Hi

I am new to fishing and I am looking at buying a rod reel.  There is a store that advertises on TV ... butthatsnotall ..... http://www.butthatsnotall.co.nz">www.butthatsnotall.co.nz.  It sells a portable rod and reel combo that can take 3 diff. positions depending on the size of the fish you catch.  It is called the Instant fisherman ... I'm wondering if anybody knows much about it ... it sells for $79.95 and there are shops in the Papatoetoe plaza and along dominion rd and across the shore .....

Any advice apreciated.

Andrew, welcome to the forums. It is a dangerous and confusing place to be asking questions about what rod and reel to buy.

It is very, very cheap. That also means it's probably pretty average in terms of quality.

My advice? Go buy it, get into the sport and enjoy some fishing, and when the rod and reel fly into a million pieces one day when you hook a feisty kahawai - come back and talk to one of our tackle retail experts and he will sort you out some quality gear. It will cost a lot more than 79.95 but by then you'll be hooked and won't care.

You will have joined the ranks of us with the dreaded and financially draining tackle acquisition syndrome (TAS).

Hmm, 50" is a f'n short rod, 79 bucks won't buy much. Get fishing with a hand line for $10, then move up. Still got my first (****ty) rig in the garage roof. Hours of fun as a kid, now got a heap of gear I never use and a few bits I do. For $350 ish a Shimmano 4500 bait runner on a 7 ft rod spooled with 8 kg will wharf, boat and even rock fish if required. Will handle reasonable sized fish and is a good piece of kit without the thrills of learning to cast an overhead. If I only had to pick one set it would be a toss up between this and my Penn 225 LD (overhead) on a similar rod. A 9-10 ft rock rod and the 4500 with 7 ft interchangeable wharf/ boat rod would be versitile for all up $500 and good gear that will last and handle some bigger fish.

What ever you buy, fish! Cheers, F.T.

Regards for the replys - I'm looking at doing some tramping and looking at carrying a portable rod .... I was looking at landbased fishing to try and catch things like snapper and mullet etc....

If you get to remote places chances are you'll get bigger fish and rely on the quality of your gear more. A 2 or if you can find one, 3 piece rod around 9 ft, 4500 or 6500 bait runner (IMHO opinion the 4500 holds enough line, has enough drag and is lighter to carry and then hold for long stints) and a wee plastic box for hooks and bits and you are off. If you drive 50 kms, walk an hour or two and miss the one or two chances that may be all you get, then cheap gear is expensive. Fuel bait and time only to come back frustrated rather than elated. No bargin.  At the end of the day the better gear has resale value, and if you don't stick with fishing you wont lose much compared to the cost of rig on the net, which would end up in the bin. Get out there!

You could also consider something like the North Shore Rock and Surf Club who apparently have club days and trips through the year. F.T.

There is a risk of confusing the hell out of someone with all this.

I once went into a tackle shop to enquire about getting set up for fly fishing. I walked out and have never been back because it was just gobbledigook.

My view is, let the guy buy the rod, enjoy whatever fishing he wants with it at a low entry price and let him upgrade the tackle to suit whatever he decides he likes - as opposed to trying to convince him to undertake the sort of fishing we might like with the sort of gear we might like. So he loses a big trout? Has to learn how to catch them first. Next time he'll go back with new gear and new determination - thats what most of us have done.

I got back into fishing after years overseas - and continued fishing for a couple of years - with a cheap three piece Kilwell trout spinning rod and a $12 daiwa eggbeater reel.

As it suited I bought more gear.   More and more and more and more and... well you get the picture. But if someone had responded that I need a mountain of flash gear at that time, I would have just got confused.

Just my humble opinion.

Go the cheap outfit andrew young and enjoy it.

Its the coolest setup ever

 http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=2700&SearchPagePosition=16&search=smudge&searchMode=allwords&searchIn=Author&forum=3&searchSort=dateDESC&ReturnPage=Search">http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=2700&SearchPagePosition=16&search=smudge&searchMode=allwords&searchIn=Author&forum=3&searchSort=dateDESC&ReturnPage=Search

Cheers Wefaknis

Quote: Originally posted by Bender on 21 April 2005

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My view is, let the guy buy the rod, enjoy whatever fishing he wants with it at a low entry price and let him upgrade the tackle to suit whatever he decides he likes - as opposed to trying to convince him to undertake the sort of fishing we might like with the sort of gear we might like. So he loses a big trout? Has to learn how to catch them first. Next time he'll go back with new gear and new determination - thats what most of us have done.

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With you there Bender.... first savour the experience then invest as that experience consumes you and i do mean consume. It is one thing to have all the bells and whistles but IMO it is not absolutely necessary for someone who is wishing to start out. When you start out with basic needs covered then the satisfaction of acquiring better quality gear is just that much sweeter later on.... trouble is those evil blardy manufacturers keep bringing out new and improved technology on a regular basis.

Andrew dont be surprised if you end up like many of us, a Rod and Reel set-up for every conceivable occasion, then theres back-ups, and back-up on back-ups. Happy hunting and good fishing.

Just go fishing and catch a few fish. F.T.

Haha I remember that post now.

Andrew, in a day or three there will be some good info on gear in the latest Coast to Coast Topic.