Most of the time when I go fishing it is back in the creeks so the two rods that I own are light tackle and light action rod and reel combos. I tried to fish captain sams inlet the other day with my light tackle and it simply didnt work. too much weight for the little rods.
any advice on a good surf rod and reel combo that I can get for relatively cheap? dont need anything fancy. i just want to be able to go sit on the beach with a beer and hopefully catch some fish. any advice is appreciated. Thanks
i have a 10 foot medium heavy ugly stick ($60) and the biggest model of cabelas salt striker spinning reel with the bait clicker ($70) with about 400 yards of 65lb cajun braid on it. its light enough to see small whiting bites, but also has the backbone to handle bull reds and sharks, the biggest of which being a 5 foot blacktip that snapped the line on a post at folly pier and of all things swallowed a 4" finger mullet. bait clicker is nice since fish will run off with no resistance and you definately hear it when you get a hit. the other rod i use in the surf is an 8 foot medium heavy glow stick that has 2 blue LEDs built into the rod so the whole thing lights up at night, making it very easy to see. pretty sure i bought the glow stick for around $40 and although it hasnt caught a shark bigger than a sharpnose, it handled a 3 foot redfish no problem, however the tip is much fatter than the ugly stick so its a bit trickier seeing small bites. i have a similar spinning reel and 65lb cajun braid on that one too. either one will cast past the breakers after i wade chest deep even with 4-6oz weight and a piece of mullet too.
ive had a million people walk by me at night and ask where i bought the “light saber” at (back home), so since i havent seen them for sale down here hopefully a few of those people see that link.
I haven’t heard great reviews of the fierce rod but the fierce real is excellent. I would reccommmend the penn fierce 8000 spooled with 65lb. braid ($80 for the reel i think). Match this with a 12 ft. rod and you can catch a 6ft. black tip shark and red fish not to mention all the other species. This will be the best “cheap setup” though the performance is not cheap at all. Good luck finding your self a good setup.
Light travel’s faster than sound. This is why some people appear smart until you hear them speak.
I have a Penn combo I bought at Haddrells 2 years ago for about $110. It has a Sargus 5000 reel and a 7’ Slammer rod. I normally fish cut bait with a 2-4oz pyramid from the beach. This is my third year using it for surf fishing and I have no complaints - other than I wish it caught more fish. I also have a 7’ Ugly Stik from the Marts with a 3000 Penn Battle. Rod was about $40 and the reel was about $90. The Penn Battle reel is a great reel for the price.
I hate to admit this but Walmart is actually starting to stock Penn & Okuma rod/reels. I saw the Penn Fierce combos at wallyworld for like $80, but since I already have a Battle 7000 w/ 7’ ugly stick I wanted something for live bait. Picked up an Okuma ABF65 combo (med-hvy pole) for $90. In your case I would recommend Okuma Avenger 40 (customer service is hard to beat) or so with an ugly stick med-hvy pole. Right around $60 then add some 15-20lb mono. AMAZON has this listed right now http://www.amazon.com/Okuma-Fishing-TU-1002-80-Tundra-Spinning/dp/B0011N6I7O/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1337874660&sr=8-12 good deal. $43.
We do not rise to the occassion…but fall to the level of our training