Saltwater gear

[aswft1262]

Moving from fresh water to saltwater (Keys). Just looking for some suggestions for rods, reels, gear, etc. for a 255 FSH
TIA

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I don’t have any useable experience, but my advice would be to buy top quality gear. I’m very happy with my conventional Shimano Tekota 600 line counter reels. Each reel holds 550 yards of 40# braid, super smooth drag, quiet, and a 6:1 retrieve rate.

 

[Beachcampin]

Moving from fresh water to saltwater (Keys). Just looking for some suggestions for rods, reels, gear, etc. for a 255 FSH
TIA

That's a hard question to answer like that because that fishery has so many different things you can go for. Easiest thing to do would be to just start fishing live bait on the patch reefs with light tackle and I bet some of your freshwater gear would probably work. Can catch tons of different fish with simple fishfinder rigs with live shrimp or small baitfish. From there, ad in a straight line of a big chunk bait or live bait free line into the current for a stray Mahi, tuna, shark, etc. You never know what you may find. If you want to start trolling for big game fish or going after Tarpon, you'll start moving up in equipment size and expense real quick. Learn how to throw a cast net and/or get a ballyhoo hoop. (that didn't come easy for me, but my shoulder is sore right now from cast netting mullet last weekend.)

All of that was for the Atlantic side; Then you also have inshore fishing opportunities on the bay side with redfish, etc, etc. Inshore flyfishing, check.

AND you'll have the ability to go snorkeling for lobsters.
AND you can set crab pots for crabs or go hand netting for crabs

All depends on how many days you have to go fishing. I would say you want gear for a a couple different styles though because if its too windy to get on the atlantic side, you'll want to have some spots to hit inshore. That's how I generally handle things here in Jacksonville as well. If I get out the inlet and its rougher than they predicted, I turn around and hit the creak mouths or find some rock piles. Last time I went didn't take my own advice here a couldn't get offshore and ended up with just a windy boat ride. Gear was a bit too heavy for casting

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

That's a hard question to answer like that because that fishery has so many different things you can go for. Easiest thing to do would be to just start fishing live bait on the patch reefs with light tackle and I bet some of your freshwater gear would probably work. Can catch tons of different fish with simple fishfinder rigs with live shrimp or small baitfish. From there, ad in a straight line of a big chunk bait or live bait free line into the current for a stray Mahi, tuna, shark, etc. You never know what you may find. If you want to start trolling for big game fish or going after Tarpon, you'll start moving up in equipment size and expense real quick. Learn how to throw a cast net and/or get a ballyhoo hoop. (that didn't come easy for me, but my shoulder is sore right now from cast netting mullet last weekend.)

All of that was for the Atlantic side; Then you also have inshore fishing opportunities on the bay side with redfish, etc, etc. Inshore flyfishing, check.

AND you'll have the ability to go snorkeling for lobsters.
AND you can set crab pots for crabs or go hand netting for crabs

All depends on how many days you have to go fishing. I would say you want gear for a a couple different styles though because if its too windy to get on the atlantic side, you'll want to have some spots to hit inshore. That's how I generally handle things here in Jacksonville as well. If I get out the inlet and its rougher than they predicted, I turn around and hit the creak mouths or find some rock piles. Last time I went didn't take my own advice here a couldn't get offshore and ended up with just a windy boat ride. Gear was a bit too heavy for casting

Thats an awesome post!