Starter outfit for a friend

Hi guys,

A friend of mine wants to join me fishing and is interested in getting some gear. He's only been a couple of times but would like to get a simple setup to cover many eventualities in salt and fresh water.

I advised him to go for a simple spinning rod, fixed spool reel and some sea tackle to get going and we would fish the local harbours/piers for a bit until he is independent.

I assumed I would have been able to find him a second hand rod/reel/tackle combo on ebay with a simple setup plus plenty of odds and ends in a tackle bag/box.. but it's proving more difficult than I thought!

Has anyone any recommendations? Ideally I'd like to keep within £50ish but steer clear of poor quality beginners fishing kits. A Shakespeare rod and Okuma reel would do him nicely I think.

Any suggestions?

Depends entirely on what kind of fishing he's intending to do as regards specific models, but yoou're on the right line of thinking as regards Shakespeare/Okuma.

It's tough to say really, he really will just be a casual angler so something as multi purpose as possible would be best. As a rough guide, it would mainly be in around piers and rocks to begin with, covering spinning/float/ledgering. I think an Okuma/Shakespeare fixed spool reel has been decided upon but I'm in two minds about the rod.

One option is to go for a rocks/pier rod with a casting weight of 2-4oz, something like the Shakespeare Saltwater MPV, however I'm a little hesitant that it would be no use for fresh water excursions.

The preferred option is to go for a spinning rod in the heavier casting range, something like a 25-60g Ugly Stik Lite or Shimano BeastMaster. This could be used in both salt and fresh water, but would it be capable enough of chucking a modest lead into the sea?

Thoughts?

I think you are on the right track with the spinning rod idea, if its just for spinning, float fishing and light ledgering around rocks and piers, it would do the job nicely and you could still do a bit of fresh water fishing with it. Actually now that I think about it I use a 15 - 45g spinning rod myself for a lot of that kind of stuff, just don't overload the rod trying to cast too heavy a lead and it should be fine. I suppose you could also consider a 2.5lb or 2.75lb tc carp rod but again it will be slightly more suitable for some of the types of fishing than others.

Been offered a Shakespeare Odyssey 10' 20-60g rod, Okuma Force FX50 reel and Shakespeare Odyssey game bag all for £55 (all brand new). I reckon this could do the job!