Back to fishing - Advice needed

[MoscowFlyer]

After about ten years away from fishing, I have decided to get started again. I will be starting from scratch but have no idea where to go for all my gear or what brand names are the ones to go for (Used to be Shakespeare and Daiwa back then). Can anyone advise me as to how much I should be looking to pay for a decent rod/reel (I don't want any crap but I don't want any top of the range stuff that's going to cost me a fortune) and where I should go online to buy it?

Basically, if you had ?250 to spend on two rods, two reels and a tackle box, what would you get?

Cheers

 

[Wayne T]

MoscowFlyer,
It all depends on which type of fishing you're intending to take up again - Carping? General coarse fishing/pleasure? If so then will you be wanting to use a float rod or a quiver tip/ledger rod ? What size fish will you be targetting ? mainly on rivers or on stillwaters ?.. the list of questions goes on!!
Shakespeare and Daiwa still hold pretty good names in the market place and the tackle review section on this site is pretty useful.

 

[MoscowFlyer]

Thanks Wayne

Looking to get back to normal coarse fishing (Tench, Bream, Roach etc) to begin with but with the view to getting into the odd arp, but I'm certainly not looking to become a carp 'specialist'.

I was thinking of getting a float road and a carp rod, I'll mainly be fishing lakes although may visit the Thames every now and then.

All I'm looking for are a couple of recommendations for a half decent float/carp rod, tackle box and reels, then I can build up from there.

 

[massive]

Try the T.F.G. start up kits they have a variety of start up kits ranging from general float fishing, feeder fishing and even carp fishing and at a reasonable prise too and it's quality clobber too.

 

[EC]

Moscow, for the sum you have to spend mate you could get a float rod, a feeder rod and a specimen (carp/pike) rod all with reels to match.

Get yourself down to your tackle shop and see what they've got in.

For example my local (and it's not even a big shop) has got decent abu match float rods for ?35 ish, same ?? for a feeder rod and wychwood carp/pike rods for ?50 with a reel included.

Have a look through the shops that advertise here (top left) just to get a feel for makes, models and prices.

Then have a look at a few buyer reviews, honestly written by FM users whom have actually paid hard cash for the gear!

When you have a few ideas of what you might want put a few other posts on and see what the other site users think, no one will put you on a bum steer mate, although not everyone will always agree either.

Good luck, and after you've bought your kit dont forget to submit your own user review as well.

 

[MoscowFlyer]

Cheers, so ?30-?50 is enough to get me a decent rod then? I just don't want to buy a basic rod and have to spend more to upgrade it further down the line. With a child on the way I'd rather pay more now for something that will last and I won't necessarily have to upgrade in a few months.

 

[EC]

You can always upgrade no matter what you buy mate, this years top of the range is next years special offer!

If you want to buy top of the range now, then do so, after all you do often get what you pay for, but you won't have as many angles covered.

But to answer your question, 30-50 rips is plenty enough to get yerself a decent rod, no probs.

 

[MoscowFlyer]

Cheers

A quick question about reels.

I'm looking at a Shimano Exage, what's the difference between a 2500 and 4000?

I'm looking to use it for float and feeder fishing with up to 5lb line.

 

[EC]

Certainly the size (and spool size) of the reel will be different, the internals may also have diferent numbers of ball bearings as well. Have a look for a review on the reel here or elsewhere and it will say what its mainly to be used for and what capacity of line it has etc. A 4 series reel is as good an allrounder that you can get I think, I think the 2500 series are more a match size/type of reel.

I have a few shimano reels and they are good quality, if you are buying a few different reeels, it pays to buy ones where the spools are compatible eg all the 4 series reels should be compatible with each other but check before hand.

Eg I have a shimano stradic gtm, and an aero gtm4010, as well as a supermatch RE all their spools are interchangeable.