Home Forums Fishing Saltwater Rod and reel suggestions

I'm a newbie to Florida and saltwater fishing and looking for insight on what I should be looking for as far as jetty fishing, and coastal fishing and occasional surf casting for a do it all rod and reel? I have always fished fresh water, so all my tackle is not suitable for saltwater. Looking to spend maybe $300 for a good rig, but willing to go higher if need be. Looking at maybe a a Penn battle 11 5000 with an Ugli Stik 7' rod or an upgrade to a Redbone 7.5' medium heavy action rod at about $100. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Crowder Rods, Stuart, FL. Best on the plsnet

You would do well to start with a reliable casting reel at least as good as a Penn 3/0:



For a rod look at a 1-piece, 6-1/2'-7', 30-50 lb.

it depends on what you're fishing for.

While good reels for holding a pile of mono or dacron, if you're using braid the senators are way too big and heavy.



A modern 2/0 sized reel will hold 300+ yds of 60-70 pound braid and weighs ~20 oz vs 30+ oz for the senator.

Can't comment on rods as I prefer shorter rods on the boat.

Paul what reel is that shown in your picture.

Keith,

Avet JX. I got distracted while posting

There are other options for similar size and weight of reels.

Paul which Avet JX model


6 Single speed? Kurt Keith was my dad!

Kurt,

Sorry I'm fighting a head cold.

It's the JX 4.6:1, I have three of them and they are my favorite reels. I also have a JX raptor and even though its nice having more drag, I prefer the lighter single speed and so long as you're pumping the rod and not using the reel as a winch the 4.6:1 ratio is fine.

That said I only jig and rarely with heavier than 16 oz. If you're dropping heavy cod sinkers the lower ratio of a two speed would be the way to go.

Paul, I,m to old and tired to be fishing more than 100' with heavy weights.

With the lack of big Halibut any more not much of an issue, if you happen to find a big one, knowing how to fight them you don't need heavy gear. Probably release it anyway caught enough big ones, a shame to kill the breed stock.

I brought a triple digit halibut to the boat a couple years back with the jx on a ~10 oz jig, plenty of rod and reel. The nice thing about jigs is you don't need to use nearly as much weight as bait and with a good jigging rod and reel you can fish all day and not be worn out. The buts we caught this year were in ~250' of water. No monsters, but enough to put some meat in the freezer

The OP said he has $300 to spend on a whole outfit. So you show him a $250 reel. Sure, it's lighter than the Penn.

I have a penn international 16VSX 2-speed that is a workhorse. I can just barely fit 500yds of 100lb powerpro on it. I normally fish with a 16oz wally whale with a strip of chum belly or a 17-21oz solvkroken cod jig. The reel is heavier than all get out though. I have never had a single problem with it and I doubt that I ever will. It does get tiring jigging with it all day because of the weight, and at times I have found myself wishing I got a 345GTI instead. The drag on the internationals is second to none IMO, super smooth. Out of your price range though by a good margin.

Those Avet's are very nice, definitely worth the money.

Having had several penn 2/0's, 3/0's and 4/0's I can say the avet is well worth the money. If one wants a light tough economy reel than a shimano charter special with the drag washer replaced is a decent setup.

There have been massive strides made in reel designs in the nearly 80 years since the senator was introduced. There is absolutely no good reason to use such a reel when modern reels with braided line make for a much more enjoyable fishing experience.

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed out about all the fish I've caught on them; I could have done it with a lighter reel!

If someone asks you what type of car to get, do you suggest one designed 80 years ago? Do you suggest bamboo poles?

Having used senators for years, and having replaced every single one of them I can honestly say I've not once pined for the good old days. I would have much preferred spending the money up front vs. upgrading several times to get what I should have in the first place.

He said " Looking to spend maybe $300 for a good rig, but willing to go higher if need be."

I just bought my first Avet, an MXL for tuna fishing off WA. Probably won't be my last.

The OP suggested a spinning reel (BTL2 5000), although it is not clear what he is targeting.
He may not know how to use a conventional reel, and based on size, may not be targeting 9' tiger sharks.

The Battle 5000 and the 7' UglyStik GX2 Med or MH (I would go a little longer for pier and surfcasting ~9, though may be too much for wading) may be all he needs for small to medium sized fish, being it reds, tarpon, kings, stripers, snook, etc.
It will be heavy for sure, but a setup more for bait and wait than lure casting. If fishing blue water then a different reel is a must, or a lighter one for wade and lure casting.

$300 could get him very decent setups, 3000 size reel for wade/lure with freshwater rod already owned and 6-7000 reel for pier/surf/jetty with heavier more powerful rod.

I have a 7' Shimano Voltaeus Med Fast (70$) that I use for lure sand light baits and a 9' MH UglyStik ~$80. Old
Shimano 3000 reel and Battle 6000 on the heavy rod.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. As Sponxx stated, I wasn't very specific as to what I was targeting. I'll mostly be jetty fishing and wade fishing and shorefishing for Reds,Snook, Sea trout, Drum or about anything else one might catch doing this type of fishing. I'll be be throwing a lot of Soft and hard plastic baits and also do some live bait(shrimp, sand fleas) on the bottom.
I joined Florida Sportsman and doing a little research on that site, and asking a few questions I came up with a pretty good Idea of what I wanted. I searched Craigslist for rods and reels and found a guy who was moving back north and selling all his equipment. I picked up a like new Penn Conflict 4000 on a 7.5' Star Seagis rod for $175 and a Battle 4000 on a Star 7.5' Stellar Lite for $125. Both reels are spooled with Braid. The Battle has seen a lot more use than the Conflict, but is still in excellent shape. I just picked these up last night, so I'll let you know how things work out. Thanks again.

lightning, nice purchases.
You now have 2 very similar setups and will get lots of use out of them. I doubt any fish your are targeting will outclass your reels, the rods I am not very familiar with.
If dropping larger baits, then you may need a stronger reel, but finesse goes a long way when hook up above class, unfortunately comes with experience (that unfortunately, I don't have yet by the way ).
Good luck