What fishing gear do I need?

Factual Questions
1

I’m embarrassed to say that, while living 4 miles from the ocean, I haven’t been fishing down here in Florida. I used to fish in the rivers and streams up north (West Virginia) and I am familiar with that kind of tackle.

What do I need here? I would like to fish in the inland lakes and maybe do some pier/surf fishing in the ocean. Definitely nothing deep sea. Is there one type of rod/reel combo that would do what I need? This will be a couple times a year thing, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks

2

Your best bet is to go down to a local sport store and tell them where you want to fish and they’ll set you up. The gear (reel, line, hooks, etc.) for fishing in a lake vs. pier/surf fishing is different.

3

It’s going to greatly depend upon the species of fish being targeted.

But…

For fresh water, shore or boat fishing, a simple 6’ light-medium weight spincasting rod & reel would work fine for most uses. 8# line is a good compromise, unless you’re fishing for HUGE fish. I have a 4# line, 5’ light weight rod for trout fishing & confined spaces (tight rivers/streams/shorelines), and a 8# line, 6’ medium rod for larger water, longer casting, and bigger fish (bass specifically).

Salt water is a whole different set of conditions. Shore fishing vs. boat fishing, flounder vs. bluefish/stripers (Northeast), all require different gear, which your local tackle shops can point you towards. This is the time to go to the small shop, and get good information, rather than going to a big-box, and getting a blank stare, or worse, simply bad information.

4

Don’t forget a license.

http://myfwc.com/license/LicPermit_RecreationalHF.htm

5

Go to the nearest discount store and buy a $5 plastic kiddie rod. When I was in Vancouver, I’d catch my dinner off the Seawall most nights, and all the yuppie fishermen would sneer at me with their $1000 bamboo or polycarbon rods and $500 reels. I’d just laugh and say, “Do you really think the fish can tell how much you spent on your rod?”

Hell, you don’t even really need a rod. Some 20-pound test and a few hooks are all you need if you’re fishing for your supper rather than “sport.” To make it even less sporting, you can do what I did, which is using a sidebar and a (homemade) sinker so that you can catch more than one fish at a time. The “sportsmen” will sneer and scoff and sniff and generally act like total assholes, which is fine, I guess, since they’ve paid ridiculous sums of money for that privilege.

6

I’m over on the west coast so my I can’t give you any good specific info but the few things I will tell you can apply for any type of fishing all over the world.

So I’m not sure how much experience you have, although you have made it clear that you do have, at least some experience.

Stream fishing involves lighter tackle then what you’ll use in the saltwater since the saltwater fish are larger and put up a better fight.

I’d recommend going to a local tackle shop and talking to them, seeking advice and having them pick out the rod and reel you should buy. Most companies fix the price of their fishing reels so there will be very little, if any, variations between the prices of the rods and reels. Walmart, Bass Pro and some little mom and pop store should sell them for the same price. Occasionally, you can find equipment cheaper on Ebay.

There are, let’s say four different types of reels you can choose from. Flyfishing reels, spinning reels, spincasting reels and baitcasting reels. If you’re a flyfisherman the choice is obvious, otherwise, you’ll probably want to get one of the other three. Spincasting reels are obselete and will give you problems. Plus having the line in an enclosed case makes it harder to fix any tangles that might occur in the spool. That leaves you with baitcasting reels and spinning reels. Both of them are great and are used in different applications, although there is quite a bit of overlap (especially in the east coast where they aren’t as afraid of spinning reels as we are here in the west coast). I won’t go into baitcasting reels much because I am not going to recommend them due to your lack of experience. Pretty much the difference between the baitcasters and the spinning reels is that the baitcaster has a rotating spool while the spinning reel has a fixed spool. The rotating spool spins and shoots line out. Air resistance slows down the line and bait faster than the spinning spool slows down. This causes a “backlash” or “birds nest” to occur. Basically it’s a huge ball of tangled up line in your reel. You need to manually slow the spool down with your thumb to avoid that. It takes quite a bit of practice and experience and that is why I won’t recommend it as your first setup.

So talk to the tackle shop and ask for some advice. I’m sure they’ll steer you towards a spinning setup as well.

Also, try to get a rod from Shimano. They have an awesome “limited lifetime warranty” and they are not in the least bit shy of replacing broken rods for free. Even if it’s user error.

If you intend on fishing both lakes and piers, you might need two separate setups. Bass are the popular game fish in most of the world, and especially in Florida, so for the freshwater scene you’ll be looking at a Medium or Medium Heavy rod with an appropriately sized spinning reel

For what it’s worth, I’d recommend the Shimano Clarus as your rod. Here’s a model number for a Clarus with the ratings you’d need CSS-70M2A. I’d put on a Shimano Sedona 2500 for the reel. Together, you have a nice little setup for freshwater fishing.

That’s about as cheap a rod and reel I’d personally recommend. You’ll find glass and composite rods for cheaper but graphite is definitely worth the money.

Don’t have any advice on pier fishing, although I can probably talk to a friend who can help me to steer you in the right direction.

7

Get a glove and go noodling.

Maybe not in Florida, though.