Hey Keen_F,
Not sure where you are but if NOR try Tackle Shack and if SOR try Oceanside.... They will both give good advise and sort you out with the right combo.

If you can get to Tackle Shack on Tuesday night they are doing a special night for Fishwrecked members and you may get a better outfit for your money than expected.
Cheers, David

Just remembered if you are even further north than Malaga try Complete Angler in Joondalup. All the shops mentioned are sponsors of this site so they should give you a great deal.
David

closest would be malaga but i cant get there on tuesdsay

Pop in there and say hi to Brendan or Matt. They will point you in the right direction.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

if you cant make it in on tuesday night thats no problem, as colin said just pop in and see myself or brenz, we can sort something out for you

The Tackle shack, for all your fishing needs
huge range of stock to suit any fisherperson.
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I'd consider some baitcaster setup. Basically a trigger rod, with a reasonable handle (not too short, not too long). Then a baitcaster with some braid. Probably a round profile one as you can usually fit more line on them. I picked up a calcutta and a t-curve a couple of weeks ago, and its proven quite nice. So far have only caught decent fish on it too :D (well, a scorpion cod, but at least thats edible). Handled a 3kg dhuie without a sweat and the same with a few 5kg-ish golden trevs. Light enough to use all day, with a bit of grunt to handle the bigger fish that might come through (the rod flexes quite a bit, but i'm not saying thats a bad thing). You might be up for a bit of a fight though :D (but something I like anyways). Running 30lb depth checker braid (minus a few sections thanks to the gf... :p).

Have a look at the raider rods, starlo stix and the dropshots. All not much over $100. A bit up from that you have quite a few more rods. I was looking at the starlo stix ones which looked good and reasonable price, but went for a t-curve as the stix werent quite heavy enough for 30lb. Might be getting out of your budget though. Reels, theres a fair few options, so best to talk to the tackle store guys. Have seen some calcuttas on sale, and with the rods above would just scrape in your budget (but not braid). Should be lots of cheaper reels to fit in with your budget that you'd be happy with.

Just think what kind of fish you want to catch, and what fish you would like to catch in the future. The baitcaster setup is good because its versatile, handles a wide range of fish, and styles. I can use mine for shallow water paternostering for dhuies, pinks, kgs, or even whiting, casting to schools, casting land based, driftbaiting (what I mainly got it for), light jigging, trolling, etc. Its not great for using heavy sinkers paternostering in 40m lumps (fine for driftbaiting them, but cant do that if the winds up a lot), or casting heavy weights (until I get a bluebacker :D) or pulling up monster fish (e.g. stopping them reefing you), but if I had to pick an all round combo, i'd probably go something like this than a heavier setup if your fishing around here.

Line size, skippy and king george you dont need a heap of strength, but as you said, you want to be able to handle bigger fish, so talk to the tackle guys on line size, then pick the rod and reel around that.

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Always interested in someone to go fishing with