making them for years out of moderate action 6wt fly rod blanks. If you talk to the regulars on the Grand you'll find out that is what most people are running.