Fresh and Saltwater Rod and Reel?

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clemsonguy1125

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 27, 2010
544
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31
East Coast USA
Hey,
Ive been starting to get interested in fishing, and I decided its about time to stop borrowing other peoples gear. Since I dont get to fish that much, maybe 10 or so times a year, is there a decent rod and reel combo I could use for both fresh and salt water. I fish on a lake, in brackish lagoons, and I want to be able to do a bit of surf fishing. The beach I fish at has a big drop off so 10 yards out at high tide, its probably 20 or thirty feet out, at low tide 20 yards out it probably about 10 or 15 feet. Im about 6'4" if that helps. I was thinking maybe a 6'6" road with a spinning reel. I dont care much about going after giant fish but I do see a lot of people pull in 15 inch rays, 24 inch sharks and decent sized flounder. So if it can handle that, I think I will be ok.
Thanks
 
i would honestly get two different R&Rs one for salt one for fresh but thats me. i use a 6 ft' medium action ugly stick with a shimano spinning reel. when i did fish salt i preffered bait cast reels and 8'-9' rods i mean with this little rod if i were to hook a 40lb shark or something bigger then i would not like it, no leverage at all. it is really up to u just make sure u soak ur reels in a bucket of fresh water after every salt water use leve them on the rods fill up a 5 gal bucket and let them soak over night.
 
The biggest issue, especially for someone who only fishes occasionally, is corrosion from salt.. so if you're going to fish both, just get a setup made for saltwater fishing as it will work just as well in fresh water! I don't know much about rods for salt water, but I certainly love Quantum's saltwater reels. I have a Cabo PT that I use exclusively for spinning rods in salt water.

I love my Penn senator as well, and I've used a friend's Penn baitcaster (forget which model) for musky fishing, and they are built TOUGH.. however I have no experience with their spinning reels. I wouldn't hesitate to try their spinning stuff however, as everything else of theirs I've tried has been wonderful.

I never use rods shorter than 7' nowadays. Longer generally translates to longer casts. If you're not tying into anything bigger than 2 foot sharks, medium to medium heavy gear should suffice depending on how often you hook something with some oomph to it and what you're casting. I'd rather have a longer fight and match up my rod to the bait I'm casting than be fighting with my rod all day trying to cast a lure/bait that is too light to load up the rod.
 
I started with the Shakespeare " Catch more fish" setups and it has worked well for me... only 35 bucks for rod reel line and tackle
 
you can use freshwater gear in salt water but you must thoroughly hose off and clean your gear in fresh water afterwards. it may take longer but it is probably a bit cheaper, though I must admit fly gear might be easier to clean off
 
For surf fishing youre going to want at least an 8ft rod to keep your line above the breakers.

If you are in a coastal region, which I assume you are, look on craigslist for a Penn "Z" series or "SS" series reels. A Penn 712z or 450SS would be perfect for FW or SW, they are built to LAST!

I inherited a Penn 550SS when I was about 10 from my grandfather and have used it in the surf for the last 15 years, most of which it was taken care of only as a kid would, which was practically not at all!

My 40+ year old Penn 710 greenie just came in the mail today actually. I will be putting a manual pickup on it and load it up with 20-30lb braid and match it up with a custom 9ft rod that I can use to snobble kings on the pier or surf fish with.
 
Thanks, Ill check into that. I looked at the catch more fish. This looks good as I can use it for fresh and salt water. Its a bit short but hopefully it will work.
 
I have the Lake/Pond model. and has worked well. Different models come in different lengths... the shore/pier one is 7 but the salmon one is 8ft (?)... I would thry the shore pier one because it already has all the tackle and some lures that come with it.
 
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