A good place to start is what kind of budget you have to work with mate...

And what sort of boat you are fishing out of - launch or fizz boat? Stand up or chair?

LR wrote: Stella 20k

Better still 4 x Finnor 9500 OS

but the above advice is well worth considering, lots to think about if you want to make it enjoyable, If you have the money then you cant go past the tiagra range then again you dont need to go for the big names to catch fish either, personally if this is your first season beg borrow or steal the gears.

get a feel for it as its not everyones cup of tea.

or give me a shout mate, 28 1st timers cant be wrong and I will put a deck hand on board I trained to show you the ropes and a few hints and tips to get you on your way.

Charters are great but that does not help the man . Spin reels are for those that want to catch fish after they are broken in.

Hamish take it from me some of the guys on here are great some like having fun and at my expence I have had some sh...t sent my way but I keep comming back.

Shimano, Penn, Finnor, Makaria, plus others are all great but if you have the money buy Shimano.

TLD 50's have caught plenty of marlin Penn 9/0 have done well in the years gone but a great alround reel is 1 you buy, use, clean, and service regularly, change the line often and reuse again

The Shimano Tiagra 50 WLRS/A is at the top level and if you want go 80's they hold more line.

As said what are you fishing from as in a small boat the tld will do   

Loving the advice guys and its sounding like i need to rock a charter or 2 to learn whats up any suggestions for good charters out of the whangerai tutakaka area?

Just because your in a small boat does it mean you have to fish small reels. Personally I fish from a fairly small boat (5.3m) and am totally confident in fishing in the same places or conditions as any other trailer boat out there. I think we need to know where you plan to fish, as if you were to say waihau bay and you had a 8m boat everybody would be telling you to buy 80ws. There were blues caught this year from trailer boats exceeding 300kg in places accessed by anyone thinking of going gamefishing all up the East coast. Hooking fish like this with anything less than 37kg is more often than not going to end in a lost of unrecoverable dead fish. You can buy a new Tiagra 80w combo spooled for $1500 I would recommend this over the same 50w combo for 1299.

edit; "ok I re read it... Toots etc... same applies tho"

Raging Bull wrote:  and keep your ears open.

Tiagra 80w or stella 20000

Both great reels - depends what your after.

certainly marlin and sharks, tuna are about if you lucky to run em over