New rods and Reels
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Newbies Corner
Forum Description: If you're new to fishing this is the place to ask any questions about getting started ...
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=133070
Printed Date: 30 Jan 2026 at 2:09pm
Topic: New rods and Reels
Posted By: Skuds
Subject: New rods and Reels
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 9:15pm
| Hey everyone. I'm a little bit confused with what to look at when buying new rods and reels. For example gearing ratios quality of bearing and so on. What are the main specs I should look at when buying new gear? |
Replies:
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 9:27pm
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Hi Skuds. Most importantly is your budget, what your target is and where you will be fishing.
Next is preference eg: overhead or fixed spool reels. If you're bait fishing for snapper in deep water you will need a completely different set up than say for shallow water straylining. Give us a few more details and we'll try to answer your questions. many people ask the same sort of thing. ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Skuds
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 9:36pm
| Thanks mate, yea at the moment I'm just dropping baits down off my kayak for snapper. I've really only used casting type reels but I have tried overheads occasionally and enjoyed them. |
Posted By: Espresso
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 12:52pm
| Good luck Skuds - osunds like you are on a great journey of discovery. The cool thing is we are all spoiled - i.e. we can get exactly what is needed/wanted to catch fish in evey situation - it is just a matter of defining exaclty where and how you are or want to catch fish, and suit your tackle to where your fish. The more specific you are, the more you will get a setup thats suits you and your fishing. Enjoy! |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 3:32pm
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2 basic setups we started with , mid range and covers damn near everything we do except land based surf casting stuff. Boating to around 50/60m east coast and west, including drifting kayak style thru shallows bays.. bit trolling for KY and kings( 1/ and 4/ below) and general fish for a feed. 1/ 10 to 15kg shimano ellipse rod with a shimano 600 oc 30lb dawa j8 braid coloured braid ( on all of the following) 2/ A shimano 4000 oc on Okuma nano matrix 6 to 8kg.. shallows drifting , sb ing , stay lining and casting out into boilups with a SB or lure Even used it to cast off the beach with sb to close to shore boil ups 3/ bit of an upgrade to 2/ shimano thunnus on a okuma 6 to 10kg tournament concept rod. 4/ A shimano TLD 25 on a 15 to 25 rod for serous livebait bigger fish kings etc. All of the above have caught and landed serous fish and lasted many yrs and lot of use... If cared for. Dont buy cheap, the above stuff is lower mid range.If watch for sales etc will pick up rods for around $150 reels around $180, except the thunnus and TLD. I do prefer okuma rods thu. 1/ and 2 will get you started.. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 3:37pm
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Kayaks can be rather hard on gear because it's easy to get the reels wet. Personally I think a 3000 0r 4000 sized spin type reel is all you would need unless you're fishing over foul ground then you may require something more grunty - I don't know how that would go in a kayak. I wouldn't worry too much about retrieve speeds for bait fishing. Again not being a kayak fisher I'm unsure of the rod length but that could be important for your use. I use a softbait type set up for most of my snapper fishing which is mostly over mud or sand ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Skuds
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 5:18pm
| Awesome thanks for your great advice! |
Posted By: OuttaHere
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 5:53pm
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I'd look really hard at a Shimano Baitrunner 4000D. It will do just about everything you need it to. Put it on a 6-10kg rod and spool it with 20lb braid, go nuts. Just make sure you rinse it really well after each trip and service it regularly; kayak fishing is hard on reels. In fact I'd get 2, spool one with 20lb mono for straylining and the other with braid for ledger rigs and maybe even a bit of softbaiting or slowjigging. Gear ratios only really really important for jigging or topwater lures, as mentioned. Outside of that it's more personal preference. Bearing count is a funny one. I'd rather have a really nicely made brass bushing than a crap quality ball bearing, especially in a kayak. Some manufacturers find ways to pump the bearing count ridiculously high, for example putting 2 on the handle knob's shaft, 2 in the line roller, etc etc... I've seen baitcasters with double paddle handles where there were 4 tiny cheap bearings in the handles alone. Rod-wise... I'd pick up at least one Shimano Vortex inshore jig 6-10kg, crazy value, feels like a much more expensive rod. The Nanomatrix rods mentioned above are also exceptional value but may be a little fragile on a kayak, especially if a fish takes off under the yak when it's on the surface.
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Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 6:28pm
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Great advice there Rozboon. Good value stuff as well
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 10:50pm
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Some great advice so far. As a newbie on a kayak, I would look at getting comfortable with one setup before buying another. As mentioned, a lot can be done with a quality 4000 size Baitrunner. Personally, I would match this to a 4-8kg soft bait rod. It's easier to fish bait with a soft bait rod than the other way around. Beware of of rod ratings, they vary even within the same manufacturer's range. I always buy rods in-store rather than mail order for this reason, although when you're new to this, it's hard to know what you need/want sometimes! As an alternative to the Baitrunner, consider a Penn Slammer III reel, probably 2500 size (Penn reels tend to be larger than other manufacturers). I mention these reels a lot because they are IPX6 rated, it's not that I'm sponsored! While we can argue the details of this rating in real world fishing, there is no doubt that their internals have good protection from saltwater. Ideal for a kayak fisho who may do a turtle impression at some point  |
Posted By: SchnapperNZ
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 11:43pm
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As a fellow Kayaker... DONT be the guy that loads his kayak to look like a battleship.. Unless you actually have a battleship.. you will find yourself with very limited space for mucking around trying to scramble for the next best set. As kindly pointed out from the fishing gurus here, just focus on what you are most likely to do during your trips and prioritise what type of fishing you do 90% of the time and look to a set that is within budget - (bait is overrated :P) - better to buy one good set rather than multiple mediocre to ok set(s). I find most of my needs are ticked by my daiwa kix 4000 and it only has 15lb braid on it... landed good snapps and smaller kingies on it - fun to be towed around a bit! No doubt the rod and reel will be submersed in salt water, it will be prudent to invest in some reel and guide care - fresh water + spray + wipe.. takes 5 min but will make gear last forever. Get yourself a proper net too! ------------- If people knew the really important things in life, there would be shortages of fishing tackle not playstations 
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Posted By: OuttaHere
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2020 at 12:18pm
| MightyBoosh makes a very good point about the Slammers. Proper sealing is a very nice thing to have on a Kayak. I've serviced a few kayaker's reels and they take a punishing. |