Help! What gear should I start with?

First off I am new to sea fishing in Ireland. I have sea fished a lot in Australia and Asia, very different I feel from here but I got the fishing bug and want to get back into it.
Everyone I know has their own opinions on what is the best tackle (ie different brands makes and models) but where should I start to get my gear together without having to update too soon. My Budget is around 500 euro. Any ideas where to buy it either?
I have gone into a few tackle shops but the advise I got I feel was more towards gear they wanted to shift as opposed to what was best (no offence to the tackle shops they have a business to run but I feel that you guys & girls would have a much better feel for what an amatuer would need (ie what would you go for if you were in my shoes).
I really like boat fishing but it seems to be quiet expensive and I want to try shore fishing too. I have booked my first Irish boat trip with Eamonn Hayes (Kilmore Quay) on the 2nd of April and I know gear is supplied. It would be nice though if I could get in a bit of fishing before that!
Thanks a million so far for all the advice and congrats to the guys/girls behind the website its brill (no pun intended) :)

Kind Regards

John

Hi Dobermann,
where are you based? What kind of fishing did you do previously?
jd

Hi Dobermann

If you spend it wisely 500 Euro will see you kitted out for shore and boat...

For shore fishing in Ireland, you are looking at several different alternatives: -

A beachcaster is a rod of 3.5-5 metres in length, which is twinned with a reel. For beginners I would recommend a fixed spool as opposed to a multiplier reel as they are more forgiving in terms of casting and easier to use, and they are cheaper. I will let the lads debate the brands etc.

Another option is a lighter 3 metre spinning rod, which can be used to tackle shoreline species like bass but will also cover you for light sea fishing for flatfish, wrasse, mackerel, pollack anything other than the big buggers like a conger stuck under the pilings of a pier. This is NOT a boat rod and should only be used on a boat (a) with the permission of everyone else and (b) when you have become an expert light tackle angler, otherwise you will skull someone with the lead, poke an eye out, snap it off the boat or snap it when you get your first decent fish on the end of the line, notwithstanding your experience abroad in Australia and the far East.
It is not a good idea to bring long rods onto any boat of any size at all.

I think this is a good place to start as it lets you try out different styles of fishing from the shore, and can be used to tackle the bass and flatfish you will take on a beachcaster. The only difference is that you have to scale down the line and terminal tackle, so it takes more skill to land a fish... with experienced you will be able to cast farther with the beachcaster but the majority of fish in Ireland, especially off beaches, are caught close in.

A boat rod is typically the shortest rod you will use, ranging from 2 m up to 3.5 for what is called uptiding. The latter is where you have to cast from the boat rather than just drop your terminal tackle over the side (downtiding), and it is a fairly specialist form of fishing so I would leave it for the moment. A decent boat rod however will also allow you target the bigger species from rock marks / harbours / piers from the shore, specifically conger eels and possibly the bigger bull huss and some rays. As we now know there are lots of marks that offer tope from the shore....
It can also be used for ligher fishing for everything mentioned earlier.

So my initial recommendation is a 10 foot (3 m) spinning rod, fixed spool reel, mono line and appropriate terminal tackle. The leads used for this should not exceed 2 ozs. A beachcaster again with a fixed spool reel is the next step up and the lead on the end can reach 8 ozs. The final piece if the budget stretches is a 20 lb boat road, but wait until you are back from Kilmore before you decide on the boat rod. In fact wait for a few trips...

Hope this helps, and I trust the forum will now bombard you with useful data on brands, makes, preferences, etc.

FWIW...

Ok, where to start!

I'm not going to comment on boat fishing, there are a host of other people who will know a lot more than me!

Regarding shore fishing, did you do a lot of it back home, or are you fairly new to the sport? The reason I ask is that it will dictate what kind of gear you buy.

As a beginner, and assuming you will be shore/rock fishing, I would suggest that you start off with a fixed spool reel and 12 foot beachcaster. Match it with 15-20lb breaking strain line (and shock leader). You will need some weights in the 4oz-6oz range. To start with you might try buying some ready-made rigs rather than making them yourself. These will give you a good idea as to how to go about making them (your tackle shop will help you here). There are a couple of UK magazines (Sea Angler/Total Sea fishing) which would give you advice on this too.

You will also need a tripod of some sort to hold your rods. These can be bought for anywhere between 50 and 90 euro. If you are trying to keep the costs down, just make one yourself out of a few pieces of wood. This will suffice whilst you are getting a feel for the sport, and you can buy a decent on at a later stage.

Bait and hook size are important. For general fishing, choose hooks in the size 1 or 1/0 range, this should suffice for most fish you are likely to catch. You can always step up the size if you are trying to target bigger fish with bigger baits.

Baits are extremely important, and you should try and get the freshest possible. To reduce expense it's probably better to dig your own worms, and you can also guarantee their freshness that way. You can also try pieces of mackeral/squid and sandeel (or combinations of these). Leave the more specialist baits for the time being. Worms are probably your best option, so look around and see if you can find some bait beds where ragworm and lugworm can be dug. For the first few sessions, keep the bait size small. There is no point in loading 5 lugworm and a hunk of mackeral on a big hook, if the only fish being caught are tiddlers. Big baits catch big fish (but you might be waiting a long time to catch one), small baits catch small fish AND big fish.

Regarding the areas you want to fish, have a look at this site and you will find a comprehensive list of marks to target. Bear in mind that most places fish better in darkness. However, it might be easier for you to fish in daylight for the first few sessions while you get used to your rod and reel, casting etc. Therefore try and choose somewhere with deeper water for your first few sessions - piers etc will offer relatively deep water under your feet, and will be easy to fish from. When you feel more confident, buy yourself a cheap headlamp and you will be able to happily fish in the dark (you can get one in Argos for as little as €15, and it's perfect for the job).

Going back to your choice of rod and reel, I suggested that you buy a fixed spool reel and 12 foot rod. Fixed spools are very easy to operate, reliable and need very little maintenence. They can be bought from as little as 30 euro, with the better models costing around 100-200 euro. Try and get a beach sized reel, that holds an absolute minimum of 250 yards of 15lb line.

The other choice is a multiplier. These are far more difficult to operate, require regular maintenance, and can cause grief for a beginner when casting. Having said that, they are great reels when you know how to use them, and are superior to fixed spool reels for most kinds of fishing. They are also much more expensive, costing a minimum of 150 euro in Ireland. Don't buy a budget one, it will fall apart. Stick to Penn/Daiwa/ABU and you won't go wrong - just make sure it is a casting reel, cos a boat reel will not cast 20 yards! Beware though, no matter how good the multiplier, it will take a good while to get comfortable with it.

The rod will set you back anything from 50 euro to over 400 euro! there are plenty of cheapies out there, but if you buy one around the 100 euro mark, you will get a lot more rod for you money (a Shakespeare Odessa is a very good example).

Assuming you are serious about fishing, try and get a tackle shop to offer you a rod and reel deal for around the 150-200 euro mark (and shop around!). If you just want to dabble, and are not too sure if it's for you, it might be better to buy a cheaper combo. The Ron Thompson brand offers some very acceptable rod and reel combo's and they are very cheap.

The other option is mail order from the above named UK magazines. Rods/reels etc are far cheaper to buy mail order from the UK, despite post & packing costs being quite large (always check this before you buy). The downside is that you don't get to see and hold what you are buying.

Regards building up your knowledge of fishing, buy sea fishing magazines, take out sea fishing books from the library etc. These will all help you to improve.

Also, we are coming into the worst time of year for fishing, so don't be dissappointed if you are not catching a lot. The return of the summer months will provide you with loads of fish.

Happy hunting!

PS - I've probably left loads out! Lads, any other suggestions?

Damn, after reading all that I wish I had 500 quid on me!