what rod reel ?

hi all. my mate and our kids are going fishing for mackerel the weekend we live in dublin, we all know nothing about fishing but would love to get the kids into fishing as well as myself. any advice to what kind of rod and reel we would need, hopefully not to expensive :cry:

Dont get anything too big and heavy. After a few hours feathering your arms will be aching. First rod i bought was a cheap shakespeare beachcaster. Too heavy for feathering and useless as a beach rod.

My advice would be to go to a tackle shop with a budget in mind.

Ask the shop staff for advice as you will find most of them will point you in the right direction.

Please try the gear before you let the kids at it, (lots of pointy bits to be aware of).Its most likely you will be fishing at a crowded spot if the mackerel are in, so to build your confidence it might be worth while practicing your cast in an empty field with just a weight on, you can let the kids rip at it too.
Watch for overhead wires.


watch other anglers to see the techniques they use to cast and so forth.

Best of luck and TIGHT LINES :D

thanks for these tips, looking forward to hopefully will be a good day out.

[quote="fish wish"]hi all. my mate and our kids are going fishing for mackerel the weekend we live in dublin, we all know nothing about fishing but would love to get the kids into fishing as well as myself. any advice to what kind of rod and reel we would need, hopefully not to expensive :cry:[/quote

Never got to go fishing as i got very sick] :cry: but im better now :wink: my friend got rods and reels. 2 abu 10ft enticer and 2 Okuma beach caster 50. If i want to fish for other fish other than mackerel will i need a bigger rod and reel, my friend was told to get an shimano nexave 6000fa to match the abu 10ft . any opinions?

Sounds like you are well set.
If you get the bug I would suggest you join a club, you will get no end of advice.

Best of luck

Tight Lines :wink: